Labour rolled out Policing Minister Diana Johnson on the day of the farmer tax betrayal protest, not a Defra minister. An interesting choice…
Johnson was asked about the budget on GB News after a letter organised by the British Retail Consortium and signed by 79 organisations including Tesco, Aldi, Boots, and Next tells Reeves that a £7 billion-a-year rise in costs will kill jobs and close shops. Isabel Webster noted Reeves “seems to be an economist with the truth but perhaps not so good when she’s doing the sums”…
Asked if “lying on your CV is a breach of the ministerial code” Johnson spluttered and eventually managed to say:
“What I’m really here to talk about as the Home Office Minister for Policing is around police reform and that’s a really big important issue for my constituents and for people up and down the country so that that’s really what I wanted to focus on today I’m not able to comment on any of that, I’m not party of to any of those uh, of those issues.”
Labour may have learnt that sending minister with another brief will not shield them from questions. Pushed more, Johnson managed to say “there is a clear ministerial code the Prime Minister has been very upfront about how he expects ministers to abide by that ministerial code.” There is a ministerial code indeed…
Former Treasury minister and adviser to Burnham in the Makerfield campaign Lord Jim O’Neill, who has turned down a role in his government, said Burnham’s first statement Commons was:
“The last thing investors wanted to hear… gilt yields have risen by a 0.25% in one day, which is a lot. We’ve not had that since Liz Truss days… If your country is under the focus of ‘can they come up with a sensible fiscal strategy’ on a day when the markets think ‘well no, you’re not showing any sign of it’ you’re going to have a tough day…if it stays like this your mortgage rate is going up.”