The View from Westminster
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Thursday, January 11, 2024 |
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The nanny state is what people want |
Keir Starmer was accused by the Conservative press of wanting to oppress the free-born British people by imposing a "nanny state" on them. He couldn't decide whether to deny that supervised toothbrushing of young children amounted to state nannying, or to welcome the criticism by saying, "I'm up for that fight."
So he did both. Some journalists came away from a briefing before today's trip to a school in the north to promote Labour's education "mission" with the impression that Starmer rejected the "nanny state" label. Only to find that he gave an interview last night saying: "We need to take on this question of the nanny state. The moment you do anything on children's health, people say 'you're going down the road of a nanny state'. We want to have that fight."
I am sure he does. A row on this subject is an easy way for the opposition to win headlines – and most people, even if they don't want to be bossed around themselves (and an alarming number do), want the state to boss everybody else, and especially everybody else's children, around. |
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Which giant tech company was going to be called Relentless? |
Answer at the bottom of today's email |
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| | The government has set out plans for a law to exonerate subpostmasters, to be introduced within weeks. |
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| Thangam Debbonaire said every sports organisation should have a strategy to tackle sexual harassment |
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| 'I would want to secure proper recompense on behalf of the taxpayer,' says justice secretary |
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Articles driving the biggest conversations |
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What else do you need to know today? |
● The NHS waiting list fell by 95,000 in November, and more patients were treated, but the reduction, which is small in relation to the 7.6m total, may not continue if the junior doctors' strike does ● Two by-elections have been set for 15 February – Kingswood (Chris Skidmore) and Wellingborough (Peter Bone) – two Labour gains ought to be entirely predictable, but will still damage the government ● The House of Commons Library has published a useful list of possible dissolution and Thursday election dates, all the way up to 23 January 2025 |
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● I wrote about Keir Starmer, accused by a cabinet minister of "dog whistle" politics for saying the prime minister "doesn't get Britain"; I thought the Labour leader "won" Prime Minister's Questions yesterday – on a traditionally Conservative subject, immigration ● The Brief Newsletter on Labour's New Deal for Working People: it suggests the policy will mark a "significant break" with past Tory and New Labour governments; I think it is a sensibly modest set of reforms ● Andrew Grice on why Trump's return to the White House could be a headache for Sunak – and a nightmare for Starmer |
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| A look back at the week in Westminster |
The House of Commons is not sitting tomorrow – although it will be sitting on Fridays from next week – so this is a chance for an early look back at the week. It was dominated by the Post Office IT scandal, which has prompted an interesting debate about why it came to a crisis now. Obviously the ITV drama, Mr Bates vs The Post Office, was the immediate trigger. It had high viewing figures: 9.2m for the first of the four-part series, which was broadcast 1-4 January. But it would be wrong, I think, to suggest that the success of the show implied failure or complacency on the part of journalists and politicians. The programme was made possible, in part, because of the campaigning of journalists and MPs, including Kevin Hollinrake, who is now the minister responsible, and Kevan Jones, the Labour MP – although the main credit must go to the subpostmasters themselves. |
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Opinion Poll Finding of the Day |
"If you eat pizza, how do you feel about pineapple as a topping?" 53 per cent said they either "love it" or "like it", according to YouGov; 35 per cent "dislike it" or "hate it" |
Quiz answer: Amazon, which still owns the relentless.com domain | |
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