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After trashing the gilt market, the job market, the pound and now retail sales, Reeves is still limping on, insisting her critics “won’t get me down”. Instead, she hilariously compared herself to Margaret Thatcher…
Speaking on the BBC’s Political Thinking podcast, Reeves declared she’s happy to be called the “Iron Lady,” heaping praise on Thatcher for “taking what she thought were the right decisions” and “taking on her critics,” explaining that she’s doing the same. Clearly she skipped a few chapters in the history books…
Meanwhile in her bid to show just how ‘frugal’ she is in government, she proudly revealed she brings packed lunches to the office—saving leftover pastries from breakfast. Shame she’s not as careful with taxpayers’ money…
Tax lawyer and often-cited “independent expert” Dan Neidle was widely printed following the budget with his claims that Reeves’ disastrous Farm Tax would affect below 500 farms per year. Neidle loudly supported the government before backtracking a month later and admitting farmers would be unfairly hit…
Now Guido can reveal Neidle has been privately in touch with the government. Along with the tax’s architect Arun Advani, Neidle provided early cover for Reeves and was quoted in BBC Verify’s government-sympathetic coverage (which failed to mention he is a senior Labour activist). He boldly claimed as few as 100 farms a year may be affected by the tax. A Freedom of Information request fired by Guido sought to work out whether Neidle had been in private discussions with James Murray – the Treasury minister responsible for tax. He has…
The Treasury blocked the release of the contents on the grounds that it would “constitute a breach of confidence actionable by that or any other person. This is an absolute exemption which does not require us to consider the public interest balance in disclosure.” It does however admit that “HM Treasury does hold correspondence between Dan Neidle and the Private Office of the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury.” What does the Treasury have to hide?
After losing his Cheltenham seat the former Lord High Chancellor Alex Chalk headed back to the bar to serve once again as a prosecutor. The first in history to do so…
Chalk returned to chambers at 6KBW College Hill – his first case was to prosecute Hassan Sentamu, who was accused of killing a 15-year-old schoolchild last year in London. The case concluded yesterday with a murder sentence…
The KC and former Justice Secretary is now just referred to as Mr Chalk. He remarks to Guido on his first successful prosecution with the old adage: “It’s sometimes said the the Prosecution ‘wins no victories and suffers no defeats’.” Keeping busier than some of his old Cabinet colleagues…
Kemi Badenoch managed to touch the third rail of British politics last night while on the phones with LBC. The line that sparked the comms chaos was: “The triple-lock is a policy that we supported in government, but we need to make sure we’re growing.” When asked directly about the triple lock, she responded: “No, we’re going to look at means testing. Means testing is something which we don’t do properly here.” Cue a blizzard of headlines claiming the Tories now back cutting state pensions…
Meanwhile Kemi doubled down on her comments on “peasants” being behind rape gangs, explaining she was being “very specific” because “it’s always peasant farming background”. On what makes her cry – it’s children’s movies like Toy Story 3 and Inside Out, though again doesn’t “have the time” for watching TV, but “dips in and out” while her husband fills in the blanks. Unsurprising considering she doesn’t even have time for lunch…
It’s more bad news for the Chancellor as December’s retail sales took a sharper dive than expected, with businesses and consumers still grappling with the fallout of Reeves’ tax raid right before Christmas. The Office for National Statistics revealed a 0.3% drop in sales volumes over the festive season, shattering analysts’ rosier forecasts of a 0.4% increase. Strip out fuel, and the picture darkens further with a 0.6% monthly decline. Even worse, November’s figures were quietly downgraded from 0.2% growth to 0.1%…
Meanwhile, the pound slid further, down 0.5% against the dollar and 0.4% against the euro. Elliott Jordan-Doak of Pantheon Macroeconomics warned the dismal retail performance could mean the economy contracted in Q4, stating, “Softening sales add to disappointment from November GDP earlier this week, suggesting the economy stagnated in Q4 or may even have contracted slightly.” Next boss added that Reeves’ NICs hikes is choking entry-level job opportunities, lamenting that “the axe has fallen particularly hard” on people trying to get first jobs as consumer confidence plunges. Reeves’ so-called “growth plan” is more like a wrecking ball…
Speaking at his speech on how to achieve “progressive capitalism” Wes Streeting fired a dig and Andy Burnham:
“Bond markets are not bond villains and fiscal rules matter.”