Labour has branded itself the party for business and growth, though the only thing they’ve managed to grow is fear in the markets. Business leaders are running for the hills, thanks to the threat of higher taxes on the horizon. Even Google’s former CEO Eric Schmidt confessed he “was shocked when Labour said it was in favour of growth”…
It’s hardly surprising, though, when not a single member of the cabinet has any real-world business experience. None of them have ever run or managed a successful private enterprise. Instead, it’s a cabinet full of career politicians, union apparatchiks, and those who’ve spent their lives in the warm embrace of the public sector. Guido has a breakdown of the numbers:
- 7 career politicians.
- 4 union workers.
- 7 lawyers.
- 2 charity workers.
- 2 academics.
- 1 accountant.
- 1 journalist (Yvette Cooper – for two years in between being a career politician).
Reeves, as she often reminds the public, worked at the Bank of England. Scotland Secretary Ian Murray found event management business called 100MPH Events, though it’s been dormant since 2015 and currently has £11,618 in liabilities. Not exactly stellar business CVs…
The only cabinet member who notably tried their hand at business is Keir Starmer. His brush with “business” came as a student when he and a mate attempted to sell ice cream on the French Riviera—illegally. Not only did they find themselves not making any money, the illegal act actually saw Starmer’s mate get arrested. Not exactly a Dragon’s Den success story. It’s no wonder investors are running scared when the only cabinet member who’s tried to run a business ended up getting his collar felt by the rozzers…
A month after Labour’s plans to ban smoking outside pubs and in parks were exposed, research on the public’s view is pouring in. It’s far from a closed case…
Lobby groups like ASH claim that there is overwhelming support for draconian measures on tobacco which is jumped on by Labour, which insists there has been “a consensus for a long time now that we want to see a smoke-free country.” The data doesn’t bear that out…
YouGov’s snap research had support for a ban outside pub gardens at 51%. A new poll from Yonder Consulting now has less than half of the public support the measure. If you remove the don’t knows, 53% say smoking outside should be allowed, compared to 47% pro-ban. Brits usually support a ban on anything that moves – the fact they aren’t behind Starmer on this one is significant…
Simon Clark, director of smokers’ rights group Forest, who commissioned the poll, tells Guido: “What is clear is that the government has no mandate to ban smoking outside pubs. It wasn’t in the Labour Party manifesto and the public only found out about it after the plan was leaked to a national newspaper.” It’s goodnight sweet prince to the hospitality industry, too…
Last night Labour MPs finished voting for the membership of departmental select committees. Here are the results:
- Treasury: Lola McEvoy, Rachel Blake, Siobhain McDonagh, Jeevun Sandher, Yuan Yang, and Lucy Rigby.
- Business and Trade: Sarah Edwards, Antonia Bance, Matt Western, Gregor Poynton, Rosie Wrighting, and Sonia Kumar.
- Culture, Media and Sport: James Frith, Rupa Huq, Natasha Irons, Jo Platt, Tom Rutland, Paul Waugh, Bayo Alaba. Waugh will have some views on the press…
- Education: Sureena Brackenridge, Jess Asato, Amanda Martin, Darren Paffey, Marie Tidball, and Mark Sewards.
- Foreign Affairs: Blair McDougall, Dan Carden, Matthew Patrick, Claire Hazelgrove, Uma Kumaran, and Abtisam Mohamed.
- Health and Social Care: Danny Beales, Beccy Cooper, Deidre Costigan,Ben Coleman Jen Craft, Josh Fenton-Glynn, and Paulette Hamilton.
- Defence: Derek Twigg, Calvin Bailey, Fred Thomas, Alex Baker, Emma Lewell-Buck, Michelle Scrongham.
- Housing, Communities and Local Government: Mike Amesbury, Joe Powel, Chris Curtis, Maya Ellis, Naushabah Khan, and Sarah Smith.
Membership is allocated proportionally to representation in the Commons. Plenty of seats for aspiring Labour performers to fill…
The Guardian has finally apologised for putting up a review of the documentary One Day in October which included such choice commentary as:
“If you want to understand why Hamas murdered civilians, though, One Day in October won’t help. Indeed, it does a good job of demonising Gazans, first as testosterone-crazed Hamas killers, later as shameless civilian looters, asset-stripping the kibbutz while bodies lay in the street and the terrified living hid… Hamas terrorists are a generalised menace on CCTV, their motives beyond One Day in October’s remit.”
After backlash last week the paper took the review down. Now it says sorry:
A collective failure of process indeed…
Boris met up with Argentine President and libertarian hero Javier Milei last night. Quite the way to keep up the book tour…
Great conversation with @JMilei in Buenos Aires. Truly uplifting to hear his defence of freedom, capitalism, open markets and democracy worldwide. pic.twitter.com/xwTmcsVjwo
— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) October 15, 2024
Milei is locked in a battle with Congress and the unions to unleash the Argentine economy. Lots to chat about…
UPDATE: MercoPress writes up the visit:
“During Monday’s encounter, Johnson gave Milei a copy of his latest book, in which he confesses to having evaluated ‘a water raid’ in the Netherlands to steal doses of AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccines. Johnson’s book went on sale in Great Britain last Thursday and will be available in the rest of the world in the coming weeks.
After a meeting lasting more than an hour, Johnson appeared on the Casa Rosada balcony to greet bypassers.
During their encounter, Milei recalled his teenage years’ band in which he sang cover versions of Rolling Stones songs, impersonating Jagger both in voice and dancing. At the same time, the Malvinas issue was never addressed, according to Casa Rosada sources.”
After Reeves and Starmer desperately tried to revive faith in investors in St Paul’s Cathedral’s crypt last night, they’ll be waking up to some grim reading. The talk of tax rises in the upcoming Halloween Autumn Statement has left bosses nervously counting the cost. According to the Office for National Statistics, annual wages grew by just 3.8% in the three months to August. The slowest rate since the pandemic…
Meanwhile, Britain’s unemployment rate edged down to 4% and vacancies plummeted by 34,000 to 841,000, the lowest since spring 2021. Payroll numbers aren’t looking much better either, with 35,000 fewer workers employed between July and August. Labour’s doom-mongering and tax hike chatter has businesses running scared…
Former leader of the SNP in Westminster Ian Blackford told Times Radio why he believes Nicola Sturgeon’s claim that she spent no time in the kitchen and therefore didn’t see any of her husband’s purchases:
“She doesn’t have a passion for cooking.”
