Guido’s Whitehall moles report that Burnham’s Russia and Brexit tangle has drawn raised eyebrows among security-minded Civil Servants. Who would’ve thought…
A senior government source says the podcast-based blunder is “seen as another No10 own goal” and there is “much rolling of eyes among the security folks today.” At one meeting a senior civil servant with a national security brief mocked Burnham’s remarks, asking whether “he really thinks 17.4 million people woke up and were persuaded to vote Brexit by Putin,” before bemoaning: “Did he not ask an expert?” Securocrat civil servants are not happy with the PM…
Russia obviously tries to influence most democratic events in the Western world in one way or another and the view in Whitehall is that the threat from so-called ‘information confrontation’ and disruption is substantial. Relitigating Brexit by the back door, though, is not best practice…
In the Commons Burnham U-turned and claimed he never said the result was influenced: “I didn’t say that. I haven’t at any point said it altered the result.” Nonsensical…
Bedfordshire’s Labour Police and Crime Commissioner John Tizard is taking a victory lap after he “secured £195,000 from the Ministry of Justice” to support victims affected by the early release of prisoners. The cash exists only because Labour’s Sentencing Act 2026 now lets offenders out after a third of their time behind bars. The Justice Secretary told the Commons the scheme comes with an £18.9 million victim support package, including a free helpline for anyone affected…
Tizard said:
“I am pleased that the government has recognised that some victims of crimes committed by those prisoners on the early release scheme will want support and reassurance… Whilst I acknowledge the pressures facing the prison system and support the government’s programme of early release where appropriate, I want victims to feel safe, supported and confident that their concerns are being taken seriously.”
“Secured” is also a stretch seeing as the MoJ is handing every police force area the same flat £195,000, spread over three financial years from 2026/27 to 2028/29. That works out at about £65,000 per year. York and North Yorkshire got the identical sum earlier. Labour’s West Midlands PCC Simon Foster called the flat-rate model “deeply regrettable, inexcusable and unfair”. Sort out your lines, guys…
Shadow Justice Secretary Nick Timothy tells Guido:
“Labour are now using taxpayer money to protect people from their own policies. This is nothing for the PCC to boast about, it is a shocking admission that Labour’s dangerous early release scheme is a threat to public safety… The best way to protect victims is to keep their attackers locked up rather than let them out early.”
Victims’ helpline here – please hold…
High net immigration since 2020 has added £15,270 to the price of the average English home, according to new research from the Centre for Policy Studies. Add that to the tally of problems accumulated thanks to the surge…
Had net migration been kept to the tens of thousands since 2020, the average house would cost £275,650 rather than £290,920, 5.2% cheaper. With zero net migration, the gap rises to £19,370…
The CPS purports that this migration-driven demand explains why house prices held up despite high interest rates, when forecasters expected them to fall. The numbers in the report explain that 1.1 million homes were built in England between 2021 and 2025, and homes per 1,000 people still fell from 441 to 439. London has 422 homes per 1,000 people against a Western European average of 545…
Meanwhile, Angela Rayner has rebranded Labour’s manifesto 300,000-a-year pledge as a “stretch target.” Report author Ben Hopkinson said today:
“That is money straight out of the pockets of first-time buyers and renters, and it helps explain why house prices have stayed so stubbornly high even as interest rates rose… Planning and migration have both contributed enormously to the housing crisis we currently find ourselves in.”
Double trouble…
Andy Burnham is set to tell the Commons in his update later today that Britain’s assessment is that the event near Fairford base “is highly likely to have been
coordinated in Iran” and “almost certainly directed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard.” Dragged that one out…
Angela Rayner has not held a single meeting about the grooming gangs inquiry since she was reappointed as Housing and Communities Secretary. Labour politicians very keen to stay away from the ‘independent’ process…
Shadow Housing Secretary Katie Lam asked what meetings Rayner had held with chairman Baroness Longfield, other panel members or any interested parties on the inquiry’s progress since 12 May. Minister Florence Eshalomi replied:
“The Secretary of State has not had any meetings with interested external parties, including Baroness Longfield and other panel members, regarding the progress of the Independent Inquiry into Grooming Gangs since her reappointment to the department on 20 July.”
Asked about the period before that, the department offered: “We cannot account for her time prior to this.” Obviously…
The inquiry, which is mostly ignored by the government, announced a “listening project” in July and new investigations in Wales and Birmingham at the end of September. Rayner is responsible for ‘communities and faith’ as part of her brief and has so far failed to engage anybody in the department, or in relevant local government bodies, about the rape gangs or how to stop them from ever happening again, or about providing support for the local reviews that are now being launched. Rayner’s ally Jim McMahon led infamous Oldham Council from 2011 to 2016…
Longfield, a Labour peer, is leading the inquiry over three years with a budget of £65 million. Survivors previously quit the official panel to which the government added them. Rayner’s department is meant to support the inquiry, which was launched by the Home Office. Eshalomi said:
“MHCLG is fully committed to supporting the Independent Inquiry into Grooming Gangs and will co-operate with the Inquiry throughout the course of its work. In accordance with its legal obligations and the Inquiry’s procedures, my department will respond to requests for information and provide relevant material as required.”
Just not committed enough for Labour ministers to actually get involved…
UPDATE: Katie Lam tells Guido:
“The rape and grooming gangs, which have terrorised dozens of towns and cities across the country, could not have operated without the local councillors and council officials who covered up their vile crimes.
It’s therefore absolutely appalling that, in almost four months since being made Secretary of State for Local Government, Angela Rayner hasn’t bothered to hold a single meeting regarding the ongoing national inquiry into these horrors – not with Baroness Longfield, not with a single panel member, and not with any of the officials from the councils responsible for the cover-up.
How can victims, and the public, have any confidence that she and her department are taking this issue seriously?”
Burnham spinning like a wheel in the Commons:
“I will very much say so on the record… It was legitimate. I have always respected the result. I have never questioned its legitimacy. But I am within my rights to point out where foreign actors are looking to interfere in British democracy.”