It isn’t. In other news Lammy is soon to be part of geopolitics club at his local school for some extra learning…
Kishwer Falkner, chairman of the EHRC from 2020 to 30 November last year, has hit out at Bridget Phillipson over her handling of the single-sex ruling last year. The government delayed new guidance in response to the landmark Supreme Court ruling using a series of excuses…
Replying to a particularly embarrassing puff piece interview in the New Statesman, Falkner – now free to say what was really going on – criticised the Education Secretary:
“My experience of the Minister for Women and Equalities, when chair of the EHRC, was, at best, disinterest and disengagement…
To now read that women “deserve” single sex spaces or that Phillipson needs to go through the EHRC code “thoroughly and properly” is both patronising and disingenuous. She received the code in April 2025, and was fully aware that changes would be made to 3/13 sections impacted by the Supreme Court ruling.
Those changes were submitted on 4 September. To have taken six months on circa 11 pages of text drafted by leading lawyers, implies a level of meticulousness not normally afforded to senior ministers, where decision-making is a prerequisite.
The real reason for the delay is that Phillipson does not like this law as clarified by the Supreme Court. It is possible that she was awaiting the outcome of a Judicial Review in which she argued that female-only lavatories could continue to be seen as single-sex even if they permitted trans women to access them, contrary to the EHRC and Supreme Court position. That ruling is in, and EHRC won on all counts.
This isn’t about “an approach” taken by myself or my board, as that has now been tested in in court. Phillipson has erected a hurdle to application of the law, thus denying women validation of their rights. That is there for all to see.”
Should clarify things…
David Lammy was unable to elucidate the government’s position on Donald Trump’s recent comments on Iran during an interview with the Today Programme. The Deputy PM repeatedly said it is for the US and Israel to set out their war aims. Here they are…
He said:
“Clearly regime change from the air I don’t think has been succeeded anywhere in the world… it is for the US and Israel to set out their war aims… we believe that diplomacy was taking its course… if you believe in democracy… of course we believe it is for the Iranian people to determine who leads their country.”
Lammy is saying he had better knowledge of the state of negotiations than the Americans there. Action from the air is even harder when you block your closest ally from using its main staging bases in the region…
On BBC Breakfast he added that the UK could mount defensive strikes aimed at Iranian missile sites. Which should have been the position from the start…
The Met Police have arrested four men on suspicion of spying for Iran. Counter terror policing are leading the investigation and say:
“Today’s arrests are part of a long-running investigation and part of our ongoing work to disrupt malign activity where we suspect it. We understand the public may be concerned, in particular the Jewish community, and as always, I would ask them to remain vigilant and if they see or hear anything that concerns them, then to contact us.”
The men were detained after 1 a.m. this morning at addresses around north London and their arrests relate to “suspected surveillance of locations and individuals linked to the Jewish community.” Well well well…
Nigel Farage revealed at Guido’s exclusive Save Chagos boat party last night that he is flying to Florida today for dinner at Mar-a-Lago. Starmer’s surrender deal is on the menu…
“We think this is the central plan for this Government’s foreign policy and we are beating them back… President Trump has almost understood the deal, but I will be dining at Mar-a-Lago tomorrow night and we will reinforce the message… We have got to keep fighting, we have got to keep the pressure up, we must not let our foot off this pedal, but for first time in this battle… this feels more than winnable.”
Farage making it clear that the work must continue to finally kill the deal. Save Chagos!
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Downing Street has denied having received a written report from Blue Labour’s Lord Glasman warning against Mandelson’s appointment. Back in September as the Mandelson scandal was kicking off, Politics Home reported:
“It is understood that after visiting the US and meeting people around Trump who raised concerns about Mandelson’s appointment, Glasman sent a memo to No 10 warning about the appointment
…’The brutal truth is that the vast majority of people I met… consider our Labour government to be a front organisation for paedophiles and Pakistani rape gangs.'”
Glasman additionally told Sky News in February:
“They asked me to send a report and I sent a report… I did say when I got back, I would think again about this publicly…. Then I did get a discreet suggestion to basically shut up about that, and I did.”
Tory MP Ben Obese-Jecty last month asked the Cabinet Office:
“On what date did his Department receive a written report from Lord Glassman regarding the nature of the relationship between Lord Mandelson and Jeffrey Epstein.”
The reply yesterday, from Cabinet Office minister Nick Thomas Symonds:
“There is no record of receipt of Lord Glasman’s report in the Prime Minister’s Office.”
Some wires are crossed here…
Statement by Paul Dacre, Editor-in-Chief of Associated Newspapers Limited, following Harry’s loss in court today:
“Prince Harry wrote a sad book which boasted about his killing of 25 Taliban, his drug-taking and, in cringe-making detail, how he lost his virginity. There isn’t a laundry in the cosmos big enough to wash all the dirty linen he has aired about his own family. For him, to complain about HIS privacy being invaded takes, not just the biscuit, but the whole tin. Poor Harry. I feel sorry for the way a confused and angry young man has been drawn into this case. The bitter irony is that his mother, Diana, liked the Mail. We were her paper. We took her side in her acrimonious break up with Charles. She and I would speak and meet. The Mail’s superb royal reporter was her friend and confidante. The truth is that this trumped-up action – which has cost well over £50 million and wasted a huge amount of valuable court time – should never have been brought to trial. That it did, raises profoundly disturbing questions about the conduct of elements of the legal profession. Today’s verdict is not just a victory for Associated’s magnificent journalists – several of whom have had a terrible toll imposed on their health and lives – but a free press generally. Make no mistake. This was a conspiracy, supported by Hacked Off, to destroy a paper. Financed by the orgy-loving, racist Max Mosley and involving the actor Hugh Grant, it was also a sinister bid to resuscitate Leveson Two and impose statutory regulation on the press which, even now, is rearing its ugly head in Labour’s Media Green Paper.”