View from Westminster
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Monday, February 26, 2024 |
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Lee Anderson and the politics of self-interest |
Lee Anderson, the former deputy chair of the Conservative Party, has a public image as a forthright straight-talker that would be dented by apologising for saying something that many of his supporters liked the sound of even if it was obviously untrue. So he continued to be defiant today, issuing a statement through his employer, GB News: "When you think you are right, you should never apologise because to do so would be a sign of weakness." But we should also consider the incentives bearing upon him. His seat, Ashfield, is likely to go Labour if he fights it as a Conservative. (Electoral Calculus gives Labour a 60 per cent chance.) If he fought it as an independent, or as Reform, however, he might have a better chance of holding it. Remember that Brexiteer Jason Zadrozny of the Ashfield Independents party came second in the 2019 election. |
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What double distinction did Roy Jenkins, David Steel, Charles Kennedy, Dafydd Elis-Thomas and Jo Swinson share? |
Answer at the bottom of today's email |
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| Critics of Labour's deputy leader are playing a dangerous game, writes Ryan Coogan |
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| Scottish Nationalists still upset that speaker foiled their plan to embarrass Keir Starmer |
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What else you need to know today |
- Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the speaker, is still negotiating with the Scottish National Party over how to make amends for his admitted mistake in preventing it voting on its own Gaza ceasefire motion last week; follow the latest here
- The cabinet met in Goole, Yorkshire, this morning to announce the spending (after the election) of some of the savings from the opportunity cost of HS2
- I wrote at the weekend that Keir Starmer thought about packing it in and working in a bookshop three years ago – so what happened? The short version: he got better; he made a lot of the right decisions, especially Rachel Reeves as shadow chancellor; but the main cause of Labour success is Tory failure
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Has Labour's Rochdale debacle gifted George Galloway an open goal? |
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Azhar Ali might still win on Thursday, despite being disowned by Labour, because he will still be listed as the Labour candidate on the ballot paper; if not, Galloway, who was disowned by Labour longer ago, might win... Read more |
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Tomorrow inside the Westminster bubble |
Our political commentator Andrew Grice on what to look out for |
Kemi Badenoch's dispute with Henry Staunton, the sacked Post Office chair, over the Horizon scandal will be centre stage when Staunton will be among those quizzed by the business select committee from 10am, along with Mr (Alan) Bates, the former subpostmaster, and Nick Read, the current Post Office chief executive.
David Neal, another man sacked by the government, the former chief inspector of borders and immigration, may have something to say when he appears before the home affairs select committee at 2.15pm.
The Commons will sit at at 11.30am for questions on energy and net zero. The speaker has refused to grant a second Gaza debate to the Scottish National Party, but we can expect a ministerial statement on the subject. Later MPs will debate the Leasehold and Freehold Bill. At 10am the Institute for Fiscal Studies will outline Jereny Hunt's (limited) options in next week's Budget. James Cleverly, the home secretary, will make a speech in New York on illegal migration and the international treaties about it. |
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"One thing we did not do was just blow up the House of Lords, which I think we should have done. I know how awful it is because I've put people in there." |
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And finally... Keir Starmer is right-handed but left-footed, I discovered from Tom Baldwin's Keir Starmer: The Biography |
Quiz answer: They were all party leaders who had been the youngest member of the House of Commons |
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