Labour’s ‘rising star’ MP Yuan Yang has apologised after eagle-eyed punters spotted that she pretended to eat at a constituency restaurant that was in fact shut. She’s an ex-FT journalist so maybe making stuff up comes naturally…
The Earley and Woodley MP posted on all her platforms last week: “Today is National Fish and Chip Day! To celebrate my team and I enjoyed a lovely take-away from Top Table Fish and Chips on the Wokingham Road.” She also encouraged people to eat locally. The only problem? Top Table had been shuttered days before…
The posts have all been deleted now. Yang, who is also a member of the Commons Treasury Select Committee, has issued a “clarificatory” statement: “Unfortunately, I knew my schedule was too busy to visit the shop on the day itself, so I decided to pop in with my team on the previous Friday to make sure we could send out a message of support in time for National Fish and Chip day.” She violated National Fish and Chip Day and her constituents aren’t mushy pleased…
A new centre-left think tank has sprung from the ground. The ‘Centre for British Progress’ is absorbing the ‘UK Day One’ think tank which presented policy ideas to Labour before the election. Former Labour PPC and onetime Lammy staffer David Lawrence is running the group alongside Day One founder Julia Garayo Willemyns. Labour MPs Chris Curtis and Yuan Yang are also in support. YIMBY wonk John Myers is chairing the board…
The think tank has connections to Starmerite Labour Together. It launches with an essay attacking blockers in society: “British institutions have become quietly addicted to caution. This is not a partisan impulse, but a deeper reflex embedded in our public life, our boardrooms, our research institutions, and even our collective imagination.” It is to focus its research on infrastructure, energy, and technology…
Those aware of the policies that stimulate growth will raise an eyebrow at the think tank’s paean to Beveridge’s “war not on fascism or a foreign power, but on the “Five Giant Evils” of poverty, disease, ignorance, squalor and unemployment.” It also attacks people who believe in “dismantling programmes, indiscriminately deregulating, or tearing down institutional guardrails.” Light on their own proposals so far…
Labour Conference is developing a strong anti-media narrative. Starmer’s allies have taken to complaining bitterly about journalists reporting on his and his ministers’ freebie-taking…
At a pro-tax love-in this morning attended by Exchequer Secretary James Murray and a selection of high-tax activists discussed fiscal proposals including more than doubling capital gains tax and imposing additional taxation on the well-endowed. Wealth tax fanatic Arun Advani said he was “optimistic” because the Labour government is “genuinely listening” to his ideas. Which include growth-crushing expansions of existing taxes…
Ex-FT reporter and Labour rising star Yuan Yang MP rounded off the event by claiming that “access to Lobby journalists” is held primarily by vested interests and the majority of reporting on tax issues is “not representative of what people say to me on the doorstep.” She urged Labour activists present to take “action” to combat the media narrative and present the case for higher tax. No doubt those tight new controls on the press will help…
Speaking on Times Radio, former Home Secretary David Blunkett spoke about overdiagnosis of mental problems:
“Let’s distinguish those who are really severely mentally ill, diagnosed with things that require prolonged medical and diagnostic treatment. My wife and I talk about this a lot, because she’s a retired GP, about the fact that you can be sad without being ill. You can be momentarily depressed because your boyfriend or girlfriend’s just thrown you and you’re not mentally ill. You can even have mild issues, which can be dealt with with the right kind of support, but it doesn’t make you mentally ill. So we’ve got a real task, I think, to get the psychology, if you like, of this over. But there are things where you definitely need medical intervention, and there are other things where you need good friends, you need good connectivity, and you need a job.”