Josh Self
@Josh_Self_
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Editor, @politics_co_uk ✍️ | josh.self @politics .co.uk | DMs open | Subscribe to my 7-days-a-week newsletter below 👇
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Pinned Tweet
🚨 Some personal news if you will indulge me:
Thrilled to become Editor of
@Politics_co_uk
after almost a year of writing for the site full-time
We have some big plans which will come into fruition next week (🧵1/3). But here is my first article in post:
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Just Elon Musk quote tweeting the co-leader of far-right party, Britain First, who is sharing a fake Telegraph headline
Seen by almost 1 million people in 15 minutes
Utterly dystopian
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GB News presenter asks GB News presenter to join his party, of which the honorary president is a GB News presenter — according to GB News scoop
NEW
Richard Tice has effectively issued a 311-word invitation to Lee Anderson to join the Reform UK party. 👇
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After over 30 minutes, Musk appears to have finally deleted the post
No acknowledgement yet
This was my last screen-grab, which records just under 2 million views:
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NEW: Labour will introduce citizens' assemblies to decide contentious issues, such as Lords reform and housebuilding
Sue Gray has told
@TomBaldwin66
of the “transformational” success of bodies in Ireland that built consensus for constitutional change
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Full context:
Elon Musk deletes post spreading fake news about UK ‘detainment camps’
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If Labour does fear Farage, the next obvious line of attack would be to associate him with Liz Truss' economic policy
Farage described the mini-budget as the “the best Tory budget since 1986”
“Truss' mini-budget, which Farage backed, crashed the economy” - Labour, soon probably
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#PMQs
Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle ticks off Sunak before calling Keir Starmer 'prime minister' (again)
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Was “Captain hindsight” really “Admiral foresight”?
Why history will remember Keir Starmer’s role in Boris Johnson’s downfall 👇
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This is a serious problem right now:
— Sunak can’t do interviews because, well, Sunak can’t do interviews
— Holden tainted by 🐓 run
— Can’t trust Badenoch, Mordaunt to stay on message
Leaves Trott, Stride, Harper etc. Sunak lackeys who have hardly set the race alight so far
Both the PM and party chair are hindered in this campaign by their own missteps. In their absence, who will serve as an effective Tory attack dog?
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History will remember Keir Starmer's role in the Conservative Party's downfall
Starmer's political steeliness means the Conservative Party's decline is not solely a story of self-destruction — latest for
@Politics_co_uk
👇
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NEW: The PM's bet with
@piersmorgan
over Rwanda flights has been raised in the Commons as a potential standards issue
In a point of order,
@amcarmichaelMP
said: “Can you confirm,... that a £1,000 direct pecuniary personal interest is one which should be registered and declared?”
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🚨 NEW: At press gallery drinks in No 10 this evening, Rishi Sunak tells lobby journalists to look forward to a general election that “WILL be in 2024”
Ruling out a January 2025 election, and suggesting he may already have a date in mind…
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👀
@PennyMordaunt
: “I am not about to defect to the opposition benches. They wouldn't be interested in me - I'm too left wing”
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Responding to Boris Johnson appearing at a Conservative Party rally, Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader
@libdemdaisy
said:
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This dismissive attitude to a perfectly reasonable line of inquiry is deserving of real disdain
It’s not journalists’ fault for the Hester story continuing to rumble on, it’s the govt’s maladroit handling
No sign of that latter point changing - based on this risible exchange
Jon Kay: How did it make you feel when you read Frank Hester's comments for the 1st time?
Kemi Badenoch: It didn't make me feel anything in particular
JK: You said these comments were racist
KB: That was a week ago... he's apologised... move on
#BBCBreakfast
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Newly elected Labour MP
@jackabbott90
: “We’ve got much to be proud of in Ipswich … unlike our friends over the border in Norfolk we now have a Premier League football team again.”
@Keir_Starmer
: “Can I congratulate Ipswich on their promotion?”
Hear, hear!
#ITFC
#COYB
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No pre-
#PMQs
defection, but that didn't stop Labour MPs from having some fun
A number going 'woooooh' as Conservative MPs walk down the commons aisle (including the chief whip) — prompts a speaker comment
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NEW: £20bn budget “black hole” is the same size as Rishi Sunak's pre-election tax cuts, leading economist says
@PJTheEconomist
: “If those cuts were implemented in the knowledge that there was this kind of hole, that is not good policy to put it mildly”
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🚨 NEW: Lee Anderson loses Tory whip after ‘refusal to apologise’ for Islamist claim
Questions over what happens next:
— Will the whips have words with Truss or Braverman?
— How will Anderson's allies, New Conservatives/fellow red wallers, respond?
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On 28 April 2021,
@Keir_Starmer
challenges Johnson: “The Ministerial Code says — and I quote — ‘ministers who knowingly mislead parliament will be expected to offer their resignation’. … I’ll leave it there, for now”
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NEW: Exchange on plan to exempt Afghan nationals who supported UK troops from Rwanda plan
“How many more immigrants does he want to come to the UK from Afghanistan?” - Conservative MP Alexander Stafford
“All of those… who risked their lives to help us in a war” -
@eastantrimmp
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Consider for a moment how recent stories will play in the public at large:
— Tories suffer heavy losses at locals
— MP defects to Labour (BBC push notification)
— Former chancellor to quit (BBC push notification)
Each befit the prevailing narrative of Tory decline and decay
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This is just peak Conservative Party — and I’m afraid Rishi Sunak
Sending out ministers to defend an untenable line that subsequently changes. Heaton-Harris, Keegan et al. have very real reason to feel aggrieved today
Reeks of Paterson-gate, Party-gate — you name it
BREAK: Conservative Party withdraws support for gambling scandal candidates 🚨
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Newly elected Labour MP
@Lola__McEvoy
mocks Nigel Farage's “polished” maiden speech “that he's had 21 years to prepare”
“Fair point”, responds
@Nigel_Farage
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NEW: Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle doesn't seem entirely pleased that Lord Cameron has become foreign secretary 🚨
“Given the gravity of the current international situation, [it] is especially important that this House is able to scrutinise the work of the FCDO”
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Before you get to the substance of these proposals, there is something really quite unseemly about the Conservatives planning to introduce national service for a demographic that just does not vote for them
Interesting implications for the UK's social contract 📃
🚨 NEW: The Conservatives have unveiled plans to bring back mandatory national service if re-elected
Sunak says the plans, which would see 18-year-olds choose between service in the forces and community volunteering, will inspire “pride in our country”
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72 MPs and the third largest party in the commons, but some things about the
@LibDems
will never change:
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NEW: Questioned by
@neill_bob
, Justice secretary Alex Chalk confirms the government is scrapping Dominic Raab's bill of rights plan 🚨
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👀 On the day Liz Truss releases her new book, Ten Years to Save the West,
@JonAshworth
tours the press gallery handing out Labour's version of events...
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In other words: the complete GB Newsification of the Conservative Party
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How Keir Starmer governs
The new prime minister's strong start suggests his political honeymoon will be rather longer than some doomsters contend
My latest long-read for
@Politics_co_uk
👇
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NEW: Labour MP Clive Lewis has been made to swear in again, having taken the House of Commons oath “under protest” last week
In his initial rendition, Lewis also *forgot* to swear allegiance to King Charles' “heirs and successors” — which I suppose was a no no
Attempts 1 & 2:
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'The Bibby Stockholm is a floating case study in political failure' | Latest article for
@Politics_co_uk
👇
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.
@libdemdaisy
responds: “If the PM had any bottle he would suspend the whip from Rees-Mogg and rule out Nigel Farage being allowed into the Conservative Party”
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'One year in, the Conservative Party has a problem: Sunak isn’t working' | Latest article for
@Politics_co_uk
👇
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One reason this is so striking is it reveals, once again, how much the Conservative Party misunderstands Farage's politics, motivations & strengths
After decades of exile, *nothing* in the Farage playbook suggests he will ride to the Conservatives' rescue
NEW: Jacob Rees-Mogg's multi-point plan for Conservative election victory
— Election pact with Reform
— Nigel Farage to be appointed as minister
— Richard Tice and Ben Habib to be candidates
— Boris Johnson to return as foreign secretary
Full story 👇
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NEW: Scott Benton resigns triggering by-election in Blackpool South 🚨
— All factors point to a Labour GAIN
— Expect little Tory campaigning as per Wellingborough, Rochdale, Kingswood
— Also a big test for Reform. In 2015, UKIP came third here on 17.3%
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Riots response strengthens Keir Starmer's claim Labour is ‘political wing of the British people’
Long-read on the political lessons of the riots and the response to them, including why the Farage playbook is failing — for
@Politics_co_uk
👇
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🚨 BREAK: SNP Westminster leader
@StephenFlynnSNP
confirms his party’s King’s Speech amendment on the two-child benefit cap will go to a vote, after being selected by the Speaker
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NEW: Rwanda’s opposition leader
@VictoireUmuhoza
told Sky News that the deal between Rwanda and the UK is “illegal” because Rwanda is “not a free country”.
“Rwanda is not ready or the right place to receive asylum seekers from ... the UK”, she said.
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NEW: David Cameron references “friend” Nick Clegg and takes swipe at Boris Johnson in maiden Lords speech
“I leave all classical allusions, and indeed illusions for that matter, to another former prime minister with whom I shared a number of educational experiences.”
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Fair play to
@MayorofLondon
’s comms team. Press release pinged out the second the final whistle was blown:
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‘History will remember Keir Starmer’s role in Johnson’s downfall’ | Latest article for
@Politics_co_uk
👇
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The most striking thing about the Tory exodus, expedited by the election, is that there is very little commonality among those standing down — in terms of ideology, majority, even age to an extent
That, in the end, is what should most worry Sunak. The party just seems done
Andrea Leadsom Rumoured To Announce She Is Standing Down
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Conservative splits and sleaze spell Major doom for Rishi Sunak
“Nobody elects a divided party” or rewards “weak leadership, sleaze [and] a poorly run campaign”, a 16 year-old Rishi Sunak wrote in 1997 — he was right. My latest for
@Politics_co_uk
👇
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.
@jessphillips
today, reading out the names of women killed by men in the UK over the last year:
“I am tired of sticking plasters”
“I am tired that women’s safety matters so much less in this place than small boats”
“This list ... is a testament to our collective failure”
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NEW: Sir Keir Starmer has said he would not have his own resignation honours list as PM
The Labour leader explained one would be “very hard to justify”, citing the example of Tony Blair who also declined to take a resignation honours list
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NEW: Only two Conservative MPs, Jeremy Wright and
@RobertBuckland
— both former cabinet ministers — voted in favour of Lord Hope's amendment
The amendment sought to establish a monitoring committee to adjudicate on whether Rwanda is safe
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NEW: Jacob Rees-Mogg's multi-point plan for Conservative election victory
— Election pact with Reform
— Nigel Farage to be appointed as minister
— Richard Tice and Ben Habib to be candidates
— Boris Johnson to return as foreign secretary
Full story 👇
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🗳️ NEW: The Conservative Party is lagging behind Labour and the Liberal Democrats with its election candidate selection
🔵 The Conservatives have selected 77% of their “prime candidates”
🔴 Labour is on 89%
🟡 And the Lib Dems lead with 95%
Full story 👇
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As Labour leader, Keir Starmer has picked his battles tactfully and, for the most part, won them
He's shown a political steeliness and strategic savvy that has neutralised attacks from rivals
On Starmer's role in the Conservative Party's downfall 👇
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From ‘Dishy Rishi’ to ‘Dr Death’: Sunak should fear the Covid inquiry | Latest article for
@Politics_co_uk
👇
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I find the divergent paths trodden by Truss and Kwarteng since the mini-budget pretty fascinating
Truss is unrepentant, while Kwarteng is relatively candid about his role
“Kwasi Kwarteng feels 'partially responsible' for Conservative Party’s struggles”
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🚨 By far the biggest Tory beast to quit since the election was called
Curious as Gove was reported to be the most enthusiastic about a summer election when it was announced at cabinet on Wednesday
“Who dares wins. You dared and you will win”, he told Sunak
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The
@RMTunion
's Mick lynch has accused the government of "sabotaging" a pay deal with eleventh-hour clauses on driver only operations.
"They wanted the Christmas rail strikes to go ahead", he says.
"It’s just not very bright. Why would you wait until a Sunday afternoon at 4:00 to put nine clauses into a document which weren’t in the previous version?”
The
@RMTunion
's Mick Lynch has rubbished DfT's approach to pay talks 🚉
For more Commons clips: ✅
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👀 Lee Anderson voted *in favour* of a
@AnthonyMangnal1
's Recall of MPs (Change of Party Affiliation) Bill
The Bill would have enabled the recall of defecting MPs, with a view to an eventual by-election in the constituency
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NEW: On the Elphicke lobbying claims, shadow minister and former privileges committee chair
@RhonddaBryant
tells Sky News:
“If anybody should be being investigated by the parliamentary commissioner for standards … frankly, it should be Robert Buckland”👀
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Liz Truss is preparing an “alternative budget” - sold as “a detailed challenge to conventional thinking” - which will be released a week before Jeremy Hunt's Autumn Statement
That's fantastic news for ... the Labour Party - via
@Politics_co_uk
⤵️
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Tactical voting is one thing, but *tactical campaigning* — that shows a real commitment to getting the Tories out
.
@zoenora6
returns from North Norfolk (14k Tory majority) with evidence that tactical voting is brewing
Many people who turned up to canvass for Davey by their own admission aren't Lib Dem
One tells PolHome she's "left-wing Labour" — but wants Tories out
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I wrote about a Reform-Tory crossover, spurred on by the Farage's return, in March
The implications, as I noted at the time, would be carnage for Sunak: defections, conservative-leaning media could turn, etc
What I didn't consider: it would happen *during* an election campaign
Tory MPs are now speculating that "crossover" - the point where Reform overtake the Tories in the national polls - is a real possibility.
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The Conservative Party refuses to rally behind Rishi Sunak
My full breakdown of
#PMQs
today, and why the session was so revealing of Sunak's political fallibility 👇
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NEW: Liz Truss to challenge govt with 'alternative budget'
- To come as a report from Truss' Growth Commission body
- Sold as "a detailed challenge to ... conventional thinking"
- To be published a week before the chancellor delivers his autumn statement
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🚨 NEW: Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby says the govt is “leading the nation down a damaging path” with the Safety of Rwanda Bill
“The bill ... obscures the truth that all people, asylum seekers included, are of great value. We can, as a nation, do better”, he says
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NEW: A few signals today that Penny Mordaunt is unhappy with Sunak over his PMQs comments
“We owe it to the people who sent us here to strive every day to make them proud of us”
“I’m sure that he has reflected on things”
“I hope [Starmer] will also reflect on his actions too”
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As for the exchange I quote at the beginning, see:
“The Ministerial Code says — and I quote — ‘ministers who knowingly mislead parliament will be expected to offer their resignation’. … I’ll leave it there, for now” -
@Keir_Starmer
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Esther McVey leaned into reports that she is the “minister for common sense” at Cab Office questions today.
Came as
@Alison_McGovern
&
@NickTorfaen
mocked the role:
“As a PM, if you need to install a minister for common sense, is it an admission that you don't really have any?”
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NEW: Keir Starmer's plan to “take the brakes off Britain” with packed King's Speech
— Steps on rail re-nationalisation
— Planning reform
— English Devolution Bill
— Better Buses Bill
— National Wealth Fund
— Border Security Command
— Clean power by 2030
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On the time Rishi Sunak stole a line from
@BethRigby
, after initially rejecting it, and no one noticed 1/...
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Keir Starmer throws down the election gauntlet
My full
#PMQs
verdict piece for
@Politics_co_uk
on the Labour's leader attempt to style the PM as an increasingly irrelevant, isolated figure — and why its working 👇
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👀 A pretty firm rebuke of the Conservative Party’s culture war framing this morning from Elliot Colburn, who is seeking re-election as a Tory MP
Here we go again, wondered how long it would take 🤦♂️
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BREAK: Privileges committee finds Rees-Mogg, Dorries, Patel, Fabricant, Brendan Clarke-Smith, Andrea Jenkyns and Zac Goldsmith in contempt of Parliament
And calls on the government to act:
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Nigel Farage to Penny Mordaunt: “Why should we believe your fifth manifesto in a row to commit to lowering net migration?”
Mordaunt: “Because of the record of this prime minister…”
*Large outbreak of laughter in the audience*
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NEW:
@DamianGreen
likens Suella Braverman's Rwanda proposal to “what Putin and Xi do”
It was a response to an op-ed from the ex-home secretary which called for Sunak to “exclude all avenues of legal challenge”
“We absolutely cannot go there”, Green said
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NEW: The cartoon murals at a children’s asylum centre were not “requisite decoration”, a Home Office minister has said
Lord Murray of Blidworth said the cartoons, painted over on the order of immigration minister Robert Jenrick, were “not approved”
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BREAK: Minister Zac Goldsmith - who was named in the privileges committee report yesterday - resigns from govt citing environmental reasons
He says: "apathy in the face of the greatest challenge we face makes continuing in my role untenable"
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Is that Nadhim Zahawi listening to Carlson speak, or just a really good lookalike?
Tucker Carlson: “The city of Moscow…It’s so much nicer than any city in my country…It’s so much cleaner, and safer, and prettier -esthetically-…Than any city in the United States.”
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Suella Braverman isn’t as strong politically as she thinks she is
My latest 'Week-in-Review' column for
@Politics_co_uk
is on the myths surrounding the under-pressure home secretary 👇
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NEW:
@Ed_Miliband
calls for “proper windfall tax” after energy firms’ “unearned, unexpected profits”
'My regret is that ... we don’t have a government committed to that green sprint either', he added
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Keir Starmer's war on populism is just beginning
On Labour's strategy to combat the “snake oil charm” of populism by pursuing insurgent, purposeful government
My long-read for
@Politics_co_uk
👇
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“It is not just the public that has seemingly rejected Rishi Sunak. His MPs are increasingly unruly, with factions swirled amid the PM’s recent Rwanda plan tumult. The Tory grassroots ... are no more convinced”
Year-in-Review: The rejection of Rishi Sunak
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Rishi Sunak’s authority is shot
Another week ends with the PM's standing and authority greatly diminished — some thoughts for
@Politics_co_uk
on what comes next, including a potential Penny Mordaunt-led coup 👇
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If the PM takes no action against Anderson, this should be a point Keir Starmer exploits in the coming weeks, at PMQs etc
Something like: “I changed my party - he [Sunak] is too scared to stand up to his”
Conservative MP Lee Anderson tells GB News that he thinks Sadiq Khan has "given our capital city away" to Islamists, who are "his mates".
"Islamists have got control of Khan and they’ve got control of London," he says.
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On “Gamble-gate” being so politically traumatic for Rishi Sunak — and why he has no one to blame but himself 1/...
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NEW:
@AlokSharma_RDG
has said he will not vote for the government's oil and gas bill
“This bill is actually about doubling down on new oil and gas licences. It is actually the opposite of what we agreed to do internationally”, he told the BBC
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No 10 has likely told MPs to announce they are standing down at the end of the week, Thursday eve/Friday morn, as with May, Lewis and Heappey — so as not to hijack the govt grid
Problem is, with the news so lacking on Friday, these stories dominate 👇
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The Conservative doomsday clock strikes midnight
The meteor has hit. On the 4th July, we are left to judge what remains of this cratered party — my latest for
@Politics_co_uk
👇
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Election politics as trail by daytime TV suits Starmer, not Sunak
Today, I overanalysed the Labour leader's appearance on Sunday Brunch and the PM's clearly less successful stint on Loose Women for
@Politics_co_uk
👇
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"If [the PM] has got an hour of his time to sit with Boris Johnson negotiating gongs for cronies and peerages in the House of Lords he should have an hour at least to negotiate an end to these terrible strikes"
@wesstreeting
this morning 👇
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NEW:
@wesstreeting
calls the attacks on Starmer's work ethic a “total disgrace”
“The stench of their lies and hypocrisy is even more overwhelming than the vomit they left for Downing Street cleaners”, he told Times Radio
His scathing remarks in full 👇
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NEW: Over 14,000 people were prevented from voting at the local elections because they could not produce the required form of photo ID
The Electoral Commission described the figure as 'concerning'
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Rishi Sunak is stuck in a political doom loop
Recent by-elections illustrate that the prime minister's woes are, at once, more real than CCHQ has hitherto calculated — and worsening. Latest article for
@Politics_co_uk
👇
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Rishi Sunak’s failure will haunt the Conservative Party for years to come 1/…
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.
@StephenFlynnSNP
: “There is a conspiracy of silence on another issue, and that's Brexit.
“It has been an unmitigated disaster for the economy” *large applause*
He adds: “That's why in this election you need to ignore the snake oil salesmen who delivered Brexit”
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Some thoughts on Natalie Elphicke’s defection to Labour — and why it reflects Starmer’s ruthless plan to utterly enervate his Conservative opponents
Don’t expect the backlash to make Starmer think twice about admitting further Tory turncoats:
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PMQs verdict: Rishi Sunak lost with a single, crass quip
My full
#PMQs
breakdown for
@Politics_co_uk
on the significance of the prime minister's deeply ill-judged comments today 👇
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🚨 NEW: The Lords votes 240-211 in favour of Lord Anderson’s amendment to the Rwanda Bill
The amendment seeks to establish a monitoring committee to *consult* the government on whether Rwanda is safe, with a report to be published
Still potentially a long night ahead
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Beyond the Rwanda Bill: The Conservative Party faces a bitter, protracted reckoning
— “Bitter” because it is a war of all factions against all
— “Protracted” because it will have an afterlife far beyond 1 bill's Commons schedule
Me for
@Politics_co_uk
👇
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