You can read the full review here, but the opening to this review of Oliver Letwin’s new book by Hugo Rifkind gives a good hint at the overall response…
A colleague of mine once argued that all opinion columns are either obvious or deranged. It has bothered me ever since, because I think it’s probably true. Congratulations, at any rate, to the eminent former cabinet minister Oliver Letwin, whose new book Apocalypse How? manages to be both at once.
Amber Rudd and Oliver Letwin’s register of interests have revealed the two have been seriously cashing in on the speaker circuit to rake in thousands from their vital political expertise. Money well spent…
One three-hour speech followed by Q&A session saw the Bank of America fork out £10,000 apiece to the sage-like political experts – one of whom gave us the Fixed-Term Parliament Act, and the other of whom resigned from Boris’s Government claiming she didn’t think he was trying to get a new Brexit deal. They’re both set to leave parliament very soon, so expect to see the pair raking it in as much as they can, as fast as they can from these events in future…
Explains why they turned up to Parliament together that afternoon…
Government nemesis and Tory grandee Oliver Letwin is to join Guto Bebb in standing down from the Commons at the next election, Guido has discovered. The West Dorset MP who has been a fixture of British politics for almost two decades has most recently spent his time attempting to wrestle control of the House of Commons order paper from the Government. Brexiteers won’t be sorry to see the back of him…
In a letter seen by Guido, the Chairman of Letwin’s constituency association resigned from his position on Monday in order to take part in the selection of a new candidate, which CCHQ opened up on Friday. His seat’s 20,000 majority will be hugely desirable for all wanna-be MPs…
Guido has got his hands on a Eurosceptic pamphlet written by Brexiteers Liam Fox, Nigel Evans, Elanor Laing, Desmond Swayne, and… anti-Brexit Prime-Minister-in-all-but-name Oliver Letwin. The pamphlet entitled ‘Battle For Britain’, dates from 1999 and warns of the creeping federalisation of the European Union, taking more and more power from the United Kingdom. The pamphlet explicitly states “We believe that Britain should govern itself”…
It tears into the EU for undoing Thatcher’s legacy…
“All the competitive advantages that we built up in the 1980s – trades union reform, labour market flexibility and deregulation – are now being eroded by back door European socialism that we have no power to prevent.”
It couldn’t be clearer on immigration…
“It has always been a cornerstone of Conservative policy that a sovereign nation should have control over who crosses its borders… We believe that – in order to maintain law and order, protect the taxpayer, but above all to preserve Britain’s excellent race relations – it is we, and we alone who should have the right to determine who enters the United Kingdom”
And is rounded off with this rousing defence of sovereignty…
“In the end, it becomes a matter of purely academic interest how we organise our own affairs if real power – the power to make decision that affect our everyday lives, that govern the prosperity of our economy and that determine our relationships with the rest of the world – rests elsewhere. If the Conservative Party stands for anything, it stands for resisting that destruction of our nationhood”
Guido much prefers his earlier work…
Fresh from tasting blood with a 27-vote majority in last night’s vote on their amendment to hijack Parliament, Hilary Benn and Oliver Letwin have now published their business motion to hold indicative votes tomorrow – as expected it’s their comrade-in-arms Bercow who will be deciding exact what MPs are allowed to express their “preferences” for tomorrow. Now the motion reveals reveals that Benn and Letwin will also be taking over Parliament next Monday as well.
It will not be the last time this happens. An unelected shadow Government of backbench MPs breaks the thread of democratic accountability with the public, they cannot be called to account at the Despatch Box in Parliament, they do not have to respond questions, FoI requests, and they cannot be held accountable as a coherent entity at the ballot box. The Remainer coup has begun…
Very good news. PM statement does what is needed to prevent no deal exit on 29 March and enables MPs to forge cross-party consensus on new way forward if PM’s deal does not succeed on 12 March. No need now for Cooper-Letwin Bill.
— Oliver Letwin (@oletwinofficial) February 26, 2019
The Tories behind the proposed Parliamentary coup to force an extension of Article 50 appear to have backed down, with Oliver Letwin welcoming the Prime Minister’s commitments to offer a vote on extending Article 50 today, announcing that there is “now no need for a Cooper-Letwin Bill.”
Gratified that the PM has accepted the key proposals in the cross-party Cooper-Letwin Bill. This is a victory for Parliament. We will lay amendments to her motion this afternoon and seek confirmation of her commitments from ministers during tomorrow’s debate.
— Nick Boles MP (@NickBoles) February 26, 2019
Nick Boles has agreed – hinting that, provided ministers back up the new commitments made by the Prime Minister, amendments laid today will be pulled tomorrow. This is a major soft Brexit victory that demolishes the Tory TIGgers’ absurd assertion that the ERG are dictating Government policy…
