Immigration minister Robert Jenrick went off script today on Times Radio, suggesting that further measures may be needed to cut down migration.

Discussing Home Secretary James Cleverly’s new five-point plan to cut net migration, he conceded there would be “merits” to introducing an annual cap on net migration, a proposal he’s put forward in the past. No wonder the Tory-right love him…

Jeremy Corbyn has been lying to Times Radio and on Piers Morgan Uncensored about his infamous line calling Hamas “friends“. Attempting to rewrite history, he claimed on Times Radio last night that he only referenced Hamas as friends at the event 10 years ago as “they’d gone out of the room and I said in a collegiate way, where has our friend gone? That was all I said.” He again said the same on Piers Morgan Uncensored. Guido has the original video where he says “I’ve also invited friends from Hamas to come and speak as well…”

More over at the same event he claimed specifically that the government labelling Hamas as terrorists was a big historical mistake. It turns out that it was Corbyn making the big historical mistake…

Thanks as ever to @TimesCorbyn for the archive footage.

Following the Institute for Fiscal Studies’ damning report that this parliament will be the most tax-raising on record, the economic secretary to the Treasury Andrew Griffith confirmed concerns that the tax burden won’t be relieved any time soon.

Speaking on Times Radio, he was asked if he could commit to no further tax rises . “Regretfully” he replied, “I can’t give you a commitment“. He did at least assure listeners the Conservatives are “philosophically” in favour of a strong economy and “directionally” support low taxes. ‘In theory’ and ‘in practice’ aren’t quite the same thing…

Michael Gove has insisted the government’s plan to ban new diesel and petrol cars will come into effect from 2030 after all, despite Andrew Mitchell stalling on the issue yesterday morning, and Rishi Sunak himself prevaricating on the question just hours later. As of today, it’s still pedal to the metal according to Gove…

Speaking on Times Radio, the Levelling Up Secretary gave an “absolute guarantee” the ban was going ahead:

“I do agree that it’s important that the government does press ahead with thoughtful and important steps in order to safeguard the environment…”

Asked if it was “immovable“, Gove gave an unequivocal yes – twice. Something two of his government colleagues didn’t do yesterday…

Once again, Wes Streeting is a rare voice of reason in the Labour Party. Speaking on Times Radio this morning, the Shadow Health Secretary said the NHS is a “service not a shrine”, adding that we should stop treating it like “a national religion” – Newsnight should take note. Streeting then made the claim that the NHS is “not the envy of the world“. Was it the £180 billion black hole budget or the all time record waiting lists that gave it away…

Streeting used his sermon on the the health service to claim “as only Nixon could go to China, I’d wager that only Labour can reform the NHS”. Wes may well have a point with his Nixon-esque aspirations. A Tory opposition would never get away with taking healthcare policy straight from the mouth of Nigel Farage.

Despite speaking sense on the fetishisation of a government department, he was less sure-footed on whether he supported the consultants’ strike. Apparently it’s difficult to say “no” to the question of whether he supports a strike of staff on six-figure salaries. “I’m a politician”, he admits…

Lisa Nandy has been out on the media round this morning, promoting Labour’s proposed leasehold reform, and was forced to confront her own contradictory record on housebuilding. On Times Radio this morning, Stig Abell first presented Nandy with a fitting nickname, given her opposition to development in Manchester:

“STUDIO: So you’re going to be called Lisa NIMBY here, aren’t you? Because you had a chance not to be a NIMBY, and you were a NIMBY?

LN: Wow. How long did it take you to come up with that one?

STUDIO: It sounds a bit like Nandy.

LN: Yeah, well done.”

It shouldn’t have taken Stig long to come up with Nandy’s nickname, given Guido used it three weeks ago…

Lisa then launched a defence of her confused position. Whilst claiming the need for housing was “obvious” she defended her decision to block building – when she explicitly called for Wigan’s planned housing stock to be reduced. She then deployed all the usual NIMBY buzzwords, praising the “beautiful area of natural beauty… well used and loved by local people” with “lots of wildlife“. What she doesn’t mention is that that in her letter opposing the development, she explicitly opposed building on the Green Belt – not just for this project. Today, Nandy says she wants to build on the Green Belt, she previously spelt out that “It is wrong to consider Green Belt land for development” …

NIMBY Nandy’s building bewilderment didn’t end there. She claimed to be “on the side of the builders” whilst at the same time wanting “local authorities and combined authorities across the country to have a much bigger role”. In her Times Red Box piece today, she also called for involving communities “at the start” of planning applications – which sounds awfully similar to the government’s own policy. Once again, Labour’s housing policy is full of contradictions.