The Welsh Labour government has released new procurement card spend data for 2022-2023. Apart from the total cash spent almost doubling from £800,000 to £1,500,000, the taxpayer might want to see exactly what crucial devolved government work they are financing. Here are the highlights:
A month after spending £8,000 at luxury Manahattan restaurant Zou Zou’s, officials picked up another £16,000 tab a week later.
£588 on party equipment from a website selling fussball and arcade machines.
£5,158 at Soho House West Hollywood. A members’ club in Los Angeles…
£455 on booze/perfume/cosmetics from a Dubai-based “diplomatic supply company.” Smell good, govern good…
A couple of Gopros for £700 each.
£207 bill from a website which sells wool and luxury whiskey.
£2,702 to “Diversity Travel Ltd,” a travel management company specialising in “diversity study trips for personal development.” A spa day, but with rainbows?
Welsh officials have been keeping themselves well fed and watered on the taxpayer’s dime. Labour made a massive deal last year of government procurement card spending – they even rebranded their Twitter to attack the Tories for spending cash on cocktail parties for diplomats and so on. Funny they don’t seem too keen to mention it any more…
UPDATE: Welsh Tory leader Andrew RT Davies says:
“The Labour Welsh Government are literally dining out on the backs of taxpayers as ministers complain of tight financial constraints and NHS waiting lists balloon for six consecutive record-breaking months. You couldn’t make this up.”
Kemi is the final of the four. The fever dream beauty parade ends after this…
She says enough of politicians doing their own thing, bemoans spin.
The Conservative Party reverses decline, the country needs it.
She grew up in a place of fear.
She is a Conservative because she has seen what happens when a country loses sight of Conservative principles.
Party lost faith and stopped acting like Conservatives, and acted like managers. Going after Labour votes lost Tory votes.
No greater example than Net Zero.
Promises must come with a plan. Plans should be based on principles. Tories did not keep their promises in government. Taxes and immigration.
Where is the wealth creation of the 1980s? Wealth is not a dirty word. It should be defended and encouraged.
Labour targets savers and wealth creators while taking money from a millionaire.
Battle for ideas against the left is now on. Against “socialism in a suit.”
Pitch to youth.
Declares victory on trans as Labour now sides with her.
“If the law says you cannot deport a foreign child abuser, than the law is an ass.”
If Kemi is leader a comprehensive programme will be initiated not seen since the likes of Keith Joseph’s.
Targets Human Rights Act, Equality Act, Civil Service, Health Service, Quangos, Bank of England, Judicial Review. “Rewire, reboot, reprogramme.”
Party is not a club or faction but a movement.
Jokes about people saying she likes a fight: “I don’t know where they got that idea.”
“We are going to have fun” in opposition.
Defends capitalism and enterprise to beat poverty. Take the shackles off the economy so that it can fly.
The members liked that one…
Robert Jenrick is next up on stage. The (now) right-winger will be talking about immigration, a smaller state and a united country. He’s apparently going to speak without any notes…
After a video featuring Boris Johnson and Liz Truss in a nod to Brexit and finishing with a voter saying he would return to the party if Jenrick is the leader, Jenrick delivers his note-free speech. Here are the key takeaways:
He pays tribute to his dad who worked at an iron foundary in the Midlands, and waves to his mother in the crowd.
Praises his “heroine” Thatcher, and how important “change” is.
Promises to turn the Tories into a “pressure group for hard-working majority”.
Attacks Starmer’s cowardice by choosing to “rob poor pensioners just to placate your union paymasters”.
“Starmer will take the knee but he will never take a stand. He doesn’t even take a stand at the football anymore, he’s up there in the director’s box.”
Reeves is “as wooden as Pinocchio” and Miliband is a “Wallace missing his Gromit.”
Labour is only offering “managed decline”.
Says he would “always celebrate our achievements” including Ukraine, welfare reform and education.
Though adds “we can’t bury our heads in the sand”, as “we failed to deliver the strong NHS, the strong economy and the strong border.”
Wants nothing less than a “new Conservative party”.
Calls for an effective freeze in net migration by capping it to the tens of thousands.
Says we must leave ECHR to secure our borders. We cannot reform the court.
Says he will stand for a new Great Reform Act, one that leaves the ECHR, repeals Tony Blair’s Human Rights Act and writes a British Bill of Rights. Sounds a little like Reform there…
We must oppose “crazy” interim net zero targets that have caused factories to close and families to suffer.
Says he will stand for cutting emissions, but not off the backs of hard working people.
Proposes “most ambitious plan for urban densification” to “get Britain building again”.
Says he’s told we only have enough munitions to last a few weeks in war.
Says he will cut foreign aid to fund raising defence spending to 3% of GDP.
Says he will take a stand for a small state that actually works, not a big state that fails. Wants public sector reform.
Finishes off by asking people to be “part of the change” with him.
Now that Tugendhat has finished it’s James Cleverly’s turn to put up a video and give a 20-minute speech to Tory Conference. This competition is still to play for…
A video with a smattering of Cleverly’s supporters across the party factions says we need a winner. The main points:
Tory Parliamentary Party needs to say sorry. It has to be better, it will be under him.
He didn’t plan on standing for leader, could have spent more time with his Warhammer figures.
Talks about time as reservist, and getting sent to serve in Luton.
Ronald Reagan is his political hero, most admires his optimism. “Let’s be more normal.”
“Serve the benefits of Conservatism with a smile.” This will win back voters who went to the three other parties.
Tories should be proud of their record. Compare that with Labour – a party drunk on power who lied to people.
Reform didn’t deliver Brexit, Reform didn’t cut immigration, I did.
Farage and Starmer two sides of the same coin – both think life was better in the past. Our best days are ahead of us. Says he is “in the business of the future.”
Get rid of bad taxes, like Stamp Duty.
“The state must never take more than half of any pound you have earned.”
Took on unions as London AM member, as Tory chairmen got candidates selected in record time for 2019 – got Boris elected and Brexit done.
No more stitch-ups for candidate selection.
“We must choose someone to lead us who has already done their apprenticeship.”
Foreign Secretary: He told the Chinese foreign minister: “Do not invade Taiwan.”
First to go to Israel following 7th October attacks.
Attack on Jenrick: Didn’t “walk away” from immigration issue as Home Secretary.
Held police accountable for actions and inactions over Gaza.
“If you want a winner, choose one. Choose the candidate Farage, Starmer, and Davey fear the most.”
An assured performance with one or two policies in there…
Tom Tugendhat is the first up to the stage. The centre-right ex-security minister will try and win over the membership by calling for a “New Conservative Revolution”. Expect some talk on the military too…
After a short video of Tom’s time serving his country in the army, focusing on him being a good Prime Minister rather than just the Leader of the Opposition, Tom took the stage. Here are the main takeaways:
Tom hinges on being a patriot, declaring that unlike Labour, he will never apologise for who he or his country is.
Stresses his leadership credentials as former soldier: “I was a soldier, I served our country and I faced our enemies. I know what leadership demands.”
“Leadership is not about empty promises”.
He will “never abandon those on the frontline” .
Slams “venal and vindictive” Labour on their policies on pensioners, freedoms, migration, policing and high taxes.
Promises to rebuild CCHQ for the members.
Says we need a Thatcher-style revolution to “free the economy” for “real” growth.
Build new nuclear power plants so we are “never dependent on tyrants”.
Cap immigration at 100,000. Says it’s about visas rather than foreign courts and training British workers to fill job vacancies.
His rivals are managers, whilst he is a leader, Tom suggests.
He finishes off by saying he “believes in Britain”, stating that the Tories “must win. Not in 10 years, not in 15, but in five.”
A bit vague…
Ahead of the Tory leadership candidates’ flagship speeches this morning Nigel Farage has helpfully appeared on Good Morning Britain to provide his views.
“They’ll speak today in the conference hall to be the next Tory leader – they all think with a new leader it’ll all be fine, ‘the voters will come back to us’ and what they don’t understand is that the Conservative brand is completely damaged they have no chance of winning the next election.”
Farage does beat every single hopeful by a wide margin with the public on having “what it takes to be a good Prime Minister” according to Ipsos. Meanwhile a majority of Tory members want an official merger with Reform and 70% want a closer relationship. Nigel slapped down that idea again, too…
“I wouldn’t trust them anyway, they have a pattern of behavior – pretending to be one thing and then when they’re in government being quite the opposite. And and frankly what I’m trying to do with Reform is to replace them.”
Leadership hopefuls have been jollying around a Conference buoyed by Labour’s bad press. They have made almost no progress on articulating a real strategy for what to do about Nigel. Without one, if Westminster returns to the politics of two parties, the Tories might not find themselves one of them…
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:
