we are celebrating the fifth birthday of @tradegovuk next Tuesday
first we are discussing how you go about creating a new department and new capacity from scratch - with @JohnAlty1@Lorand_Bartels@SamuelMarcLowe - and me ... join us at 11.30
then we are discussing Parliament's role - or lack of it - in scrutinising trade policy with @hhesterm@AlexanderHorne1 Mark Garnier from Trade Select Cttee and Jill Barrett
watching Policy Exchange event on Northern Ireland with Brandon Lewis and David Frost .. terrible broadcast quality - not sure hybrid events are the way forward.. anyway will tweet
Lewis starting by talking up what is going on in NI .. (without any mention of the protocol opportunities). Continuing to work on New Decade New Approach which brought Stormont back...
committed to legislate a package on legacy to help NI move forward.. determined to work across the board in NI on how to move forward..
yesterday we looked at the referendum day experiences of Hilary Benn, Joanna Cherry and Claire Fox @UKandEU#Brexitwitnessarchive -- so today let's look further...
Philip Hammond was Foreign Secretary .. a eurosceptic Remainer.. he told us what happened to the Cabinet the day after
Intriguing choice of muzak while waiting for Michael Gove to unveil lessons form the pandemic.... may feel obliged to live tweet... (there was applause at one stage...) can you really be this late for an online speech? Maybe Lindsay Hoyle has summoned him?
v interesting that this is being hosted by Smarter Govt Commission (but smart does not extend to being on time..). Nick Herbert refers to bold Ditchley speech last year (I thought it was a bit of a non-event..) . Yippee Q and A...
Gove - opening - this is one of those times when need for reform more evident.. made strengths and weaknesses made more vivid... Lots of wartime parallels here (Johnson as Attlee??? new one that)
Some thoughts on the Cameron/Greensill/Crothers affair.. we have focussed a lot on ministers and civil servants. The rules clearly need tightening up - but at least there is a semblance of rules - but there is a grey area.
One of the Maude/Crothers reforms of the Cabinet Office was to bring in a lot of business expertise.. give them desks in govt -- and a role advising on managing contracts with strategic suppliers
First haircut since September.. no holidays to talk about so we talked about #brexit and #covid.
On #brexit apparently hairdressers - or mine at least - gets all his supplies from the EU. just restocked to reopen. prices have doubled since he last ordered.. puts it down to #brexit.. even if these are teething costs -- will they go back down?
frustration that the local council @RBKC slow and bureaucratic in processing loans.. systems not talking to each other. big burdens on small business of reapplying even where they know businesses have been shut. Money coming after needed.