George Parker
@GeorgeWParker
Followers
62,617
Following
611
Media
262
Statuses
10,183
FT Political Editor, former Brussels bureau chief, presenter R4 Week in Westminster. Sometimes seen at Selhurst Park and County Ground, Taunton
London
Joined May 2011
Don't wanna be here?
Send us removal request.
Explore trending content on Musk Viewer
Wasit
• 265362 Tweets
$EIGEN
• 132717 Tweets
Scotland
• 126666 Tweets
Uzbek
• 101477 Tweets
Mufasa
• 63714 Tweets
Jerome
• 62992 Tweets
#محمد_بن_سلمان
• 59344 Tweets
Arhan
• 51029 Tweets
Lion King
• 48037 Tweets
Madonna
• 40784 Tweets
Olimpiade
• 39429 Tweets
ARMY ARE FOREVER BEHIND BTS
• 35193 Tweets
Ridho
• 33808 Tweets
Rock in Rio
• 28056 Tweets
Seinfeld
• 26690 Tweets
Tyson
• 26351 Tweets
Nadal
• 23897 Tweets
Medina
• 20669 Tweets
HBD PP KRIT 25th
• 19448 Tweets
Sananta
• 17871 Tweets
gracie
• 16564 Tweets
Shen Yinhao
• 15494 Tweets
Jake Paul
• 12315 Tweets
Zeke
• 11248 Tweets
Tekno
• 10831 Tweets
Last Seen Profiles
Presumably Mary Wakefield can't drive. The stuff about driving to a beauty spot at Barnard Castle and sitting by a river (in defiance of the lockdown) to test his eyesight is so ludicrous it guarantees this story is about to enter its fourth day...and more
770
3K
17K
Boom. John Major, asked if any prime minister breaks the law, should they resign, replies: "That has always been the case."
94
1K
11K
So far she has managed to get more employees of GB News on a plane to Rwanda than migrants - but early days
BREAKING: Home Secretary Suella Braverman has landed in Rwanda to reinforce the government's plans to deport migrants there who arrive in the UK by small boat or other illegal means.
Latest:
📺 Sky 501, Virgin 602, Freeview 233 and YouTube
3K
354
3K
308
2K
10K
To recap. Today
@BorisJohnson
majority went from +1 to -43. He lost his first vote as prime minister. His Brexit strategy is being "wrecked", say No 10. He wants an election but may not be able to get it - at least not on his terms. And he's thrown Ken Clarke out of the party
270
3K
9K
A lot of glum Tory faces at Westminster today as
@OwenPaterson
vote approaches. “We are shooting ourselves in the head,” says one MP. “Everything Labour says about this is right”
376
2K
9K
One normally very loyal and long-serving Tory MP texts to say: "It was awful. I'm considering my position overnight."
250
941
7K
The fact that only 250 out of 361 Tory MPs followed the
@BorisJohnson
edict on the sleaze vote reflects just how contentious this was. The PM can expect a torrent of media criticism - inc from Tory-supporting papers - tomorrow. Mood toxic.
210
1K
5K
Shouldn't a G7 country be able to build a high speed railway line between its major cities AND fill in potholes?
293
647
5K
Good to hear
@BorisJohnson
saying he wants to bring the country back together in 2020. Not sure how Big Ben bonging on Jan 31 or minting commemorative Brexit coins helps. Yes the Leave side have won, but for much of the country Jan 31 will be a moment of profound sadness
212
884
5K
Only in Britain could you have a raging P1 debate about whether Big Ben should “bong” for Brexit but virtually no comment on the fact the Treasury hasn’t produced an assessment of what the
@BorisJohnson
proposed trade deal would mean for jobs and prosperity
76
2K
4K
The fact that cabinet ministers are briefing the BBC that they didn't much like the Chequers plan in July (but signed it off and have sat in the cabinet for four months since that meeting) might give a clue to how much backbone they are likely to have in the days ahead
70
1K
4K
To recap, Britain's new EU border in numbers: £7bn in new red tape; 215m extra forms; 50,000 new form-fillers; worst-case 7,000-truck queues; £77m for emergency ferries; 10 new inland customs sites; four lorry parks; £300 fines for HGV drivers entering Kent without "passport"
211
2K
4K
Love the No 10 rebranding of a “no trade deal” Brexit - ie WTO with tariffs, serious friction and a bit of mitigation - as an “Australia-style” deal. Just a reminder: Australia has no FTA with the EU and is 9,000 miles away, not 30
90
1K
3K
Powerful
@Keir_Starmer
performance - Tory MPs listen in silence. Former Tory chief whip Mark Harper says PM is “no longer worthy of the great office that he holds”
43
586
3K
Ominous for Boris Johnson. He makes a personal appeal to MPs and then over 100 vote against him or abstain an hour later. Whips had no idea how bad it would be - Johnson's allies claimed at 6.15pm the rebellion was "haemorrhaging". A party dangerously out of control
95
576
3K
Watching
@michaelgove
today on a no trade deal Brexit reminds me of how angry Brexiters were when I reported in 2016 they were eyeing an "Albanian" trade model. Apologies. Albania has a trade arrangement with the EU. Now "Afghanistan model".
134
765
3K
Normally politicians would jump all over this kind of good news. Not this time. Why? 1) It illustrates the NI protocol is working and is popular with business 2) It's a reminder that NI's "dual market" status is what the whole UK used to have until Brexit
41
939
3K
So nightclubs will be allowed to open to unvaccinated people for two months, before - as a safety measure - Covid passports are introduced. This was Dutch PM after he opened then closed nightclubs: "We had poor judgement, which we regret and for which we apologise."
40
631
2K
New - Labour to fight only minimal campaign in top 30 Lib Dem target seats as part of "ruthless" targeting of scarce resources by
@Keir_Starmer
on Lab targets..Blue Wall danger for Tories as informal Lib-Labbery grows
123
421
2K
Live from the Johnson plane over Iran, PM says Britain needs "hundreds of thousands" of new workers - particularly in IT and programming. Hint of more visas for Indians ahead of his visit to Gujarat and Delhi
710
821
2K
This idea from senior Conservatives that someone else is really running the country (the Deep State, Islamists, people with podcasts etc) is a reminder of how Brexit created a vacancy for governing parties looking for someone else to blame
63
503
2K
Priti Patel thinks it’s a “national humiliation” to let a French co save the taxpayer money by making the new passport. Like Norman Foster doing the Reichstag or Richard Rogers’ Pompidou maybe? I thought Brexit Britain was going to be all free-tradey and open to the world
152
874
2K
Wonder what the French, Italians, Chinese and the rest think about this national humiliation? An admission we can’t build - or effectively manage - a single new railway line…150 years after Victorians in top hats built a whole network
156
515
2K
Surprise -
@michaelgove
tells MPs he won’t publish impact assessment of proposed EU trade deal (unlike 60 pages on a proposed US deal). Could be because this will be first trade deal in history to leave both sides *worse* off
47
959
2K
Good to hear George Eustice telling EU countries (ie France) to stick to one set of Brexit trade commitments while his ministerial colleague
@DavidGHFrost
unilaterally threatens to tear another set up
74
451
2K
A case study of the danger in photocopying a Taxpayers' Alliance press release - adding a few billion - and presenting it as a programme for govt
50
602
2K
No idea why you feel the need to be so unpleasant to a fellow journalist doing her job, but here are two observation: 1)
@BethRigby
is a great journalist, highly respected and a very nice person 2) she speaks like a normal person (and has clear diction)...so get over it
Beth Rigby’s diction is very unclear. She upbraided Boris about his “character”.
Boris: “My parrot?”
580
117
521
103
236
2K
After the cancelling of Christmas today, I'm sure the British public can't wait for
@BorisJohnson
to end the year on a high by leaving Britain trading with its biggest market on the same terms as Afghanistan.
"We cannot accept a deal that doesn’t leave us in control of our own laws or waters. We’re continuing to try every possible path to an agreement, but without a substantial shift from the Commission we will be leaving on WTO terms on December 31.”
94
60
328
55
448
2K
"Generally it is remarkable how smoothly the total reordering of this country's economic relations has gone."
@DavidGHFrost
tells
@Policy_Exchange
118
782
2K
Brexit has been a fascinating voyage of discovery for
@DanielJHannan
about European politics and the EU’s attachment to the single market that Mrs Thatcher built. Odd given he spent over 20 years living and working in Brussels as an MEP.
I hoped and believed that the EU would act in the interests of its 27 members and agree to a mutually beneficial deal. I was wrong. Boris had no choice but to walk away and prepare for no deal. We should now formally give notice that we are annulling the Withdrawal Agreement.
1K
1K
4K
81
315
2K
I hold no brief for Damian Green, but what do you find more shocking: 1) man looks at legal porn (allegedly) 2) police raid office of an MP then use confidential and incidental material obtained during raid to try to bring down a cabinet minister?
231
742
2K
New -
@Keir_Starmer
ends Labour's tactical silence on Brexit in a major speech on Monday, as evidence mounts on the negative economic fallout. Claims Johnson's Brexit deal is like a "fatberg/wet wipe island" clogging up Britain's trade flows
238
524
2K
If you give the impression that you think Britain’s biggest success story is a dystopian crime-ridden hellscape inhabited by an out-of-touch elite and people afraid to leave their homes, there’s always a risk of an, um, electoral disconnect
That MRP poll has complete wipeout for the Tories in London. Total and utter destruction.
163
268
2K
30
351
2K
The PM emerges from weeks of media silence to reveal he's considering setting up a public subscription fund to raise £500,000 so that Big Ben can bong on Brexit night. Still not sure how celebratory bonging helps to heal a divided nation
335
329
2K
Just to recap as MPs prepare to vote on the Brexit bill: in an attempt to secure new free trade agreements with distant lands, notably the US, we are first going to erect new trade barriers with our neighbours - the EU - and within the UK on trade with NI.
39
643
2K
Brexit just got crazier. Head of HMRC warns that the so-called "max fac" customs proposal being studied by the cabinet would cost business £17bn-£20bn a year. That is about double the UK's annual net contribution to the EU. So why are they even considering it?
75
1K
1K
Buried in the small print of this govt press release: confirmation that Brexit will make your food more expensive
49
763
1K
Hmm. Not sure where that figure comes from. £1 trillion is £1000bn. I think we spent £65bn bailing out RBS and Lloyds. Where did the other £935bn come from?
We spent just over £1 trillion bailing out the banks after the financial crisis. So if we did it for the bankers then why wouldn’t we do it what is needed for our fishermen and our farmers now?
#HastobeHunt
863
47
169
182
406
1K
New - Sunak reprimanded by UK Statistics watchdog over claim “debt is falling”. It isn’t. Sir Robert Chote says Sunak’s claim “may have undermined trust in the govt’s use of statistics”.
51
705
1K
The quarantine debate in a single graphic
38
460
1K
Bloody hell. Brace for more market turmoil. This is exactly the kind of problem that
@DanielJHannan
was warning about
BREAKING
Labour have a 33 POINT LEAD with YouGov/Times
Yes, 33. THIRTY-THREE POINTS
Lab: 54 (+9)
Con: 21 (-7)
Lib: 7 (-2)
Green: 6 (-1)
Ref: 4 (+1)
Fieldwork: Today and yesterday
755
4K
16K
26
97
1K
Labour wants to know how much taxpayers’ money was spent on sorting out this mess
28
443
1K
BBC news leading with
@RishiSunak
too busy to attend COP27 global climate summit (unlike Joe Biden), Liz Truss telling King Charles not to go. Britain represented by Alok Sharma, who Sunak has just demoted from the cabinet. Doesn’t exactly scream Vote Tory to younger voters
57
357
1K
Where’s Chuka? Lib Dems at their traditional Glee Club knees up with a popular ditty in which Tony Blair is told to “f*** off and die”
707
825
1K
Sounds like a great deal...if only it were available to other parts of the UK
“Northern Ireland has got a great deal. You keep free movement. You keep access to the single market.”
883
3K
5K
21
287
1K
Paddy Ashdown, a true Liberal hero, RIP. When he was High Rep in Bosnia his team had a tip off about an incoming car bomb. Paddy's HQ was next to a petrol station, but he told his team to stay calm: "Don't worry. I tried to blow up a petrol station once - it didn't work."
7
292
1K
Crumbling schools, a minister saying sorry for swearing, a former minister facing an 8-week suspension for drunken groping, another by-election, a former chief whip saying sorry for bullying another former chief whip…Not a great start to the year
49
361
1K
Words you don’t ideally want to see in the same sentence from the Bank of England: “Dysfunction in this market, and the prospect of self-reinforcing ‘fire sale’ dynamics, pose a material risk to UK financial stability.”
43
572
1K
Take that as "declined to comment"?
I haven't spoken to any FT hacks since Oct 2019, it's not a serious newspaper & they make stuff up same as others... GP just texted this...
134
58
314
23
48
1K
This is such a shame that Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the Brexiteers' businessman of choice - looks like he won't be able to stay in Britain long enough to enjoy the benefits of Brexit.
63
472
1K
Tony Blair and John Major refused to offer 3m HK citizens these rights, but Boris Johnson does it without a whisper of protest. A tale about Britain’s complex debate on immigration - and how we ended up doing the right thing
110
250
980
If I were
@BorisJohnson
I would sort this out very quickly - like before the local news bulletins tonight
.
@BorisJohnson
is refusing to confirm that the £60m offer to Burnham to support local businesses and workers will still be provided
160
160
573
28
188
946
Is "stay alert" confusing? “We want now to have a message which encourages people to go to work,” Robert Jenrick,
@SophyRidgeSky
. “We want people to stay at home as much as possible.” Robert Jenrick
@AndrewMarr9
49
483
935
Sorry to keep posting pics of Big Ben (aka the Elizabeth Tower) but this is the most cheery thing about Westminster atm. It’s going to look spectacular when all the scaffolding is off
50
84
921
This is scarcely believable: I'm told the cabinet has never been briefed by HMRC that the "max fac" option might cost business £20bn a year. This option has been on the table since last August, but ministers have never been told what it would cost??
143
674
874
The whole “herd immunity” concept - fanned by official and “source” briefings - is a PR disaster, which
@MattHancock
is now trying to close down. He says it was never part of the plan
118
384
879
Only four years ago he was standing to become Tory PM, now
@RoryStewartUK
says he'd be interested in serving as a minister in a Starmer Labour govt. A look at a difficult year for
@RishiSunak
and how he hopes to turn it round in 2024
231
211
895
"It was always inevitable if you change the exact nature of your trading relationship with the EU, that was always going to have an impact on trade flows," says
@RishiSunak
172
251
869
The penny's dropping with some Brexiters that spending the summer setting out 70 ways Britain might deal with the chaos of a "no deal" exit might not have their intended effect. Stockpiling of medicines and food and sticking generators in the Irish Sea doesn't make UK look strong
42
327
862
Looks like I chose the wrong week to give up sniffing glue...
16
372
805
Dominic Cummings tells Simon Walters in
@DailyMailUK
today: “I’ve nothing bad to say about Carrie, I wish her well.” This from
@ShippersUnbound
book All Out War is interesting in that regard
19
225
839
Interesting Rishi Sunak doing a Radio 2 interview and a PM Connect event today...v unusual to do this kind of thing during a Labour conference. Almost as if he doesn't feel he got his message across last week
52
124
843
Tory MPs report rare sighting of
@BorisJohnson
in the Commons tearoom .. usually a sign of a PM in trouble with his/her party rather than in need of a tea cake
43
147
800
That
@BorisJohnson
statement in the Commons, just finished, was a fatally flawed mix of contrition and defiance - Tory MPs in despair. "Utter train wreck," is how one normally loyal backbencher describes it.
21
173
808
Laura Trott isn't the only person who claims that "debt is falling" when it's not true - as confirmed by this stinging rebuke from the UK stats watchdog
20
402
804
The House of Lords is expected to vote on Monday to delete the parts of the internal market bill (relating to NI) that
@JoeBiden
hates - the bits that break international law. Will
@BorisJohnson
commit to putting them back in?
#specialrelationship
23
242
781
So if Tory Eurosceptics vote down May's deal again next week, they will hand over to 27 European leaders a decision on whether or not to let Britain's economy and business drop off a Brexit cliff on March 29. A novel way of taking back control
67
277
765
For those of you asking,
@theresa_may
and I are just having a quiet night in, discussing Alpine flora, Ottolenghi recipes and Article 136 (a) of the draft withdrawal treaty
18
94
773
Hmm. A lot of chaff being thrown out but ultimately Frost was told by Johnson to cave on the NI protocol - and get off the ECJ hill that he was so keen to occupy. The main briefings on the capitulation were done by officials, not Frost.
EXCLUSIVE: Brexit Minister Lord Frost has resigned from Boris Johnson’s Cabinet over the ‘political direction of his Government’. Full details in tomorrow’s Mail on Sunday.
1K
3K
8K
34
251
762
Free-trading Britain now creating new paperwork for trucks crossing the border between Surrey and Kent - that’s before they hit the new trade border at Dover. Two lots of forms where currently there are none
Here's Michael Gove on the introduction of Kent Access Permits to control trucker traffic into Kent post Brexit
277
217
355
95
373
761
The clock is ticking to the inevitable climb down...how long do you give it?
Boris Johnson rejects Marcus Rashford's plea for free school meals over summer | Marcus Rashford | The Guardian
42
75
95
70
98
727
Big read - Number 10 gets into Brexit deal mode...no appetite at top of govt (
@RishiSunak
@michaelgove
) for more chaos
@BorisJohnson
under pressure from Tory MPs to show he can deliver with
@pmdfoster
and
@jimbrunsden
67
365
718
“This is a one nation government and this is a one nation party,” says
@sajidjavid
. Ken Clarke, fired by
@BorisJohnson
last night after almost 50 years as a one nation Tory MP, smiles quietly two rows back
11
122
710
Britain delays (again) Brexit border controls on EU goods coming into the UK to avoid worsening supply chain crisis. Meanwhile our exporters face red tape selling stuff the other way. Ironic that
@DavidGHFrost
"takes back control" by not having any controls..
20
211
714
Oh dear. "Operation Dead Meat" doesn't seem to be going down too well in Ghana. Who'd have thought the idea of sending migrants from the UK to Ghana hasn't been approved by...Ghana
17
214
708
New - Packaging giant to open $200m factory near Belfast to sell canned Coke etc into EU and UK markets. 170 jobs. Vote of confidence in NI protocol. “Our exporters are having the time of their lives at the moment" - Stephen Kelly, CEO of Manufacturing NI.
40
296
699
BREAKING: No deal no longer a "strong possibility" or "very likely", as per
@BorisJohnson
. New Downing St formulation: "No deal is a potential outcome." It's "possible"
102
195
688
Great scoop by
@PaulBrandITV
...unbelievably the party was being prepared in the Downing St garden while
@OliverDowden
was inside Number 10 telling the country: "You can meet one person outside of your household in an outdoor, public place, provided you stay 2m apart."
EXCL: Email obtained by
@itvnews
proves over 100 staff were invited to drinks party in No 10 garden at height of lockdown to “make the most of the lovely weather”.
We’re told PM and his wife attended, with staff invited to “bring your own booze!”
3K
13K
32K
26
286
688
Ah yes, the WTO terms that
@BorisJohnson
claims would be a great basis on which to trade with the EU
To clarify: thanks to the UK-Japan trade deal, soya sauce will be cheaper than it otherwise would be under WTO terms, on which we would be trading with Japan from 1 Jan if we had not secured the UK-Japan trade deal.
4K
109
472
28
122
690
After Thatcher, Major and Cameron,
@theresa_may
will at some point this year become the fourth Tory prime minister in a row to be brought down by the party's obsession with Europe. The only question is: who will be the fifth?
37
180
686
A “warm” and surprisingly early call, but
@JoeBiden
was firm on NI and Brexit. Am told he raised the issue twice in 25 min call with
@BorisJohnson
60
166
682
The conspiracy of silence over the economic effects of Brexit (inc Con, Lab, Bank of England, Treasury). FT video by
@DanGarrahan
has had 700k YouTube views this week. Free to view
14
383
672
There might be a brief Eurosceptic cheer if
@trussliz
actually triggers A16, but agree it's a dead end with predictable consequences including 1) trade war with EU 2) row with Washington 3) reminds people that Brexit is a bit of a mess 4) a climbdown a few months later
Indeed. Frost got high on his own supply last Oct, believing Art 16 could create new facts on the ground. It won’t. It will just risk cross-cutting hit on TCA…it’s a dead end. Truss could use it v narrowly to make a point, I guess, but that’s lots of risk for small reward.
37
160
733
24
169
648
Analysis: Mr Johnson appears willing — under a no-deal scenario — to accept damaging tariffs across the whole economy in just three weeks’ time to avoid the risk of punitive tariffs on some goods under theoretical circumstances at some point in the future.
30
213
637
Key message from
@sajidjavid
at Downing St press conference: get jabbed. "Not just to save lives, but to keep your freedoms too." After five weeks with not a single major Downing St press conferences on Covid, quite a shift in tone
150
132
596
“He’s a blithering clown. I usually vote for the Tories but I’ve lost faith.” Back in my old stomping ground of Tiverton with
@JasmineCC_95
looking at an ominous by-election and some very difficult days ahead for
@BorisJohnson
25
165
616
Is there actually a strategy in Number 10? How can you make "change" from 30 years of supposed failure the main theme of your party conference speech, then bring back David Cameron into your cabinet?
13
169
626
Hearing a lot from
@BorisJohnson
about the need to get business investment up to boost growth and create space for tax cuts. These charts from a piece by
@valentinaromei
show the scale of the problem. Let’s put it this way - Brexit doesn’t seem to have helped
28
232
612
Useful guide to world leaders planning future meetings with Rishi Sunak - your meeting may be cancelled at short notice if you publicly express your government’s longstanding policy, if it’s not to Sunak’s liking
Marbles latest: Govt sources say Downing Street believed they had assurances from the Greek government they wouldn't raise the subject during the visit to the UK
Instead the PM told
@bbclaurak
current situation is like cutting the Mona Lisa in half
46
18
40
22
173
621
A No 10 welcome on Friday for Viktor Orban, who once spoke about "Muslim invaders", twice vetoed EU criticism of China's Hong Kong crackdown and last year urged the EU to lift sanctions on Belarus. Downing St insists good relations with Budapest "vital"
105
428
583
A lot of reshuffle speculation, but I'm sure the PM will want to reward loyalty. What about Dorries to the Treasury; Fabricant to foreign office?
68
43
590
The
@BBCNews
coverage of the Ukraine war has been outstanding but
@sommervilletv
on the 10 just now.. incredible reporting
19
37
590
“Unforeseen”? Didn’t Theresa May observe that putting a border in the Irish Sea was something no British prime minister could accept?
28
177
590
It's hard to overstate how bad this looks in Scotland. Fishing was supposed to be the bit of Brexit that most appealed to Scots. Some of the ministerial comments in this story won't help
"Boris Johnson accused of betraying fishing industry over Brexit disruption" -
@GeorgeWParker
&
@MureDickie
on the
#Brexit
fishing row...fair to say lack of detail from ministers on HOW they gonna get things moving.
18
105
210
45
270
588
Isn't the main difference between Britain's poor trading performance and that of other major economies that "we went through Brexit and they didn't", asks Tory TSC chairman Mel Stride.
@rishisunak
replies: "It might well be."
21
302
578
Cameron statement: “There's another point worth making too: journalism matters.
The work of the Financial Times and the Sunday Times, ferreting out awkward truths, is what has prompted this.” Thanks
@ChrisMasonBBC
15
67
589
Denounced by former Tory leaders, walloped tonight in the Lords by 433 to 165,
@BorisJohnson
continues on his collision course with
@JoeBiden
and international law
19
171
578
"Prime ministers are on a performance-related contract.” Covid Recovery Group chief
@Mark_J_Harper
, in
@FT
interview, tells
@BorisJohnson
to end all Covid restrictions - for good - by the end of the month...or face the consequences
Tory MP warns of revolt if Boris Johnson doesn’t axe Covid curbs
15
55
184
35
131
568
The chastened face of the anti growth coalition.. north London townhouse, tick. Podcast, tick. Seen in BBC studios, tick.. tweets, er yes - tick
9
27
563