Housing Secretary Steve Reed will be the star speaker at a ‘Labour YIMBY’ campaign fundraiser for MPs Naushabah Khan and Kevin McKenna next Tuesday. It promises to be an evening of curry and ‘YIMBYism’…
The only problem is Khan isn’t exactly the poster child for Reed’s “build, baby, build” agenda. Just this August, she campaigned against a 126-acre housing development on apple orchards in her constituency of Rainham. Supporting with local protesters, she said:
“I am unconvinced that the proposals will deliver the necessary road infrastructure improvements required to support the proposed 750 homes. This will have a significant impact on the local highway network.”
‘Standard YIMBY’ tickets go for £45, while ‘Solidarity YIMBY’ tickets go for £95. Could Reed not find any actual Labour YIMBYs to support?
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.”