Paul Waugh
@paulwaugh
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Columnist for @theipaper . Former presenter @BBCRadio4 's Week In Westminster. Proud Rochdalian, Co-Op member (like the Pioneers pictured), @officiallydale fan
UK
Joined March 2009
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Pinned Tweet
You get the real feel of the magic of this place here. The Bombay Baja Brass Band provided the foot tapping music.
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5
48
.
@BorisJohnson
just said the UK should be more like Germany, where workers don't have a "habit of going into work when not well"
Key comparison:
- Statutory sick pay in Germany 50% pay for 84 weeks.
- Statutory sick pay in UK is £96.35 per week for 28 weeks.
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A rare, total silence in Commons as
@Keir_Starmer
concludes his attack on
@BorisJohnson
over Partygate. "It's what he does, it's who he is".
Ministers v uncomfortable as he cites a widower whose wife died in pandemic.
Arguably, Starmer’s best Commons performance of his career.
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There is absolutely zero public interest in taking photos of Matt Hancock's wife outside her home. And anyone using those pics is condoning/fuelling the snappers conduct. Hancock is in public life, not his wife, or children.
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Extraordinary low blow at
@Keir_Starmer
from
@BorisJohnson
, giving Parliamentary credence to the false online smear about Starmer not prosecuting Jimmy Savile. It's just not true. And surely the PM knows it?
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Chief nurse Ruth May confirms "I was dropped" from no10 press conference in June, after she was asked a preparatory session about Dominic Cumnings' conduct "In my opinion the rules were clear, they were there for everyone's safety and they applied to us all."
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I can safely say that in 22 years of being a political journalist, I've never experienced a day like today.
No.10 sources now insisting that political editors like myself "are not banned, they are just not invited".
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Mark Carney tells
@BBCr4today
that Brexit is a key reason for interest rates having to go up.
Says 2016 vote devalued sterling, hit growth and productivity + adds he was right in his warnings.
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BREAKING:
@BorisJohnson
has U-turned on summer free school meals for England.
🚨An extra £120m to be spent on extending vouchers through summer holidays.
🚨Huge victory for
@MarcusRashford
+ other campaigners
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The German guy who posted that 'Dear Americans' tweet has an update: yes he is really German, no he doesn't work for Clinton.
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All of this stuff about people in No.10 working 17-hour days, so they needed a morale boost of a drinks party....must really infuriate all those NHS staff who were working on *the real front line* 17-hours a day and didn't do the same.
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Oh my god,
@KemiBadenoch
wants to delay net zero. Some MPs really don't understand the scale of the climate emergency.
How many more 40 degrees days do they need to finally get it?
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Boris Johnson will not be making a Commons statement on his trip to India today. First time in years I can recall a PM opting not to update MPs at 1st opportunity on a major trip overseas.
Surely, given his ‘Oxford debating skills’, he’s not scared of being quzzed by MPs?
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Zinger in the Commons from
@NSoames
. He thanked "My Rt Hon Friend the PM [Johnson], the leader of the House [Rees-Mogg] and other members of the cabinet whose serial disloyalty has been such an inspiration to so many of us"
#rebelalliance
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Wow.
@BorisJohnson
finally confirmed something he has previously ducked repeatedly. Asked by
@Meg_HillierMP
whether he met ex-KGB spy Alexander Lebedev without officials when he was Foreign Secretary he replies: "I probably did."
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I understand that all 11 Labour MPs who signed the Stop The War statement (which criticised Nato) have been written to by the Shadow Chief Whip and asked to withdraw their signatures.
Sounds like if they refuse to do so, they will all lose the whip.
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BREAKING: House of Lords inflicts huge defeat on
@BorisJohnson
plan to break international law over Brexit
433 to 165
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After reports that Liz Truss took a specially chartered flight to Australia, here's a quote from the 'Back to Black' cost-cutting document she co-authored in 2009:
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After
@BorisJohnson
attacks about the IRA,
@Keir_Starmer
spskmn: “One thing we would remind the Prime Minister is that he has the power to block Claire Fox being nominated as a member of the House of Lords. So if he wants to take any action on this issue we suggest he does that.”
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Breaking: Commons Speaker Hoyle says having taken advice, he will allow
@Keir_Starmer
to table a motion on whether
@BorisJohnson
misled Parliament over Partygate.
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Shapps is right most people will be thinking 'what would i do?' And many will say 'I would stick it out at home and cope with a 4 year-old'. In fact, that's exactly what many parents DID.
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NEW: Boris Johnson's Rule Of 6 has a controversial exemption - for grouse shooting and similar field sports.
Upto 30 people can gather to hunt with guns cos classed as a licensed outdoor sport.
EXCLUSIVE: Cab Office drafted special meeting on exemption
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Perhaps the best question of all from
@bbclaurak
“How many people voted for your plan?”
Truss pauses then replies: “What do you mean by that?”
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This isn't a good look.
Labour analysis suggests that of the 59 backbench MPs who have signed up to the motion scrapping the Standards Cttee, nearly a quarter (14) have been found to have breached parliamentary standards.
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.
@BorisJohnson
tells MPs “No country has a functioning trace and trace app”.
Really?
Well that's a checkable fact.
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Wow.
@BorisJohnson
responds to emotional plea by
@paulasherriff
to stop using perjorative and 'dangerous' language like 'Surrender Act' (citing memory of Jo Cox and referring to new death threats to MPs), by saying her remarks are mere "Humbug".
Total fury on Labour benches.
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When asked if they would call a general election, all Tory leadership contenders say 'No' because they were elected on a common manifesto.
BUT each of them (other than Sunak) has radically different policies that were NOT in that manifesto.
Real problem of political legitimacy.
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So, Boris Johnson has flatly rejected
@MarcusRashford
call for free school meal help to be given to poor kids over Christmas and other holidays.
No.10 spokesman: “It’s not for schools to regularly provide food to pupils during the school holidays..."
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NEW: PM's press secretary Allegra Stratton refuses at least TWELVE times to answer this Q: does
@BorisJohnson
accept he was wrong to say Labour voted against an NHS pay rise?
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It's all kicked off in Commons
@wesstreeting
: "Why does the health sec think he has any licence to lecture the British people on their moral duty to pay taxes, when he spent so many years avoiding his own?"
@sajidjavid
: non-dom status was "my personal affairs before public life"
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“He can be charming and nice as pie to you, but if you don’t give him what he wants he becomes really nasty,” one former Cabinet minister tells me.
“He’s a bully, a fat Flashman. Some of us knew it, but the world is now seeing it these past few days.”
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Whitty and Vallance make clear they are civil servants and don't want to get 'dragged into politics'. But Cummings' conduct is not a matter of politics, it's a matter of public health - as other members of Sage have made clear.
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BREAKING: No10 reveals
@BorisJohnson
is "away" with his family in the west country.
But says it's *not* a "holiday".
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"We’ve never told people specifically where to locate themselves." Shapps now slipping into untruths..
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Speaker Hoyle lets rip, putting on record his disappointment that
@BorisJohnson
is not present in Commons in person to make statement on Covid booster programme.
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"Finally we can say party and gate..and it's a positive."
@LeeMack
proving this
#PlatinumJubilee
is quite a headache for
@BorisJohnson
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Excellent Q from
@bbclaurak
"If a serving govt minister is found to have broken the rules on party funding or even law should they resign?"
@MattHancock
says 'this is a coronavirus press conference'.
No it isn't. It's a press conference. Media decide the Qs, not the govt.
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The FULL hour of Liz Truss’s local radio interviews is now in one place. Enjoy in all their glory.
This media round will be studied by MPs and students for years to come.
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Your regular reminder that deputy chief scientific adviser Angela McLean said earlier this month that any changes to the rules should be based on "observed levels of infection... and not on a fixed date".
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.
@Keir_Starmer
just called
@BorisJohnson
govt "half arsed". Speaker didn't rule it unParliamentary
#PMQs
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Theresa May says 'Whaaaat?' as
@michaelgove
suggests to her that the UK security cooperation with the EU will be 'better' under Brexit, deal or no deal.
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Scary stuff. Sir Charlie Bean, ex bank of England tells
@BBCr4today
: "It now costs the UK govt more to borrow than Italy or Greece, who we've traditionally thought of as not quite basket cases but certainly weaker performing sovereignentities."
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Absolutely loving the British Sign Language guy's expressions as he relates
@BorisJohnson
's case for the defence on Partygate.
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.
@RhonddaBryant
skewers
@RishiSunak
on whether 7 Tory MPs should apologise for smearing the Privileges Cttee investigation into Boris Johnson
Sunak: ”I haven’t read every page of the report…”
Byrant: “It’s 3 pages long.”
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Woah. David Davis to Boris Johnson: "in the name of god, go!"
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Seeing tonight's awful events on Clapham Common jogged my memory of something Patrick Vallance told MPs this week about outdoor protests, but which was not picked up at the time: there is little evidence such events cause Covid spikes. 1/3
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Nick Robinson: can you give one single example of
@BorisJohnson
promoting and upholding the principles of standards in public life?
Kwasi Kwarteng: "We had a manifesto commitment to deliver Brexit and we delivered Brexit"
@BBCr4today
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.
@RishiSunak
talking in averages to a guy who has a specific problem.
He's telling Jack from Guildford, who is facing a mortgage rise from £1500 to £2800, that he should be aware that actually the average mortgage is going up from £800 to £1000.
@LBC
@NickFerrariLBC
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For me, the most damaging thing about Williamson texts is not the language, but the spectacle of an MP using attendance at the Queen's funeral as a perk of office. The sense of wounded entitlement is staggering.
Tone deaf defence today
@SophyRidgeSky
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This is extraordinary and risks getting lost.
@SamCoatesSky
says
@BorisJohnson
personally phoned newspaper editors to brief that Cummings had leaked his messages.
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Problem for broadcasters who are expected to run the
@BorisJohnson
statement at 8pm, on boosters programme: there is no opportunity for live Q&A, so feels like PM running scared of scrutiny.
We don't have state run TV in UK, so will they have to give
@Keir_Starmer
equal airtime?
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NHS chief exe Sir Simon Stevens confirms 'NHS Test and Trace' isn't run by the NHS.
"I can't comment specifically on Test and Trace because as you know that is run by the Department of Health and Social Care rather than by the NHS or NHS England per se."
Ooh 🔥
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Oh dear. Liz Truss's first tweet is that she will 'hit the ground' (rather than 'hit the ground running'0
Suspect this tweet will be deleted so here's a screengrab.
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Whenever you see someone repeat the utter nonsense written that 2022 is somehow like 1976, send them this.
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And here he is.
@JeffBezos
tells
#COP26
that 'when I was in space' earlier this year he realised just how thin the globe's atmosphere was.
Think he forgot to mention just how many fossil fuels he spent getting into space.
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Mark Adams chief executive of Community Integrated Care is clearly furious with
@BorisJohnson
for blaming care homes for covid deaths. Tells
@BBCr4today
PM has shown a "cowardly" "travesty of leadership" and now resorting to "Kafkaesque" rewriting of history.
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Liz Truss tells
@Marthakearney
Clarke's customs union "lost by more [than May's deal] and people are still trying to bring that back". Except it didn't. It lost by less (6 vote defeat to May's 58 vote defeat). Liz is Chief Secretary to the Treasury, in charge of numbers + stuff.
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BREAKING: British Medical Journal and Health Service Journal urge
@BorisJohnson
to cancel Christmas covid relaxations. His plan would be 'a major error that will cost lives'
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.
@TomTugendhat
withering on
@BBCr4today
about
@BorisJohnson
Brexit boasts:
"One of the reasons I was were given for leaving the European Union was that we could do independent sanctions. That's what I was told by the then Foreign Secretary in 2018. Well let's see them."
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No.10 has just used the phrase “Brexit red tape”, I think for the first time ever.
Is that an admission that quitting the EU has indeed caused more bureaucracy for British business?
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In the Commons, Andrew Mitchell just let rip at
@trussliz
over her plan to tear up the Northern Ireland Brexit deal
"The bill brazenly breaks an international treaty…" and "threatens a trade war".
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Speaker Hoyle is so furious with
@michaelgove
for not providing advance copies of his full Cumbria coal statement that he's suspended the Commons.
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🚨Met Police have confirmed an “investigation is ongoing” into alleged Covid law breaking at Tory HQ Xmas party in 2020.
👀One of those present is standing as my local Tory candidate on May 5
🥳This chap in the braces, lying on the floor + raising a wine glass, in Mirror pic 🧵
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John Major lets rip on Brexit:
"With all the activities of the Eurosceptic media and the Eurosceptic movement, only by the *tiniest* of majorities did the vote to leave Europe go through - on *37%* of the electorate. Don't talk to me about the will of the people!"
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So Hammond is spending more on Brexit preparations (£3bn) than on the NHS (£2.8bn resource cash). That wasn't on Boris's bus.
#budget2017
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Yet again, no follow ups being allowed today. PM abusing the fact that media can be 'muted' in virtual press conferences. If this was a real press conference, follow ups would be impossible to ignore.
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.
@MattHancock
just underlined perhaps why easing lockdown is happening too soon.
Asked repeatedly about how he will respond to R going over 1 in NW and SW, he says "the Joint Biosecurity Centre is in fact being built to advise on that"
*being* built = not ready yet.
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George Galloway told the voters of Rochdale he would be their voice on Gaza.
Well, there's an Urgent Question in the Commons right now. And Galloway is nowhere to be seen.
Meanwhile, lots of Labour MPs demanding immediate ceasefire and suspension of arms sales to Israel.
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Not sure
@RishiSunak
will be pleased with this
@BorisJohnson
#PMQs
:
Q: "Did the PM agree to the Chancellor writing off £4.3bn of fraud? That’s £154 for every household the country, that went directly into the pockets of fraudsters."
PM: "No of course not Mr Speaker"
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This one quote from Cummings today sums up his view that the public were mugs to follow the Stay Home advice so strictly.
"The guidance doesn't say you've just got to sit there."
If you had a dying parent/child/funeral/abusive partner you just 'sat there' and followed the rules
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Tory donor Guy Hands, asked by
@BBCr4today
if the Tory party is fit the run the country: "No."
He says problem is not just the last 6 weeks, it's the last 6 years, including badly negotiated Brexit deal.
Warns IMF bailout now possible.
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.
@Keir_Starmer
quick out of the blocks to say "nobody should be stopped from answering questions from journalists"
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This pic in particular could prove very tricky. It seems to feature Ghislaine Maxwell (on the far right), Epstein, Andrew and the Trumps.
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.
@Keir_Starmer
ends anti sleaze speech by saying of
@BorisJohnson
: "Hes not a serious leader and the joke isn't funny any more "
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The Commons Speaker has warned MPs not to raise
@RishiSunak
's childcare shares row in
#PMQs
today.
But here's the real story behind the story: Govt is helping private equity-backed "agencies" as a privatised alternative to Ofsted. With taxpayer cash.
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Reminder that a week ago,
@BorisJohnson
was urged by
@Keir_Starmer
in PMQs to extend free school meals to the summer, and the PM refused.
Now he says: “We have to understand the pressures families are under right now”
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BREAKING NEWS.
Latest score just in:
Rashford 100,000, Johnson Nil
@MarcusRashford
has smashed the 100k petition signature threshold required for a Commons debate *in a single day*.
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Meanwhile, here's a Tory leaflet delivered to a strongly Labour voting area in Norwich, telling people 'you don't need to take any ID in order to vote...'
@TownCloseEmma
has reported it to the Electoral Commission.
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.
@Keir_Starmer
hits back at
@BorisJohnson
: "Lots of words, lots of bluster...that's not going to work with the police."
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With both
@Jeremy_Hunt
and
@TomTugendhat
now coming out in opposition to privatisation of
@Channel4
, it's a reminder the PM has to take his party with him to any pass legislation. Q now is whether the numbers are there.
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Have to say today's No.10 press conference as the worst so far for clarity. Just a blob of blancmange on the key issue of testing. All questions ducked.
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Sad to see last of
@Line_of_duty
but I really liked the way
@jed_mercurio
linked incompetence and greed with institutional corruption. Add in corporate culture of restructuring and backside covering and it felt all too plausible.
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The attorney general here, yes the most senior law officer in govt, basically contradicting the police who felt this matter required their time. Ditto every other cabinet minister.
Protecting one’s family is what any good parent does. The
@10DowningStreet
statement clarifies the situation and it is wholly inappropriate to politicise it.
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Extraordinarily moving questions from a Ukrainian journalist at the
@BorisJohnson
press conference. Amazed BBC didn't cover it but
@SkyNews
stuck with it.
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Lab gain in Kensington & Chelsea now expected, source on ground says.
That's KENSINGTON AND CHELSEA, people.
If only Portillo was still MP.
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A fresh Partygate critic - and this one will really hurt.
“It was really important at all stages that everyone stuck to the rules... it’s very disappointing that that wasn’t the case."
Sir Patrick Vallance, government's chief scientific adviser, reacts to the Partygate scandal
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.
@AngelaRayner
says in October that
@BorisJohnson
claimed fears about inflation were "unfounded".
The PM replies: "I said no such thing"
Well, it's a checkable fact.
#PMQs
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Rees-Mogg coming under attack from Tory MPs over fracking. Veteran backbencher Greg Knight says:
“Is he aware the safety of the public is not a currency on which some of us choose to speculate?”
❤️🔥
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Just asked Boris Johnson: "On Greensill + lobbying, it's sparked a lot of interest in whether the Nolan principles of Public Life have any teeth or relevance any more."
Did he act in accordance with Nolan principles of honesty + integrity in his relationship with Jennifer Arcuri?
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Given that this has been long talked about within Westminster and Whitehall, it was always a question of just when they would time the announcement.
The PM wouldn't be so cynical to try and bury bad news (Patel/Rutnam) with, er, good news? Surely not.
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Feels odd that once again
@DominicRaab
is leading the press conference rather than the PM himself.
@NicolaSturgeon
does a daily weekday briefing (and manages to run a country at the same time)
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I think the '6ft apart' rule is perfectly possible, but am amazed there are not public information adverts on TV showing people exactly how to do it - in parks, in shops etc.
Telling-by-showing is the best way to get the msg across, not a jumble of words from a No.10 lectern.
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Some may think it niche but that Q by
@jessicaelgot
is fundamental to Govt accountability
For months No.10 press officers denied any parties took place. Today Gray confirmed there were parties *in* the press office.
In days gone by, lying to the media was a resigning offence.
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.
@susannareid100
doing a superb job keeping this interview with
@BorisJohnson
, brilliantly focused on the Qs her viewers want answering.
77 yr old widow now eats one meal a day and stays on buses all day to keep warm.
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Picture spread of the day.
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Really find it baffling that
@nadhimzahawi
, like
@BorisJohnson
and every other minister, seems to think the public will be impressed by the line "The Prime Minister paid the fine..."
Do they really think paying a fine, after being served with one, is an heroic, noble act?
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This like a panto gone horribly wrong. "A loan!" shout the audience when asked to describe
@RishiSunak
's energy 'rebate'. The derisive laughter is quite something.
“It’s not a loan, it is a discount”
“What are you all shouting? They’re saying it’s a loan”
@Greghands
tries to explain to the
#bbcqt
audience why the government’s £200 energy discount is not a loan.
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.
@BorisJohnson
defends his right to attend an alcohol-laden leaving drinks, indeed says it was his duty.
BUT NHS staff worked even harder - and they were not allowed to hold 'leaving drinks' events in the pandemic.
Why does he stick to this line?
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.
@BrandonLewis
says previous Lab + Tory ministers broke laws while in office, saying "if somebody gets a speeding ticket…"
Then adds: "I’m not in anyway trying to equate a speeding ticket [with Covid rule breaking]."
@MishalHusain
: "You’ve actually literally just done that."
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