Sketch: PMQs falls flat – do Sunak and Starmer not get the rules? October 9, 2024 With the Tories immersed in a leadership contest and Labour emerging from weeks of freebie headlines and internal drama, Westminster watchers will have turned to this week’s PMQs for a much needed injection of drama. Grab your popcorn, it’s box office time. Surely the acting leader of the Conservative Party could at least muster up [...]
Nightmare fuel: Have Labour’s first 100 days proved a shaky start? October 9, 2024 During Liz Truss’ short-lived premiership, my friend confessed the then-Prime Minister was actually living out a recurring nightmare she occasionally had. The ‘plot’ of said nightmare? “The idea that you think yourself capable of something and you get to the top and you’re on the front page of every newspaper, and every news channel and [...]
‘Challenging policy’: What the pushback to private school VAT plans reveals October 8, 2024 VAT… easy as ABC? It may not quite be Blair’s ‘education, education, education’ mantra, or Michael Gove’s multi-academy trusts. But for Sir Keir ‘my-father-was-a-toolmaker’ Starmer, there’s been one education policy that’s been front and centre of his manifesto and the first 100 days. This is, of course, the plan to impose VAT on private school [...]
With Sue Gray gone, Keir Starmer will have no more excuses October 8, 2024 Sue Gray is carrying the can for the shortcomings and mistakes of her boss, says Henry Newman Morgan McSweeney is Keir Starmer’s second chief of staff following Sue Gray’s resignation. And we aren’t even 100 days into the new government. Some of his predecessors lasted far longer. David Cameron’s only chief of staff was there [...]
Teaching unions urge government to delay private school VAT roll out October 7, 2024 Teaching unions have urged the government to delay the roll out of private schools having to pay 20 per cent VAT on fees, amid fears of job losses and a “significant burden” on HMRC. Reports emerged on Sunday that ministers were reevaluating the policy – after the Treasury initially declined to confirm it would take [...]
The Notebook: How to fix the civil service? Pay the top brass more October 7, 2024 It's in everyone's interest to have the best talent in the civil service. That's why we should pay the top brass more, writes James Chapman.
It wasn’t supposed to be this way, was it? October 7, 2024 Kremlinology is an old Cold War concept referring to the study of key individuals high up in the Soviet government. Who was in favour, who hadn’t been seen in a while, who was winning power struggles and who had been shot; Western analysts devoured such intelligence in an effort to understand who was actually in [...]
Ex-cabinet secretary says £200,000 job is ‘massively underpaid’ October 6, 2024 Ex-cabinet secretary Gus O'Donnell has said the UK's most senior civil servant is "massively underpaid" at £200,000 per year.
Sue Gray resigns as Keir Starmer’s chief of staff October 6, 2024 Sue Gray has resigned as Keir Starmer’s chief of staff after a controversial three-month tenure, saying “intense commentary” around her position “risked becoming a distraction”.
Starmer set to announce £22bn boost for UK carbon capture October 4, 2024 The UK is set to invest almost £22bn over 25 years in carbon capture and storage schemes, Sir Keir Starmer is to announce ahead of the upcoming international investment summit. Projects in Teesside and Merseyside will benefit from the £21.7bn in funding over 25 years, which the government says will attract £8bn in private investment [...]