Today MPs made said goodbye to another friend and colleague James Brokenshire who sadly passed away from lung cancer two weeks ago, aged just 53 years old. One particularly touching tribute came from Robert Buckland who described his friend as:

“…driven, quick, persuasive, funny, kind, and decent. Don’t make the mistake of confusing those qualities with mere niceness, Madam Deputy Speaker, he was much, much more than that. Farewell my friend. Thank you for everything.” 

RIP James…

With Raab settling down into his new job as Justice Minister, Guido hears the Lord Chancellor is setting his sights firmly on the Human Rights Act and ECHR. One of the main focuses of intended reforms will be ending the ability of European Courts to have any say in amending or changing UK legislation, as well as addressing so-called “gold plating”. While the planned reforms under Raab don’t sound like they’ll differ all that much from those planned by Robert Buckland prior to his dismissal, Guido understands the Department is to make a much bigger noise about the battle, ramping up a symbolic fight between the government and Europe on this remaining key sovereignty issue. Brexit 2.0?

Political pundits and Westminster hacks (along with the rest of the country) eagerly watched England’s triumphant victory against rivals Germany in last night’s match. Guido has collected the best and worst political reactions.

• Enjoying the match from the stands Guido spotted, Sadiq Khan, Oliver Dowden, Dan Rosenfield, and David Lammy.
• Dowden proudly posted an instagram pic of himself celebrating alongside Prince William, George, and Kate Middleton.
• Boris Johnson took several staged photos with Carrie, featuring the pair enjoying football in the No. 10 offices. However, leaked videos from later in the night, show the PM almost jumping for joy when Kane scored England’s second goal, shouting “Harry Kane’s finally scored”. Boris actually recognised Harry Kane… 

Boris Johnson limbs when Kane scored. pic.twitter.com/4b8SepNo3J

— Away Days Videos (@AwayDaysVideos) June 29, 2021

• Nicola Sturgeon reluctantly congratulated England for their victorious win, tweeting: “still just one team unbeaten by England so far in Euro2020″. 

Congratulations, @England
(Still just one team unbeaten by 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 so far in @EURO2020 😉🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿)

— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) June 29, 2021

• Angela Rayner couldn’t resist making a party political jibe, whilst everyone else was having fun watching the match. She tweeted “I’m genuinely worried Priti Patel would stop football at the border and try to deport it”. 

I’m genuinely worried Priti Patel would stop football at the border and try to deport it https://t.co/rTwckjmyj0

— Angela Rayner (@AngelaRayner) June 29, 2021

Last night on Sky News, Isabel Oakeshott accused the Sky News of trying to start a “race row” with the worst take that goal scorer Raheem Sterling should have appeared on more front pages of newspapers. 

Having avoided a national row about the kneeling, could we not avoid a race row when everyone is celebrating?