Guido has been keeping tabs on Whitehall’s finest doing everything but tightening the purse strings since Labour’s much-trumpeted “crackdown” on spending. Co-conspirators will be unsurprised to learn that David Lammy’s department has been merrily splashing the cash…
On 1 July, the Foreign Secretary hosted a lavish “Summer Reception” at Lancaster House. A written parliamentary answer to Shadow Transport Secretary Richard Holden reveals the Foreign Office forked out a cool £49,069.88 on the soirée. This is despite Pat McFadden announcing back in March immediate “tighter new spending controls for hospitality” including a cut to the maximum spend on government procurement cards from £2,500 to £500, with anything above that needing Director General sign-off. Got to make it worth Lammy putting down the air miles for a night in London…
A Labour and Tory MP along with the former head of Homes England are heading up a new campaign to encourage housebuilding. The wonks are pushing hard on planning as Labour begins to falter…
The Representative Planning Group (RPG) is launching today and is chaired by Simon Dudley – former chairman of Homes England – and Labour MP for Northampton South Mike Reader. Prominent Tory backbencher Jack Rankin is also involved…
The project is attempting to convince councillors that more people are supportive of new building than is reflected in proposal responses by advocating “or new tools like representative surveys, citizens’ panels, and digital polling to inform decision-making — especially on contentious developments.” MPs themselves are often the first defence of NIMBYism…
See the well-padded advisory board below:
Continue reading “Labour and Tory MPs Launch Joint Housebuilding Campaign”
Reeves is trying to put a positive gloss on today’s labour market statistics. Someone’s got to do it…
Speaking this afternoon in Belfast, she said:
“There was some really positive news in there. Employment since I became Chancellor last year is 384,000 higher… although the number of people unemployed increased slightly on the quarter, the number of people who are economically inactive actually fell by much more… Is there more to do? Absolutely there is. Everyone who can work should work… there are huge opportunities in our economy… we need to do more to support people back into appropriate work for them.”
Unemployment remains at a four-year high, job vacancies are down, and the working hours lost to strikes in the first half of 2025 was a whopping 279,000…
HMRC is expanding its EDI team. Still not picking up the phone though…
Successive FoI requests expose the rate of growth:
HMRC says of its EDI team: “HMRC is committed to reflecting diverse communities and being an inclusive and respectful place to work, in line with Civil Service values. This supports our delivery of strategic objectives and helps us to provide the best service for customers.” It’s up to co-conspirators to guess how…
Last month Guido revealed that the taxman had handed its “expert of the year” award to the staff member responsible for handling the disastrous Farm Tax. Not making themselves hugely popular are they…
The UK lost 279,000 working days to labour disputes in the first six months of 2025 alone. That’s equivalent to just over 1,073 years.
Here’s the full breakdown from the grisly ONS labour market statistics:
A millennium and change lost to strikes. Meanwhile this morning Wes Streeting claimed the “jury is out” over a pay deal with junior doctors, and Birmingham’s bin strike rumbles on and on…
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp has written to Attorney General Richard Hermer after a Virgin Atlantic passenger was sentenced to just 15 months for threatening to “gang rape and set fire” to a stewardess on a flight from Heathrow. Salman Iftikhar received a sentence less than half as long as Lucy Connolly’s 31 months, who was jailed over a now-deleted tweet…
Philp urged Hermer to refer Iftikhar’s case for review under the Unduly Lenient Scheme warning that if he doesn’t, “then this would be yet another example of two-tier justice under this Government.” Read Philp’s letter in full below: Continue reading “Tories Demand Hermer Reviews “Shockingly Lenient” 15-Month Sentence for Passenger Who Threatened Air Stewardess”
Sarah Pochin at Reform Scotland’s manifesto launch event: “I really wanted to come on in a Reform tartan burka, but apparently I wasn’t allowed… One day let’s do one of these events not live-streamed. We’ll do all the naughty stuff…”