Understand that the background to the
@SuellaBraverman
resignation was the mother of all rows about migration. Told she was under pressure from Number Ten to announce liberalising migration plan which would make it easier for OBR to say Gvt would hit growth target.
"Maybe the Conservative Party no longer cares. Perhaps the sum of its ambition is to become the provisional wing of the right-wing entertainment industry, while
@Keir_Starmer
gets on with the tiresome business of actually running the country."
Hard to overstate what a personal rebuff this is to
@BorisJohnson
. Mirza is one of his longest-standing, loyal and most senior aides, having first worked with him when he was Mayor of London.
As the local MP (then), I met the Duke of Edinburgh in 2002: the Queen and he were visiting Marlow as part of the Golden Jubilee Celebrations. The Duke fixed me with a gimlet stare, and said: "So they've let you have a day off from the monkey house, then?"
+
@ConHome
interview with
@BorisJohnson
: he says that every member of his Cabinet must sign up to Britain leaving the EU on 31st October – deal or no deal
Have just spoken to Sir Bob Kerslake, former Head of the Civil Service. He told me that if Cummings is a full member of SAGE: “it’s both surprising and concerning. The risk is the government is leading the science when it’s supposed to be the other way round.”
I won in court. There are no charges against me. The Electoral Commission is discredited. Now there must be a reckoning, writes
@darrengrimes_
(correctly) on
@ConHome
"The Electoral Commission seems utterly consistent in only two things: an unwillingness to apologise for its errors, and an inability to learn from them."
@wallaceme
on the scandal of its treatment of
@darrengrimes_
.
+
@SamGyimah
departs this contest with the best response to any question in
@ConHome
's candidate survey. Asked about his biggest mistake in life, he replied "I’d candidly suggest that standing for the Tory leadership on a second referendum platform must rank quite high."
New
@BorisJohnson
Brexit video aimed fairly and squarely at potential Brexit Party waverers worried about extended vassaldom. "We will not extend the transition period beyond the end of 2020."
Welcome to our new
@ConHome
columnist - the heroic
@darrengrimes_
. A Pride Day? There’s a good case for one, he writes. But a whole Pride Month? That’s just virtue signalling.
Raises serious questions for
@BorisJohnson
which have implications for his current plight. My godson
@raffymarshall
was the Foreign Office whistleblower.
In other news, emails just published by
@CommonsForeign
re the Afghan evacuation refer to the PM giving personal authorisation for the Nowzad animals to be evacuated.
This was denied by No10 spokesman.
Here’s Johnson MP Chris Heaton Harris in their campaign WhatsApp group claiming they’ve now verified 100 MP nominations and completed paperwork to get on the ballot… we’ll find out tomorrow
CCHQ: "Campaigning for or endorsement of any other political party is incompatible with membership of the party. The board will not hesitate to enforce these rules.” So it's ready to expel 60% of activists & 40% of councillors.
The statue of Winston Churchill in Parliament Square is a permanent reminder of his achievement in saving this country – and the whole of Europe – from a fascist and racist tyranny. 1/8
+
@BorisJohnson
@ConHome
interview highlight 1) He says that every member of his Cabinet must sign up to Britain leaving the EU by October 31 - deal or no deal
-
@RuthDavidsonMSP
is the ultimate demonstration of traditional values in a modern setting. She is handling her departure plan immaculately - and will, I’m sure be back.
A shot across
@BorisJohnson
's bows from
@OwenPaterson
on
@ConHome
. He says that dual-tariff systems for NI would be unacceptable, and that the PM himself has said that the Withdrawal Agreement is dead. Brexit must happen by 31/10 - "deal or no deal"
"Within Whitehall, fears that the EU would behave irresponsibly if there is No Deal receded. The body language from the EU has been signalling a willingness to have an informal understanding over a nine month transition period." George Eustice on
@ConHome
A lot of Tory MPs will be horrified by that blue-on-blue version of Hunger Games - and ask themselves why the candidates agreed to participate. I wonder if
@PennyMordaunt
will gain from her attempt to distance herself from the carnage.
#itvdebate
Good news for free speech. Surrey Police Commissioner and
@ConHome
columnist
@_Lisa_Townsend
is cleared of “misconduct” for expressing her views on transgenderism. But, as
@harryph
points out, the investigation should never have happened
"Ask one question," writes
@DanielJHannan
on
@ConHome
. "In what conflict has
@jeremycorbyn
ever been on Britain’s side? He has shown himself willing to back any cause, however vile, provided it is sufficiently Anglophobic."
+
@NickyMorgan01
worked heroically to make Conservatives with different views on Europe come together in search of solutions. She was also a pleasure to work with as a
@ConHome
columnist - never losing her sense of proportion & humour. I will miss her.
Tom Bower's wife was ennobled by
@BorisJohnson
. But his new biography of the PM fails to mention this fact - which
@AndrewGimson
, another Johnson biographer, swoops on in this
@ConHome
review
No 10 wants new CCHQ in the Midlands/North - “somewhere...close to a university with good maths/physics departments, good train links, well placed in political terms”. Says all ideas welcome. Try some below
@ConHome
article here. "We will be watching"
The
@George_Osborne
/
@edballs
double act is the best thing on political TV at the moment. They offer the plus of first class analysis without the minus of now having to defend a party line.
On a special edition of tonight’s
#AndrewNeilShow
: Can Liz Truss survive?
Former Conservative Chancellor
@George_Osborne
thinks ‘probably not’ and tells
@afneil
he believes she will ‘fall before Christmas’
Channel 4, 6.15pm
Excellent short
@ConHome
piece by
@LiamFox
on why those international Coronavirus League Tables are flawed. A must read on why so many of the statistical analyses more broadly are off beam.
"I will never return to being the person I was prior to Operation Midland. It has scarred me for life and will live with me until the day I die." On
@ConHome
,
@KHarveyProctor
makes "the powerful case" against
@Keir_Starmer
's term as DPP.