More than six months after his demotion appointment as ‘DPM’ in the last reshuffle, David Lammy has finally been given a full list of responsibilities tied to his potemkin title. His profile on the gov.uk site was updated today…
The full list is available on the gov.uk site, for those with time to kill. Previously, the list was empty. Among the highlights:
“The Deputy Prime Minister:
- represents the Prime Minister and HM Government at leader-level internationally when the Prime Minister is unable to attend, promoting and protecting British interests overseas
- maintains and strengthens relationships with Vice Presidents, Deputy Prime Ministers and deputy leaders of key international partners, including the United States; advancing UK strategic priorities in international engagement, including: jobs and growth, security and the rule of law, climate ambition and the transition to net zero, tackling irregular migration.
- champions the rule of law globally, working with the Foreign Secretary, Home Secretary and Attorney General
- The Deputy Prime Minister is supported by an Office of Deputy Prime Minister which coordinates work across departments and supports on the delivery of the Deputy Prime Minister’s priorities.”
As Guido has already reported, the physical space used for the ‘DPM office’ has been repurposed into Darren Jones’s pointless ‘command unit’. It turns out being Deputy Prime Minister mostly amounts to bombing at the despatch box, and cosplaying as Foreign Secretary with a few overseas jollies. The latest transparency data reveals Lammy billed the taxpayer for his wife to tag along to the Vatican. It also shows he had just ten publicly registered meetings across three months in his actual brief as Justice Secretary. Less than one per week…
Frustrations are growing, and fast…
Trump this afternoon:
“The British said ‘we’ll send our aircraft carriers’, which aren’t the best aircraft carriers by the way. They are toys compared to what we have.”
Imitating Starmer, he said: “‘We’ll send our aircraft carrier when the war is over.’
“I said “that’s wonderful, thank you very much’… don’t bother. We don’t need them.”
Fuming…
The International Olympic Committee has announced only biological females will be eligible to compete in women’s sporting events in the 2028 Olympics and beyond. Athletes will take a “once-in-a-lifetime” before the competition.
IOC president Kirsty Coventry said:
“At the Olympic Games even the smallest margins can be the difference between victory and defeat. So it is absolutely clear that it would not be fair for biological males to compete in the female category. In addition, in some sports it would simply not be safe.”
Common sense prevails…
Labour’s Treasurer Mike Payne admitted at the latest NEC meeting that Unite’s disaffiliation is draining the party’s coffers, and it will run a deficit in 2026. Admittedly Labour should be used to running high deficits by now…
According to NEC member Cat Arnold’s minutes:
“Treasurer Mike Payne said he has seen the annual accounts and they await the internal audit. Discipline will hold us in good stead for 2026, but we will not have a balanced budget but be in deficit. The Unite disaffiliation has had an impact and will have consequences.”
Unite has long been Labour’s biggest union donor. The party is clearly terrified of what happens next. As Arnold herself puts it, other unions are “considering their options”. Time to tighten the belts…
Sarah Pochin at Reform Scotland’s manifesto launch event: “I really wanted to come on in a Reform tartan burka, but apparently I wasn’t allowed… One day let’s do one of these events not live-streamed. We’ll do all the naughty stuff…”