The first photos have emerged of Labour’s thin ‘business delegation’ which the government has dragged along to China. They’re not looking too chirpy…
Guido spotted that standing next to Starmer is West Midlands mayor Richard Parker. These are the ‘major figures’ Starmer is taking alongside one Cabinet minister and the city minister – Reeves isn’t even on the trip any more…
As Guido first reported officials are working very hard to balance pro-China announcements against the watchful eye of the US administration. There are significant concerns about blowback from Team Trump…
After a recount and a knife-edge head to head, Labour’s Richard Parker has won the mayoralty in the West Midlands to defeat Andy Street.
Dick Parker: 225,590 votes – 37.8%
Andy Street: 224,082 votes – 37.5%
It clearly didn’t matter how much Street distanced himself from the national party during the campaign in the end. Losing a two-term mayor will make impossible for the Tories to spin their ‘everything is fine’ line. Truly disastrous expectation management from the Tories – who strongly claimed it would be a winner…
Redfield and Winton produced a poll that put Tory Mayor of the West Midlands Andy Street 14 points behind his Labour candidate rival Richard (Dick) Parker. Locals don’t seem too convinced. One voter asked Dick at a hustings this week: “Why should we vote for someone no one has ever heard of, is that really the best West Midlands Labour can do?” They probably haven’t heard of him because he isn’t from the West Midlands and lives outside the constituency he wants to represent…
His defence was to blame…the Tories, for not talking about him.
“The reason you haven’t heard of me is because you’re believing the nonsense the Tories have been setting out, because they’re so concerned about losing, they’ve been failing or not wanting to identify me as the candidate who’s standing for the Labour Party.“
Host Lewis Goodall was nonplussed. Dick can be forgiven for expecting the Tories to do his campaigning for him, as the Labour Party doesn’t seem to be too keen on it either. Leaflets sent to the region this month don’t mention him at all…
Labour’s dodging Dick while Andy Street dodges the Tories…
Lucy Powell on LBC, asked by Tom Swarbrick for her reaction to Labour MP Samantha Niblett’s call for a ‘summer of sex’ debate in Parliament: “I personally don’t own any sex toys, but each to their own… I’m not really sure that’s the right place for it, no.”
