Local Tories in Bromsgrove are rumbling as the re-run of Sajid Javid’s Bromsgrove seat selection is penned in for mid-December. Local councillor Bradley Thomas was selected back in July, beating Onward’s Seb Payne by five votes. After association president Mark Jones made complaints, CCHQ launched an investigation into claims that some who voted weren’t actually eligible to. They finished their report, though it remains unreleased. Now a “confirmation vote” is taking place. Some wonder why the report hasn’t been made public…

Members were invited late yesterday afternoon to the new vote on 14th December. Local Tories are concerned CCHQ is trying to push Seb Payne in by dubious means. Officials involved in the first selection meeting, which formally confirmed Thomas as the candidate, allegedly weren’t even interviewed by CCHQ’s investigators. Guido readers may remember that back in July a ‘refer back motion’ to restart the selection was proposed – though eventually defeated. Safe seats are running out and candidates are meant to all be in place by January…

A member of the association tells Guido:

“It’s unbelievable that CCHQ has a report which it won’t share with anyone locally – including the chairman – after failing to interview any key witnesses, and after firing the first investigator for producing the wrong conclusion.

I don’t know what hold Mark Jones has over CCHQ, but he is the only person who made a series of complaints, and they all seem to have been upheld with no process at all.

I saw him storm out of the meeting, and he had to be blocked by the moderator from asking an unfair question which he targeted only to Bradley. He spent the weeks prior to the meeting campaigning amongst members for Seb Payne and telling everyone that it was what Sajid wanted and that they had to vote for Seb because he could attract good speakers for our fundraising dinners.

This will open the floodgates to SGM processes all over the country now. I’m not sure that’s what was intended here. I think the process works just fine, with local members choosing who they want – not having people parachuted in from London, or using dirty tricks like these to reverse the Party’s democratic processes“.

Murk and mire…

Sajid Javid had some fun at the Covid inquiry when he was asked by lawyer Joanne Cecil whether, when it came to opening up, more “diversity” would have “potentially added something“. Javid took his time with his response, saying “If there was more diversity in government, it’s a good thing” and helpfully pointing out it applies to a fair few sectors: “Amongst barristers I think about 80% come from Oxbridge, so it’s probably not too different in many other professions”. One look at them will confirm that hunch…

Inquiry chairman Baroness Heather Hallett had a good chuckle at that and remarked: “I think you’ll find the figures are rather different today“, to which Javid said “I hope so“. It was a heart-warming moment to see two white women agree with Sajid, born to a British Pakistani family, that diversity had probably improved among barristers. Guido’s not convinced though. It looks like the last proper study done confirms 78% of barristers still come from Oxbridge, which is the highest proportion in the professional sector. Glass houses…

The Home Office have announced Bas Javid has been appointed the new Director General of Immigration Enforcement, joining in November. It will be his responsibility to “lead the efforts to tackle illegal migration”, and he will work alongside the police and Border Force to crack down on what Suella calls the “scourge on our society“. He’s currently the Deputy Assistant Commissioner at the Metropolitan Police Service. He also happens to be Sajid Javid’s brother…

Commenting on the appointment today – on the same day the total number of migrants crossing the Channel in small boats since 2018 reached a whopping 100,000 – Suella Braverman said:

“Immigration abuse is a scourge on our society and I will leave no stone unturned in clamping down on this illegality. Bas brings a wealth of law enforcement experience and will further ramp up our efforts to tackle immigration offending, as the British people would expect.”

Bas joins the Home Office after 30 years’ experience in the police force. Luckily it shouldn’t take too long for him to adjust to the new gig. His brother was the Home Secretary four years ago…

The Chancellor didn’t give much airtime to efficiency savings in his Budget statement yesterday, instead focusing on a steady-as-she-goes package that was, frankly, boring. That appears to have been by design. 

In January, Guido revealed Jeremy Hunt had dispatched Treasury mandarins to finally crack down on woke waste in Whitehall, prompted by Conservative Way Forward’s report showing “politically motivated campaigns” were costing the taxpayer more than £7 billion a year. Nothing on that front in the Budget, despite claims the Treasury were taking it “really seriously”. What happened?

Treasury sources tell Guido that while Hunt “didn’t announce it per se“, a “a review [is] happening now” into where the Treasury can make “obvious savings in central government“, which is coming further down the track. Guido also hears there had been plans to include a few words about government efficiency – and diversity and inclusion spending specifically – in the Budget document yesterday, although they were ultimately removed pending the review. A Treasury source adds it was partly because the savings still need to be “worked out logistically with other departments.”

Of course, Ministers have made it their mission to cut down on waste before. In 2022, when Sajid Javid was still Health Secretary, he vowed to cut down on pointless diversity and inclusion jobs in the NHS. It didn’t do much good – a DHSC source later told Guido it was difficult for government to enforce those kind of top-down changes on NHS management after all. Still, it should be easier for Hunt to get it done within Whitehall…

In a sign that Liz Truss’s war on Treasury orthodoxy has been completely lost, Guido hears that Jeremy Hunt, Scrooge-like, is now receiving visits from the ghosts of Treasury past. This morning, eyebrows were raised when George Osborne was spotted entering Downing Street. Far from George being the surprise pick for Rishi’s new ethics commissioner, Guido understands George had popped in for a meeting with Jeremy Hunt. Who better placed to give advice on a new austerity drive?

It doesn’t end there. Guido learns Hunt has been keen to talk to all his recent predecessors, including Philip Hammond and Sajid Javid – and, presumably, Rishi – as he scrambles to put together the November statement. Presumably Kwasi Kwarteng is not high up on Jeremy’s priority meetings list…

“I look forward to seeing the debate unfold and to see colleagues working together as a united Conservative Party once the leadership election is concluded.”