Some news from South Yorkshire as mayor Dan Jarvis has announced he won’t stand for re-election at the next mayoral election:

“I said from the beginning that being a Mayor and an MP wasn’t a long-term arrangement. And I meant it.”

Not only does this mean an opportunity to join Starmer’s front bench, it puts him in pole position for a leadership attempt in future…

Regardless of Jarvis’s political future, Guido’s pleased to see him announce an intention to quit. In February, he revealed Jarvis had quietly admitted he’d become a part-time MP after declaring he spent a full 120 hours on the metro mayor role. He pointed out Steve Rotheram and Tracey Brabin both quit parliament after being elected mayors so why should he be any different? His constituents will be delighted to regain a full-time MP…

Dominic Raab obviously had a cracking start to his new job last Wednesday. Just as he settled into his new office chair at the Ministry of Justice, one of the first items to arrive in his inbox was a polite reminder for all MoJ civil servants to brush up on their Critical Race Theory (CRT). Linking to an article that suggests “there is no single objective truth or reality”, and even criticises Equalities Minister Kemi Badenoch for her “controversial” views on the subject, the round robin email recommended everyone give it a read because it might be “illuminating“. Useful stuff for a department currently grappling with a court backlog of over 60,000 cases…

Given Raab himself made headlines last year for refusing to kneel during the BLM protests because it was “a symbol of subjugation and subordination” – and a gesture “taken from the Game of Thrones” – Guido’s sure he poured over every dot and comma of Included.com’s helpful piece. Raab will want to roll-back on this poison emanating from his own Ministry of Justice public appointments division….

Labour MP Rosie Duffield has slammed her own party over its inability to discuss trans issues properly. On the Today Programme this morning she said this failure has led to even MPs not being certain about the party’s policy. The discussion comes amidst the party’s ongoing trans rights row, and Duffield’s announcement that she’ll be avoiding this year’s Brighton conference:

“There are groups that would be at Labour Party conference that my presence would irritate … It’s hard to know how serious to take threats by people who post them online. I don’t always take them that seriously but they’re pretty awful and I did not want to subject myself and other people to that kind of abuse.” 

This isn’t the first time female MPs have felt threatened at Labour Party conference…

Whilst Duffield has been defended by London Mayor Sadiq Khan, and Speaker of the House Lindsay Hoyle, there has been a deafening silence from Keir Starmer, who has failed to meet Duffield once since the abuse began:

“He’s always positive about trying to organise a meeting, it just hasn’t happened yet. I think it is really necessary that we actually talk about this.”

He’s clearly been too busy writing his 14,000 word credo…

The Commons’ DCMS Committee will get an opportunity to scrutinise the BBC’s top bosses tomorrow, with the promise of tough questioning over their foot-shooting decision to hire Jess Brammar as their new executive news editor. The Committee announced on Friday MPs will be graced with the presence of Tim Davie, Richard Sharpe and Leigh Tavaziva, who will face questioning on the Director-General’s progress on his initial priorities, the licence fee and “senior editorial appointments”. Sources clarify this does mean Brammar specifically…

The Committee may also ask questions of how the news of Robbie Gibb voicing his concern over Brammar’s impending appointment made its way to the media in the first place. The process by which a board member’s concerns became public knowledge should surely be a subject of inquiry…