Director of think tank Civil Exchange, media commentator, former Private Secretary to two PMs, author of first feminist book on Thatcher, People Like Us.
Jul 1 • 13 tweets • 3 min read
Labour’s winning but where’s the money? Thatcher said 'The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money’ and her small state/low tax view still dominates, so much so Reeves promises to be an ‘Iron Chancellor’ But is it time for a change? 🧵
2/ I was in the Treasury working for Brown when Labour was last in power, and I’ve since spent over a decade thinking about how to improve public services and talking to people doing so. Here’s a thread stepping back in time, then reflecting on the lessons for Labour today
Mar 2 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
Buried in Sunak’s attempt to unite us against Islamists and the far right is, I fear, an attempt to broaden the definition of extremism to those who ‘say Britain is a racist country’ or that ‘Britain has been on the wrong side of history’ and who undermine ‘our civic life’🧵
My worry is Sunak’s talking about what Tories like Truss, Braverman or Gove call ‘cultural Marxism’ or ‘identity politics’, demonising people who promote equality, diversity and inclusion or seek to revisit our colonial history to highlight injustices or links to slavery.
Apr 12, 2022 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
One argument we'll hear re #partygate: you can't lose a PM during Ukraine war. But Mrs T was ousted by her MPs shortly after the Iraq invasion of Kuwait and during the Gulf War, in which our troops were deployed (unlike Ukraine). 1/4
It will be said you can't have a gap during a leadership contest but Johnson was out of action with Covid during our greatest peacetime crisis and, frankly, government carried on without missing him under Dept PM Raab. I 2/4
Jan 13, 2022 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Sue Gray is not investigating @Keir_Starmer's new accusation that @BorisJohnson broke the Ministerial Code by lying to Parliament about parties, a resigning matter. Clear job for his adviser on Ministerial Standards, Lord Geidt, has no power to initiate investigations.
Gray's report will have to reproduce the PM's defence and - like Lord Geidt recently over #wallpapergate and the "Missing Exchange" with Brownlow - have to take his his word. As with Geidt's report, I predict the government will leak headlines in advance with a positive spin.
