Government departments have been splashing thousands of taxpayer pounds on Musk’s X since Labour came into office, despite their wails of its ‘harmful’ content. Just a few weeks ago Starmer was threatening an ‘X ban’, with Ofcom promising to continue their investigation into the platform as “a matter of urgency”…
Wes Streeting’s Department for Health and Social Care splashed £39,096 last year alone on the platform. Since July 2024, the following departments have spent:
- Education: £27,118
- Housing and Local government: £153
- Transport: £780
- Foreign Office: £722
As Technology Secretary Liz Kendall admitted, X is where people get their news…
Speaking at a Resolution Foundation event in London, Manchester mayor Andy Burnham praised the soft-left policy direction Starmer will be forced to take following the No10 implosion. Sets the ground nicely for Burnham’s pitch…
The King of the North said the focus should be “lowering the cost of life’s essentials“:
“To do that requires stability and I make my own call for that today across the Labour Party. Of course, stability comes from greater unity and that would be helped by a more inclusive way of running the party. But recent events makes that now feel possible and from greater stability and unity.”
He added on the recent drama:
“We need to get a sense of a stronger team again than there has been in recent times. That I think is what needs to come from this. We need to sort of dial down all of this constant briefing… The issue in politics right in front of us, the politics of collectivism versus the politics of division. It’s that stark. And you’ve got to focus on stopping that now… Everything else is noise in the background.”
Asked outside if Starmer has his full support, Andy Burnham said “yes he does.” Those messages of support last about a week before they expire by the way – those are just the rules…
Brits are the most supportive of reducing both taxation and state spending since the mid 1980s. The National Centre for Social Research has today published its latest report into British social attitudes which shows a marked change in attitudes to tax and spend since 2020. Watch the purple line, which represents ‘taxes and spending should be reduced’…
The NCSR explains:
“In our latest survey, just 36% say the government should increase taxes and spend more, down four points on 2024, and 19 points below the figure recorded in the 2022 survey.
Not since 2013 has the proportion wanting more taxes and spending been so low. But even more strikingly, an all-time high of 19% now say that taxes and spending should be reduced, up four points on 2024, and more than double the proportion in 2022 (8%).
Indeed, until the last three years, the proportion saying that taxes and spending should be reduced had never even been as high as 10%.”
Game on…
The Number 10 spokesman has refused to confirm Wes Streeting will continue as Health Secretary until the next election. Asked at the Lobby briefing of political journalists, the spokesman simply said he “would not go through the Cabinet on that“. Although he did say the Prime Minister still retains confidence in a man who thinks the government “has no growth plan“, but wouldn’t go any further. There’s the kiss of death…
As for Streeting upsetting the Met by releasing his WhatsApp messages to Mandelson last night, the spokesman said “we’ve been clear throughout that we are working with the Met, you’ve got the Met’s statement this morning“. A statement which warns “it is vital due process is followed” and no other Cabinet minister gets any bright ideas. The government’s position hasn’t changed for a few weeks apparently, even though a leading member of that government went rogue last night…
Hacks pointed out Number 10 had previously committed to retaining Rachel Reeves as Chancellor for the full Parliamentary term. David Lammy received the same guarantee when he was Foreign Secretary shortly before being demoted moved to the Justice brief. As Guido reported this morning, there were jittery plans within Number 10 overnight to sack Streeting to reassert Starmer’s authority…
The department for cover-ups and government secrecy is living up to its usual agenda by demanding massive redactions of the Mandelson data dump, due from the government after a successful Humble Address motion by the Tories. Insiders at 70 Whitehall say the redaction button is in overdrive…
There are “hundreds of thousands” of items of data in scope of the motion, including WhatsApp and text messages between Mandelson and Cabinet ministers, which a special team including government lawyers from Government Legal Department are now working through. Guido understands this includes messages with Starmer. Wes Streeting got ahead of the issue yesterday with a carefully selected set of self-published data – the Cabinet Office is telling other ministers and special advisers not to follow suit. Should those messages reveal further embarrassments for the government (which is “inevitable”), Starmer’s position will once again wobble…
The Cabinet Office and FCDO (Mandelson’s line management department as an Ambassador, he was an officer of the Diplomatic Service despite being a political appointee) are deploying “national security and diplomatic redactions” to the material – for an Ambassador, basically any communication could be said to be relevant to “relations between the UK and other countries“. Parliament is in no mood to tolerate extensive redactions however. The greatest fear in Whitehall is that the messages will further expose Mandelson’s commercial interests and friends…
Britain’s favourite polling guru has predicted that the “crunch point” will come in Summer when MPs move against Starmer. Curtains closing…
Paula Barker, Liverpool Wavertree MP backing Andy Burnham, told Times Radio there wouldn’t be trouble from the markets under Burnham:
“The markets will have to fall in line.”
