EXCL: Mick Lynch says the “EU provoked a lot of the trouble in Ukraine”
Says: “There were a lot of corrupt politicians in Ukraine…. there were an awful lot of people [in Ukraine] playing with Nazi imagery”
@NewStatesman
full story here:
New:
- Shadow cabinet will meet tomorrow to receive their marching orders
- Labour parliamentary staffers have been seconded to HQ
- Source: "We’re going to be really, really aggressive. [The Tories] have got a huge price to pay for what they’ve done, and we’ll make them pay.”
NEW: Senior Tory, with influence over the rules, tells me the plan is to have two final leadership candidates set 21 July
Says no need for vote of confidence on Tuesday now there’s a leadership election.
But admits there’s a worry Johnson seems himself as a candidate…
Kwarteng:
"We reversed that story of national decline," after 12 yrs of Tory rule.
"The path ahead of us was one of slow managed decline," after 12 years of Tory rule.
Which is it?
One senior Tory tells me the 1922 committee was “funereal”, another says it was a complete “disaster”. A third says anyone with a majority less than 10k is toast.
This is not surprising - they laughed at her at PMQs.
There’s a sense of inevitability about Truss’s demise.
🗞🚨 Personal news👇
I’m thrilled to start as a political reporter for the
@NewStatesman
today. I’ll be interviewing MPs, writing Morning Call (alongside
@PronouncedAlva
and
@harrytlambert
) and reporting from Westminster
NEW: Keir Starmer confirms he has ditched the 2019 manifesto in a move that will enrage his critics on the left of the party:
“What we've done with the last manifesto is put it to one side. We're starting from scratch. The slate is wiped clean."
#NSPoliticsLive
EXCLUSIVE: Lord Cameron could be asked to take questions in the Commons.
- Procedure Committee will recommend the foreign sec be called to the Bar of the House in an upcoming report
- Extraordinary move: the mechanism was last used in 1957
In July, Keir Starmer gave a speech in which he said his three priorities were “growth, growth and growth” – a phrase the Prime Minister appropriated yesterday.
@freddiejh8
reports
The police have turned up at the National Conservative conference in Brussels where Farage is currently speaking.
Organisers said they have been given fifteen to stop the conference.
Suella Braverman arrived about 30 minutes ago.
Exclusive:
George Robertson, former Nato secretary general, tells me EU expansion explains Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Because EU membership “fundamentally and permanently” changes countries on Russia’s border
- Tough six weeks ahead: one staffer remembers McSweeney saying, “this is the campaign in which we have to learn to cry alone”
- But understand McSweeney is delighted the election is on. One source: "This is what he was made for. He's an election organiser par excellence"
NEW: Labour calls for an investigation into the PM’s comments about funnelling money away from “deprived” areas, revealed by
@REWearmouth
.
Story here:
'Critical issues must not be monopolised by those who don’t respect freedom of speech.' Have a look at my article for the
@NewStatesman
outlining my reasons for resigning from
@Cherwell_Online
.
- Two senior aides I've spoken to had to cancel holidays after booking them this week.
- Concerns around burnout could worsen if Lab get into government.
“It would have been better in retrospect if we’d left Saddam there.”
I spoke to Jack Straw about the Iraq war and why Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe wasn’t released earlier 👇
Suella Braverman says she was in favour of the 45p tax cut
“I am disappointed by the subsequent reversal”
“I am disappointed that members of our party staged a coup and undermined the PM in an unprofessional way”
NEW: Ed Davey will say Labour's plans for Lords reform without electoral reform is like "changing the tires when the cars on fire" in a speech later today.
@NewStatesman
No 10 confirm the PM has resigned as Conservative party leader today - for anyone unsure whether he would resign in the coming days.
The Conservative party is currently leaderless.
"People were lied to, and they believed the lies.”
I spoke to Sadiq Khan about Brexit, levelling up and why he thinks the EU is like a tennis club
@NewStatesman
Farage is doing a media tour. He’s compared the situation to Soviet Russia.
He said: if anything has convinced me about leaving the EU it’s the events of today
MPs are voting on whether to sit in private.
If passed it means the press and public would be ejected and the TV streams would be switched off, according to a door keeper.
Truss would've been better off not doing that press conference.
Any credibility she may have gained from replacing Kwarteng with Hunt has been completely overshadowed.
For all the noise, this is an election about fundamentals: fourteen years of misgovernment, rising immigration, the failure of austerity and broken public services.
Opinium's 20pt lead likely a reversion to mean from two weeks ago (Lab lead +18). Noise of last week's +14 makes this look all that a little more dramatic. At any rate, no change in the Lab lead overall. +22 acc to
@BritainElects
If the Lib Dem’s become the third largest party in parliament, with more questions at PMQs and seats on committees etc - as they’re projected to - Davey would become a much more important figure in British politics.
Caring isn’t just my family's story, it is the story of millions, caring for each other, dealing with tough times, and keeping going with love.
Sharing our story hasn't been easy, but it's important. It's time to bring carers' experiences into the light.
EXCL: MPs have sent a letter to the Speaker demanding Keir Starmer be referred to the Privileges Committee over allegedly pressuring him to select the Labour amendment on Gaza.
Privileges committee has the power to call witnesses.
Robertson said:
“He’s bothered by the European Union. The whole Ukraine crisis started with the offer of an [EU] accession agreement to Ukraine [in 2014].”
"We’re going back into a world of aristocracy. Capitalism’s over.”
This is a brilliantly detailed interview from
@Anoosh_C
in this week's
@NewStatesman
"For the past 13 years, Conservative governments have presided over an economy in which owners of capital have quietly enriched themselves while everyone else struggles to maintain their income."
Great piece from
@harrytlambert
Excl: the shadow cabinet has been told to have all policy finalised by 8 February.
Labour strategists are convinced the national insurance cut means No 10 is planning on a spring poll.
Story here👇
Keir Starmer did not say Labour would boost defence spending to 2.5% - even though that’s exactly what they’ve promised to do.
Another missed opportunity.
Why is the the fact some MPs are voting in a certain way due to threats not causing more condemnation?
“You don’t hear much about it, and I think there’s a sort of collective wish that that’s the case," according to one Labour MP.
EXCL: Neal Lawson accuses the Labour leadership of acting like a bully.
- He DENIES the allegation that he supports other parties
- Says he will reply to the party
- The former Brown adviser accuses Labour "focusing on control – over ideas and vision”.
New: David Lammy has launched an offensive to win over the French political establishment.
- He has invested time in Macron allies Clément Beaune and the MP Benjamin Haddad
- Met with former French president François Hollande
- Now tweets in other languages, incl French.
“Midway through Widdecombe’s speech an early medieval historian next to me muttered about Magna Carta.
He was there because his 14-year-old son was given a detention for calling a non-binary substitute teacher “sir”.”
I went to a Reform UK rally 👇
"A 25-year-old told me he thought Israel created Hamas and that the Israeli Defence Force committed the massacre on 7 October at the Re’im music festival as a pretext for invading Gaza."
I spent the day with the far-right and pro-Palestinian marchers:
No 10 confirm the PM has resigned as Conservative party leader today - for anyone unsure whether he would resign in the coming days.
The Conservative party is currently leaderless.
“If this government thinks that it is seen as a bastion for human rights around the world, it is utterly delusional” -
@philippesands
told me.
My piece on the government's claim to be a "force for good in the world":