Former cabinet minister’s move on eve of Reform conference is further boost for party that took almost £1m in donations from ex-Tory donors
Nadine Dorries has defected to Reform on the eve of its conference, saying the Conservative party “is dead”.
The former Tory cabinet minister, a close ally of Boris Johnson when he was prime minister, served as culture secretary until 2022 before resigning a year later when blocked from getting a peerage.
Continue reading...Chancellor offers unequivocal backing to colleague following stamp duty error
Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, was also asked in her Sky News interview if the Rayner controversy showed that the stamp duty regime was “way too complicated”. Reeves sidestepped the question, saying:
Well, look, Angela tried to do the right thing, and of course it is incumbent on all of us to try to properly understand the rules, and she is now working to make sure that the correct tax is paid.
Well, the definitive advice came in on Wednesday morning, and that’s when Angela put out the statement.
On Tuesday as well some court injunctions were lifted related to her disabled son and those circumstances, and that’s why Angela was able to make a full statement on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Jamie Raskin says Farage is ‘a Trump sycophant’ before UK politician addresses the House judiciary committee in Washington
Kemi Badenoch is probably hastily redrafting her PMQs script in the light of Angela Rayner’s statement about underpaying her stamp duty. She has got less than half an hour to craft the right questions. And she will probably want to ask about the economy, and hate speech laws, too.
Here is the list of MPs down to ask a question.
Continue reading...Home secretary earlier suggested warehouses could be used instead of hotels, while PM will urge ministers to go ‘further and faster’ on immigration in Tuesday meeting
Lamb says the Greens are “the antidote to Reform”.
That gets a big round of applause.
We’re a home for all those people across the country holding their heads in their hands as the Labour government lets them down again and again and again, whether it is switching from the aid budget or from people with disabilities and not bringing in taxes … we need.
And that is why, in reaction, a new Green wave is sweeping the country as people turn to us.
It’s already become a bit of a cliche, but we are really moving into a multi-party system, with the Greens poised to help create the next government.
And, like all the best cliches, it has the distinct advantage of also being for true.
Continue reading...Yvette Cooper says rules were designed years ago to help families separated by war but are being used in a different way now
And while we are talking about Blair-era Labour aides, Peter Hyman, who wrote speeches for Tony Blair and later worked for Keir Starmer in the run-up to the general election, has launched a new Substack blog. It is called Changing the Story, which tells you quite a lot about what he thinks is going wrong with No 10. Here is an extract from his first post.
Starmer is an ‘opportunity’ prime minister forced to become a ‘security’ one. And that’s why the government’s narrative is seen by some to be elusive.
Let me explain.
I remember well Tim Allan’s leaving drinks at Number 10 in the earlyish Blair era. In his fulsome farewell speech Tony Blair noted only half jokingly “Tim’s even more right wing than me..”
The same Tim Allan who as head of Portland had a contract to polish Vladimir Putin’s reputation?
Continue reading...Conservative leader says it is ‘absurd’ to shift away from fossil fuels and leave ‘vital resources untapped’
The Conservative party will aim to “maximise extraction” of oil and gas in the North Sea if it wins power, Kemi Badenoch is expected to announce.
Badenoch will use a speech in Aberdeen in the coming days to set out her plans to extract as much oil and gas as possible instead of shifting away from fossil fuels, the Sunday Telegraph reported.
Continue reading...Judges say decision to allow injunction was ‘seriously flawed’ and contained several ‘errors in principle’
More than 130 people seeking asylum will be allowed to remain in the Bell hotel in Epping after the court of appeal overturned a high court ban on housing them there, leaving police braced for further angry protests.
While the decision was a technical victory for the Home Office, as other local councils could have brought legal challenges against the use of hotels, it has already been seized on by Labour’s political opponents.
Continue reading...Angela Eagle accuses other parties of offering ‘fag packet plans’ as ministers face mounting pressure on immigration
The Home Office has promised a “big surge” in asylum hotel closures in the new year, with five more to shut in the coming months, as ministers face mounting pressure over the government’s record on immigration.
Speaking after a weekend of protests and counter-protests over the use of hotels to house asylum seekers, Home Office minister Angela Eagle said the government had inherited a “border security system in tatters” and accused opposition parties of offering “the fag packet plans without the substance on delivery”.
Continue reading...Anna Dixon accuses fellow West Yorkshire MP Robbie Moore of spreading misinformation
A Labour MP has said she has been subjected to death threats and online misogynistic abuse after a video was shared by a Conservative MP about her position on a national inquiry into grooming gangs.
Anna Dixon, the MP for Shipley in West Yorkshire, said police were investigating the threats and accused the MP for Keighley and Ilkley, Robbie Moore, of disseminating “misinformation” about her stance on the issue.
Continue reading...Far-right agitator or leadership hopeful? MPs call hypocrisy as former minister rails against system he expanded
Robert Jenrick had been migration minister for just a few days in 2022 when he gave a broadcast interview that could easily have been given by a minister in the current government.
“Suella Braverman [the former home secretary] and her predecessor, Priti Patel, were procuring more hotels,” he told Sky News. “What I have done in my short tenure is ramp that up and procure even more. Because November, historically, has been one of the highest months of the year for migrants illegally crossing the Channel.”
Continue reading...Labour has pledged to end the use of hotels to house asylum seekers by the end of this parliament in 2029
In an interview on BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme on Friday, MSP Jeremy Balfour who has resigned from the Scottish Conservatives (see 9.13am BST), said he feels the party has “lost its way in Scotland” and “I don’t think it represents true Conservative values”.
According to the PA news agency, when asked if Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay is the right person for the job and whether he should stay in the post, he said:
Clearly I’m no longer a member of the party so that’s no longer a decision for me to make.
I get on very well as an individual with Russell, I think he’s a good individual. Whether he’s the person to lead the Scottish Conservatives is obviously for MSPs, for the membership, to decide.
What I’m very clear about is that those with disabilities, other minorities and the people of Lothian need a voice for people to hear what we require within our country.
I’m not sure any party is actually offering that at the moment but whether I stand or not I’ll come to a view in the next few weeks.
It’s the party that’s moved, not me.
We are disappointed to read these comments but grateful for Jeremy’s service and wish him well.
The Scottish Conservatives, under Russell Findlay’s leadership, recognise that many people feel completely disconnected from politics. It is absolutely critical that our party continues to champion commonsense Conservative values and policies that focus on the issues of concern to hard-working Scots.
Continue reading...Shadow minister posts picture of himself at protest outside Essex hotel that has become anti-immigration flashpoint
Robert Jenrick has been severely criticised by Labour after the shadow justice secretary was pictured at an anti-asylum rally in Essex attended by a veteran far-right activist.
Jenrick posted photos on X showing himself visiting the protest outside the Bell hotel in Epping, where police have been attacked and police vehicles vandalised by groups of men taking part in the demonstration. The MP met protesters including a woman with a T-shirt bearing the message: “Send them home.”
Continue reading...Backbenchers say party leadership is criticising Labour government for policies introduced by Conservatives
Conservative MPs have expressed frustration at their party’s “piss-poor” messaging over hotels housing people seeking asylum.
Leaked WhatsApp messages show members are concerned that the party’s leadership is attacking Keir Starmer’s government for policies introduced by the Conservatives.
Continue reading...Former minister says Tories are ignoring heartland voters and risk losing ground to Reform in next election
The Conservatives are “not close to recognising” how badly they are positioned for the next election, the former cabinet minister David Gauke has said.
Gauke, a former justice secretary who also worked in the Treasury under George Osborne, said many in the party were not willing to fully repudiate Liz Truss and Boris Johnson.
Continue reading...David Lammy is hosting the US vice-president at Chevening, his grace-and-favour residence in Kent, where they will discuss the Middle East
The SNP is calling for the recall of parliament so that MPs can approve sanctions against Benjamin Netanyahu in the light of his decision to extend the occupation of Gaza. In a statement Stephen Flynn, the SNP leader at Westminster, said:
A genocide is happening before our eyes in Gaza. Words of condemnation aren’t anywhere near enough - if we have any hope of stopping this genocide strong actions are desperately needed, now.
That means Keir Starmer needs to recall Westminster and take concrete steps to sanction the Israeli government.
Those sanctions must include ending all arms sales to the Israeli military, stopping all training, logistical and military support to the IDF, directly and personally sanctioning Netanyahu and his ministers and finally and immediately recognising the state of Palestine before it is brutally wiped off the map.
If the international community fails to act - we are consciously and complicitly standing idly by - allowing Benjamin Netanyahu to plan, implement and inflict an ongoing genocide in Gaza.
Former PM says ‘exceptional’ aim to spend 5% of GDP should be a joint Nato and European initiative financed via bonds or a defence fund
This is what Gordon Brown said in his Today programme interview when asked to give more details of his plan to exempt from extra defence spending from the fiscal rules. He said other European countries were already looking at this, and that having a European-wide initiative would persuade the bond markets that in this case the rise in borrowing was justified. He said:
If you look around Europe at the moment, you’ll see that the Germans are looking at what they can do outside the fiscal rules. The European stability and growth pact is exempting a lot of defence money from the normal fiscal rules. The French are looking at other ways of doing it. The Polish have already done that.
What I’m actually asking for is a European-wide initiative where individual countries will come together and say, Look, we all have to do this. We all have to find, let’s say, an extra 1%, because 5% of course is building on some of what’s already been spent.
Continue reading...Prime minister defends government’s handling of economy but will not give assurances over not raising income tax, employee NI or VAT
Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat leader, has urged Keir Starmer to call Donald Trump to encourage him to use his influence to block Israel’s plans for a “full occupation” of Gaza.
In a statement, Davey said:
[Israeli PM Benjamin] Netanyahu’s latest proposals for the occupation of all of Gaza are utterly horrifying.
If realised, they will only wreak yet more destruction on Gazans - while gravely endangering the lives of the hostages still held in Hamas’ captivity.
I see NIESR is talking today about a £41.2bn hole in the UK public finances
Two things are newsworthy:
Continue reading...Emergency measures bailed out jails at last minute as No 10 refused to cut prisoner numbers until ‘cliff edge’ reached, former watchdog reports
The criminal justice system was within days of collapse on three occasions before being bailed out by “last-minute emergency measures”, an independent review by a former prisons watchdog has found.
Dame Anne Owers said the prison system, under pressure from overcrowding, was “in crisis” between autumn 2023 and the summer of 2024, but No 10 under Rishi Sunak refused to cut the numbers in jail until “the next predictable cliff edge”.
Continue reading...Rupert Matthews, elected to post as Conservative in 2021, claims police are ‘fighting crime with one hand tied behind their back’
George Finch, the Reform UK leader of Warwickshire county council, goes next. (Aged 19, he is the youngest council leader in the country.)
He claims the police have opposed his attempts to expose the immigration status of someone arrested in connection with an alleged crime.
It was dirty, run down and had major drug issues. My attitude to the task was assertive and no nonsense. That’s the approach that I will take for my role within Reform UK [advising on crime].
Continue reading...DHSC rejected as ‘unusable’ PPE supplied by company linked to Lord Chadlington, which later went bust
They were the lucrative deals that epitomised the “VIP lane” set up by Boris Johnson’s government during the Covid pandemic, which gave priority for personal protective equipment (PPE) contracts to people with political connections.
Peter Gummer, a former PR boss who has been Tory peer Lord Chadlington since 1996, had smooth access at his fingertips. The erstwhile adviser to John Major has “close personal friendships with many senior Conservative party politicians”, he has said, and as president of the Witney constituency association in the Cotswolds is “close friends” with its most notable MP: David Cameron.
Continue reading...