Kemi Badenoch managed to touch the third rail of British politics last night while on the phones with LBC. The line that sparked the comms chaos was: “The triple-lock is a policy that we supported in government, but we need to make sure we’re growing.” When asked directly about the triple lock, she responded: “No, we’re going to look at means testing. Means testing is something which we don’t do properly here.” Cue a blizzard of headlines claiming the Tories now back cutting state pensions…
Meanwhile Kemi doubled down on her comments on “peasants” being behind rape gangs, explaining she was being “very specific” because “it’s always peasant farming background”. On what makes her cry – it’s children’s movies like Toy Story 3 and Inside Out, though again doesn’t “have the time” for watching TV, but “dips in and out” while her husband fills in the blanks. Unsurprising considering she doesn’t even have time for lunch…
Immigration minister Seema Malhotra has been on the morning round ahead of migration statistics coming in at 9:30 a.m. Labour is trying to talk up a pledge to ban rule-flouting employers from hiring from overseas. Presenters were more keen to talk about the lack of actual progress…
On LBC Nick Ferrari pointed out that Labour’s manifesto promise and constantly-repeated pledge to “end asylum hotels, saving the taxpayer billions of pounds” has been broken. Only seven migrant hotels have been closed while 14 new ones have opened. Malhotra tried to argue it was the other way round on BBC Breakfast before getting sternly corrected…
Malhotra admitted the manifesto promise had been broken:
“Yes indeed we do need to make sure that we are bringing hotel use down and the way we’ve got to do that, the way we’ve got to tackle the unprecedented strain that our system has been under where we saw actually in the first six months of this year an increase in eight of 18% of those who were arriving on small boats compared to last year is that we have a plan for reducing numbers coming here.”
She declined to say when hotels will start closing or what net migration figure Labour thinks is too high. You wouldn’t want to have to live up to clear expectations…
Reeves’ friend and former Labour minister Siôn Simon was sent out on LBC this morning to defend the Chancellor who is under increasing pressure over her Linkedin CV editing. His argument? Reeves’ edits actually improve her credentials…
“It’s a bit of loose language on a CV or whatever – but it’s much better to have worked in retail banking than to have been an economist at the bank- to have gone into the private sector and worked in operations, as she did in Leeds and I knew her and went to stay with her there at the time, I remember it. It was a much more interesting and challenging thing to have done than just to have been an economist for 10 years.”
They just can’t help themselves. Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Pat McFadden has been rolled out for the first morning round since Trump’s win to reassure broadcasters that Labour will get along great with Trump now he’s back in power. Despite the constant barrage of abuse the Labour leadership has sent his way in the last ten years…
After McFadden waxed lyrical about the strength of the special relationship Nick Ferrari asked him: “Do you think Donald Trump has KKK sympathies or Nazi sympathies?” McFadden just said: “I don’t want to get into all characteristics of people. Look, what I think is important is this friendship between the two countries.” He dodged the question three times…
Ferrari kept trying but to no avail. Sounds like Pat agrees with the Foreign Secretary then…
Starmer is continuing to refuse to suspend Dawn Butler, who over the weekend retweeted a post about Kemi Badenoch from loony British-Nigerian author Nels Abbey:
“Today the most prominent member of white supremacy’s black collaborator class (in Britain) is likely to be made leader of the Conservative Party. Here are some handy tips for surviving the immediate surge of Badenochism (i.e. white supremacy in blackface). Don’t allow yourself to be gaslit. Of course, a victory for Badenoch is an obvious, unprecedented and once inconceivable victory for racism…
Don’t get arrested… The police don’t do nuance, and they conveniently refuse to understand black and brown intra-communal language or forms of critique, satire or compliment e.g. coconut, Uncle Tom, Aunt Kemi, house negro, choc ice etc.”
Butler’s favourite hobby is to try to get kicked out of the Commons for accusing Tory MPs of lying. Has she moved on to trying to get evicted from her own party?
Co-conspirators will remember that Rupa Huq was suspended for six months in 2022 after Guido revealed that she attacked Kwasi Kwarteng for being “superficially black.” So far Starmer has refused to do the same this time round. Abbey later said his post had been “clearly satirical” and “intended as a sketch.” That’s OK then…
Yvette Cooper declined to call the words racist on LBC this morning and told Nick Ferrari: “The words that you have read out are clearly appalling and I would strongly disagree with them.” Then she deployed the usual excuse of “I haven’t seen the post, I don’t know the circumstances…”
Cooper, who was on to talk about the government’s small boats announcements, defended Butler’s non-suspension by saying this is “one for the whip.” Labour’s media plan foiled by its own MPs again…
Angela Rayner has made history – though not in the way taxpayers might have hoped. She’s the first Deputy Prime Minister to land herself a personal, taxpayer-funded ‘vanity’ photographer, costing £68,000 a year. LBC’s Nick Ferrari wasted no time this morning, tearing into Rachel Reeves over the glaring hypocrisy. Rayner, who once raged against Boris Johnson’s “coterie of vanity photographers,” is now indulging in the very same perk. Reeves floundered as she tried to justify the splurge while ordinary Brits are told to tighten their belts. Apparently, “difficult decisions” on public spending don’t apply when it comes to a luxury snapper for the Deputy PM…
Meanwhile, Downing Street’s new senior photographer will be on a modest salary of £48,000, while the Deputy Prime Minister’s personal photographer enjoys a salary that is 41% higher. As Guido reported last month, the Government Communication Service has quietly launched a massive hiring spree, adding 42 new roles across departments, costing an eye-watering £1,991,800 at the taxpayer’s expense. Quite the backdrop for Reeves’ black hole doom-and-gloom speech later today…
Speaking at his speech on how to achieve “progressive capitalism” Wes Streeting fired a dig and Andy Burnham:
“Bond markets are not bond villains and fiscal rules matter.”