Brandon Lewis insists there’s “still time” to get a Brexit deal through Parliament in order to avoid holding EU elections. Even if Theresa May invented a time machine there’s no way she’s getting a deal through in the next three weeks…
Following the suspension of 14 Tory members yesterday over Islamophobic and racist remarks, Tory Chairman Brandon Lewis has written to the party’s most senior activists to “re-affirm my commitment that discrimination, intimidating behaviour or abuse of any kind has absolutely no place in our organisation”. The letter has gone to everyone at the most senior level of the voluntary party – Regional Chairmen, Area Chairmen, Association Chairman and Conservative Group Leaders. Swift action from the Tories…
Guido has obtained a copy of the email sent directly to the 14 Tory members who have been suspended today by Conservative Party Chairman Brandon Lewis’s office to for posting Islamophobic or racist comments online.
The suspended members are informed in no uncertain terms that they “may not participate in any Party events” and are “not entitled to represent the Conservative Party in any way” or “attend or participate in any events carried out in the name of the Party”. Summary justice undoubtedly, the Tories nevertheless showing Labour how to deal swiftly and unequivocally with racism…
Sam Gyimah has played down the local no confidence bid revealed by Guido on Friday night, telling the Today Programme:
“There’s no deselection procedure, there was some news at the weekend… there’s a letter of no confidence that was handed to my association chairman, it’s signed by four people… I think one of them is a lapsed member of the Association…“
Local sources are disputing this, they insist that the letter had five signatories, none of whom were lapsed members. All were members of the Executive, including two local Councillors (one district and one county) and a former Association Treasurer. These are well-established members of the local Party, not fringe members or new members…
The number of signatories to the letter is not of any significance in itself – only two were required to put the motion on the agenda for the AGM. The only number that counts is the number of votes for the no confidence motion later this month…
ConHome’s Mark Wallace reported how frosty the mood was towards Gyimah at the Executive meeting on Friday night, with Gyimah reportedly looking “visibly concerned”. Gyimah himself took a conciliatory tone in response to Guido’s initial report. Interestingly, Brandon Lewis has promised that CCHQ will step in to block the deselection of any Tory MP, provided they back the PM’s deal. Gyimah unequivocally told Today just now that he wouldn’t be supporting it…
The National Conservative Convention took place in Oxford on Saturday at a more low-key Tory Spring Forum than usual after party members’ access was restricted this year. The National Convention voted heavily in support of a motion rejecting a second referendum or any Brexit delay beyond the European Elections:
“The National Convention supports the commitments the Prime Minister has made to the country to honour the EU referendum result of 2016 that having triggered article 50, we will leave the European Union on 29th March 2019. Another referendum or delay beyond the European elections, taking no deal off the table or not leaving at all would betray the 2016 people’s vote and damage democracy and our party for a generation.”
The vote was 72-15 in favour of the motion, following a debate among members of the Convention. However, Guido sources in the room say that the debate was interrupted when the Chairman of the Convention, Andrew Sharpe, noticed a young man filming the proceedings and asked him to stop. The man responded that he had been instructed by Party Chairman Brandon Lewis to film the debate…
Sharpe reportedly then said that the Party Chairman “had no business doing that” and instructed the man to cease or leave the room. Several Tory Convention members were left bemused by this turn of events. One disgruntled participant in the debate described it as “completely unacceptable” and accused Brandon of trying to “spy” on the room…
CCHQ sources insist that it was just an honest misunderstanding and had nothing to do with Brandon himself or with trying to keep an eye on party activists, the man had simply been asked to record the audio of the debate for internal party records. A Conservative Party source told Guido: “This was a misunderstanding, but of course the party would keep a record of the event.” It’s fair to say that not all Tories present were quite so sure about the party’s true motives…
On Friday afternoon, government Special Advisers will be having their first interdepartmental meeting in months, after an unusually long period of no formal meetings at all. The meeting will not be taking place in the usual venue of Number 10, instead it be held round the corner in CCHQ, in what is being seen by some as a sabre rattling move. Conservative Party Chairman Brandon Lewis emailed SpAds to invite them over…
Guido understands that this is a snub to the Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff, Gavin Barwell, who many within CCHQ, as well as the Prime Minister’s husband, see as a big problem. Hyper-Remainer Barwell is seen as “a blockage” to party unity, and his attempts to water down Brexit by bringing Labour Remainers on board have led many to the conclusion that he should go…
UPDATE: A CCHQ source gets in touch to say: “The meeting on Friday is a chance for the Party Chairman to brief SpAds about the forthcoming local election campaign. The regular SpAd catch-up meetings at No10 will continue as normal in the coming weeks.”
When a former remainer is the party chairman of an overwhelmingly Brexity party, optics are important. Unfortunate image for his newsletter to highlight right now…
Party chairman Brandon Lewis has sent this email to members of the National Convention.
Trying to convince the backbone of the party of the merits of the deal…
Conservative Party Chairman Brandon Lewis responds to the major data breach yesterday on the party’s conference app. Not what the Tories wanted to be talking about this morning…
Tory Party Chairman Brandon Lewis has emailed local party associations to promote new ‘equality and diversity training’ provided by the party. The service is open to all association chairmen, officers, and members. It has been immediately dubbed a “re-education programme”.
Whilst the programme is voluntary, the promotional email encourages members to take part, stating that “I hope you will find this service useful.” Guido can remember when Conservatives were opposed to equality*…
*More specifically, egalitarianism.
If Guido were the Tory party chairman Brandon Lewis he would be happily signing up all the former ‘kippers being sent his way by Arron Banks and Andy Wigmore that he can. According to the latest research from the Commons Library the SNP has more members than the Conservative Party. Making the Tories the third largest party in Britain…
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Guido has been leaked the formal complaint received by CCHQ accusing Brandon Lewis of breaching the Nolan principles on selflessness, integrity, openness and honesty over his pairing scandal. The complainant, a Tory party member, accuses Lewis of “deceiving new mother Jo Swinson”. Will Brandon be facing a disciplinary panel? If not, it’s one rule for some…
The key question is who decides if he faces a panel? Is it a CCHQ employee? Who is going to refer their own boss? The whole process is a farce…
Brandon Lewis has just emailed Tory party members telling them “Labour are busy fighting amongst themselves”.
You couldn’t make it up…
Brandon Lewis’ attempted stitch up of Boris – launching an investigation and then farcically choosing the panel members himself – is not going well for him. Tory MPs are kicking off and turning their fire on Brandon. A top Tory has told the Sun their party chairman is:
“May’s thug”
A Tory minister texts Guido:
“It will be Brandon Lewis who is out of a job by the end of the week if he keeps this up. The story was dying and all he’s done is reignite it. He needs to stop before he tears the party apart.”
And a former Cabinet minister says:
“What Boris said was true and he was taking a liberal, tolerant line. This is politically motivated right to the top.”
The consensus appears to be that Brandon has lost the plot…
Brandon Lewis appears to have officially lost the plot, launching an investigation into Boris, putting the story on the front page of the Standard and deliberately keeping the Tory crisis going for another day. There can be no other conclusion than the Tory party chairman is trying to do Boris in…
Is Brandon going to investigate Remainers like Ken Clarke, who called the burka a “bag”, and Anna Soubry, who called it “peculiar”? Or is he just trying to take out the main Brexiteer leadership contender? Is he going to investigate Andrew Bridgen and Nadine Dorries over their comments yesterday? He is in danger of tearing the Tory party apart…
This is extraordinarily reckless behaviour from a Tory party chairman, who is deliberately fanning the flames rather than putting them out. Especially one who it could also be argued breached the Tory code of conduct with his dishonourable actions over pairing. Tories will be tearing up their membership cards over this…
UPDATE: Turns out Brandon Lewis appoints the panel that will investigate Boris. Given Brandon is actively trying to do Boris in, with a total joke process…
Three weeks ago Brandon Lewis broke his pregnancy pair with new mum Jo Swinson. Today the Tories have photoshopped him pink and dubbed him “the voice of women in politics”. Well done, geniuses. Surprised they didn’t put him in a pink burka…
I agree with @AlistairBurtUK. I have asked @BorisJohnson to apologise. https://t.co/RFExXO4LOR
— Brandon Lewis (@BrandonLewis) August 7, 2018
Just when the Boris / burka story was dying down, Brandon Lewis appears to have deliberately fanned the flames by sending this tweet, creating another round of headlines against the Tories. It is hard to see Lewis’ tweet as anything other than virtue signalling as he continues to court Remainers to further his own ambitions. Given Lewis is lucky to still be in post following pair-gate, Tory colleagues might expect a little more loyalty from their chairman.
Once again it falls to Guido to point out that the Boris row is largely confected outrage from his enemies. Boris’ article explicitly called for the burka not to be banned, yet Corbynistas and Remainers are deliberately ignoring this and smearing him as some far right puppet of Steve Bannon. Other than Lewis, the only Tories to have criticised him are ultra-Remainers Heidi Allen and Jonathan Djanogly. Why? Because the vast majority of Tory MPs agree with Boris that they don’t like the burka, but also oppose a ban. The vast majority of Labour MPs haven’t publicly criticised him. Why? Because they don’t like the burka, but oppose a ban as well. Boris’ view, critical of the burka, but opposing a ban, is shared by pretty much all liberal, moderate people in Westminster.
You don’t need to be a pollster to know that Boris’ position is – obviously – far more liberal than the view of the country, which wants to follow EU countries like France, Belgium, Spain, the Netherlands and Italy in taking legislative action against face veils. The media / leftie virtue signalling against Boris is only going to stoke illiberal sentiment among the population, who will consider the hand-wringing to be typical out of touch faux outrage. You’d expect this from the likes of Owen Jones, but perhaps the Tory party chairman should know better.
VIDEO – Just before he voted on Tuesday, breaking the pairing arrangement, Brandon Lewis MP arrived in the Commons and it looks like he had a conversation with the pairing whip, Andrew Stephenson MP. pic.twitter.com/Y8AHLOgdxx
— Emma Hutchinson (@ITVEmmaH) July 19, 2018
This clip shows Brandon Lewis having a conversation with pairing whip Andrew Stephenson before he voted on Tuesday.[…] Read the rest
