Patrick Maguire
@patrickkmaguire
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Chief political commentator, The Times
Joined November 2014
After a year of interviews, GET IN, the full story of Labour’s path to power under Keir Starmer and first months in government by me and @Gabriel_Pogrund, is out on 13 February. Pre-order it now.
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Of the 59 Tory MPs whose names are on the amendment that would get Owen Paterson off the hook and launch a review of the Commons standards regime. six have had allegations against them upheld by the standards commissioner since last year.
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Asked about the conduct described in the Sue Gray report, Boris Johnson told MPs: "I'd do it again.".
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Tory MP Aaron Bell just asked Priti Patel to consider revisiting legislation that would allow the government to revoke Evgeny Lebedev's peerage.
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Handbags at the ‘22…. Mark Harper asks why “colleagues should continue to defend the indefensible” and asks why PM removed references to “honesty and integrity” from foreword of ministerial code . Adds: “There’s no point the prime minister pulling a face at me.”.
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If I'd had the weekend Michael Gove has had, I wouldn't necessarily be pacing a stage with a tightly-rolled piece of paper in my hand
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Asked about resignation of Samuel Kasumu, No 10's most senior black adviser, universities minister Gillian Keegan tells Times Radio: "I don't even know who he is!" That line might need a bit of work for the rest of the broadcast round.
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I can’t believe I’m writing this. But Tory sources say Shaun Bailey’s campaign now believe they can win the London mayoralty.
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Car crash afternoon for the government has Labour in high spirits. So much so that Keir Starmer has just come down to Strangers and got a big round in.
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For the first time in my life I’d like to hear from Ian Blackford.
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Handbrake turn from No 10 on this afternoon's Labour motion asking government to disclose security advice on Lord Lebedev: Tory MPs are now being whipped to abstain rather than vote it down. Source: "Clearly enough people kicked up a fuss - it stinks of Paterson.".
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Sir Keir Starmer is addressing his frontbenchers via Zoom. He just told them: "I am not interested in every party member liking your tweets, I want you to speak to the public.".
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EXC: Geoffrey Cox voting against the Internal Market Bill. Writing for tomorrow's Times, the former attorney general accuses Boris Johnson of "unconscionable" damage to UK's international standing . A dozen Tory MPs had been waiting for his verdict .
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Labour source in Islington suggests Jeremy Corbyn could be on course for a narrow victory – likely to be as few as 1500 votes in it.
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Boris Johnson gave Biden a framed photograph of a mural of Frederick Douglass yesterday. So far so thoughtful. Except. the Foreign Office found the free-to-use pic on the *Wikipedia page* for Douglass and then had it printed. Biden, meanwhile, gave PM a $6k custom-made bike.
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Boris Johnson says he takes “real exception” to Harper questioning his honesty and integrity. Responds with reference to leadership in the Nolan principles and argues he showed that during the pandemic . MP heckles: “That’s not what the Sue Gray report says.”.
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Emily Thornberry wrote this six days after the 2019 election 🧐
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Williamson demoted to the backbenches. Northern Ireland spared.
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Silver lining for Kwasi Kwarteng: he was chancellor for eight days longer than Iain Macleod. And unlike Iain Macleod, at least leaves office alive.
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Hearing cabinet at which abolition of Covid regs supposed to be signed off was cancelled with less than ten minutes' notice this morning. Ministers, some of whom were already at No 10, a bit baffled. .
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In this morning's @timesredbox: Labour has opened up its biggest lead over the Tories since Keir Starmer became leader in this week's YouGov poll for The Times. LAB 40 (+2).CON 35 (-3)
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No 10 outreach latest from one unamused former minister: “The number of colleagues who are being bribed with jobs is quite extraordinary!”.
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Keir Starmer opens up clear lead over Boris Johnson in public approval
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Johnson threatening to invoke Article 16 of the Northern Ireland protocol in talks with EU leaders today is precisely what the US warned Frost about when issuing him with a demarche last week.
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One Whitehall source offers this analysis of how we got here: "No 10 side with Treasury until the numbers get scary.".
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James Timpson a much more intriguing appointment than Patrick Vallance for what it says about how a Labour government will approach crime and punishment.
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Strong stuff. I wouldn't like to be the guy who gave Claire Fox a peerage if this is the No 10 line.
Boris Johnson joins criticism of Greenslade over his secret support for the IRA. No 10 says the PM 'outright condemns his comments, specifically those about the killing of civilians'.
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EXC: Friends of Jeremy Corbyn say he has resolved to run against Labour as an independent . “The debate is over. He will stand.”. Announcement could come as early as this week — not denied by sources close to him this evening.
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Truss silences critics as Tories surge and Labour nosedive to 29-point lead in latest Times/YouGov poll. CON 23 (+1).LAB 51 (-1).LIB DEM 9 (=).GREEN 7 (+1).REFORM 3 (-2). Fieldwork 11/12 October
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Just spoken to a Brussels source who's seen the YouGov MRP. He said: "I don't like it, but I'll have to go along with it.".
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There hasn’t been a deputy leader of the Commons for the whole of Boris Johnson’s tenure as prime minister. He is literally doing this for a laugh.
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Angela Rayner has been sacked as chairman of the Labour Party, source confirms.
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Luton Town away faithful pause en route to Fulham to pay heartfelt tribute to Neil Parish: “We can see you watching porn!”
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These people think this is funny. Imagine going out today and pretending to be a hard man. In Southport. Grow up.
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Full house: all 11 Labour MPs whose names were on the Stop the War letter this morning have now, under threat of suspension, told the chief whip that they have withdrawn their signatures. Took little more than an hour.
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"Rudakubana was referred to Prevent four times. with one coming after he was found to have researched terror attacks, namely the London Bridge attack in 2017, at a specialist high school in 2021.". 2021. Serious questions here but not for Keir Starmer.
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Sarah Sackman, the barrister from the 2024 intake Keir Starmer has just made solicitor general, is a) a Matrix Chambers colleague of attorney general Richard Hermer, and b) specialises in planning law. Useful given this government’s priorities….
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“For Mr Grimes, the humiliation is less grave but nonetheless real. He has, by his own admission, been exposed as naive, deeply unserious and incapable of behaving with even the minor degree of responsibility required of a figure of mild public renown.”.
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Keir Starmer tells LBC he will undergo unconscious bias training in the wake of his Black Lives Matter comments (will be available to everyone else in the party too).
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In other news: Islington North CLP just passed this motion 98% to 2% at its monthly general meeting. “This CLP would like to thank our sitting MP J. Corbyn for his commitment and service to the people, and want to express that it should be our democratic right to select our MP.”.
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Tory mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey just tabled a motion in the London Assembly to de-twin London and Beijing over Hong Kong and the treatment of Uighurs in Xianjing. Fell nine votes to eight with Labour voting against and Greens abstaining.
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Has anything been quite as corrosive for trust in public institutions as police Twitter accounts?.
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Told the heckler was - unsurprisingly - Roger Gale.
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Senior Labour source: "We look like a Westminster bubble freak show.".
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JRM not freelancing here. This implicit call for a truce, I’m told, is the line the chief whip is desperate for Tory MPs to take on Beergate. They’ve been warned that Starmer’s resignation would cause serious problems for the Tories in the country.
Jacob Rees-Mogg backs Keir Starmer (ish) - asked by @afneil on new C4 show whether Starmer should quit if fined by police, JRM says: "I don't think this is the primary issue of our time. unlike the leader of the opposition, I am consistent in my views.".
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I'd missed this yesterday – but all 57 Labour councillors in Lisa Nandy's home council of Wigan kept their seats. Marked contrast with other northern strongholds.
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Understand Labour have only 13 candidates left to select — Tories still missing around 190.
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They are: Mark Francois, Karl McCartney, Iain Duncan Smith, Crispin Blunt, Bob Neill and Richard Drax.
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Imagine being in Hereford. It must feel like Weimar Berlin.
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Starmer could do worse than make Rosena Allin-Khan party chair. Went studs up on anti-Semitism during the campaign and very good on telly. Has earned a big job.
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Enjoyably dry assessment of the mood among Tory MPs from a former minister: "Part of me thinks it’s such a massive shock it will make people reassess and reunite. Then I remember the character of most of my colleagues.".
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Boris Johnson should consider disestablishing the Church of England if controversy over its senior clergy's political interventions continues, Steve Baker tells The Times.
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TIMES EXCLUSIVE. Joe Biden ordered a near unprecedented formal diplomatic of the UK government over its approach to NI last week. David Frost was summoned to a meeting with US officials, who warned that White House believed opposition to protocol was jeopardising peace process.
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Two sentences and a half sentences about the victims. Dozens more about Keir Starmer and Kemi Badenoch. Gets the day of the PM’s statement wrong. Other than that, worthy of the moment.
🚨 NEW: Tory leader Kemi Badenoch's statement on Axel Rudakubana's sentence
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Howard Beckett has been suspended from the Labour Party.
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"And in that moment, they realised. they were Normal People."
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Nigel Farage tells me on a Kent border: “Not only an internal border with Northern Ireland but now Kent too. Is this the worst government ever?”.
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One Labour MP for a v Brexity seat in the north-east has a nice line on this: "My Labour Leavers are more Labour than they're Leave, but my Labour Remainers are more Remain than they're Labour." Interesting to see it borne out by data.
A taster from new analysis for tomorrow. Labour 2017 voters unlikely to vote Conservative regardless of their Brexit identity. Those Labour leavers are unlikely to be Conservative converts.
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Some professional news: after a brilliant two years at the New Statesman I will be moving on next month to write @timesredbox alongside the ace @estwebber.
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Labour has a leader who spent decades challenging police overreach and misconduct in the courts and yet seems to have very little to say on any of this.
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A senior government source, still loyal to May, eyeballs the gallows and cracks one last gag. "Now one member of the pizza club is gone, let's hope Andrea doesn't create a Domino's effect.".
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Starmer didn't blow anyone away but he got his biggest clap when he reminded the audience why they didn't like Sunak. That's this whole election in a sentence.
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After 18 lonely months I bought this very watch back off eBay yesterday. It’s a Christmas miracle.
Antique watch Twitter (it’s got to exist) — this vintage Omega was in a bag that was stolen from me in Holborn last night. If you are offered it for sale, please let me know. Can offer reward etc.
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Douglas Ross is chairing a virtual meeting of Tory MSPs right now. he just told them, having spoken to MPs in Westminster, that "letters are going in".
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Amazing that people perpetuate the myth of a left-wing BBC when the host of Question Time is literally a government appointee.
Fiona Bruce is a champion for freedoms here & abroad. I look forward to working with her as the UK’s Envoy for Freedom of Religion or Belief to make sure everyone, everywhere is free to have & practise a faith, belief, or not, in accordance with their conscience.
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Say what you like about Liz Truss but she's good at not accepting the premise of your question.
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Angela Rayner "was planning to do Marr to defend Keir until he sacked her", source close to her says.
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Gracious but also - let’s be honest - shameless, given the morality tale they subsequently told about that government was one of reckless profligacy.
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Anneliese Dodds tells me the government should consider a wealth tax to pay for the covid recovery.
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We're a month from Brexit. Declan Rice must be the only person in the UK trying to get rid of his Irish passport.
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Tories in freefall in this week's Times poll - Labour *eleven* points ahead. CON 29 (-4).LAB 40 (+1).LIB DEM 15 (+2).GREEN 6 (n/c).REF UK 3 (-1). Highest Labour score since January. highest Lib Dem rating of this parliament
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This all adds up to unsavoury truth that Labour, despite their poses to the contrary, are being just as cavalier in their approach to protecting the Good Friday Agreement as the Tories.
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In Batley and Spen, Labour will put you on an attack leaflet if you pose alongside Modi. In Brent North.
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Tory MPs can complain all they like - and decent of them to do so - but the Savile thing is really just a non-U version of Brown-sold-the-gold, £350 million a week, European Medicines Agency, etc. This is the party they are now.
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Left: Len McCluskey tells the NS that Labour’s “unbelievable offer” of a manifesto deserves a “massive landslide”, 19 November.Right: Len McCluskey on how Labour’s “incontinent rush of policies” lost it the election
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So it’s Lisa Nandy against a barrister, or to give it its proper title: town versus gown.
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Get. The. Badge. In.
Making sure every child grows up in a safe and loving family environment is personal to me. It is great to be working with @BarryKeoghan on reforming children’s social care around the world.
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Jill Mortimer, Tory MP for Hartlepool - one of only 13 to vote against the government on Owen Paterson - just let rip to red wall colleagues. "This was a colossal misjudgement, it should not have been whipped. You should have been allowed to vote with your conscience on this.".
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Scale of unrest on Tory WhatsApp from serving members of the government payroll will seriously worry No 10 and the Home Office tonight. Here’s Cabinet Office PPS Brendan Clarke-Smith (Bassetlaw) writing to the 70-strong Common Sense Group: “This is effectively a war now.”.
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Dominic Raab just told Peston he had travelled the Irish border "from Crossmaglen to Newry". Erm.
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Ian Murray, now shadow Scotland secretary, was the eighth original member of the Independent Group before pulling out at the eleventh hour. Here he is rehearsing their launch:.
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Labour win Rutherglen with a majority of more than 9,000 votes. I am told that well exceeds Team Starmer's expectations and if replicated across the central belt and west of Scotland at a general election makes it very, very difficult to foresee how anyone but Starmer is next PM.
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EXC: In 2017, Shakespearean actress Leonie Mellinger received a call from Keir Starmer's office. "Wooden" on stage, he needed help with his speeches. For four years the speaking coach was the secret member of his inner circle. Story w @Gabriel_Pogrund.
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Tory MP Nigel Huddleston has been appointed Conservative Party vice-chair for youth. Nigel Huddleston is 48 years old.
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Really impressed with what they've done with Peterborough city centre since 2017.
What would you do if you knew you were innocent? In every single story, like a coin, there are two sides - now I am not legally restrained - this is mine. Full video:
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EXC: NEC of the Communication Workers Union, fifth biggest Labour affiliate, just unanimously passed this motion demanding Corbyn's reinstatement. Resolves to consider the extent of their relationship with Labour - disaffiliation not on table but financial contributions are.
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No sweary source quote will wound Dominic Cummings quite as gravely as Robert Jenrick having just said on the radio: "Dominic Cummings used to work in No 10. He tried his best.".
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EXC: Blue wall rebellion begins. 41 Tory MPs from Jake Berry’s new Northern Research Group have written to the PM to express concerns that government will break its promise to level-up. They warn he must “reflect carefully” on his promises to the north and urge more investment
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Labour lead at 25 points in latest YouGov poll for The Times. CON 22 (-2).LAB 47 (+1).LIB DEM 9 (-1).REF UK 9 (+1).GREEN 7 (=). Fieldwork 5-6 July
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Iain McNicol does not appear among the House of Lords whips on the full list of frontbenchers circulated among the PLP just now.
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In response to Johnson's IRA jibe, Starmer's spokesman urged the PM to block Claire Fox's peerage.
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Hard to think of a better illustration of Theresa May’s approach to ministerial appointments — patronage over suitability — than this admission from Karen Bradley in @theHouse_mag
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