Election 2019: Johnson ratchets up plans for Foreign Office takeover of Dfid December 10, 2019 Boris Johnson is considering rolling the Department for International Development (DFiD) into the Foreign Office, as part of a huge money-saving exercise if he returns to Number 10 this week. The Prime Minister – who was foreign secretary for two years under Theresa May – has charged officials at both the FCO and DFiD to [...]
Election 2019: Labour frontbencher Ashworth recorded slamming Corbyn’s electoral appeal December 10, 2019 Labour’s shadow health secretary Jon Ashworth has sought to downplay a recording of him criticising Jeremy Corbyn, insisting the conversation was just “banter” between friends. Ashworth appeared to suggest Corbyn posed a threat to national security, saying the civil service would “pretty quickly move to safeguard security” if Labour won the election. He also said [...]
Election 2019: Jeremy Corbyn plays down leadership issues as challenge for Labour December 10, 2019 Jeremy Corbyn has insisted his leadership is not holding the party back this in the General Election 2019. The Labour leader, who is still mired in criticism over his handling of antisemitism, shrugged off suggestions candidates weren’t using his image on their leaflets because he was unpopular. Read more: Lib Dems slide in key London [...]
Election 2019: Liberal Democrats slide in key London marginals December 10, 2019 The Liberal Democrats are fading away in key London marginals with just two days left before the country votes, a devastating new poll has revealed. The pro-Remain party, which has campaigned heavily throughout the capital this month, is now expected to lose in Kensington, Finchley and Golders Green and Two Cities, according to Deltapoll. Read [...]
Election 2019: Justice secretary defends PM over sick child row December 10, 2019 The justice secretary has defended Boris Johnson over his reaction to a photograph of a four-year old boy with suspected pneumonia, who was forced to sleep on the floor of a hospital. Yesterday the Prime Minister repeatedly failed to acknowledge the plight of Jack Williment-Barr, who was pictured sleeping on the floor of Leeds General [...]
This country has not had enough of experts December 10, 2019 Michael Gove famously said that the “people in this country have had enough of experts”. Of course, that’s not the full story — at the time, Gove was specifically targeting experts who, he claimed, kept getting things wrong. But regardless, the “had enough of experts” quote went viral, and came to be viewed as something [...]
DEBATE: Should business rates be scrapped and replaced with a land tax, as the Lib Dems suggest? December 10, 2019 Should business rates be scrapped and replaced with a land tax, as the Lib Dems suggest? Liz Jarvis, writer, editor, and Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for Southampton Itchen, says YES. Nearly a million businesses in the UK have closed in the past three years. Businesses, especially small firms unable to bear the brunt of Brexit [...]
It’s not just that Corbyn hates capitalism — he doesn’t even understand it December 10, 2019 It’S not exactly news that those at the top of the Labour party dislike capitalism. But what’s less often pointed out is how little they actually understand about it. Last week, on my Twitter account, I published something of a demolition of Labour’s claim to save every household £6,700 a year. After only a cursory [...]
How the Tories could become the party of the working class December 10, 2019 Polls are inherently unreliable. We know this from the 2017 election, the 2015 election, the 2016 EU referendum — the list goes on. The latest polls show a roughly 10-point lead for the Tories. That should be enough to form a government, but is some way off the 68 seat majority that YouGov’s famous MRP [...]
It would be a colossal error for the UK to opt out of the creative thinking study December 10, 2019 Each of the major parties’ manifestos for the upcoming election recognises the importance of creativity in our schools and workforces. It seems that policymakers are finally responding to a growing body of international evidence that employers, as they navigate an increasingly digital and complex world, will value human skills like original thinking and complex problem [...]