Heather Stewart
@GuardianHeather
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Special correspondent at the Guardian - covering post-covid, post Brexit 🇬🇧 DMs are open; heather.stewart @theguardian .com
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Just had an email from LinkedIn saying the Guardian is looking for a political editor, which is good to know.
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Tory press office has rebranded itself on Twitter as "factcheckUK" - really shady.
Jeremy Corbyn won't be honest with the British people about his Brexit policy. If he wins we will have months of dither and delay followed by two referendums - one on Brexit and one on Scotland. We should
#GetBrexitDone
in January and move on
#BackBoris
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NEW - shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry writes to Labour MPs, insisting JC mustn't agree to any deal without a referendum attached. "Yes, any deal agreed by Parliament must be subject to a confirmatory public vote, and yes, the other option on the ballot must be Remain."
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Pretty amazing to hear the PM say he's concerned by "the continuing risk posed by nightclubs," less than 18 hours after he ordered them to be opened.
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Tuesday: Priti Patel says she won't enter Tory leadership race, saying she's focusing on being home secretary.
Wednesday: she declines to appear before home affairs committee to discuss being home secretary.
🕙This morning at 10.00am we were due to be questioning the Home Secretary, Priti Patel. She has declined to attend our session.
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Wow: defending Home Office approach on Ukraine, Patel just cited "something known as the Windrush scandal," to underline how important it is that "everyone arriving in the UK has digital and physical records".
Not sure that's the lesson most people drew from it.
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The right challenge to
@sajidjavid
from Marr: "You seem uncannily more familiar with Labour's manifesto than your own manifesto".
He's refusing to answer any questions about cost of Tories' polices, but claiming to know exactly how much Labour would spend.
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Kim Darroch resigns. Powerful response from Sir Simon McDonald, FCO perm sec: "you were the target of a malicious leak; you were simply doing your job...We have been lucky to have you as a friend and colleague. You are the best of us.”
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That was quick:
@Keir_Starmer
has written to the PM asking him to correct his care home comments:
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Bercow bites back: "I have no intention of taking lectures on doing right by Parliament from people who have been conspicuous in denial of, and sometimes contempt for it...I will not be pushed around by agents of the executive branch".
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Dodgy leaflet watch: get home to find this from the LibDems, complete with upbeat headline from the Guardian.
Well, it is from the Guardian - but we were quoting Jo Swinson.
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"When you lose an election in a democracy, you deserve to," Starmer says. You don’t look at the electorate and ask them: “what were you thinking?” You look at yourself and ask: “what were we doing?”
Riposte to Corbyn's "we won the argument" line...
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This is actually really shocking - so much for levelling up.
BREAKING:
@UKLabour
newest MP - former Tory
@Christian4BuryS
-backs up
@William_Wragg
allegations about rebel MPs being threatened by whips. He says he was told that plans for a new high school in his constituency could be scrapped unless he voted a certain way.
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Crikey, this really is a brutal piece from Rory Stewart:
Crikey.
@RoryStewartUK
on blistering form here, taking no prisoners as he argues the Prime Minister is no Pericles.
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I have re-read this passage from Lord Geidt’s annual report about 25 times now and it is still blowing my mind:
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NEW - understand Jeremy Corbyn has written to the Queen, expressing concern about Boris Johnson's announcement that he's proroguing parliament, and requesting a meeting with her.
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Barnstormer from Dominic Grieve "What is the purpose of this government? What is it doing?" Says if May doesn't get a grip, "we will spiral down into oblivion - and the worst thing is, we will deserve it".
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Strong line from
@AngelaRayner
in her conference speech: "my first step in politics wasn’t in the Oxford Union, it was in my trade union. Not debating for bragging rights at the bar but negotiating because our livelihoods depended on it. I know which union I’d rather be in."
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Could it be that teaching unions were onto something when they kept insisting a comprehensive testing system should be put in place before schools reopened?
So far had six parents whose children need Covid tests because showing symptoms and won't be allowed back to school without a negative test result. Good news is they aren't being directed to Aberdeen. Bad news is not being directed anywhere..has anyone in E17 got a test today?!
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Bit of personal news from me: after 6 mad, wonderful years as political editor, I'm breaking out of Westminster.
I'll be the Guardian's new special correspondent - reporting on how the pandemic, and Brexit, are changing lives and livelihoods; and keeping an eye on "levelling up".
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"As we all do in moments of crisis, we seek to have our family around us," says Shapps. "He went to where the family was".
But we've all literally been told we *can't* see our families.
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Johnson listing shocking statistics about disparities between life expectancy and education levels between different parts of the country, promising to tackle injustices.
Reminder: Tories have been in power for ELEVEN YEARS.
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Absolute stone cold classic - never dates.
Britain faces a simple and inescapable choice - stability and strong Government with me, or chaos with Ed Miliband:
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Not sure this is as helpful as it is apparently meant to be...
The charming Stanley Johnson can be a little over-friendly -indeed handsy - but I don’t believe this is one for the police. Officers should focus their limited resources on investigating real crimes.
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Labour MP
@labourlewis
on timing of a GE: "the sensible thing to do will be to say, 'OK, we'll have a GE, but we'll do it after we have got the extension signed and sealed at the European Council...In the meantime, let the Tories stew in their own juices, and implode."
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They’ve probably just brought the cheeseboard out.
Cabinet on covid restrictions is *still* going - now hit the two hour mark and counting
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Political journalists boycott No 10 briefing after PM's aide tries to ban selected reporters - live news
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This is quite an extraordinary joint intervention from the TUC and CBI - essentially begging May to adopt a plan B; and demanding a meeting with her.
The prime minister has walked us into a national emergency.
@The_TUC
and
@CBItweets
agree - she needs to urgently change her Brexit approach and find a Plan B that protects jobs, rights and livelihoods.
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Bit rich to hear all the leadership candidates slagging off the absolute state of social care and the impossibility of buying a home, after their own party's been in power for NINE YEARS.
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UPDATE: Labour say they have *rescinded* the complaint against
@JessicaLBarnard
which it says was issued in error. Party spox: “we apologise unreservedly to Jess for the hurt and upset this has caused��.
This is not a joke, but deadly serious.
The Labour Party have officially placed
@YoungLabour
chair
@JessicaLBarnard
under investigation - for opposing transphobia.
Here is her letter sent to NEC members - passed to me - and here are the tweets she’s being investigated for.
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Update on Michael Gove's outburst - am told he ripped up *one page* of a report on the new customs partnership - "he couldn't manage more", says my unimpressed source.
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NEW - Jeremy Corbyn has *declined* an invitation to the state banquet with Donald Trump. Says PM shouldn't roll out red carpet "to honour a President who rips up vital international treaties, backs climate change denial and uses racist and misogynist rhetoric".
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BREAKING: statement from Corbyn - "I described those pro-Israel activists as Zionists, in the accurate political sense and not as a euphemism for Jewish people”; but adds he is now “more careful” with the term, because it has been “increasingly hijacked by antisemites”.
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Someone from the Tory party that chucked out
@NSoames
and
@DavidGauke
this week is giggling their way round the lobby corridor dressed in a chicken suit and handing these out. Jeremy Corbyn is “the biggest chicken in town” apparently. Give me strength.
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When you step back, it's pretty extraordinary the government is spending billions of pounds on preparing Britain for a policy the cabinet - and the majority of MPs in Westminster - believe would be absolutely disastrous.
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Former Conservative MP Nick Boles voting Labour in the locals…
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Understand Jeremy Corbyn is among the leftwing Labour MPs currently attending a meeting with Keir Starmer to raise concerns about RLB's sacking.
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So this appears to destroy Johnson’s final (tenuous) defence, that he was unaware lockdown socialising was going on in his own home/workplace.
EXCLUSIVE: No 10 staff held ‘wine-time Fridays’ throughout pandemic with Boris Johnson regularly witnessing the gatherings.
Sources say PM encouraged aides to "let off steam" despite indoor socialising being banned under lockdown rules.
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Starmer highlights the heartbreaking case of a boy, Ollie, whose family were unable to be with him as he died because of covid rules.
Johnson wiffles about the vaccine rollout and accuses Starmer of focusing on a “Westminster bubble” story.
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One Nation my arse.
A tax break for the top earning ~8% of adults, worth £120 every week to someone earning £80,000 per annum and not one penny to the average family.
Of the rich and for the rich: Boris Johnson.
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Bear in mind when Rishi Sunak announces his plan for tackling the cost of living crisis today: he pressed ahead with reversing the pandemic uplift to UC, worth £1000 a year to c5 million low-income families (and much better targeted than a council tax rebate).
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NEW - hearing meeting of cabinet ministers in Downing St has broken up; and a letter is now being drafted to Labour, setting out the position after two days of talks.
Have been told it's likely to include the idea that a confirmatory referendum should be one option put to MPs.
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Don’t underestimate how big a moment this is - Sunak says he’ll invest an extra £175bn over next 5 years, which he says OBR calculates will add 0.5pp to GDP growth.
The Tories are embracing the benefits of borrowing to invest. You could say Labour has, “won the argument”.
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No doubt it was an entirely open and transparent recruitment process that resulted in former Tory and Ukip MP Douglas Carswell and the chief executive of Jacob Rees-Mogg's [former] investment firm being appointed to the DIT board:
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Very cautious tone from Vallance: "The epidemic is shrinking, but not fast. The numbers are coming down, but they're not yet very low. And the vast majority of the population remains susceptible to that infection."
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Extraordinary mood in the Commons as the PM gives his G7 statement. Tory Philip Lee has crossed the floor to take a seat alongside LibDem Jo Swinson. Very hard for him to argue he has a working majority.
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NEW: Rebecca Long-Bailey is suspending phonebanking in the Labour leadership campaign.
Instead, a spokesperson says, "we will be asking our volunteers to offer help to any mutual aid groups, food banks or community initiatives local to them".
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Latest in changing of the Labour guard news: understand Seumas Milne, JC’s right-hand man, is off.
No love lost between him and Starmer (*understatement*).
Am told he’s working on a book.
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I did go to Oxford, thanks to great (state school) teachers. First in my family. Gave me enough confidence not to be guilt-tripped about it.
Fun fact: the Guardian writers who lecture us most on privilege went to the UK's most privileged Universities 🤔
#Diversity
#inclusion
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Eek - strong stuff from Conservative MP
@GutoAberconwy
: “As Conservatives we prize loyalty. But it has become increasingly clear that our loyalty must be to our party’s long-term values and not to the man who leads the party at this time."
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Understand Labour will support the Letwin amendment - which makes it likely to pass.
Would force Johnson to request an extension tomorrow; and mean we won't get a clean, up-and-down vote on his deal.
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Extraordinary lobby briefing just ended in which the PM’s spokesman told us Johnson has accepted Matt Hancock’s apology, considers the matter closed, and has nothing more to add. Over, and over, and over again.
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When I first arrived in Oxford as politics-mad undergraduate, I beetled along to the famous Union, found it full of plummy-voiced windbags who thought it was all a great game - and never went back.
Can’t think what suddenly brought that memory flooding back 🤷♀️
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New -
@jessphillips
has written a no-holds-barred piece for us, saying she was "awful" at yesterday's hustings, and is going to stop trying to look "prime ministerial" and be herself:
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Genuine, straight -up-and-down apology - they’re rare in politics so worth celebrating 👍
I tweeted earlier criticising
@johnmcdonnellMP
and
@EmilyThornberry
for ‘abstaining’ on a tight and crucial vote. I shouldn’t have done so. Emily was with her kid in hospital and John was himself in hospital. I didn’t know. I’m deeply sorry to both. I wish them both my very best.
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Hearing from a couple of sources this afternoon that old friends Rebecca L-B and Angela Rayner have agreed between them that L-B will stand for leader, and Rayner as deputy. Not confirmed...
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As Keir Starmer pointed out at PMQs, hard to spot the difference between the paltry food parcels Johnson said he was appalled by - and the government's official guidance.
The PM trying to pass the buck on the scandal of meagre
#FreeSchoolMeals
- but these were handed out on HIS watch, under his government's guidelines for what should be in those packages.
@Keir_Starmer
is right: families come last with this government.
#PMQs
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Labour source: “The Independent Group has now become a Tory-Establishment Coalition. What unites the 11 MPs is their business as usual support for austerity, corporate tax cuts and big money corrupting politics."
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Waiting for Gove statement on levelling up, keep thinking of Corbyn's speech, days after 2016 referendum: "Across many parts of Britain there is a feeling of powerlessness...where people feel left behind in lower paid and less secure jobs." Now seems a widely-shared analysis.
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NEW - Simon Case denies reports he sought a role for Carrie Johnson with the Cambridges’ Earthshot Prize; but admits he had an informal chat on her behalf, “as I would have done for anyone with relevant experience who was keen to get involved in charity work”.
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Startling fact from a new
@TheIFS
briefing this morning: Johnson/Sunak have announced more tax rises in two years (worth 2% of GDP) than Blair/Brown did in a decade.
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Am in a cafe reading a dog-eared paperback - one of my greatest pleasures - and a hipster couple at a nearby table are bonding loudly over how they hate “real books”. Reasons advanced include “they’re heavy” and “it’s hard to turn the pages”. Feel like assaulting them with mine.
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At my workplace today a policeman laid down his life to keep hundreds of others, including me and my colleagues, safe. RIP PC Keith Palmer.
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Conservative rebel
@Sandbach
tells me this morning's "Proud of Yourselves?" Mail front page is now lining her cat's litter tray.
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The Bank of England has written to
@MelJStride
of Treasury select committee with more details about its emergency bond buying.
Includes this chart, not great for the “it’s a global issue” line:
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Why do the “G7 spouses” have to be dragged along to these summits - and worse, whisked out on some excruciating cultural excursion - in 2019?
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Whenever I think about crunch Cabinet Brexit Chequers awayday I can't get this out of my head:
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Greens
@CarolineLucas
kicks off BBC 7-way debate with a zinger about Johnson on Brexit -
"His oven-ready meal is made of chlorinated chicken and it will make us all sick: and when we arrive at the hospital, we’ll find it has been flogged off to Trump’s America".
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John Robinson, who Keir Starmer mentioned in his barnstorming speech, shared his story in a letter to the Guardian, saying of the PM, "anger doesn’t even touch the sides of how I feel about this pathetic excuse for a man":
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So Merkel seizes the opportunity May missed, to speak (diplomatically) for those not overjoyed by a racist misogynist in the White House.
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Such a “secret plot” they’ve registered it with the Electoral Commission and have been bombarding lobby hacks with press releases daily...
George Soros, the man who 'broke the Bank of England', backing secret plot to thwart Brexit
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Seems like a good moment to point out that you have information for the Guardian's political team and want to contact us securely, set up a Protonmail account and then contact guardian.politics.desk
@protonmail
.com.
We can also give you a secure phone number to call.
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NEW - Labour's
@wesstreeting
has written to the health secretary calling on him to ensure NHS workers get priority access to covid tests.
"I urge you to put the key workers we have relied upon for the past two years to the front of the queue," he says.
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Oh dear, to all the very kind people replying to this in horror - it’s fine! I’m very happily moving on to another job in the Guardian, and we’re recruiting for my successor: just amused that LinkedIn thought I should apply 😊
Just had an email from LinkedIn saying the Guardian is looking for a political editor, which is good to know.
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Most of the protesters I saw were good-humoured, light-hearted, and enjoying their day out - never mind shaming Britain, they made me feel quite proud.
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Also in the 2017 Tory manifesto: scrapping free school lunches; expanding grammar schools; grabbing grannies' assets to pay for at-home care...all scrapped BECAUSE THE GOVERNMENT LOST ITS MAJORITY
So..sounds like if Parl votes for a customs union..PM will not implement it cos breaches manifesto.
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I am in a JCB factory with Boris Johnson and I regret to inform you that this just happened:
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NEW: Number 10 says it will change planning rules immediately so that pubs and restaurants can begin offering a delivery/takeaway service without asking permission for a change of use.
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Look, I know we’re all incredibly busy today but what the hell is going on here?
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Keir Starmer absolutely taking apart Boris Johnson's deal: says anyone considering trusting his promises on workers' rights, "needs to reflect on how he's treated his supply and confidence partners: promise, then burn".
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Hearing so many CLP motions backing a second Brexit referendum have poured in to Labour HQ in past few days they've had to allocate two staff this morning just to sort through and analyse them.
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Inflation's in double digits, energy prices look set to breach £3k in the autumn and candidates to be the *actual prime minister* are being asked their view on "controversial statues" - could it be Common Sense Group is a bit of a misnomer?
NEW
First all MP Tory leadership hustings is **tonight**.
Any candidate with over 20 MPs support will be grilled on their approach to the culture wars including controversial statues and British history by the Common Sense Group of Tory MPs. 1/2
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I am bloody proud to work for the paper that exposed the Windrush scandal, which Jeremy Corbyn spoke about so movingly in his conference speech yesterday. Just saying.
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The plot thickens: senior Labour source insists Jeremy Corbyn *wasn’t* slipped - ie given permission to be absent - for the child poverty amendment last night. His pair is Theresa May, I’m told. She voted.
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A flabbergasted Labour mole claims Corbyn's aide Laura Murray has been spotted at party HQ *this morning* discussing disciplinary cases with the compliance unit. Surely not, after denials at the weekend about leader's office involvement in the process...?
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Strong speech from
@hilarybennmp
- "we've had enough management in the party interest; what we need is leadership, in the national interest". Clear he's going to rebel on the EEA amendment.
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Some really shocking stats in this piece - salutary reading for politicians who think economic policy should be about growth alone…Britain and the US are poor societies with some very rich people via
@financialtimes
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Not saying the Brexit grind is getting to me, but a calendar reminder just popped up, which presumably I must have put in a fortnight ago, and it just says MORE FUCKING AMENDMENTS.
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Such an odd reaction: surely there’s a natural human response, and it’s not this...
Tried to show
@BorisJohnson
the picture of Jack Williment-Barr. The 4-year-old with suspected pneumonia forced to lie on a pile of coats on the floor of a Leeds hospital.
The PM grabbed my phone and put it in his pocket:
@itvcalendar
|
#GE19
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Extraordinary: Downing Street spokesman rules out giving an inch on a customs union - “The principles that govern us as we go into these talks is that we want to be able to do our own trade deals, and that is incompatible with either the or a customs union”.
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Give foreign nationals in NHS indefinite leave to remain, say MPs
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This has been my last day as the Guardian’s political editor - it’s been an amazing, exhilarating and sometimes exhausting six years.
Time for a holiday: then back to Guardian towers in a new guise later in the summer 👋
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Labour MP
@kimleadbeater
being shouted down by Tory MPs as she tries to ask the PM why he thinks public trust in politicians is so low.
Not a great look.
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Corbyn gives his response to Brexit Party standing aside in Tory seats: "I think what we have before us is an alliance between Donald Trump and Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson. We know where that deal is designed to take us: into a sweetheart trade deal with the United States."
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Farewell Twitter, I’m off to beautiful Scotland for a couple of weeks, to walk off the lockdown blues in the (socially-distanced) wild country. 🏴
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Took Twitter off my phone for Christmas. Restored it yesterday; sent one tweet; read replies; mood+confidence plunge (albeit am a bit fragile after a family crisis).
Will be using it more sparingly in 2020 - increasingly feel the upsides are more than overshadowed by meanness.
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When
@tom_watson
expressed this view in a speech last month, JC was so *infuriated* that his allies tried to abolish Watson's job.
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Talking of bombshells, here's what
@TheIFS
says is about to happen to average household incomes as a result of Tories' tax & welfare plans:
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LibDems quick out of the blocks attacking plans for mandatory covid passports.
Home affairs spox
@amcarmichaelMP
: “Vaccine passports are Covid ID cards: unworkable, expensive and divisive." Says government should "execute one final handbrake turn and rule them out for good.”
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Advantages of wfh: this popped through the letterbox while I was watching PMQs
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