Entries in the comments…
Labour’s vaunted International Investment Summit is losing steam before it even starts. Rayner and Haigh have put their foot in it…
Dubai-based DP World, which owns P&O Ferries, has paused plans to invest a whopping £1 billion in its London Gateway container port after getting heated criticism from Labour cabinet ministers. Haigh and Rayner have called P&O a “rogue operator” in a press release which accused its hiring of foreign workers as a “national scandal.” Released right before the big summit’s kick off on Sunday – no wonder Rayner has been snubbed from hosting it…
Downing Street says the summit will act as a “reset” after a disastrous first 100 days. DP World’s chairman Ahmed bin Sulayem will now miss the event and pull the £1 billion. How’s “letting the cabinet ministers do their own thing” going then, Keir?
UPDATE: Labour tries to save the situation by saying its official press release of two days ago doesn’t “reflect the government view.” Uh-huh…
UPDATE II: DP World now says it will show up to the summit after Starmer repeatedly slapped down his own Deputy PM and Transport Secretary’s words in an official government press release.
Nick Clegg is finally facing the reality of Brussels bureaucracy. The former Deputy Prime Minister-turned tech bro took to X to beg the new Commission to cut the red tape that is currently blocking Meta AI from expanding within Europe. Thanks to Brexit, the new technologly can operate within the UK…
We’re expanding Meta AI to more countries, including Brazil and the UK. Unfortunately, we still can’t roll it out in the EU because of the regulatory uncertainty we face there. I hope the new Commission looks afresh at these issues, consistent with President Von Der Leyen’s aim…
— Nick Clegg (@nickclegg) October 10, 2024
Guido is old enough to remember when Clegg personally led a group of Remainers to persuade European leaders to stop Brexit from going ahead… two years after the vote. The remoaner-in-chief will be breathing a sigh of relief that he failed in that mission, now that Brexit’s provided him with an additional client…
No 10 has just confirmed at today’s Lobby briefing that there are no plans to hold a celebration to mark 100 days of government. Starmer will be holed up in Downing Street this weekend working on his “reset”…
The government has also now abandoned the line it’s stuck with for the past week that government has been a success so far. Starmer’s spokesman says only: “It is for the public to judge.” And judged they have…
Starmer will make a statement marking the 100-day line. It looks like Labour won’t be putting much into its “national campaign weekend” to “celebrate the party’s progress and continue building momentum”…
Labour’s climate zealotry is pushing Britain to jeopardise its foreign policy and global standing with a plan to burn biomass imported from North Korea’s dictatorship and Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. Putting their climate crusade above all else…
Naturally, Nigel Farage blasted the idea as “completely nuts”. In a push for biomass to play a “significant role” in decarbonising all sectors of the economy, a resource model published late this summer sets out a list of overseas sources of bioenergy, which includes a list of “improbable” – though not impossible – countries like North Korea, Afghanistan, Bhutan, and the Maldives. The Director of the Partnership for Policy Integrity Mary Booth slammed the “bonkers” scheme, pointing out the absurdity of potentially relying on these nations as major suppliers of agricultural and forestry biomass. Bending the knee to dictators in the name of Net Zero zealotry while Brits pick up the tab…
Over in Downing Street it’s going to be a more dour celebration of 100 days in government than Labour expected when Starmer stood among Union Flags in front on No 10 back in July. Hacks’ summaries are all analysing how it “went off the rails”…
YouGov has released some helpful polling on how Britons feel about the first 100 days. 59% of Britons now disapprove of Labour’s record in government so far…
The breakdowns make for more sad reading: 37% expected Labour to do poorly, and have had their expectations confirmed. 30% are disappointed after expecting them to do well. Only 16% think Labour has done well…
The situation is even more dire among Labour voters, 47% of whom are disappointed in Labour’s performance. Only one in ten Labour voters think things have got better. The least popular policy so far has been releasing prisoners onto the streets early. Buyer’s remorse on strong display here…
Speaking to Adam Boulton on Times Radio about kicking the Golders Green suspect, Heidi Alexander said:
“I thought that if I was in the shoes of that police officer, then if I’m honest, given the situation, and the fact that he had a backpack on his back, and they were worried about whether that might go off, I could, if I was a police officer, frankly, I could see myself having taken similar action.”