Nice plugs for my book in the Times ('a rare book by a modern politician... a complete ideological project') and Telegraph ('the best articulation of a resurgent Tory socialism I've read' NOW HANG ON). Give your loved ones a dose of Conservatism for Xmas
Am hating the abuse I’m getting on here for sticking up for the Cummings’s. But they are old friends & here goes again: they’re human beings with a small child & made a decision in an emergency. PM is satisfied. Hope we can get back to discussing the recovery now. (Fond hope)
I've signed the motion of no confidence in Mr Speaker. This isn't personal: he's a decent man and I'm sure he thought he was doing the right thing yesterday. But Sir Lindsay allowed Labour to use the Islamist threat to change the way our democracy works. This is unacceptable. 1/
Dom and Mary's journey was necessary and therefore within rules. What's also necessary is not attacking a man and his family for decisions taken at a time of great stress and worry, the fear of death and concern for a child. This isn't a story for the normal political shitkickery
The salient fact about the British & slavery is not that we practised it (so did every civilisation in history) but that we abolished it. The salient fact about the British Empire was not its existence (it was the universal model) but its largely peaceful & voluntary dismantling.
It doesn’t matter who has what job in Government if we don’t face facts about what the matter really is. The matter isn’t good or bad ministers. It’s the slow collapse of the economic and social model that the UK has had for 30 years. Since the end of the Cold War we’ve had...
Very sorry indeed to hear
@michaelgove
has been fired by the PM. As I told No 10 earlier today it should be the PM leaving office. I am resigning as PPS at
@Dluhc
.
My colleague
@miriam_cates
has been publicly accused of an unnamed offence against parliamentary standards but cannot even discuss the accusation with anyone, let alone offer any kind of public defence. This is itself an offence against natural justice. We should do this better.
Terrorist sympathisers are marching thru London calling for the destruction of the Jewish state while the police stand by - but hey let’s all focus on which version of an article was cleared by No 10. Can the media possibly please focus on the things that actually matter?
The UK and EU are working together on sanctions and different measures are quicker to implement in some places than in others. On bank sanctions for instance we are leading the way. In other areas the EU is. The West is united - unlike the bit of Twitter still unhinged by Brexit
I have just cast my first ever vote in the House of Commons. Very proud it was an Aye for the EU Withdrawal Bill. This is the first step to national reconciliation and to a new & more positive relationship with our European neighbours. Brexit is nearly over!
Today Keir Starmer persuaded the Speaker to change Parliamentary procedure in the face of the threat of political violence against MPs. A very dark day.
Starmer is even more culpable. He should be standing for democracy and against mob rule. Instead he used the threat of violence for party political ends, to wriggle out of a crisis created by Labour's unbridgeable division over Israel. 2/
All credit to Matthew Parris for making the honest case for assisted suicide: that old people should be killed to save society the cost of looking after them. Maybe their bodies could then be turned into green energy? A modest proposal
Very glad to get this commitment from the Minister that the JCVI is to review the policy of vaccinating children against Covid, which never seemed proportionate to the risks, and is now surely unnecessary
... cheap money, cheap labour, outsourced manufacturing, New Public Management (fake markets & bureaucracy) in the public services, cultural globalisation, a growing techno-state, and total disregard for the things that give us meaning: families, communities, and the nation.
I'm backing Suella Braverman. Here's why.
I have three tests: Policy - what will they do as PM? Character - do they have the capability, courage and integrity required of a leader? Electability - can they connect with the public, and help us win the next election?
Brexit was a heroic blow for a better model - a restoration of the nation as the foundation of political power and identity. We need to complete this restoration by controlling our borders and making the common law the true ground of our rights and liberties.
We are now reaping the whirlwind: chronic public & private debt, chronic family breakdown, chronic despair; & all kinds of malignant reactions incl identity politics and the illiberalism of the modern Left, as well as total confusion about what the Tory Party thinks it’s for.
This is v true by
@Docstockk
: “when deciding who to bully first, the trans activists still seem to know who the women and who the men are.” Women who speak up for the reality of the categories of sex get far more abuse than us men who do so
When people derive their identity - indeed, their existence - from their feelings, then there is no more debate, no more relationship, and no such thing as society. For that reason
#IStandWithRosieDuffield
Like the Speaker, I daresay Starmer wants to do the right thing. But like the Speaker he showed weakness and partisanship yesterday. This was a harbinger of what a Labour government would bring: extremists de facto in charge, and the subversion of democracy. 3/
Parents in my constituency are deeply concerned about the practice of 'social transitioning' - schools treating boys as girls or vice versa, with or without parents' consent. For the sake of all the children, including those confused about their identity, we need clarity. 1/4
Keir says both that 'transwomen are women' and that 'a woman is an adult human female'. These sayings stand for opposite ideas in this debate. Hiding behind the tension between two laws (2004 and 2010) is an abdication of responsibility. 1/2
We also need to strengthen our communities and families - to let local people take back control of local life, and make it easier not harder to raise children and look after the elderly.
Why Government shouldn't tamper with the GRA. To concede the claims of the extreme trans lobby – that sex is simply ‘assigned’ at birth – is to sell the pass. We will be in Wonderland, or in 1984, where truth is what the people in charge decide it is.
That means changing the economic balance, away from financial services in London and towards manufacturing in the regions; and it means deep reform to the welfare state, to reward community solutions not central bureaucracies.
(And for those shouting 'prorogation' remember: in 2019 we sought to restore Parly sovereignty and to ensure that proper procedure - that the Govt controls the order paper except on opposition days - was followed. We had a rogue Speaker then. We can't have another one now.) 4/4
Of course ministers have made a mess of things in recent weeks. But we are in a far deeper crisis than a political one - this crisis has its roots in three decades of economic and social change which has affected the whole world, and upturned politics across the West.
Delighted that
@sajidjavid
@DHSCgovuk
has dropped the plan for the mandatory vaccination of health and care workers. Govt has heeded the evidence and made the right decision. We are now one of the freest countries in the developed world.
I’m encouraged by the PM’s commitment to ‘reflect’ on compulsory health worker vaccination. I hope both main parties will now recognise this policy is unnecessary
The Prime Minister stands for the great realignment that the referendum of 2016 and the general election of 2019 introduced to our politics: a turning-back to the values and interests of the ordinary people of our country.
@danny__kruger
Hi Danny, could you tell us why you think it's a great idea to take away these rights from ordinary people? Asking for 50,000,000 voters.
The fact the left so aggressively police the language around their agenda shows how vulnerable they feel it is. Cultural Marxism is an accurate description of what’s going on. Chris knows this, but here goes.
I see the Times interview with
@miriam_cates
says she refers repeatedly to ‘cultural Marxism’. I don’t know what she means by it, but it is generally regarded as an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory about the supposed undermining of Christian conservatism.
HM Treasury has done an incredible job to rescue the formal economy: most businesses, workers & self-employed have had a lifeline. The biggest gap now - and it stretches right along the front line of all our neighbourhoods - is the social economy: charities & community groups. 1/
The WHO started 2020 by denying Covid came from a Chinese lab. They are starting 2023 by proposing a total takeover of future pandemic policy in each nation. This seems unwise to put it mildly
The Strasbourg Court is setting itself up as a legislator in place of elected governments. The ECHR has been bent out of shape by activists & politicians who want to seem progressive & internationalist by junking both nations and democracy. We should leave
So the regulator who presided over the political debanking scandal has failed to find evidence of it. They simply asked banks if they were guilty without asking those who thought they might be victims to come forwards. We now need to ask serious questions about the FCA itself
New - This will be a big story tomorrow. FCA review finds no evidence of politicians being "debanked" for their views.
@Nigel_Farage
tells the
@FT
: "This is farcical. The FCA are part of the problem." Scoop with the excellent
@LauraNoonanFT
The Mayor of Brussels is trying to shut down the National Conservatism conference, due to be addressed by democratically elected politicians from around Europe. Extraordinary infringement of free speech and the right of assembly - all in the name of liberalism.
This in two paragraphs is the whole case against Assisted Suicide. It's from The Tablet but it makes no religious argument. This is the 'cold logic' of what creating this 'right' leads to: an expectation (then a moral duty) for the old and disabled to end their lives.
I don't do God in public much as it makes people misrepresent what I'm actually saying. But this is quite right & I use the excuse of Easter to say so. Infanticide & euthanasia were common pagan practices wiped out by Christianity. Parris shows how close they are to coming back
@danny__kruger
When a society abandons the idea that all people are created in the image and likeness of God, a hierarchical notion of human worth becomes inevitable.
Euthanasia was common in the pagan world for this reason. It is re-emerging as the West re-pagansises.
A number of local businesses tell me banks are refusing loans without 100% personal guarantees from directors - this despite 80% of the loans being guaranteed by Govt. The taxpayer isn't bailing out banks but businesses: banks should do as they're asked. Have raised with Treasury
High rates of immigration depress wages, reduce investment in skills and technology, put unsustainable pressure on housing and public services, and threaten community cohesion.
Delighted to be selected as Conservative Candidate for Devizes - all my thanks to the brilliant DCCA. Will work every day to earn the trust of people here and hope to help return a Tory majority to Parliament so we can finally Get Brexit Done and focus on the things that matter!
Delighted to be asked by the PM to work with
@dianabarran
on proposals to sustain the amazing community response to Covid-19. We have seen society in action in this crisis - how can we empower & strengthen communities for the long term? Pls email me danny.kruger.mp
@parliament
.uk
Delighted to be joining
@michaelgove
and the team at
@luhcgovuk
(levelling up, housing, communities) as Parliamentary Private Secretary (v junior non ministerial post)
Pupils should be treated according to their biological sex. If parents are happy to treat their child differently at home, that's up to them - they shouldn't be able to insist the teachers and all the other children do likewise. 3/4
Great interview with
@ShaunBaileyUK
- honest punchy & heartfelt - he’d make an outstanding mayor. But the times mean he’s not getting enough coverage- do read
I believe most parents of confused kids would be relieved about this rule. Identity is a minefield, and many children are in deep distress. But the crucial identity we need to maintain is the position of responsibility. Can the adults be adults please. 4/4
The people who voted against the establishment in those elections expect to see us deliver on the promises that were made. Those promises were made, more than by anyone else, by Boris Johnson. He is the man to deliver them.
In June the PM asked me for proposals to sustain the community spirit we saw during lockdown. Levelling Up Our Communities is out today: see it (and the PM's response) here .
My thanks to
@dianabarran
@dcms
for advice & encouragement. Summary thread:
1/8
This is (imo) unanswerable from
@ianbirrell
. All experience shows legalising assisted dying is dangerous for the most vulnerable. It is deeply wrong that its advocates ignore all this evidence to promote a policy that will undermine end-of-life care.
'the law depends on language, and people who pretend to strategic idiocy about the natural and ordinary meanings of words really have no business being lawmakers'. Vg by
@sarahditum
2/2
70 MPs just voted for Bill Cash’s amendment - strong support for strengthening the Safety of Rwanda Bill. The Bill will not work in its current form. There’s still time to get it right.
As the MP representing the HQ of the Royal Artillery, I am outraged by the desecration of the RA memorial in London by pro-Palestinian hooligans last night. The fallen soldiers commemorated there deserve solemn reverence, not this.
🚨🚨🚨AWFUL SCENES: Protesters climbing all over the Royal Artillery Memorial - the police make zero arrests. The level of disrespect is incredible. Look at where they climb on to at the end. I feel sad for my country. This needs to stop now. Police do nothing 🚨🚨🚨
Sorry to be blunt but this is a blunt fact. Either the state agrees the sick/frail/depressed are better off dead and agrees to kill them, or it doesn’t. If it does, it won’t be the rich and powerful who suffer. Spot on from
@BoozeAndFagz
I'm on Newsnight later talking about the Canadian experience of euthanasia. I won't have time to cite all these examples of what's going on... all presented to MPs this week by Canadian doctors
@LeonieHerx
and Dr Ramona Coelho at a meeting of
@DyingWellAppg
. Read on:
To get to know the new Conservative association in the area I’m candidate for at the next election (following boundary changes) I’ve been looking through some old minutes of the committee meetings. They are glorious. Here’s one
Today's story simply appears to be the Government has decided not to legislate on the matter. If so, that's fine - they don't need to. As
@miriam_cates
has been arguing, they just need to change the guidance for schools. 2/4
Well said the British judge in his dissenting opinion: "I fear that in this judgment the majority has gone beyond what it is legitimate and permissible for this Court to do and, unfortunately, in doing so, may well have achieved exactly the opposite effect to what was intended."
Me too. The issue is not whether you approve of what this woman is doing, but whether you approve of giving the police the power to arrest someone for praying silently in a public place. Never in modern British history have we criminalised thought.
Delighted, honoured (and exhausted). Thank you everyone who supported me. I will be the MP for everyone here and work to bring our community and our country together again after Brexit is done.
Too many rich ppl see charity as a bit of fun/ peripheral to the real business of life. Too many charities play into this - hence Kids Co, Presidents Club. We need a new grownup culture of philanthropy. This will enable charities to play a central role in communities, as they shd
Driving past Silbury Hill (manmade Neolithic Wiltshire pyramid) this evening I had the company of a barn owl flying alongside me for a whole minute, dipping in and out of my headlights and beside my window. Google tells me this is common but a first for me, & an eerie honour
My counter accusation is that media are doing this entirely cynically in order to sell their papers (which incidentally govt gallantly stepped in to help with this week). And I am confident my conspiracy theory is more plausible than theirs. 3/4
Great news the Irish Parliament will not be proceeding with the 'Dying with Dignity' (aka Assisted Suicide) Bill. The Justice Committee cited "concern that this Bill could result in abuse of the sick and vulnerable" & recommended the Bill go no further.
@DyingWellAppg
But to suggest, as some media are doing, that there has been indifference, conscious neglect, or some sort of deliberate strategy to do harm, is deeply irresponsible - and harmful, as it will poison our politics in the aftermath 2/4
@LouHaigh
Very sorry to see this personal (and absurd) abuse from a shadow cabinet member about another Parliamentarian. How does this help? Can’t we do our disagreeing better than this?
I gave my maiden speech yesterday (read or watch the whole thing here ). I tried to make an argument about community and identity. Here follow some bits of it. 1/11
I’m proud to support this appeal to help Col Bob Stewart’s legal challenge against his conviction. Bob is a national hero and a decent man. Thank you
@Bren4Bassetlaw
for leading this.
We cannot trade our sovereignty for market access to the EU. We want a deal between independent states, as we have with Japan and as the EU has with Canada - not imperial preference (as the British colonies’ trade benefits with the mother country was called). 2/4
A trade deal would be good for our economy and good for our politics - helping heal the divisions exposed and exacerbated by Brexit. But neither reason outweighs the fundamental imperative of completing the Brexit process that the Withdrawal Agreement initiated. 1/4
The Guardian backed the South in the US Civil War & the Spectator backed the North. The slave trade was abolished thanks to the Tory MP William Wilberforce. Conservatives' record on this topic is good. Now we need to defend our common culture against the wreckers.
Miriam Cates MP and I today launch the New Social Covenant Unit. We think politics should seek to strengthen families, communities and the nation. Do follow
@SocialCovenant
and read more here 1/2
I might as well post here what I’m saying to colleagues direct about why Suella needs to stay in the race, and why she could well get through today. 1/
Very wrong of Lord Forsyth to say on R4 just now that there’s no evidence of assisted suicide laws being expanded (the slippery slope) in other countries. In EVERY COUNTRY WHERE A.S. IS LEGAL the scope has been expanded. It’s inevitable - and indeed the wish of campaigners.
Today’s report is a major set back for the Assisted Suicide campaign:
No support for a vote in Parliament
Impossible to assess a patient’s capacity to choose
Impossible to safeguard the vulnerable
Major probs with Oregon and Canada, where euthanasia eats up extra funding
Whatever Govt emerges from this crisis needs to rebuild the 2019 coalition of voters. This means Brexit, borders, manufacturing, family, place, defence, tradition, solidarity... not just tax cuts and technocracy. 3/
writing damning comments explicitly about me, including 'transphobic' 'shit-for-brains' 'vile' 'bigoted' 'hateful' 'rancid' 'cruel' 'bitchy' having 'shrivelled black organs' 'snuffling around in a gutter' 'a bully' & 'not fit to be a children's author'
That whole paragraph is v true - Left and Right both have conservative and liberal aspects, but only the liberal ones ever get implemented. We’ve even turned Brexit into a liberal project, for global trade rather than national renewal
Finished “Why Liberalism Failed” by
@PatrickDeneen
at midnight last night. It’s an incredible book, one I’ll come back to often. This line stuck out to me —>
Very good letter in Telegraph last week. The ‘right’ to die early will gradually become a duty. (And the ‘safeguards’ to keep this right for the nearly-dead and the physically and mentally capable will be seen as discriminatory, and be discarded).
@DyingWellAppg
Spot on from
@MelanieLatest
(citing
@GoodwinMJ
research)
'The party now has to make a choice. Does it want to restore the UK as an independent national project that upholds its historic culture, traditions and institutions?... 1/