Guido asked a simple question of Jenrick at his speech just now: “How do you respond to Farage’s claim that you have no personality?” Jenrick responded: There’s a reason he’s talking about me and not Badenoch…
“I think he’s rattled. Why is Nigel Farage speaking of me and not my opponent in this contest? Because he doesn’t want me to be leader of the Conservative Party. I might not be on the stage at the Reform Conference dancing to Frankie Valli and punching balloons but I’ve got a track record. I resigned on a matter of principle on the very issues that he has stood for… He knows that if I am leader of this party he will be in retirement and that all small C conservatives will return to our fold. That is what I offer, that’s why he doesn’t want me to be leader of this party, that’s why he wants my opponent to win.”
Strong words against Badenoch and straddling mockery of Nigel with an attempt to stress that they agree on policy. No attempt to claim that Robert does actually have a personality…
Jenrick’s message is clear: Farage wants Badenoch to win in his goal of destroying the Tories. Will it be enough to win over the members?
Radio 4’s Today Programme had a segment on the US election this morning. It’s now 11 days away and Trump is ahead…
On that Justin Webb decided to spend a whole 7 minutes discussing Trump’s “his fitness for office or lack of such fitness” and the idea that “he doesn’t understand the Presidency and its responsibilities.” Bob Woodward came on to decry Trump’s high staff turnover and handling of Covid as a “moral felony”…
Webb pressed ex-Trump strategist Sam Nunberg on “the idea that Donald Trump doesn’t really understand the Presidency: the roles and responsibilities of being President of the United States.” Vice-President Harris, who Guido reminds the BBC has never served as President, didn’t even get a mention throughout the segment. Trump Derangement Syndrome is a hell of a thing…
Badenoch’s team briefed yesterday that they were “slightly concerned at possible narrowing of the race… ConHome poll tomorrow rumoured to be positive for Jenrick.” At which point Deputy Editor Henry Hill made clear that he was the only one with the ability to see the score, and even he hadn’t checked it…
The final event in ConHome’s closely-watched leadership polling series has Kemi leading by 24 points at 55%. Jenrick sits on 31% and 14% say they don’t know. Kemi is up 4 points from the beginning of September, Jenrick is down 3. A decisive lead. The poll is of 828 members – the largest number so far…
Jenrick is giving a speech on foreign policy and defence this morning. He better hope it makes an impression…
Rachel Reeves has, now that she’s arrived in Washington, confirmed she’s rewriting the calculation of UK debt to borrow more money. This will be done by including government assets in the debt measurement. Reeves is giving herself space to borrow something like £50 billion and still claim that debt is falling in five years…
Meanwhile companies are liquidating themselves at a high rate and 10-year gilt yields have hit their highest level since Labour came to power. Maybe that’s because Reeves last year specifically ruled out changing the Tory government’s latest debt metric:
“I’m not going to try to fiddle the figures or make something different to get better results. We will use the same models the government uses.”
The “Iron Chancellor” strikes again. All eyes on the markets now…
Yesterday the government announced the appointment of Mo Baines as a Lead Non-Executive Director (NED) for a one-year term on the Board of the MHCLG. It claims Mo is an “expert in public policy and local government” but doesn’t mention anywhere that she is longtime President of UNISON’s expansive Manchester branch. Unison has donated £28 million to Labour since 2010…
Guido had a closer look at Baines’ history and can reveal she led the Labour Party’s “Community Wealth Building Unit“, founded by Jeremy Corbyn “to ensure that economic, social and environmental justice sit at the heart of all of our inclusive economy policies.” A party political unit whose stated role was to “help Labour councils” “restructure and modernise” to oppose Tory policies. Also leading the unit was Mary Robertson, LOTO’s Head of Economic Policy. Rayner has circumvented normal Civil Service hiring rules to insert a former party adviser to an impartial role…
Baines wrote a report in 2021 on UNISON’S behalf calling for “leveraging capital investment levels last seen in the post-war years” to build mass council housing across the UK. More worringly, Baines demanded the imposition of “living rents,” a policy that would shred the rental market by forcing rents to be calculated from “affordability based on earnings.” Rayner says: “I look forward to working with her to drive forward our ambitious agenda over the next year.” Gulp…
The above sticker has popped up over at the Ministry of Housing. Guido had to check if it was a joke…
PCS, the civil service union, is taking a break from campaigning for Jeremy Corbyn to ramp up its efforts to have Fridays off for exactly the same pay. Its new petition touts:
“A five day week was introduced 100 years ago – but it’s not fit for our modern working world. Technology has overhauled the way we work, but our working hours remain the same…. A four day week would give us an additional day to spend how we like. For parents or those with caring responsibilities, care costs can be reduced massively, creating a fairer workplace. More time away from work to do the things we enjoy means less burnout, better health, and a better quality of life.”
Surveys of public sector pen-pushers indicate they want a four-day week. Will Rayner be able to resist demands from her own staff to spend more time “running errands”?
