The Tories are battling over how easy it should be for former MPs to be reselected for the next election. Got to get there first…
Guido hears reports of a fight on the Conservative Party Board between senior MPs and the voluntary party about how to treat them. 1922 Committee chairman Bob Blackman and his allies are fighting for a lighter process while the chairman of candidates is pushing for full reassessment. No special treatment…
It has now been broadly agreed that it will be slightly different, but former MPs will still have to go through a pretty full process. That means no special deals for back door readoption. Good luck…
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.”