Justice minister Mike Freer announced last night he was standing down at the election out of concern for the safety of himself and his family. This morning on the Today programme Freer and Nick Robinson discussed Freer’s frequent use of a stab vest when out in public. Robinson explained that David Amess’ killer was found to have visited Freer’s constituency office in Finchley with a knife a month before Amess’ murder.
“The night before, Boris Johnson had moved me from the Whip’s office to Exports and Equalities, otherwise I would have been in Finchley and probably attacked… not many people can say ‘Boris saved my life’ with a bit of a wry smile…“
Thank God for Boris…
Read Freer’s statement on his standing down below:
A testy exchange between James Cleverly and Amol Rajan on the Today Programme this morning led the frustrated Home Secretary to threaten to leave the show and “make a cup of tea” instead.
A heated discussion over the emergency legislation proposed by the government in reaction to the Supreme Court’s decision to rule the Rwanda plan unlawful had BBC presenter Amol fired up, offering his views on the “morality” of the issue. Cleverly hit back:
“Are you asking the questions or making statements? If you’re just going to make statements I’ll go make a cup of tea…I’m the guest here.“
Cleverly pulling no punches…
Grant Shapps had a long and testy exchange with Today presenter Mishal Husain this morning over the BBC’s continued refusal to call Hamas terrorists, tearing a strip off John Simpson in passing. Mishal claimed it was because of Ofcom rules – this is a stretch and plenty of other broadcasters in Britain call Hamas terrorists – she then switched tack and claimed the protection of the freedom of the press. Mishal even went so far as to point out that the government only designated Hamas as a a terrorist organisation two years ago when atrocities have been going on for much longer. Seems a self-defeating argument coming from the BBC…
Shapps called on the BBC to call “a spade a spade” and to stop making an equivalence between the acts of terrorism and the defence response of Israel. The BBC’s institutional sympathies are all too clear.
Fresh off the back of his big conference speech yesterday, Rishi Sunak is keen to get on the front foot in defending his policy blitz. Speaking to Nick Robinson on the Today Programme, the PM insisted his radical, New Zealand-style smoking ban is the right call, and will be the “single biggest intervention in public health in a generation”. In other words, the biggest lurch towards the nanny state he could imagine:
“Smoking is unequivocally the single biggest preventable cause of death, disability and illness in our society… there is no safe level of smoking… Everyone recognises this measure will be the single biggest intervention in public health in a generation.”
Labour are already making supportive noises, so this ban is almost inevitable whoever wins next year. A ban that will be the greatest triumph for nanny staters…
Small Boats Week is already in choppy waters, and it’s only Monday morning. Home Office minister Sarah Dines was on the airwaves earlier claiming the government is “hoping” the Bibby Stockholm barge will house 500 illegal migrants by the weekend. She told the BBC just hours ago:
“We’re expecting pretty soon, imminently this week, in the coming days that people will be on the Bibby Stockholm. For operational reasons, you wouldn’t expect me to confirm the hour or the day but it is pretty soon […] quite possibly it will be 500. We are hoping.”
The Home Office tells Guido, however, that they are not hoping for this at all. Asked if 500 was the target for this weekend, a Home Office source simply said “no, it’s not.” According to The Sun’s Harry Cole, they added that Dines “misspoke“, and 500 is the overall target figure, not the one set for this week. Dines’ suggestion that the government is “looking at” shipping illegal migrants to Ascension Island was also shot down. That idea was junked in 2020, and apparently it’s not coming back…
Nigel Farage has just had a furious clash with with Nick Robinson on the Today Programme, after Robinson suggested – apropos of nothing – that the NatWest saga might be a pretext for Farage to return to frontline politics. “You’ve run seven times and lost seven times” obviously wasn’t going to go down well…
“I’m really not going to have this. I am sick to death of your condescending tone… what you should say to people is, you’re the only person in British history who’s won two national election in two different parties. Let’s try that for size, shall we?”
Farage is taking no prisoners this morning…
