An invite has gone to staff at the Care Quality Commission, which is responsible for regulating all health and social care services in England:
“When: Thursday, June 4, 2026, 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM (UTC) Dublin, Edinburgh, Lisbon, London
Where: Room 1B, 2 Redman Place, Stratford Office and by MS Teams
Category: LGBT+
About this event:
Our quarterly members meeting takes place in person and via MS Teams. To receive an invitation please join the LGBT+ Network at the link above.”
Also coming up on Thursday 4th June from at 2 p.m. is a one hour Microsoft Teams meeting: “The LGBT+ Network are delighted to welcome Tina Wathern, Head of Education at the LGBT Foundation, for a discussion on Pride in Practice.” The LGBT Foundation is a Manchester-based charity which produces such work as a guide on gaining asylum in the UK…
A report last year found seven in ten community social care services either have no CQC rating or one that’s out of date. Wonder why…
While ministers battle backbenchers over a £6 billion black hole in SEND funding, at least the pen-pushers at the Department for Education aren’t being asked to rough it. New figures show that in the year 2024-25, education civil servants clocked up 8,367 hotel nights – roughly one overnight stay for every member of staff. To do what…
The department’s own guidance caps hotel stays at £160 a night in London and £110 elsewhere. A bit of back-of-a-fag-packet maths suggests that could add up to as much as £920,370. Perhaps the mandarins should be given a lesson in frugality…
The Department for Work and Pensions is burning through £1,121,565 in annual salary costs for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion staff. Maybe some of those “10,000 job cuts” in the blob Starmer promised could start here…
The DWP diversity team is made up of:
That’s 14.16 full-time equivalent staff solely focused on DEI. Pensions minister Andrew Western claims:
“Dedicated EDI staff help DWP comply with equality legislation, making sure that vulnerable customers are supported. Proactive EDI initiatives can help prevent issues related to discrimination or exclusion, reducing grievances and costly disputes.”
Meanwhile, Starmer has ruled out reforming Britain’s ballooning benefits bill for at least a year, terrified of another backbench rebellion. Go woke, go broke…
Ponderous ex-David Lammy SpAd Ben Judah has alleged that civil servants are always leaking and are a problem in and of themselves. Always entertaining when special advisers are unmuzzled…
Judah left Lammy’s team very recently in a SpAd shake-up over at the MoJ. He responded to former Cabinet Secretary Gus O’Donnell holding the Prime Minister accountable for the recent briefing war:
“I am sure Lord O’Donnell speaks from personal conviction about another time, but my experience, across two very different departments in government, was that large numbers of civil servants themselves are constantly leaking and gratuitously briefing.
It’s not even political — it has become a way of life. Let’s be clear. It’s not an “us” versus “them” issue between civil servants and politicals. There is a toxic briefing culture on both sides in Whitehall.
The Permanent Secretaries and the politicians need to work together to stamp out this behaviour that comes from a sense of untraceability and impunity. That means leak inquiries with teeth as standard and yes, people getting fired.”
Labour people are inching towards the conclusion that political appointments are needed to shore up the system. Judah gets half-way then goes for the ‘let’s do more leak inquiries’ option which always fails by nature…
Water minister Emma Hardy was asked why ex-Cabinet Secretary Chris Wormald left his role just a year after Starmer appointed him. She told Sky News:
“Well, from the statements that I’ve seen, and of course, I’m not involved in that personally. They’ve said it’s a mutual decision for that they both have made together…Well, I think [Starmer] is keen to sort of, you know, look at his team and make sure that we have the team we need to deliver on the priorities this year.”
Meanwhile, the Whitehall row over the saga continues, with senior figures now briefing The Times that officials refused to sign off on Starmer’s decision to let Wormald go as there was no compelling reason he should be sacked and it would cost the taxpayer too much money. Last night, three sources told Channel 4 that bullying allegations against expected new pick Antonia Romeo were not dismissed by the Foreign Office and that had a formal process been followed by the FCDO rather than being taken over by the Cabinet Office, she would have faced action. The Cabinet Office says: “All allegations were dismissed on the basis there was no case to answer.” Romeo wasn’t built in a day…
As well as going on pointless overseas visits as pretend Foreign Secretary, David Lammy has spent his time meeting with woke internal Civil Service groups since his demotion. Does he need ideas on things to do in the MoJ – Guido can supply a few…
Data received by Guido’s FOI Unit confirms which meetings took place:
This is while the government issues new rules attempting to limit the pointless activities of Civil Service networks. Not that departments are listening…
Lammy spends a lot of time on stuff like this as frustrated sources report to Guido. He found time to attend a panel on “black career journeys” on the same day of the accidental prison release of a second migrant. Does he want to try fixing the prisons…
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.”