After turning down Liz Truss’s offer to join the Cabinet as Leader of the House of Commons, Iain Duncan Smith has announced a new career ambition. Following the appointment of Tom Tugendhat to the Cabinet as Security Minister, IDS is planning to run for the now-vacant chairmanship of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee. Speaking on LBC this morning the former Tory leader confirmed overnight reports by Steerpike and Politico that he’ll be going for the job:
“I am actually seriously thinking about standing for that, so there you have a first.”
IDS also claims he turned down the offer of Leader of the House because he felt it was not something to which he “could add any particular value”, leaving the job open for Penny Mordaunt instead.
Politico reports that Liam Fox will also be running, with the backing of DEFRA Committee Chair Robert Goodwill and former Trade Minister Mark Garnier. The additional chairman’s salary of £16,422 is not to be sniffed at during these trying economic times…
Throughout history there has been an ongoing battle between those who believe in the Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Expression and those who would deny it for their own purposes. How did we get to where we are today? Is freedom of speech really under threat and if so from whom? How do we calibrate the defence of our essential values in an era of rapid technological change and protect both our freedoms and the safety of our citizens?
The Right Honourable Dr Liam Fox MP, Former Secretary of State for International Trade and Former Secretary of State for Defence, speaks at the Adam Smith Institute at 11 am today. Together they’ll explore the issues in civil society, law, and the philosophical battle over what we should be able to say, when, and where. Join Dr Fox, Ms Ginsberg, and the Adam Smith Institute live at 11 am UK Time, on Guido Fawkes.
In a point of order this afternoon, Liam Fox raised a Point of Order referencing the extraordinary intervention in proceedings in Scotland yesterday, where implicating the First Minister was censored from Salmond’s evidence against Sturgeon. Fox quoted Salmond as saying:
“the complete breakdown of the necessary barriers which should exist between Government, political party, and indeed the prosecution authorities in any country which abides by the rule of law.”
Describing the analysis as one that would be a damning indictment in a tinpot dictatorship, Fox asked Deputy Speaker Eleanor Laing what could be done to “ensure the conduct of the Scottish Government does not bring politics in the whole of the United Kingdom into disrepute”.
Laing herself stressed the seriousness of the matter and how it affects “the bedrock of our constitutional settlement“, stressed her concern with “safeguarding democratic standards“, and went as far as almost encouraging him to bring it before the House once again. Guido gets the impression this is only the beginning…
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Liam Fox’s campaign to be the next WTO Director-General received a boost this morning as he made it though to the next round of the selection process, beating the Mexican and Egyptian candidates who have been knocked out. The remaining shortlist is as follows:
Guido learns Fox won the support of the Commonwealth, though notiecably the EU en bloc voted for anyone but him. Fox is the last European left…
After last month’s revelation that Corbyn’s leaked election NHS trade documents had been pushed by Russian agents, Reuters is now claiming the leaked papers were originally hacked from ex-trade minister Liam Fox’s email address. You’ll never guess by whom…
Sources have informed the newswire that suspected Russian hackers can now be pinpointed to be behind both the leaking, and the promoting of the documents Corbyn was so desperate to pedal his privatisation conspiracy with. Reuters’ sources claim the attack bore all the hallmarks of a state-backed operation…
