A hot mic moment captured by Metro’s social media guru Craig Munro of some drinks held by new Cabinet appointees. Shabana Mahmood (former Justice Secretary), Wes Streeting, and Alex Norris (new Justice Secretary) were chatting about Labour’s policy of early release of prisoners:
Streeting: “You know he’s the enemy now, Justice Shabana?”
Mahmood: “No he’s not!”
Streeting: “He wants to let them all out.”
Mahmood: “You know who’s boss!”
…
Mahmood: “When do you do your swearing in?”
Norris: “A couple of weeks, I guess.”
Mahmood: “Tell me when it is, I’ll come around. I want to come.”
They’re tackling the issue with a fair degree of levity…
Peers have rejected the Tories’ motion for one of Burnham’s ministers to face parliamentary questioning this week, with the LibDems joining Labour in voting against Lord True’s calls for a Lords debate on the new government’s policies. 173 to 234, with a majority of 61…
Leader of the House of Lords Baroness Smith of Basildon said the Government will “welcome scrutiny”, but… “In politics, as in life, patience is a virtue. This is day two of a new Prime Minister. The Government is still being formed”. How patient does the country have to be before this government commits to virtually anything…
Louise Haigh as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and first secretary will not have oversight of the Public Sector Fraud Authority (PSFA) which helps departments to “understand and reduce the impact of fraud.” That is moving to the Department of Work and Pensions as part of the overhaul of the Cabinet Office this morning. Chalk that up as a Guido victory…
The government still states of Haigh, who has a fraud conviction: “She is responsible for:
- Oversight of all Cabinet Office policy
- Coordination and delivery of cross-government priorities
- Oversight of national security policy coordination
- Oversight of state reform and Civil Service reform
- Communications policy for Government
- Propriety and ethics
- Public appointments”
Co-conspirators can decide whether they think that’s appropriate…
UPDATE: A Cabinet Office spokesman responded:
“Changes to departmental structures were agreed ahead of Ministerial appointments. Several functions are being moved out of the Cabinet Office to slim down the centre of government, this includes the Public Sector Fraud Authority moving to the DWP because most work tackling fraud happens in that department. Claiming otherwise is completely inaccurate.”
Number 10 has refused to guarantee the new government would abandon the disastrous Chagos sellout. Speaking at the Lobby briefing of political hacks, an incredibly coy spokesman said:
“We don’t have an update for you on that today, but we will update in due course I’m sure…”
This was also the line used when asked if Burnham would go ahead with Lammy’s previous plans to restrict jury trials. No10 kept reminding hacks it’s “only the PM’s first 24 hours“. This is supposed to be Andy, the man with the plan. He said he was “ready” three times last week…
British borrowing costs remain elevated since Burnham’s first comments as PM yesterday. Healey was firehosing last night and this morning…
After Burnham said he would use all “flexibility” possible in the so-called fiscal rules, UK 10-year gilt yields closed eight basis points higher at 5.03% at the end of the day. The 30-year rate also rose by nine points to 5.75%. They only dropped a bit after Healey was announced instead of Mahmood or Miliband…
Andy Burnham’s first spending pledge – to lift VAT on electricity bills – was shot down by ex-Chief Secretary to the PM Darren Jones, who specified this morning that the Digital ID scheme scrapped to fund it was itself unfunded. Kapow…
Amid the US-Iran situation oil prices by more than 2% and international borrowing costs followed. The 10-year yield on Treasury bonds briefly hit 4.640%, its highest level since 20 May. For those who said Burnham is lucky the war is over…
Today 10-year yields have risen above yesterday’s peak to 5.065% and are now hovering at 5.05%, still above Monday. 30-year yields have risen again to a peak of 5.774%. Borrowing – of which there will be more under Andy – is getting even more expensive…
Co-conspirators will be familiar with Miatta Fahnbulleh. She is now the Energy Secretary…
Fahnbulleh supports faster imposition of Net Zero among other things:
- 2019: “The first step would be a global Green New Deal: a massive mobilization of resources to decarbonize and at the same time create millions of jobs and lift living standards. The goal should be net-zero carbon emissions within ten to 15 years…” Full net zero by 2034…
- 2019: ‘Green New Deal’ programme:
- Require government to deliver a Green New Deal Budget every year for ten years.
- Bank of England should “heavily influence the move of private finance away from high carbon and environmentally harmful investments and towards activities that are Green New Deal compatible.”
- New banks: “change the way existing banks lend, or supersede them entirely by creating new ones.”
- “Devolution of pollution taxes, property taxes and the creation of a new spatial taxation.”
- Establish “collective ownership of infrastructure, public goods and assets and more co-operative ways of organising the new industries.”
- Use local procurement and investment power to “channel funds into green jobs and locally owned businesses.”
- “Actively create employee ownership schemes with incentives for businesses or pump prime workers cooperatives through their supply chain.”
- 2022: Retrain workers in Green jobs with the state “guaranteeing pay up to 80 per cent for time in training, while employers keep people on for at least 40 per cent of their usual hours and continue to meet National Insurance and pension payments.”
- 2022: Report by her think tank the New Economics Foundation: “Scrap the existing price cap system and replace it with a new system of ‘free basic energy’,” a “rising block tariff” where “every household would be entitled to a free amount of energy consumption, but would pay a higher marginal cost for energy use above the free amount.” A proposal getting pushed hard now…
- Deliver “an emergency, government-backed mass-insulation programme.“
- “Create a new ‘energy element’ in universal credit and legacy benefits worth £1,000 per year for a single person and £1,650 for a couple”
- 2023: Drive down energy bills by retrofitting millions of homes, flooding the energy market with cheaper renewables produced and sold by publicly owned co-operative and introducing free basic energy.
- 2023: “A tougher windfall tax on energy giants, who are making excessive profits off the back of people’s suffering. And a wealth tax for those who can afford to pay more.”
No laughing Miatta…
Tom Baldwin, author of Starmer’s hagiography, spoke to Times Radio:
Tom Baldwin: “I think he’d like to do something. He’s very dutiful and driven by service. That’s why he came into politics. I think that’s characterised his time as prime minister. He hasn’t always sought popularity or been good at being popular. But I think he has some of the necessary qualities that we actually do want in a prime minister. That resilience, that relentlessness, that ability to carry the weight and the job really does weigh very heavily on people and he carries that weight very, very well.”
Jo Coburn: “NATO Secretary-General?”
Tom Baldwin: “I think that’s something that he would be interested in. I think it probably requires Andy Burnham’s government to support him in that and these are some of the questions which Andy Burnham has to resolve quite quickly.”
