Back in October after Rayner’s ally Sue Ann Gray, Baroness Gray of Tottenham was removed from post it was reported that a “battle for influence” over devolution plans had broken out between Morgan McSweeney and the DPM. McSweeney, known as ‘the McIavelli’, was said to be hosting monthly calls with mayors at which Rayner was not present…
Tory peer Lord Jamieson asked for an update on that in a written question, asking what the McIavelli’s involvement is with combined authority mayors, council mayors, or council leaders. To a curt reply from Labour:
“Discussions on new devolution agreements or unlocking further powers for existing combined authorities are led by the Minister for Local Government and English Devolution on behalf of the Government. There is no role for the Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff in these negotiations.“
It is said in SW1 that “Morgan always wins.“ Rayner may be wishing for an actual DPM office to shore herself up for this war…
Speaking on Times Radio, former Home Secretary David Blunkett spoke about overdiagnosis of mental problems:
“Let’s distinguish those who are really severely mentally ill, diagnosed with things that require prolonged medical and diagnostic treatment. My wife and I talk about this a lot, because she’s a retired GP, about the fact that you can be sad without being ill. You can be momentarily depressed because your boyfriend or girlfriend’s just thrown you and you’re not mentally ill. You can even have mild issues, which can be dealt with with the right kind of support, but it doesn’t make you mentally ill. So we’ve got a real task, I think, to get the psychology, if you like, of this over. But there are things where you definitely need medical intervention, and there are other things where you need good friends, you need good connectivity, and you need a job.”