While SW1 might be increasingly impatient for a full-on reshuffle, Boris has made a few new appointments today to his team of trade envoys, with co-conspirator favourite Kate Hoey getting Ghana, and Lord Botham getting the Australian portfolio. Guido had heard Boris was hoping to reach across the political divide with his next announcement of appointments, and Labour MP Stephen Timms is among those on the list:
- Lord Botham appointed to Australia
- Baroness Hoey appointed to Ghana
- Stephen Timms MP appointed to Switzerland and Liechtenstein
- David Mundell MP appointed to New Zealand
- Mark Eastwood MP appointed to Pakistan
- Marco Longhi MP appointed to Brazil
- Conor Burns MP appointed to Canada
- Lord Walney [John Woodcock] appointed to Tanzania
- Felicity Buchan MP appointed to Iceland and Norway
- Sir Jeffrey Donaldson MP appointed to Cameroon, in addition to his role as Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Egypt.
Usually these jobs go to Tory backbenchers to keep them happy in lieu of ministerial portfolios. Boris will be hoping Ian Botham can bat for business down under…
Read Guido’s full list of PPSs, party chairs and trade envoys:
Speaking to LBC’s Iain Dale last night, the former Vauxhall MP and Labour Leaver declared that she will be voting in Northern Ireland – for the DUP…
This ends speculation that Kate might have been about to become the fourth former Labour MP to announce she’ll be voting for Boris – after this supportive Tweet:
This shows the @BorisJohnson as he is and as he was when I was his Sports Commissioner for London -a great motivator,not tribal,prepared to work with those who wanted to get things done,willing to listen to advice with a positive attitude and a belief in the UK’s potential! https://t.co/1ffsOo5LnI
— Kate Hoey (@CatharineHoey) November 12, 2019
Significant that she has chosen to not vote for the Labour Remainer successor in Vauxhall…
A touching curtain call…
Diane Abbott purged Labour MP Kate Hoey live on air this morning, claiming the Vauxhall MP is not a Labour MP. That’ll come as news to Kate…
Labour MP Kate Hoey has called for the Electoral Commission to be disbanded after the “travesty of justice” over the way they handled the Darren Grimes case. Incredibly, the Commission are still considering an appeal against the judge’s decision despite their case being comprehensively dismantled. Blowing hundreds of thousands more of taxpayers’ cash in vindictive pursuit of one campaigner…
As Hoey says, clearly there does need to be a body that oversees elections. The highly partisan members of the current Commission and the asymmetric way they have dealt with the two sides in the referendum since means there is no confidence left in its abilities. Time to start again from the ground up…
UPDATE: Tory MP Craig Mackinlay has backed Hoey’s call to disband the Electoral Commission:
“Couldn’t agree more with @KateHoeyMP. The @ElectoralCommUK has made too many mistakes, hounded too many innocent people (I should know), given too much incorrect advice, changed its mind repeatedly, made interpretations of the law ‘on the hoof’. It has no further worth.”
Labour Brexit hero Kate Hoey MP has announced that she will be stepping down as an MP at the next election after 30 years representing Vauxhall. Sadly it will mean an end to FBPE Corbynistas in heavily pro-Remain Vauxhall getting spectacularly triggered by their local MP. Opens up a plum safe Labour seat in the heart of London, Sadiq Khan will have half an eye on it as he mulls his options for a return to Parliament to fight for the Labour leadership…
Hoey put out a statement on Twitter confirming her decision not to seek re-election as a Labour candidate, although nothing in her statement rules out her potentially defecting to the Brexit Party before then. The Labour Remainer meltdown if she did would be something to behold…
