Westminster’s Christmas party season kicked off last night, with the ASI hosting Education Secretary/Chancellor/Chancellor for the Duchy of Lancaster Tory Party Chairman for drinks on Great Smith Street. Nadhim Zahawi set out the Tories’ narrow flightpath for victory in 2024. Namely defending those who earn £100,000 to £150,000 who “scrimp and save” to send their kids to private school…
Reminding the youthful room that Britain is not Twitter, he promised to build a campaigning machine at CCHQ…
“…that is the best we can deliver. We’ve got Isaac Levido back to do the work and, of course, support the front line of great volunteers we have up and down the country… for next May’s elections and be ready and fighting fit for the General Election whenever it comes.”
“Because our opponents will be found out; they are hypocrites, they attack independent schools yet they choose to send their children to those same independent schools.”
Zahawi also slammed Labour for being “anti-enterprise, anti-opportunity”, joking that if you “look at their rhetoric – not much policy but rhetoric – they’re going to come after you.”
The Tory base is genuinely fired up about this issue…
Tom Tugendhat got the band together last night in Smith Square, where he was guest of honour for WPI’s drinks. His introduction came from WPI co-founder Nick Faith, who helped run Tom’s leadership campaign and pointed out their last speaker was one Elizabeth Truss. Despite Tom telling Guido in advance he wasn’t planning on making any news, eyebrows were certainly raised on two occasions. Not least telling the congregation the night ahead of Jeremy Hunt’s fiscal statement that “I know growth is no longer fashionable”…
His speech concluded, however, with a Mystic Meg prediction that surely warrants Tom putting his money where his mouth is:
“When I look at the budget… or indeed other things coming forward, I’m genuinely very, very positive. We’re beginning to see the end of the unreal era… I have to say I’m enormously positive about the UK… enormously positive about the Conservative Party. I think the reality is going to bring home to roost the truth that the Conservative Party is the natural party of government for a very good reason and so I think the polls may not show it today, I think we’re going to win in two years time, and I think we’re going to win well.”
Guido will hold off asking Tom for tomorrow’s lottery numbers…
Ahead of polls closing, Ukraine forced a rare bout of cross-party unity at the Tate Modern last night as both Boris and Starmer turned up for a fundraising auction. In farcical scenes proving the PM’s need to level up fibre-optic gigabit broadband, a video message from Zelenskyy initially refused to have any working audio, prompting the organisers to give up. This despite Boris’s recent video message in the besieged Kyiv parliament going without a technical hitch…
When they did manage to get Zelenskyy’s speech working, he heaped praise on the PM and called him “brave Boris” directly in front of Sir Keir. This was followed by a similarly fraternal address by the PM encouraging attendees to dig deep to help fund the Ukrainian effort. Among the auction prizes – run by Christie’s – was the Ukrainian PM’s infamous khaki fleece up for sale with a starting price of £50,000 – something Boris described as a “pinch”. It ended up going for £90,000…
Also up for bidding was a tour of Kyiv by the mayor, and one of the cockerel jugs given to Boris and Zelenskyy during the PM’s own walk about the capital.
Guido was passed photos of both Boris and Sir Keir sipping Ukrainian wine – the white being described by Guido’s mole as excellent, the red as a little sharp and the rose as a “tad too full-bodied” – though the two leaders didn’t manage to talk. The catering was courtesy of Ukraine’s only Michelin starred chef. Unsurprisingly the chicken kiev kyiv was the star showing…
Lord Frost and Nadhim Zahawi were guests of honour at the ASI’s Christmas drinks party last night, held in the swanky surroundings of 1 Birdcage Walk’s oak-panelled library. Frost got the audience onside with a free market rallying cry, and predicted imminent success for the ASI in their fight against government control and market interference, including the decent joke: “a bit less social distancing a bit more socialist distancing”.
Nadhim boasted about the government’s T-Level plans, joking that the “TL Badge” on his lapel didn’t stand for “Tory leader”. Some in the audience seemed to wish it did…
Jacob Rees-Mogg was the guest of honour at the IEA’s Christmas bash last night, with a speech tailored to a home crowd. The Leader of the House entered into the Christmas panto spirit, asking the audience via call and response whether they’d like a low tax, low regulation recovery, or one of higher taxes and higher regulations. No prizes for guessing which the free marketeer crowd opted for…
The highlight of the speech was Rees-Mogg’s dig at the ongoing furore surrounding No. 10’s supposed Christmas party in 2020, telling the audience:
“I see we’re all here obeying regulations, aren’t we? And this party is not going to be investigated by the police in a year’s time. You are all very carefully socially distanced – we have moved, I am pleased to tell you, back to the Imperial system: I notice you are all two inches away from eachother which is, as I understand it, what regulations require.”
His speech was followed by a performance from Dominic Frisbee, ably duetted by Mark Littlewood, meaning Guido got to see Jacob Rees-Mogg’s reaction to his classic song “I’m going to marry Gary”…
Last night’s annual kebab awards was a relatively understated affair. A combination of the Budget today, a Tory MP drinks reception in No. 10, a graduation ceremony for the Parliamentary CCF force and presumably plenty of left-wing MPs not wanting to be seen at a busy, hot, sweaty drinks reception resulted in far fewer MPs in attendance than usual. Guido spent the night keeping an eye out for any MPs who, while advocating for masks in Parliament and wider society, forgot to continue their virtue signalling campaign at the private drinks reception:
All the above were spotted by Guido maskless and mingling among the drunken crowd.
Repeated references were made last night to Angela Rayner’s none appearance, with co-hosts Radio 1’s Chris Stark and Scott Mills uncomfortably bitching about the deputy leader’s absence – clearly no one had informed them she’s still on bereavement leave after losing someone very close to her. Upon hearing the co-hosts mention Rayner wasn’t going to be there, one sarcastic Labour MP within earshot of a co-conspirator audibly told their dining companion, “oh what a shame”…
