Jill Rutter
@jillongovt
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Jill Rutter, Brexit at UK in a Changing Europe. Any other stuff at Institute for Government. Full Fact fan. Very ex-civil servant. My views not theirs.
Joined March 2010
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brilliant point by
@EvanHD
that the PM has with a straight face used the defence that Allegra Stratton realised she could not deliver from the Downing Street podium - that a party was a business meeting...
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Just went to buy antibiotic eye treatment .. none in Balham yesterday.. no eye drops in Notting Hill. last tube of ointment. No drops for months apparently. Asked pharmacist why - one word answer "brexit". Really?
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Come on Guto Harri - the Privileges Committee is not Harriet Harman and vice versa.. Johnson failed to convince Bernard Jenkin, Alberto Costa, Charles Walker and Andy Carter - the 4 Conservatives on the cttee
#Ridge
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I don't think Johnson understands what he has agreed for Northern Ireland...
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The PM appears to be having a giant hissy fit.. Parliament won't do exactly what he wants - so he is refusing to come out to play and will stay inside No.10 playing video games
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some quick thoughts on
#rutnam
resignation. Philip does not do things lightly. He will have thought long and hard about whether and how to leave. His statement is much more incendiary even than Ivan Rogers exit email which was (in theory) internal
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No serious news outlet should let Johnson say he was forced out, without setting out as
@redhistorian
does here, just how untrue that was. Johnson jumped before even responding to the committee before they agreed their final report.
This isn't a resignation statement; it's a temper tantrum.
And its central claim is untrue.
Johnson says he was "forced out anti-democratically" by a "kangaroo court".
So let's remind ourselves of the process from which he has chosen to run away... 🧵
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Very interesting that the commentary on
@BBCr4today
seems to take for granted that there is a (rational) transaction - vote Conservative and get govt cash, govt jobs, freeports etc... when does levelling up become pure pork barrel?
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the clear conclusion from this Frost
@CommonsForeign
session is that he is not a very effective negotiator.. seemed to think he would get lots out of EU in 2020 to make protocol operate better.. and failed...
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Simon Case pretty much dumping Ministers in it for the "prima facie" verdict on Sue Gray breaking CS Code. Making clear he thought there was no impartiality issue.
@CommonsPACAC
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I do wish the Sunday shows would insist on interviewing
@RishiSunak
the weekend AFTER his fiscal events, not the weekend before.. Get him to explain/defend what he did
#Ridge
@sophieraworth
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am I the only person now thinking it would be fun to have Cummings back to do a similar session on
#brexit
? -- maybe a set of committees (
@CommonsForeign
@CommonsBEIS
and
@CommonsEFRA
+
@LordsEUCom
) would like to do it.
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what is striking is the randomness of all of this. Junior people being fined. Met seem to have no consistent policy - and there is zero transparency on how they have decided who offended and who did not.
Also…
- Gray ‘flabbergasted’ Case didn’t get a fine, per source close to her
- Sir Mark Sedwill hasn’t been fined (so that’s two Cab Secs all clear)
- Unclear if photos in report but those close have long said unlikely
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is this a legit use of official press offices
@HeadUKCivServ
- given the
@OBR_UK
view on the impact of
#brexit
on public finances...
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am just stunned by the idea that No.10 private secretaries spent time cutting and pasting email advice into whats apps for PM Johnson to consider.... does any other organisation do that?
#CovidInquiry
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shocking admissions by Liam Fox on
@BBCR4today
that govt is only now assembling evidence for its two customs options. Remember it put out its future partnership paper on customs in August last year
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This is more important than whether Cummings was in the room..
This is still the most important thing underlying the
@guardian
scoop. Continual refusal to be open is a deep failing in Govt handling of Covid19. Don’t understand why health officials have allowed this. Trust & transparency are most basic things in any public health crisis
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if what Sonia Khan is telling
#wato
about No.10 drinking is right, things have degenerated since I worked there in the 1990s. We worked long hours and then went home. (sorry, boring!)
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Journalists (collectively) need to stop reporting what senior No.10 sources say .... either name the individual on the record.. or just say a spokesperson for the PM said.. and then he can be held to account for it.
1. Senior No 10 source still claims they can avoid delay - source tells me ’The government will comply with the Benn Act, which only imposes a very specific narrow duty concerning Parliament’s letter requesting a delay' ...
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if you cut income tax or IHT, having raised national insurance contributions, you are not a tax reforming Chancellor.. all you have managed to do is make a badly designed tax system worse... Not a legacy a serious Chancellor should want
@RishiSunak
Borisonian chutzpah from the chancellor on front of today's Times
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so question: why is it OK to freeze fuel duty year after year but hike rail fares . and how does any of that square with our climate objectives? answers on a postcard to Chris Grayling, Philip Hammond and Greg Clark
The new tax year starts tomorrow, the traditional time of year that Labour governments hit drivers with extra tax,
#FuelDuty
⛽️
Not under
@Conservatives
government. It’s frozen for the 9th year, saving the average car driver £1000. 🚗🔵
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Was annoyed at 7.00 and annoyed again at 8.00 by
@BBCr4today
news presentation of the "aid cap". There is no "aid cap". There was a legislated target of 0.7% GDP to be spent on aid.. a target, not a "cap". No maximum
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When I worked as PS/CST to John Major in 1987-8
@hmtreasury
I asked him what Cabinet job he wanted next. He said SoS Northern Ireland as he thought letting a civil war run in part of the UK was unconscionable..
The first time I met Boris Johnson he plonked himself down at the desk next to mine, declared he was writing about Northern Ireland and said: “remind me, which ones are the orange johnnies?” - my latest
@prospect_uk
blog
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if we needed the leader of the Conservative party to lead us into pitched battle I could understand why Penny Mordaunt's odds were shortening for next leader.. but for what aspect of modern political leadership is holding a big sword a qualification?
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The DUP not supporting the Theresa May deal was one of the biggest political mistakes a party has ever committed. Discuss.
The DUP says it now sees the "advantage" of a Brexit deal that contains backstop features it originally disliked
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I think the Gray move is a mistake, but perhaps it was seeing the massive failure of leadership laid bare during the partygate inquiry that tipped Sue into deciding she needed to help another party, with a commitment to raise standards, to prepare to govern.
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is this
1) fair game by a VFM govt
2) outrageous discrimination vs the best candidate who happened to be working in public sector when they applied for this job
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Fact check.. UK pays NO MORE for staying in EU til end Jan than if MPs had voted for his deal...The PM must know that...
@FullFact
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@SebastianEPayne
@davidallengreen
@hendopolis
There were times when the BBC reported what was clearly being briefed from No.10 and should have refused to report it without the briefer going on the record so No10 could be held accountable - v diff from finding things out on background
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Listening to Theresa May with
@bbcnickrobinson
- interesting.. but Theresa seems to think she had a deal with the EU - she didn't. She had an exit package. The Eu had rejected Chequers as cherry picking. Frustrating she was not challenged on this.
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I may be unique among tennis fans.. but I would have loved to see
@naomiosaka
continue to play
@rolandgarros
- and don't think tennis press conferences add much to human wisdom. Bad outcome
#r4today
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Just watching
@theresa_may
argue for govt publishing impact assessment of covid regs - but her govt was not very keen on publishing its assessment of her approach to Brexit ...
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Ministers are ducking ministerial responsibility. That means we need a different relationship between ministers and civil servants so we know who accounts for what. me for
@UKandEU
on Williamson and beyond
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Today's vote on the aid cut cannot undo the damage a hastily implemented cut has wrought on the UK aid programme. Programmes abandoned midway through. Contracts broken. People laid off. Morale hit. Reputation damaged.
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the overwhelming impression from this debate is the contrast between the abstract rhetoric on the Conservative benches welcoming the
#brexit
deal - and the nitty gritty consequences being highlighted by the critics .. last 4 years in a nutshell
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As the PM says he wants a Brexiteer top mandarin.. why even asking that question would undermine the civil service we have now... me from last year
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Case should have refused to go along with Scholar's sacking. It is a sign of his feebleness that - if he tried to warn against it - they went ahead anyway. He had already lost much respect in the civil service over his handling of partygate. Now?
Exclusive:
Liz Truss is now expected to retain Simon Case as cabinet secretary
He played a key role in drawing up the new structure in No 10 and developing the £150bn energy package
She had considered replacing him with James Bowler from DIT
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If any candidate offers to clamp down on the SUVs clogging the mean streets of Westminster or Kensington London elections this year, they will get my vote. Hogging public space. You do not need one anywhere near central London.
Politics of envy from
@SadiqKhan
's favourite Mayor in Paris, just 24 hours after
@Telegraph
confirmed Khan is working on a pay-by-mile stealth tax if re-elected on May 2nd. Vote
@Councillorsuzie
.
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I said back in February that we needed to get interested in David Frost's anaomalous constitutional position. Now, as a political appointee, doing a civil service job, as a non-ministerial Lord it gets even weirder..
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Maybe Mr Johnson's Brexit-supporting mother could tell him to stop behaving like a spoilt brat.
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In the past votes I have donated to
@FullFact
to try to ensure debate is honest...maybe
@CCHQPress
should make a massive donation (alongside grovelling apology and commitment to desist) to atone for this appalling act.
This isn’t funny or “banter”. It’s disingenuous and grim.
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am afraid its another WOW day.. that speech by
@theresa_may
with a direct challenge to every minister trooping into the division lobby to support
#IMbill
was dynamite...
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its not really for former civil servants to reminisce about their ministerial bosses.. but the departure of Ken Clarke from the Commons merits an exception (he never stuck to rules either..)
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I never worked in No.10 private office (and many of the most distinguished recent holders of that office are tragically no longer with us) - but this incredibly passive and incurious approach Martin Reynolds is setting out seems - different..
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Some thoughts on the Cameron/Greensill/Crothers affair.. we have focussed a lot on ministers and civil servants. The rules clearly need tightening up - but at least there is a semblance of rules - but there is a grey area.
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.
@TurnbullMalcolm
bursting Australia style deal bubble on
#bbcqt
- "Australia's relation with the EU from a trade point of view not one Britain should want.." OUCH.... can see why he's not on govt trade advisory panel...
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This will at a stroke remove any benefits from any business trading with the EU of
@sajidjavid
red tape challenge.. this is a massive increase in red tape...
Michael Gove confirms full panoply of border checks will be imposed on "operational border" from Jan 2021. Tells business at even today that they are "inevitable" and warns that business better get prepared
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I am not qualified to comment on vaccine decisions.. but ... it is perfectly acceptable for different national regulators to have different regulatory philosophies.
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friend whose daughter is a doctor (not in UK) suggested supermarkets should organise food parcels for staff to pick up at their hospital when they leave their shift. They could even pre-order.. how about it
@Tesco
@sainsburys
@Morrisons
?
@MattHancock
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so if Simon Case is as good as he is cracked up to be and really was reluctant to do the job, he would have made publishing the Patel report next week a condition of taking the job
@FT
first test and official Whitehall will judge him..
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so my Dad took me to my first test match at Manchester.. I asked Geoffrey Boycott and Alan Knott (playing in his first series) for an autograph. Knott signed - Boycott wouldn't (and told Knott not to). Loathed him ever since
#r4today
#notTheresaMay
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Another pointless interview with an
@hmtreasury
minister
@BBCr4today
. If they can't answer questions til tomorrow, don't ask them on. Then go through in forensic detail on Thursday.
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The PM's latest move must be an absolute nightmare for people who have to make the new moves work inside government.
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personal news klaxon: Big day today - my last day as an employee of
@instituteforgov
after 10 years.. I am moving through the
#brexit
transfer window to work on
#brexit
@UKandEU
@policyatkings
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when is a scoop not a scoop
@politico
London Playbook
@bbclaurak
- maybe when it was published in the
@UKandEU
Brexit Witness Archive in an interview done in 2021 - read the rest of
@SimonMcDonaldUK
interview here
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whoever - in No.10 or HMT - decided that this was a day to let JRM freelance on the economy should be removed from post now. I think the moron premium -- and the extent of the needed orthodoxy overcompensation - just increased substantially
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Clearly the Cabinet Office tried this in this case. But Rutnam's decision to resign publically makes clear that he did not think the Cabinet Office would protect the department's civil servants if he went quietly.
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so if I were (still) a civil servant, I would be pretty annoyed about this.. its odds on EU will grant an extension now requested IF we need one (which we know tomorrow..) - this is just for show..
The ministerial no-deal committee will meet every day, including weekends. And hundreds of civil servants will be redeployed to no-deal work.
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Simon Coveney on
@BBCr4today
absolutely right there are 2 separate issues on NI.. last Friday's big mistake and the long-term workability of the protocol.. Many of the problems a consequence of how distant a trade relationship UK negotiated for GB.
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This will, of course, be the memorable intervention of the day.. but perhaps more notable was the outing on
@BBCr4today
of former (sacked) DfE permanent secretary Jonathan Slater sticking the knife into Keegan's predecessors and the Treasury
Education secretary Gillian Keegan is recorded on camera saying others ‘have been sat on their a***s’ on schools Raac crisis and shares frustration about not being thanked for doing ‘a f***ing good job’
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But Sue Gray told him that confused accountabilities was the big problem in No.10 - hard to see how these moves make them clearer and a big risk they make them much, much worse.
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Partygate should not degenerate into a Whitehall version of Cluedo... Met should stop dribbling out fines; there should be a commitment to name the most senior civil servants and all ministers fined... me for
@UKandEU
🗣"The Met decision to intervene gave the PM a lifeline in January. But that lifeline has an expiry date".
READ MORE on
#partygate
,
#partygatefines
and the public's need for clarity in this NEW blog from
@jillongovt
⬇⬇
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there are times when I think the govt might regret inducing
@SirJJQC
to resign.. but he is right.. the people who aren't performance managed are ministers.. and it shows...
It’s complete tosh isn’t it, and really unfair. All civil servants, up to Permanent Secretaries, are subject to thorough performance reviews. They’ve been working their socks off over Covid, inc MANY weekends, not least my colleagues in
@GovernmentLegal
and Home Office.
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a suggestion to
@hilarybennmp
@CommonsFREU
@YvetteCooperMP
@CommonsHomeAffs
- why not hold a joint session on Tuesday with David Frost and UK negotiators to explain the
#brexit
deal in detail to MPs and Peers before they have a look later in the week?
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very uncomfortable reading for almost everyone in government...
Poorly planned, underfunded and smug. Those were some of the words our witnesses used to characterise Britain’s response to the pandemic.
Read the full findings of the 2020
#TortoiseCovidInquiry
here:
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I think - from personal experience - that even when you feel really hard done by, you generally think its not worth the grief and better to go quietly.. so the fact that Philip isn;t doing this shows how far relations have broken down.
Should say it’s not unknown for incoming regime to push out civil servants they don’t like. What *is* unusual is for it to end in employment tribunals, rather than payoffs/awkward silence.
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Cummings accusations are exhibit A about why we need an independent standards enforcer of clear rules not a PM appointed adviser who can only investigate when asked by the PM (and where sanctions are in the hands of the PM)
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The Cabinet Secretary should have told the PM it was inappropriate to ask the civil service to investigate
#partygate
- as we warned
@UKandEU
in December
@TrevorPTweets
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early on in my career I sat in on a UK Chancellor lobbying his Japanese counterpart about why UK exports of biscuits to Japan were so low.... finally he said: we don;t like your biscuits.."
“We take millions of their cars, and they take none of ours. Japan has a massive tax on our cars” says President Trump.
Japanese tariffs on cars: 0%
Top ten foreign imported cars in Japan: All German.
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I think
@edballs
is forgetting the atmosphere he, Gordon Brown and Charlie Whelan created in the Treasury when they took over in 1997. True they didn't write it down (luckily for them - and me), but the language took a nosedive.
#politicalcurrency
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what I find incredible is that no one in PM's team seems to argue (or win the argument).. "don't you think we might look a bit dumb in N days time, if we have to backtrack.." problem for govt is that N is getting smaller all the time..
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Not sure Lord Geidt's first outing is going to convince that he is going to be a rigorous enforcer of the ministerial code. Questions over why he took the job with a flabby remit in the first place.
Geidt summarised: you can't expect the PM to know which Tory donor forked out £200k to refurbish his flat
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I am very sorry for Ms Khan who clearly had a miserable time -- and am very happy to pay taxes.. but I hope the Conservative party/Cummings is picking up the tab for this and not
@hmtreasury
- they will have had to approve this payout if its from the taxpayer
Exclusive
The government is poised to reach a settlement with Sonia Khan, the aide sacked by Dominic Cummings and escorted out of No 10 by armed police
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since one of the most unpleasant side effects of England men playing in international football comps is an upsurge in alcohol-fuelled domestic violence, how about encouraging people to watch
@Lionesses
without alcohol at 11.00 am in the morning?
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I have worked in govt.. quite possible this had not been seen by ministers .. but this is a nicely presented slidepack - a flash analysis would be a scruffy email saying "quick thoughts on what the deal might be" - it takes time to do those maps and tables.
Tories hitting back hard on the doc... "document was produced immediately after the deal was struck and represents a ‘flash analysis’ of what the obligations of the protocol might be"
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OMG --
@BBCNewsnight
now doing this in spades.. loads of quoting of No.10 sources.. and then said -govt would not speak to them on the programme. Please
@BBCNews
just boycott these No.10 briefings...
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More pointless legislation .. that is already the default in law once his Withdrawal Agreement passes.. the Dutch have a council of state which forces ministers to justify publicly dumb legislation.. maybe one for the constitutional review..
This is music to my ears. There is hope yet.
@BorisJohnson
to use huge majority to enshrine 2020 Brexit date in law - with or without a trade deal
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Government is a serious business. But this government is not treating it as such.
Rory Stewart on Sky: "Politics is seen too much as a game and not enough as a real vocation, not enough about running the country well."
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Liz Truss is making it sound as though no responsible government should have signed up to the text of the
#NIProtocol
. and I imagine UK diplomats throughout the world are throwing things at the radio over her dismissal of the Russia argument.
@BBCr4today
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Lots of questions for Mark Sedwill to answer.. Lots of civil servants will be looking for him for assurances - but he will be compromised by the implication he tried to hush this up.
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Stunningly bad speech by Boris Johnson: was he too superstitious to write anything in advance? - this is what he is supposed to be best at.... I would sack the guy behind the
#dude
line
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The political obituary writers will be unsheathing their quills - but this from
@DrHannahWhite
@instituteforgov
on Johnson's legacy of bad government is v worth reading
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Oh no - it only 7.35 on Monday and we already have both GATT XXIV and SuperCanada.. GATT XXIV assumes there is a deal agreed; Supercanada only on offer w/out NI
@BBCr4today
- and zero challenge from Humphries
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am not sure I get Tom Tugendhat line on NI Protocol Bill - would pass it to get leverage but says the other thing you need is trust.. may give him trust of his backbenchers. But doesn't seem to factor in EU trust.
@SophyRidgeSky
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The PM has consistently behaved badly towards Olly. Failed to defend him when he was being attacked.. a sign of her own weakness...
Exclusive -- No 10 is telling MPs that Olly Robbins will go once they pass her deal. By
@nicholascecil
and me.
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His decision to sue has precedents at lower levels and from agency heads.. but not for permanent secretaries. breakdowns of ministerial-civil service relations are usually done behind closed doors.. a peerage, job at the Bank of England or....
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but remember where he is. Parliament voted to approve his deal in principle - but asked for more than 2 days to scrutinise it. They were right to do so - me for
@prospect_uk
and
@DrHannahWhite
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So the Royal Parks are closing key safe cycle routes into Central London for 6 WEEKS for jubilee prep. No hint of alternative safe option. No attempt to minimise disruption. On past form will be overpoliced.
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lies, damned lies and the No.10 press office.. we don't pay govt press officers to tell us fibs to protect their master. And Simon case should stop it. Me for
@instituteforgov
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But the PM is threatening to take all his bills away until he gets his way. he has already refused to show up to be quizzed by
@CommonsLiaison
. Hardly the vote of confidence in UK political institutions brexit could be argued to represent.
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Inspectors/overseers/watchdogs need the power to publish reports on their timetable without interference from ministers/officials. A Labour government should commit to this as part of its transparency/integrity reforms.
The Home Office has sacked David Neal, the "independent" chief inspector of borders and immigration... for speaking to the media.
The 15 reports he has submitted to the Home Office in the last year remain unpublished.
That's why he spoke to the media, to expose his findings
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I once asked Jacob Rees Mogg if anything could make him reconsider
#brexit
. His answer - break-up of the Union, but Brexit would strengthen it .. wonder what he makes of
@iainmartin1
this morning
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Missed this from my opportunitues from Brexit list...but govt right...Customs Union denied a lot of people the chance to be customs agents...
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Then later in the week the Government had a majority for its Queens Speech - the speech remember that was so important that they needed to suspend Parliament for 5 weeks to prepare.. until
@UKSupremeCourt
told them to go back to work
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