The View from Westminster
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Sir Ed Davey's past catches up with him |
Ed Davey has done a good job of restoring the Liberal Democrats to the by-election-winning form they enjoyed before the coalition government, despite having been a cabinet minister in that government. But, like that scene in The Fellowship of the Ring where Gandalf thinks he has cast the Balrog into the abyss, only to be caught, after an improbable delay, by the monster's tail, Davey has been caught by the Post Office IT scandal.
He has handled it badly, protesting that he was "lied to" by Post Office bosses, instead of going for maximum contrition, and was rewarded with a Daily Mail front page this morning: "Shameless." Now that Paula Vennells has renounced her CBE (see below), he is more exposed, and the muttering among the 13 other Lib Dem MPs and 90,000 party members about Daisy Cooper, the deputy leader, taking over is growing louder. She didn't become an MP until 2019, so is innocent of any crimes committed by the coalition. |
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What job did Elisabeth Borne do until yesterday? |
Answer at the bottom of today's email |
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| The foreign secretary said he would not say any more about the hostages, but we are doing 'everything we can' |
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| Former Post Office boss, who could have been a bishop, will ask for her CBE to be annulled |
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| Former mayor of London accused of trying to evade LBC cameras when asked difficult questions |
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Articles driving the biggest conversations |
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What else do you need to know today? |
● Lord Cameron, the foreign secretary, was polished but unforthcoming in his evidence to MPs on the Foreign Affairs Committee: asked if he had been advised by lawyers that Israel had broken international law in Gaza, he eventually said, "I don't want to answer that question". I wrote about his appearance here ● Forty-six Conservative MPs have made fools of themselves by writing to Jeremy Hunt to demand that he force the Office for Budget Responsibility to be more pessimistic in its forecasts: the Conservative Way Forward report is here ● The NHS was Labour's most popular subject for Prime Minister's Questions in 2023, according to BBC research ● Another local council, Stoke-on-Trent, has warned that it will go bankrupt unless central government provides more money; this will be a big story this year |
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● Louise Boyle, our senior climate correspondent, has a good report on 2023 being confirmed as the hottest year ever – it's El Niño, but when El Niño reverses, the trend will still be bad ● Jesse Lempel: why the International Court of Justice cannot order Israel to stop the war in Gaza as a provisional measure ● Amelia Loulli: my son refuses to go to school – and I can't make him. But don't blame me |
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Our political commentator Andrew Grice on what to look out for tomorrow |
The Commons will sit at 11.30am for questions on science and technology, followed by the first Prime Minister's Questions of the year at noon. MPs will give a third reading to the Economic Activity Of Public Bodies (Overseas Matters) Bill, aimed at preventing campaigns against Israel. Labour will explain why it will vote against.
Jon Thompson, chief executive of HS2 Ltd, will be quizzed by the Transport Committee at 9.30am. Andrew Bailey, the Bank of England governor, will be questioned by at the Treasury Committee at 2.15pm. Campaigners for refugees and lawyers will give evidence to parliament's human rights committee on the government's Rwanda scheme at 3pm.
The House of Lords will return from its Christmas break. Questions from 3pm will include, a little late, one about the Post Office's Horizon IT programme. |
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"Typical Post Office, always losing letters." Tom Freeman, on Paula Vennells's loss of her CBE |
Quiz answer: Prime minister of France |
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