Scenes in Portcullis House this lunchtime as a stall being manned by the group ‘Women in Westminster’ – which aims to attract more women into politics – was verbally abused by a member of Thérèse Coffey’s office. Coffey’s staffer stormed up to the pop-up stall, saying it had “no right to be here”, “you don’t represent me“, and calling the two young female staffers on the stall “disgusting”, “disgraceful” reducing them to “near tears“. The staffer in question? Thérèse Coffey’s sister, Clare…
Clare Coffey also ranted that the Women in Westminster group ‘only existed for left-wing women’ – despite shouting at Tory and Lib Dem members. Clare then told the two that she would be complaining to their MP bosses, and Guido is told she has since been sat in Central Lobby asking members for meetings. One of the girls on the stall has already had a phone call from her office to say Clare Coffey has requested a meeting with her boss…
Ironically, however, Clare Coffey has now herself been reported to Parliament’s Independent Complaints and Grievances Scheme, with MP Jamie Stone tweeting it’s “disgusting that someone has treated my member of staff like this“.
Disgusting that someone has treated my member of staff like this. We’re in touch with House services. @WomenInW work hard to help women from disadvantaged backgrounds get jobs in politics. They’re volunteers. They’re doing this out of the goodness of their hearts 😡 https://t.co/0ELZfvHx4D
— Jamie Stone MP (@Jamie4North) March 9, 2020
Guido reached out to Coffey’s office, however they have declined to comment.
The continuing dilapidation of Portcullis House has been well-documented; most recently seeing the removal of its continually-breaking water feature. On Monday, MPs and Staffers arrived to see Parliament authorities have gone too far the other way – removing the low-quality temporary tables and chairs that had replaced the fountains and replacing them with luxury designer sofas and leather armchairs. Is this signalling a new era of sofa government?…
The Times have totalled the cost of the furniture at almost £28,000, although knowing the public sector the work put into buying and installing them will total many thousands more. Work and Pensions Secretary Thérèse Coffey took the Commons Authorities to task over the absurd cost, saying
“These are the same authorities that don’t provide appropriate office chairs or lighting for a working environment, helped by the fact that we are in a royal palace and not technically subject to health and safety legislation”
The sofas and armchairs form part of PCH’s new “agile working zone” – which is questionable as none of the chairs recline…
Tory conference finally saw the energy and passion it has been lacking this week courtesy of the InHouse Communications karaoke night. Partygoers witnessed peak Matt Hancock as he took to the stage to sing Happy Birthday to himself, before performing a high octane duet of Don’t Stop Me Now with Therese Coffey (watch above). James Cleverly and Kelly Tolhurst attempted Don’t Go Breaking My Heart before Clevz redeemed himself with a more impressive rendition of Twist and Shout, complete with memorable hip action. Will Quince demonstrated surprising depth as he had the room hand-waving to My Way. Nigel Evans gave us Delilah, David Mundell just about made his way through 500 Miles and a Brexit-backing cross-party trio of Paul Scully, Anne-Marie Trevelyan and Ian Paisley Jnr had the room rocking to Sweet Caroline. Then it was the turn of the Lobby…
Faisal Islam took great pleasure in adapting the lyrics of Don’t Look Back in Anger to belt out “So, Boris can wait” – just the latest MSM smear. Dan Hodges and Glen Owen teamed up with Number 10 Sunday Lobby specialist Kirsty Buchanan to murder Mr Brightside. An emotional David Wooding, one arm raised aloft, sang You’ll Never Walk Alone, the only time he’ll be able to do that in Manchester. The night ended with Number 10’s Richard “Tricky” Jackson nailing You Raise Me Up. Hic…
Guido can reveal that the candidate Labour is promoting as a “local man” in Stoke-on-Trent actually grew up nearly 200 miles away in Suffolk. Brexit-bashing Gareth Snell was introduced by Jeremy Corbyn this weekend with the words:
“Gareth is a local man, he understands the Potteries, he understands Stoke-on-Trent.”
Labour MP Anna Turley has called Snell their “brilliant local candidate”, Keir Starmer calls him their “fab local candidate”. Yet Snell is not from Stoke at all, he was raised in Stowmarket in Suffolk, nearly 200 miles and a three hour drive away. Stowmarket is in the constituency of Bury St Edmunds, one of the safest Tory seats in the country and a far cry from the Potteries. So how local is Snell? He went to Keele University and lived in Newcastle where he was a councillor, double jobbing in Tristram Hunt’s constituency office as he waited to be parachuted in. As far back as five years ago the Stoke Sentinel ran a letter asking why outsider Snell was hanging round Stoke, suggesting he was sniffing for a seat. In a 2011 tweet to the Tory whip Therese Coffey that rather undermines his claims to be “local“, Snell admitted he is “still a Suffolk-boy at heart”.
Snell’s plummy accent has not gone unnoticed on the doorstep in Stoke…
Always keen to see an MP at the end of a rope, Guido popped down to the annual parliamentary Tug of War last night (all proceeds to Macmillan Cancer Support). Ladies first – Macmillan employees versus Therese Coffey’s team of MPs. Kelly Tolhurst chose the losing side again…
Then the men’s Lords v Commons bout, which saw well-built Remainiacs Alec Shelbrooke (his sixth tug of war appearance) trialling the phrase “Remain” instead of “Stay” as a rallying cry to team-mates. Though in the end it was the Leave heavers who made the difference – hardman captain Mike Penning and Eurosceptic musclemen Nigel Adams and David Burrowes tugged their team to victory. Even the Daily Politics’ Giles Dilnot turning out as a ringer for the Lords couldn’t stop them. Highlight was Bercow calling Shelbrooke “a very big bloke” – Shelbers replied “it’s all relative…”
