Ben Kentish @BenKentish Twitter profile

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Ben Kentish

8 months

🚨 Delighted to be presenting on @LBC 10pm Monday to Thursday, from tonight. We’ll be bringing you top analysis of the day’s events, political reaction from Westminster, big interviews and of course lots of your calls. Hope you’ll join us!

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

2 years

Rishi Sunak was an MP for 6.5 years, a UK government minister for 3.5 years and Chancellor of the Exchequer for 1.5 years - all while holding permanent residency of the United States.

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

2 years

Allegra Stratton resigned for joking about a party. Martin Reynolds hasn’t resigned for organising a party. Nobody has resigned for actually attending any of the parties.

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

3 years

This is currently being driven round and round the White House

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

2 years

I get the anger but this “They didn’t follow the rules so why did I?” narrative is sad. People feel their sacrifices didn’t count for anything but they did: many thousands of people in this country are alive today because most of us did follow the rules. Worth remembering that.

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

2 years

One Conservative MP this afternoon: “Today is the day the Prime Minister is safe. Today is also the day the Conservatives lost the next general election .”

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

2 years

I was told by Tory MPs, at the height of the Rashford row, that members of the govt were threatening to withhold money from schools in their (deprived) constituencies if they voted to extend free school meals. These practices aren’t new but Will Wragg has shone a light on them.

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

2 years

Very difficult now for ministers to argue that giving doctors, teachers, nurses and police officers a bigger pay rise would be inflationary, while giving those earning £150,000+ a huge income tax cut.

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

1 year

For 300 years no prime minister was found to have broken the law while in office. It’s now happened twice in nine months.

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

4 months

Claiming that a £2 billion pay rise for junior doctors is unaffordable would be more compelling if you hadn’t been telling journalists a fortnight ago that you were considering spending £8 billion on scrapping inheritance tax…

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

2 years

Boris Johnson quicker to remove the whip from Tobias Ellwood than he was with Chris Pincher.

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

1 year

Home Office refusing to provide any comment on why Suella Braverman appears to have used a Chinook helicopter to travel 20 miles between Dover and Manston this afternoon. It's a 30-minute journey by car.

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

2 years

It doesn’t matter whether or not Boris Johnson thought the party was illegal. That’s not how the law works.

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

3 years

Huge questions now over the decision to allow dozens and dozens of flights to land in the UK from India, with no hotel quarantine, for almost a month after this variant was identified there.

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

2 years

Has there ever been less excitement about a football World Cup? Less than 3 weeks away and no one seems bothered.

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

6 years

There is currently a “Dalek Trump” bring paraded down Whitehall accompanied by “Secret Service agents”...

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

1 year

A 72-year-old man who sold mince pies during lockdown was sentenced to six months in prison. Anne Sacoolas, who killed 19-year-old Harry Dunn by driving on the wrong side of the road, was spared a prison sentence.

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

2 years

One minister, asked who they want to take over as leader, says: “I don’t give a f*ck anymore. I’m going to find a bar.”

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

3 years

Jennifer Lopez is the same age as Jacob Rees-Mogg.

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

1 year

It’s literally a screenshot of The Times

Lee Anderson MP

@LeeAndersonMP_

1 year

Getting There. You won't see this in the MSM. 👇👇

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

2 months

Sorry but a serving cabinet minister libelling someone, then using taxpayers’ money to pay them off, then REFUSING TO SAY how much of taxpayers’ money was spent on it is just completely outrageous.

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

2 years

Boris Johnson's spokesman, when Matt Hancock resigned for breaking Covid rules: "The Prime Minister thought it was the right decision."

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

2 years

Is the Met now suggesting it’s on members of the public to provide them with evidence rather than on, er, the police to look for it?

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

2 years

We’ve reached the point of MPs posting light-hearted tweets about one of their colleagues being arrested on suspicion of rape. Westminster is grim sometimes.

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

2 years

Government source: "It's over."

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

3 years

Astonishingly, Boris Johnson’s spokesman says the government still expects people to wear masks in crowded indoor spaces, despite not a single member of the government frontbench wearing one in the packed House of Commons this morning.

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

4 years

If Durham Police do conclude that Dominic Cummings broke the rules, it would mean the Prime Minister, Health Secretary and most of the Cabinet were wrong about the very rules they were responsible for drawing up, introducing and urging everyone to follow. Extraordinary.

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

2 years

No10 a couple of weeks ago, when asked to confirm Simon Case wasn’t personally compromised on the matter of Downing Street parties: “I think you can be assured that due diligence has been followed on that.”

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

2 years

Minutes after emphasising his own humility, Boris Johnson calls Keir Starmer “Sir Beer Korma”. Some Tory MPs enjoyed that, others looking like they didn’t - at all.

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

3 years

Never fully understood why someone being rude and aggressive towards a politician is seen as a reflection on the politician rather than the person being rude and aggressive.

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

2 years

Despite the importance of the issue, the Met has decided to provide no explanation as to how an internal HR inquiry by a civil servant could possibly “prejudice” a police investigation by some of its top officers.

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

2 years

A man who has just lost his mother, and has since had to parade around the country rather than have time to mourn and grieve, got annoyed at a pen. If that bothers you, time to get a grip.

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

4 years

I first asked about mandatory face masks at the press conference on 10 April, when many other countries had already made them compulsory. Answer was that there was no evidence they were effective. Almost two months later, UK follows suit.

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

2 years

Confirmed by Treasury sources that this Kia is not Rishi Sunak’s car but is actually owned by a Sainsbury’s employee. The Chancellor apparently paid for the petrol.

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

2 years

New Cabinet break-down by schooling: Comprehensive: 5 Grammar: 3 Private: 23

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

4 years

EXCL: There are currently no tests at all available in ANY of the top 10 Covid-19 hotspots in England, LBC can reveal. No walk-in, drive-through or home tests available for people in Bolton, Salford, Bradford, Blackburn, Oldham, Preston, Pendle, Rochdale, Tameside or Manchester.

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

3 years

Matt Hancock tells the Commons: “The number of vaccinations happening in Bolton right now is phenomenal - tens of thousands every single day”. Which sounded a lot for a population of less than 300,000 people and, well, here’s the official data for Bolton....

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

3 years

The case of Nazanin Zaghari-Radcliffe must be one of the biggest failures of British diplomacy in decades. Heart-wrenching to imagine how she must be feeling tonight.

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

2 years

Remember the concern previously when the R number went above 1? Current estimated R for Omicron in the U.K. is 3.3-4.2….

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

2 years

Lindsay Hoyle says the House of Commons isn’t the “appropriate place” to ask questions about allegations of Islamophobia by MPs. Shuts down the question and doesn’t allow an answer. Terrible look, frankly.

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

2 years

Hard to see much point in monitoring the data “hourly” if taking any action is ruled out for at least the next 5 days, regardless of what that data says.

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

3 years

More people have now been vaccinated in the UK then have tested positive in the UK since the pandemic started.

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

1 year

What you see here is the then Health Secretary, in the middle of a global pandemic, asking a newspaper editor who happens to be his former boss for a favourable front page to help him meet an arbitrary target, and the newspaper editor responding: “Yes of course.” Lost for words.

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

2 years

Priti Patel insists there are UK immigration officials in Calais and that it’s “absolutely wrong” to suggest otherwise - 4 hours after Downing Street said there weren’t.

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

4 years

I’m genuinely amazed that anyone thinks it is the job of the press to “ask questions that will provide positive answers”.

Lord Sugar

@Lord_Sugar

4 years

I agree with all this

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

1 year

Genuinely want to stop kids messing around on the street? Reopen all the youth centres (and more) and reverse the sell-off of all the sports pitches.

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

2 years

Really looking forward to the sit-down interview with Chris Whitty in which he’s asked at length about tennis.

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

2 years

I hear Liz Truss’s team is worried about the prospect of MPs not turning up to listen to her speech tomorrow. Some MPs are heading home early because of train strikes; others because they can’t cope with any more. Govt aides today texting MPs asking if they plan to attend…

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

3 years

Apart from minor inconvenience, what’s the downside to telling us that, unless exempt, we have to wear masks for a few more months in settings where we might be a threat to others?

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

3 years

Fair play to Emmanuel Macron for having lots of journalists in the room and taking questions at random from those wanting to ask one. Commendable.

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

1 year

Er, patients have been dying needlessly for months - as those working in the NHS have been telling us over and over again on @LBC

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

1 year

Rishi Sunak’s visit to Southampton seems to be going well

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

3 years

Independent SAGE member @chrischirp absolutely fuming on LBC. She tells @eddiemair after today's press conference: "It just made me so angry because they've been doing this for weeks and weeks as if people just aren't obeying the rules. That's not what's happening... 1/

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

1 year

The signs, *always* think about the signs

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

3 years

Very difficult to understand Labour’s decision to make sure Keir Starmer is absolutely nowhere to be seen on a major government scandal story.

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

3 years

Boris Johnson twice says that children of wealthy parents have access to private tutoring "because of their parents' hard work".

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

2 years

The Met has just released a statement saying: 1. It won’t look into allegations of No10 parties because it doesn’t investigate alleged breaches of Covid rules a long time ago. 2. It will speak to two people who attended the Shaun Bailey campaign party…last December. 🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

1 year

Either the prospect of being sent to Rwanda is a tough deterrent that will stop people trying to cross the Channel, or it’s a wonderful, vibrant place to be sent to start a new life. It can’t be both.

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

4 years

We had a caller on LBC recently who had a heavily autistic son living in a supported home many miles away. He felt very alone and was really struggling with lockdown. She said every instinct as a parent was to go and see him but she hadn’t, because those were the rules.

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

2 years

Former Tory chief whip Mark Harper tells Boris Johnson he is “no longer worthy of the great office that he holds”. Harper has expressed unease throughout Partygate but insisted it was right to wait for the Met inquiry. Significant moment.

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

2 years

Man City owners host Bashar al-Assad for tea while their close allies, the Newcastle United owners, carry on beheading prisoners and bombing Yemen, and the mate of the Chelsea owner shoots kids and shells maternity hospitals in Ukraine. Just another weekend in the Premier League.

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

3 years

Lots of people with tickets on trains to Glasgow for COP26 are now having to book flights instead because of the shambles that is the UK rail network. Highly embarrassing start to the conference.

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

3 years

EXCL: 110 direct flights from India have landed in UK since it was placed on the Red List on 23rd April. Analysis suggests almost 8,500 travellers from India have arrived in UK since then. No flight ban in place from India, unlike 11 other "Red" countries inc. Brazil & S. Africa.

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

2 years

Where we’re at: amid allegations of law-breaking in government, civil servants are interviewing police officers but police officers won’t consider interviewing civil servants - until they’ve seen the conclusions of the civil servants’ interviews *with their own officers*.

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

5 years

Whenever MPs complain about immigrants not speaking good enough English, remember that the government has cut funding for English as a second language classes by more than 60% since 2010.

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

4 years

Wow. Now Tory MP Steve Double says "many people that we consider to be low skilled are actually pretty crucial to the smooth running of our country". Calls on Priti Patel to review the new points-based immigration system "to reflect the things we've learnt during this time".

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

11 months

Desperately hope they find the submarine, but the fate of the 5 people on it has already received far more attention than the 78 who drowned in one tragedy off the coast of Greece last week - surely that should make us pause for thought.

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

7 months

If private schools are charities because they provide education, then Bupa and all the Harley Street clinics should be charities because they provide healthcare. Except they aren't, obviously. And nor are private schools.

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

4 years

Interesting timing - 24 hours after the govt reintroduced legislation to end low-skilled migration, George Eustice says the UK is suffering from a lack low-skilled migrants to pick fruit.

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

3 years

Being in the middle of a "not insignificant" third wave means it's the wrong time to start the Covid public inquiry, says Boris Johnson, though he insisted it was the right time to open nightclubs.

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

10 months

Rishi Sunak only taking questions from newspapers that support the government… Only The Times, Telegraph, Sun and Mail allowed questions.

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

1 year

Funny how so many men suddenly take an interest in street harassment & everyday sexism when the person alleged to be behind it is an asylum seeker. Forgive me for wondering if a sudden passion for tackling misogyny isn’t their primary motivation…

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

6 months

At least the bagpipe school was spared. Shame there was no one as influential to advocate for SureStart, the youth centres, the working poor, the libraries, the NHS, the FE colleagues, the English language classes, the local councils, young people etc. etc.

Political Currency

@polcurrency

6 months

How Queen Elizabeth stopped @George_Osborne from making cuts to the Highland bagpipe school 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿👸🏼 🎧 Listen to Political Currency:

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

8 months

NEW: I understand Nadine Dorries didn’t actually send her resignation “letter”, which begins “Dear Prime Minister”, to Rishi Sunak - she just published it in the Daily Mail. First PM saw of the letter, purportedly to him, was when the Mail published it.

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

2 years

NEW: Labour calling for Parliament to be recalled.

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

1 year

Elected politicians trying to force the state broadcaster to make a presenter apologise for criticising government policy is…not a good look…

Calgie

@christiancalgie

1 year

EXCL: 36 Tory MPs and Lords have decided Lineker’s suspension isn’t good enough. They’ve written to Tim Davie demanding a full apology “without reservation” from Mr Lineker. They also want an independent investigation.

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

4 years

No10 confirms that UK is not taking part in EU initiative to bulk buy ventilators and other equipment needed to tackle coronavirus. Asked why, Boris Johnson’s spokesman says: “We are not a member of the EU.”

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

4 months

People lauding the South African government over its apparent concern for international law might ask why it’s repeatedly refused to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, refused to fulfil an ICC warrant to arrest Putin when he visited, and is accused of sending arms to Moscow.

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

2 years

By pushing Beergate so hard, CCHQ and friendly press have given Starmer an opportunity to draw a major diving line between him and Boris Johnson on a key issue - trust & integrity - that’s at the heart of Starmer’s pitch to voters. A gamble for KS but could be a key moment.

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

2 years

This is the problem for the government: Boris Johnson is standing on the world stage, trying to talk about the threat of war in Europe, and is being asked about Downing Street parties.

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

2 years

One minister, asked who they want to take over as leader, says: “I don’t give a f*ck anymore. I’m going to find a bar.” But then describes backers of Rishi Sunak as “nasty, evil bullies”… Another senior Tory says they’ll “burn the building down” if Boris Johnson returns… 😬

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

2 years

Quite the anecdote from @dylanjonesa , who employed Boris Johnson as motoring correspondent while editor of GQ

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

1 year

Angela Eagle: “This year the Tory Party has given us five education secretaries, four chancellors, three prime ministers, two leadership coups, and the partridge has had to sell the pear tree to pay the gas bill.”

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

2 years

So one of the people who joked about the party has resigned but nobody who actually attended the party has resigned.

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

3 years

No10 spokesman didn't just say on Friday that PM considered the matter closed, but also that Boris Johnson had "full confidence" in Matt Hancock. PM now suggesting again that he sacked Hancock, though his own spokesman denied this on Monday and said Hancock resigned.

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

2 years

Kwasi Kwarteng has decided not to publish any of the Treasury’s distributional analysis of today’s announcements - very unusual for a fiscal event of this size.

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

2 years

Are some of the media reporting on the Tory leadership race or actively campaigning in it?

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

1 year

Incredible to see ministers making things up like this. The Refugee Convention simply doesn’t say this.

Channel 4 News

@Channel4News

1 year

"They're not asylum shoppers they're asylum seekers... That's not true." @krishgm challenges immigration minister Robert Jenrick after he claims "asylum shoppers" should seek sanctuary in the first safe country they reach under the "Refugee Convention".

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

7 months

Can you imagine if, two days after the Bataclan attack, thousands of people in London had gone to protest outside the French embassy? No, you can’t.

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

2 years

Munira Mirza could have left government quietly, in a way that wouldn’t have damaged Boris Johnson. That her resignation letter is so critical and has been made public is notable. Seems designed to have maximum impact.

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

15 days

So the government Chief Whip knew about the Mark Menzies allegations in January but only withdrew the whip when the Times reported them yesterday, three months later. Right.

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

2 years

Debate rages over no-fly zones. On the one side, heads of state, military leaders, intelligence chiefs, war studies experts, senior diplomats, historians. On the other, newspaper columnists.

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

2 years

3 months since Russian troops started massing on the Ukrainian border, almost 2 months since Western leaders declared a Russian invasion of Ukraine highly likely, questions being asked as to why the Home Office is still considering what its policy on Ukrainian refugees should be.

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

14 days

You could sort out the state of NHS mental health services - or you could tell people needing them that they’re the problem.

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

4 years

Here’s the full clip of Jacob Rees-Mogg saying people speaking out about the difficulty of getting a Covid test should stop the “endless carping”.

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

2 years

I’m told tonight that some government ministers have privately voiced concerns about the position govt has taken on the Owen Paterson issue. There is genuine anger among some Conservative MPs about the decision to whip the vote. Even some of those who backed it not happy.

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

7 months

On Suella Braverman, a senior Tory MP texts: "Her comments are baseless & reinforce prejudice. Why has she highlighted such a tiny minority of asylum claims? I'm amazed she's been given permission to sound off like this. Then again, I'm amazed she's actually the Home Secretary."

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

3 years

The 1-day ban to be given to 3 MPs for trying to “improperly influence judicial proceedings” by writing to a judge in the trial of a Tory MP convicted of sexual assault is 4 days fewer than were given to an MP for using “unparliamentary language” (he accused a minister of lying).

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

2 years

Genuinely, who thought that only taking four questions was a good idea?

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

10 months

EXCL: Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden accused of misleading Parliament after government is forced to admit that figure he used while covering for Rishi Sunak at PMQs is not based on any official analysis.

Deputy PM Oliver Dowden accused of misleading MPs after Conservatives brief their statistics as...

The Deputy Prime Minister has been accused of misleading Parliament after using a "baseless" statistic while covering for his boss during Prime Minister’s Questions last month.

www.lbc.co.uk

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Ben Kentish

@BenKentish

2 years

EXCL: Boris Johnson used private jet to fly to Blackpool today, despite it being a 3-hour train journey. It got him there just 50 mins earlier than the train would have. Flying would have emitted several tons of greenhouse gases and likely cost taxpayer much more.

LBC

@LBC

2 years

LBC EXCLUSIVE: Boris Johnson used a private jet to travel to north-west England today despite the journey taking just 3 hours by train, LBC's @BenKentish reports. @IainDale

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