The Tories have accused Robert Jenrick of being responsible for air con regulations that were actually published by Michael Gove and Kemi Badenoch. Slipping on the banana peel slightly…
A press release went out overnight:
“Today, the Conservative Party have pledged to reverse the Net Zero ban on air con in new homes, as the latest heatwave leaves families suffering unnecessarily… the Conservatives pledge to overturn this ban devised by Robert Jenrick as Housing Secretary and entrenched in London by Sadiq Khan.”
The Tories say “the legal foundation is Approved Document O of the Building Regulations. This document was consulted on and devised in January 2021.” That document was actually signed off and published in December 2021 – three months after Jenrick had left – when Michael Gove was the new Housing Secretary. And Kemi Badenoch was his second-in-command…
That of course means they could have stopped the regulations. There is footage of Jenrick backing the regulations – in formulation – in the Commons…
The Telegraph, Times, and Express wrote up the Tory release practically verbatim and are now issuing corrections and removing references to Jenrick. Quick rubber job…
A Reform source said:
“Kemi has accidentally caught her handler, Michael Gove, in friendly fire.”
Everyone needs to cool off by the looks of it…
Batting away critical points from Nick Robinson on the Today Programme, Tony Blair said:
“I always used to say the greatest source of election-losing advice was the Guardian.”