Henry Newman
@HenryNewman
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Runs #TheWhitehallProject - sign up below || Ex Special Adviser @luhc @10downingstreet @cabinetoffice @mojgovuk || was Director @OpenEurope
Joined June 2009
The Green Party are entitled to their own views but not their own facts . The costs of transitioning to clean power don’t usually include costs of balancing the grid for intermittent solar / wind, nor costs of upgrading the grid with new pylons etc . See my discussion on @LBC
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The Chancellor @RachelReevesMP was asked by Jeremy Hunt about the donation she received from Ian Corfield (who she made a civil servant) and specifically whether she declared it to her Permanent Secretary . This is important. Her answer reveals she did not declare it. 🧵
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That was one of the strongest performances I've seen from @BorisJohnson despite almost constant interruption from Andrew Marr. Was it just me or did Andrew forget to ask Shami Chakrabati about anti-Semitism in Labour?.
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This is extraordinary & embarrassing. @RachelReevesMP misrepresented her career 👇. As a reminder she also plagiarised a book. Politicians in Iran & Germany were caught plagiarising - in Germany the defence minister resigned over it . Where is the shame?.
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Sorry if I'm missing something but what is the principled argument for broadband being provided free but not my mobile phone bill, food, water, heating or electricity?. When are all those companies going to be nationalised and forced to provide free services in Corbyn's utopia?.
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According to the Times, @YvetteCooperMP is planning a mass procurement of HMOs, family properties, former care homes & student accommodation for small boat arrivals. This will push up rents & squeeze accommodation in private rented sector. Will also be very expensive. Makes a.
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In this video @RachelReevesMP says she worked at @bankofengland for "the best part of a decade". She actually spent c4 years there - 1 year was studying at LSE & 18 months was a @UKinUSA secondment .Even if you count the secondment that's 5 years. Why does Reeves keep lying?.🧵.
🎥 As a former Bank of England economist, I know what it’ll take to get Britain back on track. Labour are the only party that will secure our economy and get it growing.
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Keir Starmer has written in the Times about his promise to lead a new Government of service . As @MelanieLatest writes the hypocrisy is “stunning”. Let’s have a quick recap of the current cronyism mess that his Government is in …. 🧵.
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Another Reeves measure has to be abandoned. She really is quite clueless .
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Interesting @joymorrissey asked @Ed_Miliband some specific questions about appointment of Rachel Kyte as his Climate Envoy 👇. Ed Miliband dodged the question, instead claiming all processes had been followed by Foreign Office - which wasn't what Morrissey asked. Suspicious. 1/
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Asked again about @RachelReevesMP claim of a £22bn blackhole, the @OBR_UK's Richard Hughes declines to confirm it. That's pretty devastating for the Chancellor.
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👀. @RachelReevesMP just got herself in a mess in Parliament. She could not confirm that she declared Ian Corfield's donation to her department's Perm Sec. As I set out on ThWhitehallProject (link in bio) her failure to do so, means she may have breached Ministerial Code.
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The sheer hypocrisy of this 👇. First the birthday paid for by a donor (Lord Alli obviously). And now after all her sanctimonious attacks we learn ….
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No politician attacked Boris Johnson’s & Rishi Sunak’s perceived conflicts of interest with greater gusto than Sir Keir. Voters will ask why a man who … paid £167,000 a year by the taxpayer, requires help to clothe himself & his wife. Times leader👇.
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Sorry this is just a lie. Their manifesto said "we will not increase National Insurance" - it did not specify employee National Insurance. Laura Trott tried to point out before the election that Labour were lying. and she was right.
'Did your manifesto rule out increasing any rate of National Insurance, employers or employees?'. Keir Starmer spoke to #BBCBreakfast about whether businesses will face an increase in the contribution they make to National Insurance.
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This is just so extraordinary . Imagine if @theresa_may kept bringing up the Gilets Jaunes and pointing out Macron's failure to deliver the European reforms he seeks.
French President Emmanuel Macron has tonight launched yet another scathing attack on Brexit, saying ‘it can’t be delivered’ & it has ‘torn [British] society apart’. He was speaking to French voters in Bourg-de-Péage, south of Lyon, in live TV debate.
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We knew @RachelReevesMP plagiarised her book - if she had been a university student she would have been sent down for that. Now @GuidoFawkes suggests she misrepresented her career history - people in 'regular' jobs who do that can lose their posts. 😵💫.
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So @jeremycorbyn will talk to HAMAS and the IRA without preconditions, but won't talk to the PM about Brexit . 🙄.
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Morgan McSweeney was at the helm of Labour Together, the organisation found to have breached electoral law multiple times . Starmer has now appointed him.to the top of his Downing Street. That’s a brave choice for a PM committed to ‘Standards’. 👇.
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Corbyn tells @afneil that saying Israel and the world is run by the Rothschilds "can" be anti-Semitic. CAN???. 🤯.
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I don’t think partial u turns will draw a line under this . If @Keir_Starmer is repaying gifts he received when he was PM, he’s accepting it was wrong to receive them. Will his colleagues do the same with their gifts?. And what about before he was PM?.
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Why is the Guardian spinning for @RachelReevesMP?. 👇. "There is no evidence that Reeves has gained any career advantage by people thinking she was working as an economist at HBOS when she was there in a different role. To get a job at the Bank of England as a graduate requires.
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Labour have tonight confirmed that Jess Sargeant - a former @LabourTogether director - has been appointed as a senior civil servant in the Propriety and Constitution Group of the Cabinet Office . This is unprecedented and crosses a line 🤯. That team is the Civil Service’s
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Audience extremely hostile to @BorisJohnson but he's coming across very well. And suspect those watching at home will judge him more fairly than those in the room.
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🚨If confirmed the news from @GuidoFawkes that Jess Sargeant, a Labour Together staffer, may have been appointed as a senior civil servant in the Cabinet Office’s Propriety & Ethics team is absolutely extraordinary 🚨. I don’t think anything like this has been done before. Nobody
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In this clip @Ed_Miliband says the idea that bills would go down by £300 - a Labour promise before the Election - came from an "independent" set of modelling. 🤔. Let's look under the bonnet of that claim. 🧵.
'So in six years our bills will go down by £300, how much are they going to have gone up by that point?'. @susannareid100 questions Secretary of State for Energy Security Ed Miliband.
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🚨The Chancellor & Donorgate 🚨. It seems @RachelReevesMP has broken the Ministerial Code 🧵. Of course the broadcast media, leftie lawyers & the professional pontificators who used to bang on about collapsing public standards are talking of nothing else . 🧐. #OneRuleForThem.
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Almost like he said anything to win the election . 👇.
“Not a penny more on your Council Tax” @Keir_Starmer. Yes, not a penny more, on average £109 more. How many more broken promises Keir?
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Politicians should be able to go on holiday. Even nice holidays. And friends may invite other friends. But in Opposition Labour held people to absurd standards so now they look like hypocrites.
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Just listened back to @RachelReevesMP interview on @BBCr4today with @bbcnickrobinson . She made a series of claims which were just untrue 🧵. They are what is known by the technical terms as total and utter balls .
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BBC is reporting something odd 👇 . ‘Civil service sources told the BBC "hundreds" of officials are appointed through the post-election "exceptions" process’. There is no post election process. There is no sort of post election allowance. 🧐.
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I think Isabel is right to point out that @Keir_Starmer has a fundamental problem answering questions - I don't think I have seen anything like it before from a PM . It's as if Starmer reads out a prepared statement whatever he is asked.
‘Badenoch asked whether Starmer would keep the cap on council tax. He replied that he was ‘very proud of the fact that we’re restoring leadership on climate’.’. ✍️ Isabel Hardman.
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Not on Twitter much now as working in Government but I went with @michaelgove to @GermanEmbassy earlier . His excellent speech was applauded by audience. But since then I spent rest of evening reading tweets from people who werent there but were offended by things he didn't say🙄.
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Has Sue Gray’s new role gone through ACOBA?. She’s covered by business appointment rules for two years after leaving office. And will be envoying on the very area she was working on in Government as a permanent secretary.
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I asked @Miatsf if @Ed_Miliband declared the £4million Labour took from Quadrature & £99,000 he took from Green Finance Initiative, when he appointed Rachel Kyte as special envoy. Kyte is on the board of Quadrature's Climate Foundation which funds GFI. @Miatsf didn't answer👀
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So the guidance then was work from home if you can - Starmer clearly wasn’t. Starmer attacked Boris for breaking Covid guidance.
Starmer Pretended Lord Alli’s Penthouse Was His Home For Covid Broadcast
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Extraordinary reporting from @Annaisaac 👇. A Treasury source says tax-raising plans are in ‘complete disarray’. Raising Capital Gains to 33 or 39% will be a huge disincentive for investment and growth.
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Interesting that the BBC News Website has not covered this story so far . I dont think.
These alleged false CV claims by Rachel Reeves are serious. Unless she can produce a good explanation, she should resign as Chancellor & MP - or be sacked. I know that won't happen, but brushing the allegations aside will only encourage others to make false claims.
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Labour promised improved standards for renters👇. And yet tenants of a Labour MP - Parliament’s biggest landlord - were “threatened” with eviction for complaints of appalling conditions. If this was a Tory MP they would be demanding the whip was withdrawn.
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Tomorrow @RachelReevesMP will try & weaponise Covid. As a reminder in early 2020 she tried to get Government to buy PPE from a manufacturer of historic silk bodices, & ventilators from a football agent. But now she’s broken guidance in recruiting her Covid Fraud Commissioner . 🧵
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I am thinking back on the dozens and dozens of times I was on telly or radio with various advocates of a so-called People's Vote, listening as they repeatedly insisted that the British people had changed their minds about Brexit. I always argued that they hadn't. Now we know 🤷♂️.
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Now Mark Francois makes killer point to Bercow. Why can you keep reintroducing Cooper/Boles amendment on indicative votes, if you can't keep having MVs?.
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This is an extraordinary appointment. A recent Labour donor becomes a senior civil servant! . Quite mind blowing 🤯 - especially given HMT declined to respond . Great scoop from @vmanancourt . #TheWhitehallProject (link in bio).
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I first started thinking something might be lacking in @RachelReevesMP’s judgement when she wrote to my then boss, @michaelgove, at the start of the Covid pandemic . But with such a shaky start, it’s no wonder some in Whitehall ask if she’s up to it. 🧵.
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Can you imagine if @theresa_may said let alone tweeted something similar to what @eucopresident just said ?.
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I think there’s more to the Ian Corfield story than has come out so far…🔬. Yes everyone knows he was a donor to Rachel Reeves . We also know she failed to declare this to her Permanent Secretary - which as The Times reported may breach the Ministerial Code. 🧵.
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I know @Keir_Starmer isn’t very good at the Despatch Box but that PMQs was woeful. He totally failed to answer basic questions on Employer National Insurance or on changes to debt rules @RachelReevesMP called fiddling figures before the election . See 👇.
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Before the election they said their priority was growth and claimed their plans were fully funded . They lied. 🤥.
EXCLUSIVE:. Rachel Reeves will increase employers’ national insurance by up to 2 percentage points in her budget as she seeks to fund the NHS and balance the books. The chancellor is also expected to make a “significant” cut to the earnings threshold at which employers start.
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So Guardian reveals that @Keir_Starmer has actually taken £32,000 from Lord Alli for clothes. That’s really quite a lot. Would buy 250 Autograph suits from M&S. Or. Around 30 suits from Gieves & Hawkes. And the story suggests it wasn’t declared properly.
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49% for fully Brexit parties; add in Labour with a big question mark and the country still seems quite Leave to me.
European Parliament voting intention:. BREX: 27%.LAB: 22%.CON: 15%.GRN: 10%.LDEM: 9%.UKIP: 7%.CHUK: 6%. via @YouGov, 15 - 16 Apr.
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Why is Lord Alli still attending No10 meetings?. The Prime Minister said he was part of the Transition team - although Downing St has refused to give further details. But that wouldn't explain Lord Alli 'still attending No10 meetings'. Very odd.
NEW: Waheed Alli profile @BloombergUK. *he’s still attending No10 meetings despite having pass removed.*close relationship with Sue Gray makes him ever-present figure.*he’s donated more than £575,000 to Labour politicians in 4 years.*intimate donor dinners at his Mayfair home.
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Starmer is key to Downing St’s problems. He is no Blair. He lacks even the skills of Brown, although he reportedly shares his dithering & irascibility. Having won a majority, Starmer seems to have little idea how to run Downing St or a government. See 👇.
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In the profile which the Chancellor herself tweeted, it is falsely claimed that @RachelReevesMP spent a decade working as an @bankofengland economist. In fact her own LinkedIn shows Reeves spent 6 years at Bank of which one was spent studying - so not working as an economist . 🤯.
A real pleasure to speak to @StylistMagazine about my time as an economist at the Bank of England, what drives me as Shadow Chancellor - and my plan B back in school to become a chess champion!
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Doesn’t feel very ethical to skip a queue because of how you vote. Nor for the NHS to offer favours on the basis of voting.
Jess Phillips:. 'He was sort of like, "I like you. You voted for a ceasefire". [Because of that] I got through quicker.'.
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How can @Keir_Starmer not do @bbclaurak’s show at the start of Labour’s first Conference as a governing party in 15 years?.
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Can you imagine the outrage if a Conservative chancellor had appointed a Tory donor as a civil servant in @hmtreasury, without telling the @CivServComm? . BBC push alerts? Guardian splash? Pious invocations of Northcote-Trevelyan? 🤯. And yet Labour do it…. One Rule for Them 👇.
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Slightly fed up with MPs complaining Brexit isn't possible, pointing to the Parliamentary impasse & demanding a so-called People's Vote to clear up mess. 80% of MPs voted to trigger Article 50. If the same lot had voted for the deal, we wouldn't be stuck, we'd be out the EU. 🙄.
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Tonight @Gabriel_Pogrund reveals that Labour donor Ian Corfield will no longer be @hmtreasury civil servant . But this decision raises major new questions 🧵. It is an acknowledgment though that it was wrong of Reeves to have appointed him in first place.
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I have been looking at this donation in @AngelaRayner register of interests & wondering how she found an apartment in NYC which cost £1250 for five days 🧐. It’s a very expensive city & dollar is strong . Now we find out she stayed here 🤯.
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Dark moment. @bbclaurak booed at Labour manifesto launch before she even starts asking a question.
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In this interview with @PickardJE @RachelReevesMP misrepresents her career history and exaggerates her chess skills. Perhaps the @FT will now correct the record . 🧵. 👇.
Great speaking with @PickardJE at Betty's in Harrogate about my plans for the economy, changing the Labour Party and my favourite - chess. My interview in the @FT .
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Oh …. Didn’t Labour claim during the Election that closing the Non Dom “loopholes” was going to pay for various campaign promises?. Now we learn @RachelReevesMP wants to do it even if it costs the Exchequer money 🤯.
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This isn’t going to wash. Who were the managing agents?. How do we know that Jas Athwal was unaware of what was going on in his properties?. If Mr Athwal was so interested in renters rights why didn’t he look at what was happening in his own flats?. This wasnt an isolated issue.
I am shocked and sickened by the series of problems that have come to light. I had not been aware of these issues until this week, for which I am furious. I have immediately dismissed the managing agent of my properties. (1/3).
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Downing Street sources are continuing to brief against Sue Gray. So much for @Keir_Starmer getting a grip of the fighting.
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You can agree or disagree with decision to strip Begum of citizenship (I'm against it myself) & death of her child is awful . But I can't see how "as a result" is reasonable. She is in a refugee camp without consular access, with no prospect of her returning immediately to UK.
It is against international law to make someone stateless, and now an innocent child has died as a result of a British woman being stripped of her citizenship. This is callous and inhumane .
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Given Parliament has voted against -. Brexit deal.2nd referendum.EEA.Customs Union .Indicative votes etc . *On multiple occasions*. Mark Francois point absolutely killer. How can Bercow reject MV3 but take votes on those options ?.
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Keir Starmer presser . - arrogantly shoots the messenger for asking questions about cronyism . - does not rule out an inquiry by the Independent Adviser into ministerial rule breaking . - says Lord Alli was doing Transition work. This is significant . 1/.
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Big moment -. @GiselaStuart "I still think of myself as Labour" but "the Labour party of John Smith, Gordon Brown and Tony Blair has gone". "I say to these traditional Labour voters. a vote for @BorisJohnson this time round is a vote to get Brexit done".
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May also be of interest that CCDH and Labour Together are registered to the same office 👇. Both have @Keir_Starmer's Chief of Staff as a former Director. One was found to have breached electoral law on multiple occasions
CCDH is a criminal organization.
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Journalists were previously told Lord Alli did not attend meeting with civil servants . Did Downing Street lie to the Press?.
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I am thoroughly sick of the anti-Brexit brigade continually moving the goal posts. Now they're trying to claim that leaving the EU with a withdrawal agreement doesn't "get Brexit done". It does. That's exactly what it would do.
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The Observer confirms what has been obvious for weeks - that the freebies are part of a deliberate strategy to lobby the new Labour Government on policy . That’s why the growing cronyism scandal matters .
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Takes some real brass neck for @Keir_Starmer to claim Downing Street and its garden are now back in public service when, within days of the election, his team handed a top donor a pass & allowed him, as @Gabriel_Pogrund reported, to organise a thank you party for donors & guests.
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🚨The Deputy Prime Minister, @AngelaRayner, is now been brought into the growing cronyism & donorgate row 🚨 . I reveal in my @ConHome column her department is appointing Civil Servants from political backgrounds. & there’s also a potential £££ angle . 🧵.
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CC @RachelReevesMP. According to @GuidoFawkes the Chancellor lied about her CV to gain advantage including in Parliamentary selection . This can be a criminal offence . See - 👇
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If this was a Tory MP, can you imagine the howls of outrage.
CC @RachelReevesMP. According to @GuidoFawkes the Chancellor lied about her CV to gain advantage including in Parliamentary selection . This can be a criminal offence . See - 👇
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Little tired of hearing how catastrophic our politics is & how smart EU27 are, often from those with little interest in what is actually happening politically across Continent. I dont pretend all is fine in UK but if EU27 was so good at politics much of this would be different.
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If this had been an appointment @BorisJohnson had made, Harriet Harman would have launched a Parliamentary Inquiry by now. There’s a word for people who apply double standards….
Harriet Harman: Crony Appointment Is Fine Because Ian Corfield Is Rich
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Lots of poeple attacking @Jeremy_Hunt & saying EU is not trying to punish UK. Except, a diplomat from a major EU member state in London literally told me that the instruction from capital was & remains Brexit has to "hurt" the UK. Is that punishment? It's certainly acrimonious.
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EU says there are no alternatives to Backstop. In that case, UK should conclude EU has not agreed in good faith to find "alternative solutions". It cannot be case that only alternative is essentially staying in all bits of EU (Norway+++), something that makes mockery of Article50.
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Bringing Dom Cummings into Government is very important sign that @BorisJohnson is serious about gripping the Whitehall machine. Dom is much maligned (esp by those who don't know him) but I've always found him thoughtful, analytical, data-driven and determined to get stuff done.
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The fascinating thing is what this says about her team as well as the Chancellor herself. Did no one in Labour movement realise that she would be scrutinised?. Didn’t they think to check these things, when it was so central to her story about herself?.
This is extraordinary & embarrassing. @RachelReevesMP misrepresented her career 👇. As a reminder she also plagiarised a book. Politicians in Iran & Germany were caught plagiarising - in Germany the defence minister resigned over it . Where is the shame?.
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At PMQs, @Keir_Starmer told @KemiBadenoch that the idea @mhclg were letting councils adopt Part Time Work for Full Time Pay arrangements were a “fantasy” and “made up”. 🤔. That’s not what Guardian reported . Has @Keir_Starmer misled the House?.
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So when Brexiteers comment on Irish politics and @LeoVaradkar's electoral position they are accused of bullying . But when @LeoVaradkar argues that @BorisJohnson doesn't have a majority for No Deal that is seen as sound analysis . 🙄.
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I don't get how @MichelBarnier can argue that UK, as a non-member, has to maintain essentially the regulatory standards of an EU member to get a trade deal. The EU isn't asking Japan or Canada or South Korea to do that. #doublestandards.
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🧵 As part of the new Government’s commitment to transparency Emily Middleton has deleted her LinkedIn . Thats the ex Labour staffer who was made a top civil servant, despite working for Peter Kyle in Opposition, covered by £65,000 donated from her company (she was a partner). 👇.
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I do worry that some people are in danger of losing the plot. There are issues with aviation and Brexit but flyover - the first freedom of air - is guaranteed by IASTA of which Ireland is a signatory 🤔 .
Taoiseach warns hard Brexit grounds international flights from UK:. “If they want their planes to fly over our skies, they would need to take that into account. You can’t have your cake and eat it. You can’t take back your waters and then expect to take back other people’s sky.”
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It was a brave move of @Keir_Starmer to make McSweeney his Chief of Staff, when Starmer has made so much of his commitment to Standards. McSweeney used to run Labour Together which was found to have breached Electoral Law on multiple occasions.
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How does Jas Athwal *still* have the Labour whip?.
EXCL: Labour MP Jas Athwal is the landlord of a children's home where kids have repeatedly gone missing and risked exploitation. The home is run by a friend, whose company received millions from the council Athwal ran. My new scoop for @_TheLondoner:.
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Anyone heard from the Lib Dems? 🙄. Odd they haven’t asked for Parliament to be recalled over this cronyism row….
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So Downing St caves to pressure and confirms the story after they spent all day refusing to answer.
Sir Keir Starmer and his family met Taylor Swift and her mother when they attended her concert on August 20. Starmer received four tickets from Universal Music, which represents her, worth £2,800. The donation was declared at the time and Starmer subsequently paid for the tickets.
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🚨BBC News has picked up👇the story of a Labour donor appointed to the Civil Service 🚨. Some Government source is clearly panicking. But I think it defies credibility for a “source” to try to claim Labour donor Ian Corfield was just brought in for a “very limited” period to.
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Latest from the Government of Grown Ups - the Transport Secretary does not speak for the Government 👇. Chaos.
NEW: Downing St source tells me Louise Haigh's comments about boycotting P&O "don't reflect the government view" - Comes as P&O parent company DP World pull a £1bn investment after her comments.
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In Parliament just heard @andreajenkyns saying Kenya trades with the EU on WTO terms (and holding up import of Kenyan flowers as an example of post-Brexit No Deal trade possibilities). In fact Kenya does have a trade deal with the EU. See here -.
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The EU doesn’t allow cherry picking of course & never breaks 4 freedoms of Single Market except when it comes to their version of the Northern Irish backstop, their bilateral relations with Switzerland, the Ukraine agreement, the Georgian agreement, the Moldovan agreement. 🤔.
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Weird error by Peston. 👇. Mandelson?.Falconer?.Adonis?.Amos?.Vadera?.Malloch-Brown?.Goldsmith?.Warsi?.Scotland?. Who else have I forgotten?.
.@NickyMorgan01 becomes first life peer in cabinet (apart from Lords leader) for decades. This is very old school in terms of our unwritten constitution.
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Little tired of @YvetteCooperMP warning of a chaotic no deal when she refused to back a deal three times🤦♂️. #pmqs.
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This decision shows @RachelReevesMP knows it was major error to make Ian Corfield a civil servant 👇. Such poor judgement. But it doesn’t change anything as to whether she broke the Ministerial Code. And will lead to more pressure to act on the others ….
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