Chaotic scenes in the Commons yesterday as ministers scrambled to resuscitate Starmer’s Chagos deal. As co-conspirators know, Trump slammed the plan, and the deal is now effectively dead…
But it’s not just Reform and the Tories who are on the march. Even Labour MPs are going cold on the government’s plan – with Blackley and Middleton South MP Graham Stringer already having spoken out against it. Now Liverpool Walton MP Dan Carden has weighed in:
“I am sorry that I am the only Labour backbencher who wants to speak… I have followed this matter as closely as possible, and I have gone along with the Government up to this point, but it has been against my instincts. I still cannot understand exactly what we are doing here. International agreements do not protect us against our enemies or our allies; sovereignty does. I genuinely think that the people we represent will be asking, “Why can the Prime Minister not step forward, assert sovereignty over these islands, and make it clear that we have the military defence to defend them?”Guido has spoken to multiple Labour MPs in private who oppose the deal. Will Starmer listen to his own MPs on Chagos?
Downing Street is chalking up Burnham’s blockage as a win even as backbenchers organise in favour of the Manchester mayor and government figures privately admit Gorton and Denton is now lost for the Labour Party. It’s the small victories…
A Downing Street source tells Guido that Starmer’s top aides are “wandering around as if they’ve just pulled off Operation Mincemeat” after executing the “only thing Keir could do.” Starmer’s opponents are empowered but government sources still don’t predict any movement until after the May local elections…
Fifty backbenchers have written to Starmer to complain that blocking Burnham is a “real gift” to Reform while the left-wing Tribune Group complains separately to Shabana Mahmood about the NEC decision. Government figures are briefing in anticipation of a hard landing – one tells the Times that the choice was losing the by-election or losing Manchester…
Housing secretary Steve Reed – on the morning round today – said Burnham should serve his full term: “Voters have a right to expect that if they elect a politician to a job, that they will serve out the full term for the job that they have elected them to do.” The Greens are now in pole position with the bookies in Gorton and Denton on 43% to Reform’s 36% – Labour trails on 20%…
Guido’s Adam Cherry asked Nigel Farage if Labour should immediately hold a general election if there is a change of PM. What with the mandate disappearing…
The Reform leader predicted things will come to a head after the May elections:
“I think that’s a very likely proposition… I do think Starmer will face a crisis, I do think the country will scream out for an election… we could argue that all the while they’ve got a majority they can soldier on, and the other factor in this is the state of the economy, and it’s much much worse than anyone believes… and so even if Andy Burnham thinks you can ignore the bond markets, sorry matey in reality you can’t. So there is a big crisis coming for this Labour government before too long.”
You thought Truss was chaotic…
Suella Braverman is with Nigel Farage in Westminster to face questions from journalists after she defected to Reform earlier today. Expect questions over a by-election, her role in the party, and the Tories’ borked response…
Read Suella’s speech in full below:
Continue reading “LIVE: Farage and Braverman Host Post-Defection Press Conference”
The Green Party’s Deputy Leader spoke to LBC yesterday about defence spending. Asked if it should go up, Rachel Millward said: “I think we need to spend more on diplomatic relationships across Europe, across working out who our allies really are. You know, we can’t take peace for granted. I think this is this this is a serious an incredibly serious and dangerous time.” Genius…
Asked if more needed to be spent on defence, Millward said: “Well, I think we’re seeing, aren’t we, that we need to look at alternative structures and alternative ways of keeping the peace across the world and that needs to take massive amount of effort. So, but this is certainly not, you know, the focus of my daily role.” Starting to fall apart here…
Asked if she agreed with the Defence Select Committee’s view that an extra £29 billion must be spent on defence, Millward said: “I don’t know. I’d have to look at that and we’d have to think about what our position is.” And there you go…
Millward – who sits as a deputy leader of Wealden District Council – was previously mocked by the public in Crowborough for claiming that incoming asylum seekers are “doctors, engineers, and surgeons.” Guido also hears Millward skipped a meeting held by the MOD with local army and Air Force cadet representatives last week to sort their accommodation after being kicked out of Crowborough training camp. Which now contains asylum seekers…
Former leader of the SNP in Westminster Ian Blackford told Times Radio why he believes Nicola Sturgeon’s claim that she spent no time in the kitchen and therefore didn’t see any of her husband’s purchases:
“She doesn’t have a passion for cooking.”