While yesterday may not have been great for Dominic Raab, at least he can take solace in the fact he had a better reshuffle than Robert Peston. ITV’s senile senior political reporter spent all day tweeting every thought process, speculation and briefing with the acumen and insight of a first-year politics student. Some of the highlights included:
- Assuming Dowden would be new education secretary. He became party chair.
- Speculating Mark Spencer would be DEFRA secretary. This isn’t just any cock up…
- Implying Priti Patel was going to get the sack.
- Claiming Dowden “may be the last member of the cabinet who campaigned against Brexit”. Apart from Sajid, Truss, Shapps, Spencer, Sharma, Wallace and Brandon Lewis…
Early yesterday afternoon, Peston’s show account asked ordinary Twitter punters for their reshuffle predictions, the replies to which proved only slightly less accurate than Robert’s own dribbling…
Peston’s incessant tweeting hasn’t been limited to the reshuffle, however. Co-conspirators will no doubt remember the time he admitted confusion over the concept of mirrors:
This is flipping weird. The phone cable should be visible in the mirror descending from @BorisJohnson’s watch, in this official Downing St picture. It’s not. What is going on? https://t.co/aRsrMSc0DT
— Robert Peston (@Peston) January 24, 2021
Or the time he couldn’t be bothered to call a press office, so just admitted to scientific illiteracy:
Can a scientist explain to me how the Lancet can identify an "adverse event classified as possibly related to a vaccine" in a person who was in the "control group" and therefore was given a placebo rather than the Oxford vaccine. Seems logically impossible
— Robert Peston (@Peston) December 8, 2020
Or the time he said DUP sectarianism would “drive unaligned voters to Sinn Fein”:
return NI’s biggest unionist party to religious sectarianism, and arguably thereby drive large numbers of unaligned voters to Sinn Fein, or will the new leader continue Foster’s drive to reposition the DUP as a centrist party of unionism? What happens matters not only to...
— Robert Peston (@Peston) April 28, 2021
Or the time he caused outrage by saying we were “paying teachers for not very much teaching”
The other important way of looking at this is that output was surprisingly robust in the first three months of the year - since much of the so-called inflation was (eg) the phenomenon of the government paying teachers for not very much teaching, when lockdown closed schools
— Robert Peston (@Peston) May 12, 2021
These are just the tip of the Twitter iceberg, into which ITV’s reputation crashes on an almost daily basis.
2012 Peston Twitter was more on the money…
Sparks flew on Newsnight yesterday as Charles Walker – who’d clearly had his Weetabix – turned up to defend Boris’s new cabinet against a Labour spokesperson and Anna Soubry. Some might say one and the same…
Nadine Dorries provided the biggest clash, as the eternally bitter Soubry ranted that her appointment “actually says everything that’s wrong and rotten about this prime minister’s stewardship of this country”. Charles Walker had some thoughts:
“Nadine Dorries has been a health minister, a minister of state, at an incredibly difficult time for the department of health; has been an extremely good minister for mental health; and really to come onto this programme and just trash her like that is just not a very nice thing to do to be perfectly honest”
Responding to Soubry’s claim that people don’t really care about reshuffles in the real world, Walker pointed out “Why is it the lead story on Newsnight, and why are you appearing on Newsnight?” Why indeed…
Following the announcement that Australia has ditched its submarine deal with France, in favour of the new ‘AUKUS’ alliance with the UK and the US, French ministers Jean-Yves Le Drian and Florence Parly reacted with fury last night at being “excluded” from the new security partnership:
“The American choice to exclude a European ally and partner such as France from a structuring partnership with Australia, at a time when we are facing unprecedented challenges in the Indo-Pacific region, whether in terms of our values or in terms of respect for multilateralism based on the rule of law, shows a lack of coherence that France can only note and regret…The regrettable decision that has just been announced … only reinforces the need to make the issue of European strategic autonomy loud and clear.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is now set to host a summit on European defence alongside Macron, having already made clear that the EU needs to show the “political will” to build its own army. As for the AUKUS alliance, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace appeared on this morning’s media round to insist “we have no intention” of upsetting the French. A radical change from the last thousand years of British foreign policy if true…
Good morning and welcome back to Guido’s blow-by-blow reshuffle coverage. Today it’ll be the more junior ministers, though there are still some minister of state roles for Boris to hand out. The possible first ministerial promotions of some 2019ers will also be something to watch out for. You can see yesterday’s moves here.
Stay tuned…
21.34: Damian Hinds remains minister of state at the home office. Also appointed minister for security and border
19.24: Jo Churchill appointed PuSS at DEFRA
19.24: Vicky Ford appointed PuSS at FCDO
19.24: Chris Philp appointed PuSS at DCMS
19.24: Mike Freer appointed PuSS at DfIT
19.24: Alex Burghart appointed PuSS at DfE
19.24: Will Quince appointed PuSS at DfE
19.24: Rachel Maclean appointed PuSS at Home Office
19.24: Trudy Harrison appointed PuSS at DfT
19:43: Graham Stuart out as PuSS at DIT
19.43: James Duddridge out as PuSS at FCDO
19.43: Matt Warman out as PuSS at DCMS
19.04: Conor Burns appointed minister of state at the Northern Ireland Office
19.04: Chloe Smith appointed minister of state at DWP
19.04: Alex Chalk appointed Solicitor General
18.15: Amanda Solloway appointed as a whip
18.15: Helen Whately appointed exchequer secretary to the Treasury
18.15: Maggie Throup appointed PuSS at DHSC
18.15: Neil O’Brien appointed PuSS at MHCLG
18.15: Lee Rowley appointed PuSS at BEIS and whip
18.15: Gillian Keegan appointed minister of state at the DHSC
18.15: Victoria Atkins appointed minister of state at MoJ, and remains minister for the Afghan resettlement scheme
18.15: Lucy Frazer appointed financial secretary to the Treasury
18.01: Robin Walker appointed schools minister
17.58: Justin Tomlinson out as minister of state at DWP
17.58: Luke Hall out as minister of state at MHCLG
17.58: Caroline Dinenage out as minister of state at DCMS
17.58: Jesse Norman out as financial secretary to the Treasury
10.40: John Whittingdale out as media minister at DCMS
09.00: Michael Ellis gets Paymaster General at the Cabinet Office
09.00: Penny Mordaunt promoted to Minister of State at trade
05.24: Penny Mordaunt indicates she’s out as paymaster general in the Cabinet Office
Westminster has accidentally ceded Shrewsbury, Worcester, Hereford and Gloucester to Wales, after a petition about pollution in the catchment areas of the rivers Severn and Wye was rejected by parliament on the basis that it is the Welsh government’s responsibility – despite the fact the River Severn catchment area runs as far as Coventry and Rugby. This would extend the Welsh border eastwards by as much as 75 miles. Among Boris’s other problems, losing English territory is the last thing he needs…
Westminster City Council has announced that al fresco dining will become a permanent fixture in Covent Garden and St. John’s Wood, following a month-long consultation that saw over 80% of residents and businesses approve of the plans. The measures – initially a temporary solution during the pandemic – were set to expire by the end of September, although it’s hardly a surprise they’re now sticking around. There had been concern the council would let the scheme lapse now the pandemic’s over…
Councillor Matthew Green, Westminster City Council’s Cabinet Member for Business, Licensing and Planning, said:
“Covent Garden has always been one of London’s top destinations for hospitality and St. John’s Wood offers world-class eateries on a bustling local high street. We’re really pleased that residents and businesses have voted in favour of keeping al fresco. Thanks to residents and businesses working together, Westminster is proud to be able to support the continuation of outdoor dining in these areas.
The all-important questions about Soho depends on the outcome of another consultation…
