On the back of our Freeports discussion on @RestIsPolitics q and a today, and in particular Gove sitting on the report into corruption allegations re the Houchen scheme on Teesside, several people suggested I follow @EuropeanPowell So I did. This seems like yet another big 1/4 political scandal from which most of the media turn away because it is too complicated and not good for their Tory friends. As with the Post Office @PrivateEyeNews honourable exception. This is about so much more than one scheme in the North East. It is all part of the 2/4.

Elliott’s “elevation” (sic) even to a House of Lords as discredited as this one is yet another triumph for the Sovereign Individual view of life in which the elites pretend to fight for the people and in so doing take ever more power wealth and influence for themselves. 1/4

https://twitter.com/lukeharding1968/status/1741029311505952969

That Truss was even allowed a registration honours list is a disgrace, and a sign of Sunak weakness. That No 10 defend it by saying “every PM” did so is a straightforward lie. Neither TB nor GB had a resignation honours list. It is a Tory thing, all part of creeping Tory 2/4

Oh dearie me -@piersmorgan seems to have forgotten about the several inquiries, including with evidence given on oath, which cleared me of lying or any other wrongdoing in relation to Iraq (an issue which was not, so far as I am aware, part of his never ending beef with Harry)1/4 I know his pal Donald thinks lashing out at judges is the way to behave when a court goes against you but I’m not persuaded it is a clever strategy. As I said this morning he and the other senior media figures would have done better to be far less defensive at Leveson 2/3

I suspect that if the media had engaged properly and honestly with the Leveson Inquiry, they would not be in quite the mess they are in right now. The papers will leap on those parts of the judgement that assist their agenda but the bottom line is that Prince Harry’s claims 1/4 of industrial hacking/other illegality in various parts of the press are borne out. And there will be a lot more to come with some very prominent figures who gave evidence to Leveson under oath likely to be feeling the heat right now. Several papers which have consistently 2/4

So the government has spent an extra £100m on the Rwanda gimmick and didn’t bother to tell Parliament or the public when the third Rwanda Home Secretary went off on his treaty signing day trip the other day. We are now on £240m - £80m per Home Secretary. And not a single 1/4 migrant has gone. We are paying the price of performative politics, populism which is all about exploiting a problem not addressing it. It was their decision to make this one of their five “priorities.”
For the public it is way behind cost of living, NHS, energy/environment 2/4

Not sure I can take much of Johnson back on the airwaves. There is nobody left but Dorries and a handful of client journalists who think he is anything but a fraud and a charlatan. But it is important the full truth of his mishandling of Covid is exposed, and that some kind of1/4 justice is possible for those who lost loved ones because of his total lack of seriousness. His current prebuttal strategy with the help of said client papers shows that as ever all he cares about is what they say about him not the reality of the impact of decisions he made 2/4

Populism is politics which seeks to exploit rather than solve problems, and to turn any issue, trivial or serious, into an exercise in polarisation. We now have a government that seems to be actively agitating for trouble on November 11. “Marches of hate” was Step 1. 1/4 Step 2 is hyping the coincidence of Nov 11 being a Saturday (Sunday is Remembrance Day) and of dangers of a protest taking place near the Cenotaph. Step 3 is playing a blame game between police, Mayor and govt. Step 4 will be getting the media to find a handful of extremists 2/4

Going for a swim this morning, talking to Jewish Londoners about events in Israel and Gaza, brought home how attacks as barbaric and dangerous as those launched by Hamas at the weekend have ramifications well beyond the places where they happened. That of course is part 1/4 of the purpose of terrorism and why they have rightly been so widely condemned. The solidarity being shown for 🇮🇱 must be matched by solidarity for Jews in 🇬🇧 Twitter is not a good place to have this debate as it is perfectly possible to feel and express absolute horror and2/4

Just listened to @bbcnickrobinson interview with Sunak. Even last night, at Budleigh Salterton book festival, I was saying Sunak is not as dishonest as Johnson nor as economically illiterate as Truss. A low bar I agree. However listening to his slippery gaslighting I wonder if1/4 in some ways he is worse. Everyone knew Johnson was a liar and Truss out of her depth. Sunak has the surface veneer to suggest he is different but in the interview he came close to the qualities of both of his predecessors. Can also report that one of the loudest rounds of 2/4

Like virtually everyone else, I know absolutely nothing about the events that have led to the statement by Huw Edwards’ wife. But I do know that he is a superb broadcaster. I know too that he has a long history of depression. He and I have spoken about it often, including in 1/4 an interview for @MensHealthUK shortly before the Queen’s death which he covered so brilliantly. Precisely because he is both well known and well liked he is the perfect target for those who would undermine and indeed would like to destroy the BBC. Nobody should
help them 2/4

Sunak claims he had a long standing private engagement that prevented him being in the Commons. It was a Monday. He is a Parliamentarian. Unless it involved the death or serious illness of someone very close to him, I’m sorry, there is literally no excuse. In failing to 1/4 back the report (which he has consistently failed to do, in word and deed) he reveals himself to be in some ways as bad as Johnson. He is saying it doesn’t matter if ministers lie to Parliament. Unforgivable. The question he has to answer now is this “if he had been able 2/4

Prince Harry makes a very good point re the damage done to trust in your own circle when stories appear and you have no idea where they come from. Some of the biggest fall-outs I had in No 10 arose from suspicions about who was briefing out confidential information 1/4 In several of the worst I now know that the information came not from internal sources but phone hacking or illegal blagging. Harry may not be able to prove that all of the stories referred to in court came from illegal activity. But that illegal activity was being conducted 2/4

Agreed re @vicderbyshire - apologised to her afterwards. She is one of the best. But it is infuriating to seek to debate serious issues with people who despite all the damage their beloved Brexit has done continue to talk absolute rubbish eg about how EU law was made or econ 1/2

https://twitter.com/markofbattersea/status/1656782780808810497

cost of the Leave campaign lies and false promises. In the green room the Reform rep was telling me and the Palestinian Ambassador Brexit had delivered higher living standards for the poor! Added to which whoever wrote the opening script completely
misrepresented what I said 2/4

Looking forward to delivering Julian Priestley Lecture tomoro. Urging Lab and Libs to be bolder, more confident in attacking Tories on Brexit, linking to cost of living crisis, and promising to fix worst parts of mess. Insisting there are votes to be won in proactive approach1/4 Calling on young people who feel their future is being stolen to fight to get it back. Condemning and calling for proper fight against populism, polarisation, post-truth. Debunking Sunak the ‘great technocrat’ who got the big Brexit call wrong. Exposing right’s attack on woke 2/4

Am genuinely baffled by the awful No 10 visuals and mood music from yesterday’s @POTUS visit to Belfast. Plane arrival looked shambolic, Sunak hidden behind a car. Photocall of stilted meeting looked like they had found nearest Costa Cafe and stuck in a couple of pot plants. 1/4 Not a flag in sight when normally Tories aren’t allowed out without Union flag. Sunak looked more interested in his tea than in Biden. Vice versa. Sunak pooled clip afterwards was lame. The photos released by No 10 were so bang average they would have been better without them 2/4

Every word @patmcfaddenmp - here is the attack line to follow. If Labour get the dividing lines set and the policies to deliver progress on all these fronts, it should be possible not just to win but win big. But it was interesting and a little worrying for Labour that at 1/4

https://twitter.com/patmcfaddenmp/status/1638257479099248652

our live @RestIsPolitics show at the Palladium last night when I did a show of hands on @Keir_Starmer three stage strategy - 1. Decontaminate the brand post Corbyn. 2. Show Tories unfit to govern. 3. Show why Labour is a real and compelling alternative- there was massive 2/

Not convinced that deciding for a committee what it’s going to decide, when virtually everyone in the country has decided he broke the laws he made and lied about it, is a very smart move. But then again he is not that smart just privileged which is why it is fitting that the 1/4

https://twitter.com/kevinaschofield/status/1637477999443423234

privileges committee should be part of his last chapter. As ever he is showing all he cares about is day to day news management and manipulation and in his addled narcissistic brain he will think today has been a success because the client journalists have lined up to blah 2/4

Listening to @BBCNews - so far not a peep on the junior doctors’ strike. Broken Britain is now so normalised I guess. And what little coverage I have seen is focused entirely on pay when in truth they are also drawing attention to how hard it is to give safe basic health care 1/4 Will Hunt even address this in the Budget? This strike should be seen as a giant whistle-blowing exercise about a system the Tories have broken. Recruitment and retention. Impact of Brexit on both. Social care. Moral injury. How can we have gone from NHS staff being all over 2/4

Well done @garylineker for showing that if you believe in professionalism, accountability and integrity with values to match you can prevail even in these populist polarised days of creeping right wing authoritarianism. And well done Tim Davie for admitting they got it wrong 1/4 The lessons in this for the BBC are clear. Do not pander to extremism, challenge it. And stop thinking that right wing rags like the Mail and the Express represent public opinion. The lessons for the Tories are clear too. You might think addiction to populist polarising 2/4

A few rules on crisis management. Hope this helps @BBCNews 1. What is a crisis? An event which threatens to overwhelm unless correct decisions taken. 2. So this is a crisis. Which means proper crisis management. 3. Work out where it will end to the benefit of the organisation 1/4 and get there first. 4. Base decisions on principles on which arguments can be won. Which means 5. Sharp and Gibb leave the building. 6. Lineker etc are invited to return. 7. Social media guidelines reviewed by an independent outsider. 8. BBC proposes to govt that future 2/4

So sad to hear about Betty Boothroyd. She was a total one off. One of the kindest, wisest, most loving and loveable women you could ever wish to know. I loved her when I was a journalist and I loved her when I was on the other side of the fence because she was such a support 1/4 in good times and bad. I last spoke to her a couple of weeks ago when she called me after hearing a debate I did on Brexit with Jacob Rees-Mogg and Claire Fox. So though I don’t know what her actual final words were I do know that the last thing she said to me was that Brexit 2/4