The list of candidates for the Oxford Chancellor election has just been published. There are a whopping 38 candidates…
The one surprise on the list is the lack of Imran Khan. He’s been disqualified by the university…
Hague and Mandelson are free to battle head to head. Remain whinger-in-chief and fellow contender Dominic Grieve will no doubt make zero impact…
Continue reading “Imran Khan Disqualified From Oxford Chancellor Election”
Labour is reopening asylum hotels at a staggering cost of £4 million a day. Just a year ago, the Conservatives shut down 150 of these hotels to deter illegal entry. It’s yet another U-turn from Labour. Their manifesto promised to “end asylum hotels, saving the taxpayer billions of pounds”. Now it’s ‘reopen asylum hotels, costing the taxpayer billions of pounds’…
Yvette Cooper’s decision to overturn the law preventing illegal migrants from claiming asylum has sent asylum seeker numbers skyrocketing, so it’s no surprise Labour has opted to reopen hotels to house them. With 27,225 migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats so far—a 5% increase from the same time last year—many of these newcomers will soon find themselves in the very hotels Labour has revived. It’s an open-door policy with the bill landing on the taxpayer. No wonder Channel migrants love Labour…
- Danny Chambers (LibDem)
- Simon Hoare (Con)
- Alison Hume (Lab)
- Adrian Ramsay (Green)
- Ann Davies (Plaid)
- Alicia Kearns (Con)
- Kit Malthouse (Con)
- Jen Craft (Lab)
- Mary Glindon (Lab)
- Chris McDonald (Lab)
- Katrina Murray (Lab)
- Cat Smith (Lab)
- Shaun Davies (Con)
- Jake Richards (Lab)
- Ben Maguire (LibDem)
As ballot papers are being sent to the doormats of thousands of Tory members, the leadership race is heating up. Robert Jenrick and Kemi Badenoch are playing two very different games. Jenrick’s going all out on the media rounds as well as doing two televised speeches and Q&As (so far). Meanwhile, Kemi’s giving the press the cold shoulder, noticeably absent from the airwaves, instead opting to post an old Q&A clip from 2022. No surprise there considering Kemi’s had her fair share of bust-ups with the media…
Meanwhile, Popular Conservatism have given Kemi the slap for dodging their questions—slapped Kemi down for dodging their emailed questions—a set Jenrick happily answered—and are now supporting Rob. Though Liz Truss has since made it clear that doesn’t mean she’s throwing her weight behind him. Kemi has instead decided to take her pitch directly to the membership, travelling across the country to appeal to the members. One Badenoch backer, with a bit of shade, tells Guido:
“Campaigns that are trailing have to try and make up the gap with constant media appearances and demands for debates. It just all bears the strong whiff of desperation.”
Their first head-to-head debate will be tomorrow on GB News at 7 p.m. Expect some spicy blue-on-blue attack lines…
Jenrick has given his second speech of the final leadership run this morning at the Centre for Policy Studies. It’s 2-0 with Kemi on speeches given so far…
The leadership hopeful has set out his economic priorities, some vague, some specific. Here is a summary:
- Slash the number of civil servants back to pre-Brexit levels, cutting c100,000 jobs. Just like Hunt promised…
- Cut 2p off basic rate of income tax by returning disability and incapacity caseload back to 2019 levels.
- “Hold public sector leaders accountable for their failures,” including NHS managers.
- Invest in the automation in government, replace old IT systems.
- “Embrace the possibilities of artificial intelligence and machine learning to speed up our work.“
- Shorten the claimant review point for the long-term unemployed from 18 months to 12 months.
- Withhold student loans to the worst performing 10% of courses for graduate outcomes to reduce student numbers by 130,000.
- Close down “failed” universities and replace them with apprenticeship hubs.
- Zone urban areas for densification – speed up and simplify the planning process. Ensure that residents in suburbs can decide on densification.
- Build low-cost nuclear plants using South Korean specifications.
Jenrick declines to say the income tax cut will be in the next Tory manifesto if he becomes leader. Some red meat for the membership to get into there…
The “black hole” was met with raised eyebrows when it was first “discovered” in a rapid audit by Treasury officials under Reeves’ instruction at the end of July. Public sector pay rises granted by the government along with “overspend on certain projects” and inflation led the Treasury to conjure a figure of £22 billion. That was then reduced to £16.4 billion with measures including the winter fuel benefit cut…
Labour mentioned the £22 billion figure whenever they wanted to attack the previous government. Now, in one briefing of Reeves’ words to the Cabinet, she is said to be expanding the black hole to something over £25 billion, which was later upgraded to £40 billion. That’s because £22 billion would only keep services “standing still” and the Chancellor wants to increase headroom at the beginning of this parliament in case there are other “economic shocks.” Another briefing of the same Cabinet meeting says that the £22 billion black hole will be made a permanent fixture of the next five years. Despite the fact that the Treasury said it had already been reduced to £16 billion, Reeves is arbitrarily giving herself £22 billion every year to crow about…
That means hacks have written up another black hole, this time of £100 billion. The total number of different black hole figures under Labour so far has, therefore, reached five. Every number Labour comes up with is pure politics and shouldn’t be interpreted as anything else…
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.”
