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Paul Waugh

10 May, 7 tweets, 3 min read

@Keir_Starmer

.@Keir_Starmer told his new shadow cabinet this am that @AngelaRayner "has a big, new role, taking the fight to the Tories, more public facing"
Added "Thursday mornings will be box office" with Thangham Debonnaire taking on Jacob Rees-Mogg.

On Hartlepool and wider losses, Starmer said: "To be clear, I take responsibility. nobody else. I lead the Labour party and it is entirely on me."

@AnasSarwar

Starmer heaped praise on Welsh Labour: 'the number of people on the doorsteps or on the street who acknowledge what Mark Drakeford and Welsh labour do is remarkable'
Added @AnasSarwar "ran great, focused campaign" and played "impt role preventing SNP majority".

@JoStevensLabour

Starmer talked of his pride at Tracy Brabin being the first female metro mayor and went on to praise each metro mayor individually.
There was a big round of applause for Jim McMahon (who oversaw Hartlepool by-election), who steps down from NEC along with @JoStevensLabour.

Starmer: no escaping Hartlepool + elsewhere - "the size of the loss tells us something profound about the size of the journey we have to go on"
Said he wd spend summer "not having rallies of the faithful but speaking to people who don't vote for us". Party needed "mindset" change

@AngelaRayner

.@AngelaRayner now addressing shadow cabinet: in Hartlepool, the people who had anti-immigrant sentiments went to the Tories. "We need to deal with that."
Adds that while the PM got vaccine bounce, so did Welsh Labour.

@RachelReevesMP

Says she is going to continue work @RachelReevesMP did on "taking the fight to the Tories" on PPE contracts/cronyism. "They are embarrassing our democracy worldwide."
Plus: "As a shadow cabinet team we have to take the vision Keir set out forward."

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Paul Waugh

@paulwaugh

12 May

@BorisJohnson

BREAKING "The state has an obligation to examine its actions as rigorously as possible."
@BorisJohnson confirms there will be a full statutory inquiry into Covid.

"I can confirm today that the government will establish an independent public inquiry on a statutory basis with all powers under the Inquiries Act of 2005, including the ability to compel the production of all relevant material".

PM confirms the inquiry will start "in spring 2022".

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Paul Waugh

@paulwaugh

11 May

@BorisJohnson

Story alert: @BorisJohnson says he will establish Covid inquiry "within this session" of parliament.
First time he's put a timing on it.

@EdwardJDavey

A session is undefined but the convention is it runs for about a year.
So his answer to @EdwardJDavey feels like the PM's first commitment to set one up before May 2022.

@REWearmouth

Story by @REWearmouth
huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/boris-co…

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Paul Waugh

@paulwaugh

9 May

What's always been striking in #indyref2 debate is just how much pro-independence voices *sound* like Brexiteers: national self-determination is ultimately the priority.

Most Brexiteers + pro-indy supporters both vehemently hate the comparison - but do some concede it is valid?

This isn't a comment on the merits of Brexit or Scottish independence. Just that despite the obvious cultural/political differences between the SNP + Tories, they share a central philosophy: self-determination.

And yes, one clear motivator for Scots independence is as a route to regaining EU membership and therefore *sharing* national sovereignty, ie a complex/subtle sense of nationhood. The counter case is you can pool sovereignty within the UK via devolution not independence.

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Paul Waugh

@paulwaugh

8 May

@AngelaRayner

One thing about the @AngelaRayner 'sacking': tensions between her and @Keir_Starmer have until now been under the radar and conducted by proxies for both sides.

Will be interesting to see what both say publicly in coming hours. And whether it's plausible.

Gaya Sriskanthan, Momentum co-chair, responds to the news that Angela Rayner is to be sacked as party chair:

"Angela Rayner's sacking is blatant scapegoating."

One ex-Corbyn era Labour staffer: "This Angela decision is probably one of the stupidest political decisions a leaders office has made in a very long time. And that includes putting Richard Burgon on the front bench."

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