The Mail reports that HMS Dragon, the only warship of Britain’s in the Middle Eastern region, has withdrawn to port “for repairs and logistics after experiencing issues with its fresh water supplies.” No comment…
Ed Davey’s advert for a new personal Chief of Staff has garnered a limited number of applications. Not much appetite in running the Labour meek coalition partner vehicle…
“The Chief of Staff is the Leader’s principal strategic adviser and senior aide, responsible for ensuring the effective operation of the Leader’s Office and supporting the Leader in delivering the Party’s political, parliamentary, electoral and organisational objectives.
This is a pivotal leadership role requiring political judgement, discretion, strategic oversight, and the ability to operate at pace in a complex, high-profile environment.”
Ed is looking for someone to run the entire LibDem operation with:
As of the end of Easter only 26 people had applied for the job on LinkedIn. Do you want to work for the most boring man in British poli- oh, have I lost you?
Some strategic Parliamentary questions from Alex Burghart have identified that the £600,000 Digital ID people’s assembly will only allow 18-year-olds in:
“Participants will be recruited through a process called sortition. This is a random postcode lottery. It is a way of selecting individuals to take part in deliberative processes, where everyone is given an equal chance to be invited. No individual can buy their way in or simply turn up at the event. All participants must be 18 or over to join the People’s Panel.
Participants are paid in line with industry standards. Payment recognises the time that people are giving up to take part and ensures that a diverse range of participants (e.g. including those on low-incomes, unemployed, with caring responsibilities, etc.) can participate. Payments are aligned to each workshop they attend, so may vary depending on attendance.
The People’s Panel will cost approximately £630,000 This will be covered under a pre-existing contract with Ipsos, which is the primary vendor, signed in March 2024.”
At Labour’s latest NEC meeting Starmer stressed his intention to give 16-year-olds the vote as quickly as possible. But they can’t chip in their views on Digital ID…
Burghart – serving as Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster – tells Guido: “More incoherent drivel from Labour. They want 16-year-olds to vote but won’t let them sit on focus groups. They’ve not the faintest idea what they’re doing.” Pity Darren Jones – Starmer’s ‘SpAd minister’ – who has been relegated to dealing with this policy and not much else…
Transport for Greater Manchester is piloting a new E-bike subsidy scheme at the generosity of the taxpayer via DfT’s Active Travel England. Priority is given to applicants who are “underrepresented in cycling or who experience financial or practical barriers“. Here’s who Andy Burnham has decided is ‘underrepresented in cycling’…
Vouchers range from £300 to £1,000. Each application is assessed on a case-by-base basis, although the form doesn’t give much detail on how an application is scored. Who gets a fancier bike? A pansexual middle-aged asian man, or a transqueer bisexual woman? Questions for the Mayor of Greater Manchester to ponder…
Jolyon has lost again.
The Bar Standards Board late last week slapped down a complaint made by Maugham’s Good Law Project against a barrister over her social media posts. Sarah Phillimore is also launching crowdfunded defamation proceedings against Jolyon himself…
The GLP made a complaint on behalf of a trans person after Phillimore referred to them in posts. The Bar Standards Board has said Phillimore “has the right to manifest her gender critical beliefs,” and that her posts were not “either seriously offensive or otherwise a potential breach of CD5 [core duty 5 – upholding public trust] by being harassing, bullying, victimising or discriminating.” Dismissed on all counts…
“Whilst we note the number of times that this occurred over this period, this was a particularly turbulent time for trans people and for people holding gender critical beliefs, and both [the complainant] and SP frequently use the public arena to express their views… Even if we were wrong on this, we take the view that the comments would be protected by SP’s article 10 rights, such as that it would not be proportionate for the BSB to investigate”.
Jolyon’s GLP is having a tantrum as usual: “We will be asking the BSB to refer its decision not to investigate Phillimore to an Independent Reviewer – the next step in taking the complaint forward – and, should the BSB continue to refuse to investigate, we expect to bring judicial review proceedings against it.” Good luck!
Amid the furore over Kanye West’s upcoming performance at the Wireless festival Labour has now blocked his entry to the UK. He can still get in by small boat presumably…
The Home Office said an application was made for a visa waiver – an Electronic Travel Authorisation – yesterday which has been refused on the grounds that his presence would not be conducive to the public good. So Labour policy is now that distasteful rap artists are banned from the country…
Speaking to Sky News off the back of Rachel Reeves’ Air Passenger Duty hike, Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary said:
“Labour is dependent on those Red Wall seats, and yet every move she makes poisons economic growth and damages the UK’s recovery… it’s the Chancellor who stumbles from policy misstep to policy misstep… I think her policy decisions are incredibly stupid.”