Kemi Badenoch is speaking at the Confederation of Business Industry. Kemi will focus on slamming the (un)Employment Rights Bill and the upcoming Winter Budget…
CBI boss Rain Newton-Smith has already warned Reeves she “cannot tax your way to growth” as firms brace for “death by a thousand taxes”. Business Secretary Peter Kyle earlier insisted that there were “reasons for optimism”…
Kemi Badenoch is in Westminster to deliver a speech on the economy ahead of the Winter Budget. She’s joined by Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride…
They’re hammering Reeves’ income tax thresholds freeze paying for Labour’s welfare U-turn and attacking Starmer for caving in to scrapping the two-child benefit cap. No actual policy announcement today…
The Tories are battling over how easy it should be for former MPs to be reselected for the next election. Got to get there first…
Guido hears reports of a fight on the Conservative Party Board between senior MPs and the voluntary party about how to treat them. 1922 Committee chairman Bob Blackman and his allies are fighting for a lighter process while the chairman of candidates is pushing for full reassessment. No special treatment…
It has now been broadly agreed that it will be slightly different, but former MPs will still have to go through a pretty full process. That means no special deals for back door readoption. Good luck…
The Tories have given ex-Reform MP Rupert Lowe one of their seats on the Public Accounts Committee – the Parliamentary committee overseeing government spending. No doubt he’ll have a few ideas…
A Tory spokesman said:
“We want the Public Accounts Committee to do its job of ensuring taxpayers get better value for money from the state, as well as identifying areas of Government waste. Having someone who has run a business and shares our values on cutting waste on this committee will help meet that goal.”
New highs for Lowe…
Kemi Badenoch’s standing among Tory members continues to climb. In ConHome’s latest shadow cabinet rankings, she’s moved up to second place on 60.2 points – just 0.2 behind Robert Jenrick. A post-conference leadership bounce not reflected in polling of the voting public…
Mel Stride takes third place, with Chris Philp in fourth. It’s a notable recovery for Badenoch – before conference she was fourth, and earlier this year she was on nil points. Only two shadow cabinet members now have negative ratings – Richard Holden and Julia Lopez – down from six before conference. Finally announcing some policies will have helped…
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp and Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Alex Burghart have written to the Director of Public Prosecutions demanding the CPS resurrects the Chinese spy case if Labour declares China a threat to national security. Yesterday, Labour hardened its line, with minister Ruth Smeeth saying in the Lords that the government does regard China as a threat…
In the letter it says that DPP Stephen Parkinson confirmed the points below:
- For the purposes of prosecution, “enemy” for the purposes of the Official Secrets Act 1911 includes a country which represents, at the time of the offence, a threat to the national security of the UK, as held in the recent High Court decision (R v Roussev and others 2024);
- You remain satisfied that the decision to charge the case, made under the Conservative government in April 2024, was correct; and
- Despite requests made over many months, the new government did not provide the evidence to support the proposition that China represents a threat to national security, which would have enabled prosecution. By late August you had concluded that such evidence would not be forthcoming and therefore the case collapsed.
Now the Tories are demanding that if the government provides the evidence the CPS requested, they reopen the case. Meanwhile Security Minister Dan Jarvis shifted the blame onto Deputy National Security Adviser Matthew Collins for the case collapsing. Pressure piling…
Read the letter in full below:
Continue reading “Tories Demand CPS Reopen Chinese Spy Case”
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.”
