Kay Burley and Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy have been arguing on Sky News this morning over the ridiculousness of the government lobbying the police to give Taylor Swift a presidential-style motorcade to a gig. Tickets for which were being handed out by her record label to the PM and his ministers…
Nandy eventually caved under pressure and launched on an offensive:
“You know, we’re now in a situation where I mean you know most of Sky News was at these events in these same boxes as well to be completely fair.”
Burley hit back: “Who was there? I paid for my tickets. Don’t do that, no.” Nandy claimed Keir Starmer had paid for his too. A few weeks late, mind…
Nandy couldn’t name any other Sky personnel who went along for free when asked and ended with: “People can judge for themselves.“ A cruel summer for cronies…
Boris has done a long interview with Wilfred Frost on Sky News. Apart from pointing out that the public ‘craved’ lockdown rules, Boris had a few words about his old chum Sue Gray:
“I appointed Sue Gray, who then turned out to be the Chief of Staff leader of the Labour Party – RIP… “
Boris issued his analysis of the current Downing Street implosion:
“At the time that I asked her to do that particular job, she had presented to me as a model of political impartiality and propriety, and I’m not certain about either of those things…. I thought it was always looking a bit dodgy – her position was probably going to be untenable ever since it emerged that her son had taken money from Waheed Alli, and that she’d then given Waheed Alli a pass to No 10. I thought that was probably going to end in the way that it has.”
Cronies gonna crony…
Politics Live today has seen fiery exchanges between Energy Minister Miatta Fahnbulleh and critics of Labour’s extreme freebie donation hypocrisy. Brexit veteran Lord Stewart Jackson had a few choice words for Labour:
“We’ve seen a bacchanalian orgy of greed – this is ridiculous frankly and with respect you’re responsible for the the way people are thinking about this I have no problem with people taking hospitality and declaring it in the rules. But the Labour Party have this sort of moral relativism where they say ‘it’s all right for us because we’re the virtuous ones and the Tories are uniquely greedy self-serving incompetent et cetera.’ The number one political rule is: don’t believe your own PR.”
Jackson pointed out that the problem is the hypocrisy: “you’ve framed the debate in terms of ‘the Tories are greedy’ and people hate hypocrisy from politicians.” He added interestingly that the public “will forgive a sex scandal… what they loath is hypocrisy.” It’s not letting up for Downing Street…
Behind closed doors some Labour figures are unsettled by the perception that Lord Alli has effectively privatised the Labour frontbench. Along with hundreds of thousands in donations his properties have been used extensively by the Labour leadership for numerous roles, as Guido revealed…
The “he doesn’t have any agenda because he’s already a peer” spin, which claims he doesn’t intervene politically apart from ‘being Labour’, took a hit on Friday when Guido revealed Alli argued against the removal of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. Almost zero information exists in the public domain about Alli’s role in the Middle East, which includes his multiple meetings with Assad…
Guido can reveal that Alli was also dispatched to Iraq by No 10 to meddle in the January 2005 elections. Blair’s Downing Street pledged clandestine support to Iyad Allawi, the former member of Saddam’s security services who had earlier been chosen as interim Prime Minister by the coalition forces…
After the Labour lord was installed in Allawi’s office there was a huge increase in advertising spending on his campaign. Allawi dominated the Iraqi media landscape from that point on, leading Al Jazeera to brand him an “American puppet.” Jack Fairweather, author of ‘A War of Choice: the British in Iraq’ wrote that Alli and former Labour Party General Secretary Margaret McDonagh, his partner for the mission, suggested the “classic New Labour ploys” of polling data analysis and “working with focus groups to coordinate campaign messaging“, which were received with zero enthusiasm by Allawi’s campaign team.
By the end the Allawi campaign was a foreseeable failure, gaining a mere 13.8% of the vote. The winner was Ibrahim Al-Jaafari – the candidate of the Shiite religious establishment. Predictably Labour’s intervention to support Allawi damaged UK relations with new PM Al-Jaafari, against UK interests…
What was Alli, a TV executive best known for producing ‘The Big Breakfast’, doing intervening in foreign elections on Labour’s behalf? Why has his role been kept out of the public eye? Who paid for it? Why did Alli go on to have multiple meetings with Assad in Syria? There is much more to discover…
Business and Energy Minister Sarah Jones has had the unenviable task of fielding the morning round after Downing Street made freebiegate even worse last night by announcing that the PM would repay £6,000 worth of gifts he’d received since becoming PM. But not the football – Starmer still needs free use of a box for vague ‘security reasons‘…
Jones was asked on Times Radio if there was a suitable reason for someone like Jonathan Reynolds to accept tickets to Glastonbury, seeing as if a corporate donated them for business it would seem like corruption and if they were donated for entertainment it would look like a freebie. Her answer hinted at just how thought out the government’s new strategy on dealing with freebie criticism is…
“Well, I think that is the question that the prime minister is asking through the new set of principles… I think the question is now being asked. And that is the question that the prime minister is asking, as well as other people, for what purpose are we going to these events? Let’s look at these issues.”
Jones added later: “I’m not going to go to another event like that that I’m invited to,” while failing to explain why Starmer should be paying back his freebies and his ministers shouldn’t. Labour is struggling to deal with the logical aftermath of its incessant pious screeching over donations while in opposition…
Jones also claimed that “there is a difference between government and opposition when you’re building relationships in opposition.” These lines are unravelling the moment they’re said…
No 10 has been trying to act nonchalant and keep Keir Starmer looking statesmanly as the row over freebies rages on. With increasingly buffoonish defensive lines…
Now Downing Street has briefed that Starmer has paid back over £6,000 worth of gifts and hospitality he received since becoming Prime Minister. That includes Taylor Swift tickets and free clothes for him and his wife…
£6,000 is a measly sum – exactly 5.5% of the £107,145 in gifts, benefits, and hospitality in his parliamentary register since December 2019. And that’s only what has been registered…
In interest terms there is no difference between Starmer taking freebies while PM and while leader of the opposition. Will he repay the full £107,000? What about his Cabinet Ministers? Starmer’s made it worse again…
Former leader of the SNP in Westminster Ian Blackford told Times Radio why he believes Nicola Sturgeon’s claim that she spent no time in the kitchen and therefore didn’t see any of her husband’s purchases:
“She doesn’t have a passion for cooking.”
