The View from Westminster
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Tuesday, December 19, 2023 |
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Who is in favour at the court of Rishi Sunak? |
To the prime minister's reception for lobby journalists at No 10 last night. Rishi Sunak gave a light speech, which included a dig at Boris Johnson. He said he hoped to watch Napoleon over Christmas – a leader said to have been poisoned by arsenic in his wallpaper: "Another would-be world king taken down by home furnishings."
In slightly more serious business, I noted the six cabinet ministers who were there – a clue as to "most favoured" status at the court of Sunak. There was some overlap with the list of those with the most morning media rounds since September. The six, with the number of media rounds in brackets, were: Jeremy Hunt (4), James Cleverly (6), Grant Shapps (7), Mark Harper (7), Laura Trott (3) and Claire Coutinho (1).
The other recent evidence of prime ministerial favour was a series of photos on the No 10 Flickr account, of ministers in bilateral (one-to-one) meetings with Sunak. These have since been deleted, presumably because the selection was considered too divisive, but from my memory included the six above (excluding Trott, who is No 2 in the Treasury, and so would have been represented by Hunt), plus Michael Gove, Gillian Keegan, Victoria Atkins, Steve Barclay, Lucy Frazer, Michelle Donelan and Mel Stride.
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The surname of which thriller writer is an anagram of "Bones"? |
Answer at the bottom of today's email |
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| Christmas appeal aims to fund to Zarach's campaign to provide 500 beds for children in need |
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| Tory minister reveals he has already co-operated with criminal inquiry into PPE Medpro |
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| Teachers won't be 'compelled' to use preferred pronouns – but some Tory MPs want a complete ban on social transitioning in schools |
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Articles driving the biggest conversations |
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What else do you need to know today? |
● Sunak was told off by the UK Statistics Authority for claiming "debt is falling" ● Professor Sir John Curtice looks at the fall in support for rejoining the EU in recent months ● Shona Robison, Scottish finance minister, announced a new income tax band for annual earnings between £75,000 and £125,140 in Scotland, at 45 per cent. The top rate will go up from 47 to 48 per cent ● The petition to recall Peter Bone, the MP for Wellingborough, has just closed; in yesterday's newsletter I said it closed yesterday – apologies |
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● I wrote about Rishi Sunak being the only person who thinks he can win – he fought for every point at his grilling by MPs today ● Stella Creasy says the "motherhood penalty" really does exist, so deal with it… ● Matt Payton: University Challenge is intrinsically elitist, that's why I love it |
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A look back at the year in Westminster |
The House of Commons is adjourning for the Christmas recess today, so it and the View from Westminster newsletter will be back on 8 January. Thank you for reading, and if you like it you may want to subscribe to The Independent, which will also allow you to get my weekly Commons Confidential newsletter, filled with gossip and intrigue.
I was on TV with Michael Portillo at the weekend, and we were asked for our most significant moments of the political year. He chose Rishi Sunak's plan to phase in a ban on smoking, which he thought was fundamentally un-Conservative.
I chose Sunak's "pragmatic and proportionate" adjustment of the path to net zero: delaying the ban on petrol cars and scrapping the ban on gas boilers. I thought this was an important moment when easy words about climate change started to collide with political reality – as advertised by Tony Blair in July, when he said the UK's role was "less to do with Britain's emissions" and more to do with engaging with China and developing countries. |
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