Silence is not golden
On 15 June 2022 the Mayor of London issued a refreshed version of his Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy 2022 – 2025. Despite its unfortunate title (does the Mayoral budget no longer run to proofreaders? Couldn’t the word “Reducing” have been shoehorned into the name?) the document and strategy are about reducing such violence, an admirable and necessary aim. The very first page makes it clear that its target is “the perpetrators of abuse and violence“. It states clearly…
The irresistible force meets the movable object?
Like Adam Drummond my attention was first drawn to the ratings of Liz Truss. I’ve never taken drugs but the Liz Truss premiership is what I’ve imagine an acid trip would feel like but I digress. The thing that also should be noted is just how bad Sunak is doing compared to major party leaders elected since 2010 who lasted more than 49 days whereas Starmer is doing better than Corbyn and Miliband at the equivalent stage. In the last…
Sunak’s Savile strategy may not fix it for the Tories
As we can see with the tweet above Sunak is going to smear Starmer on a issue that Sunak knows is wrong. We know Sunak knows it is wrong because Boris Johnson tried this exact smear in early 2022 and Sunak publicly rebuked his boss for the strategy. I think Starmer was expecting this kind of strategy from the Tories which is why he got his retaliation in first to nullify these attacks. But it is rather depressing that as…
How Sunak’s PMQ record compares with predecessors
Starmer should do PMQs even when Sunak isn’t there
One thing we are learning about Sunak is that he doesn’t like PMQs and his team is going to great lengths to restrict the number of his appearances. Hence this last week and next we find that the PM will not be facing the Commons and Starmer. With next Wednesday taken into account, the total of PMQs he will have missed since becoming PM will be 7 which is a far far higher proportion than his predecessors. Sure there are…
Meanwhile Dorries STILL hasn’t resigned
Mid-Beds – the by-election that will never be? It was on June 9th that Mid-Beds MP Nadine Dorries announced that she was stepping down as an MP “with immediate effect”. A short time later she learned that the House of Lords committee that advises the PM in these matters had turned down a proposal by Boris Johnson in his resignation honours that she should be a peer. Since then several weeks have gone by and still Nadine clings on to…
The Tories working hard to be the nasty party once again
The story this week that has got me most worked up has been the one featured in the tweet above. What sort of person is the immigration minister, Robert Jenrick, to have issued this order? It is inhumane and just plain nasty. Maybe he hopes that this will endear him to the Tory membership and that might just be the case. But the message it sends out is just plain awful and will likely be used against the Tories. Maybe…