It’s festival season and our elected officials aren’t letting their parliamentary duties stop them from making the most of it. According to the latest register of interests, seven Labour MPs, including two Shadow Cabinet members, registered expenses-paid trips to Glastonbury – to the tune of £13,500. These were: Ed Miliband, Louise Haigh, Alex Sobel, Kevin Brennan, Darren Jones, Clive Lewis and Mark Tami. All registered their donations across days in the working week and man of the people Clive Lewis was the only name on the list not to take up hospitality tickets. Ed Davey also had a good month, in addition to getting two all-inclusive Glasto tickets worth £2,462, he also registered £36,500 in donations. Will that be made out to his personal services company?

Whilst Labour MPs lived it up in Glasto, cricket appeared to be the preferred summer pass time for Conservatives. James Daly, James Morris, Bob Blackman and Michael Tomlinson all took a trip to the Netherlands with the APPG for cricket, worth a combined £5,000, whilst Claire Coutinho, Ruth Edwards and Andrew Griffith raked in £1,200 in Ashes hospitality tickets. It wouldn’t be a register of interests update without yet more Prime Ministerial plane bills. This time, Rishi’s donor-funded jet-setting amounted to a measly £55,000. 

It’s been 22 years to the day since John Prescott sucker punched an agricultural worker in the face. Moments after the Prescott Express bus had touched down in Rhyl, the then-deputy Prime Minister was struck by a stray egg as he made his way through a demonstration against low agricultural wages and Labour’s support for a fox hunting ban. Wouldn’t happen with today’s egg shortages…

Prescott spun nimbly on his heels and unleashed a sublime left jab towards 29-year-old Craig Evan’s mouth, kicking off an almighty brawl. Refusing to apologise when urged to do so by pacifist Alastair Campbell, Prescott later told Tony Blair: 

“I was just carrying out your orders. You told us to connect with the electorate, so I did.”

Other famous egged politicians include David Cameron in Saltash in 2010, George Galloway after his Bradford West by-election victory in 2012, Ruth Kelly outside Salford Magistrates’ Court in 2006 and BNP leader Nick Griffin in 2009. More recently, Nigel Farage has been egged in Nottingham and was notoriously doused in banana and salted caramel milkshake in Newcastle on 20 May 2019. Ed Miliband has had his fair share of egg on his face, from eating breakfast sandwiches, fallout from the Ed Stone, and when egged in Southampton in 2012 and South London in 2013. All a poultry price to pay for publicity.

Current Heavyweight Champion of Westminster, Lee Anderson, has been engaged in a heated rivalry with protestor Steve Bray. In the latest round of the grudge match, the pair dealt verbal blows over showering and charity, while a notable spat came when Anderson stole Bray’s hat in round seven. Both are proving hard eggs to crack in what has become a grudge match for the ages. 

Speaking on GMB this morning, Diane Abbott took a principled stance against Keir Starmer’s chicanery. The former Shadow Home Secretary questioned Starmer’s decision to block Jeremy Corbyn from standing at the next election:

“Keir Starmer put a motion in front of the NEC to bar Jeremy as a candidate, but that motion said nothing about antisemitism. It said that because Jeremy had lost the 2019 election he couldn’t run. Well, really, if you stop people being MPs because they lose elections, why is Ed Miliband still an MP?”

She also claimed that if Corbyn decides to stand as an independent in Islington “he will win”.

Diane’s comments on Ed Miliband come in the context of Labour’s legalistic justification for blocking Corbyn put forward at the NEC – based on his electoral performance and not antisemitism.  Starmer’s motion states that the party’s “standing with the electorate in the country, and its electoral prospects in seats it is required to win in order to secure a parliamentary majority and/or win the next general election, are both significantly diminished should Mr Corbyn be endorsed”.

As Ann Black points out for Labour List, “the motion was fundamentally dishonest, because the reasons given for blocking Corbyn’s candidacy were not the real reasons”. It’s one rule for Comrade Corbyn and another for Red Ed…

The Labour Party’s faction fight has gained another combatant this morning: soft-left Ed Miliband is throwing his weight behind Keir Starmer’s plan to block Jeremy Corbyn from standing for the party at the next election. Starmer is set to propose his motion to the NEC at noon, on the grounds that “it is not in the best interests of the Labour Party” to allow his “friend” Jeremy to stand as a candidate partly because he lost so badly in 2019. Not one mention of the antisemitism that festered under Corbyn’s leadership, even though Miliband says this morning that’s exactly why he’s supporting the motion in the first place… 

“Keir Starmer, when he became leader, said he was going to do everything he could to root out antisemitism so we don’t have at the next election what we had at the last, which is Labour and antisemitism being talked about in the same sentence…”

Of course it would be a bit rich of Ed Miliband to support throwing out Corbyn for losing an election. Even so, Corbyn warned “we are not going anywhere” yesterday, with a growing assumption he’ll stand as an independent anyway…

Today’s Energy Questions in the commons saw a comical exchange between two former party leaders. Ed Miliband welcomed Boris Johnson’s contribution, in which he targeted Labour’s “Baleful, Luddite, Atomkraft? Nein, Danke” attitude towards nuclear energy, by saying:

“It’s important to welcome ex-party leaders to their place Mr Speaker. My only piece of advice is it’s important to not want your old job back.”

Boris responded by shouting something inaudible from the back benches. Lip readers, get in touch…

The elected mayor of Copeland has called out Ed Miliband’s opposition to a new coal mine up in Cumbria, and invited him to debate the issue up in his home town that would actually enjoy the new jobs and improved livelihoods – away from Miliband’s North London metropolitan comrades. Independent Mayor Mike Starkie wrote to Miliband in the dying days of 2022, calling on him to visit the area and give him the opportunity to “articulate your views and that of your party” in front of Copeland residents.

“My unequivocal support for the mine remains and I look forward to the substantial number of modern jobs being created and, the millions of pounds of direct and indirect investment into Copeland.

“I am aware of Labour’s position regarding the mine, and I am also very aware that you have stated that a Labour government would seek to ensure the mine does not open and will instead deliver new green jobs that people in Cumbria deserve.

“I understand that you are planning to visit the area in the near future and would ask if you would consider joining me for a debate, attended exclusively by Copeland residents, to discuss our differing opinions. This would be a chance for you to articulate your views and that of your party. 

“I will also set out why I am an avid supporter of the mine, and the many benefits it will bring to Copeland, Cumbria, and the UK.”

Will Miliband take up the offer? Guido’s only too happy to flag Miliband’s constant mining flip-flopping ahead of Mayor Starkie’s debate prep…