BREAKING: Natalie Elphicke has defected to Labour. She is sitting behind Keir Starmer at PMQs
Elphicke says: “From small boats to biosecurity, Rishi Sunak’s government is failing to keep our borders safe and secure. Lives are being lost in the English Channel while small boat arrivals are once again at record levels. It’s clear they have failed to keep our borders secure and cannot be trusted.”
How well or badly do you think Liz Truss is doing in her role as prime minister so far?
Well: 15
Badly: 65
Jul 19, 2022 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
Pro-Starmer Labour sources bullish about the Forde report, which they say "completely debunks the conspiracy theory that the 2017 general election was somehow deliberately sabotaged by Labour Party staff opposed to Corbyn's leadership."
Full report to be published this afternoon
Forde writes that the leaked report he was investigating was "itself a factional document with an agenda to advance, and that the quoted messages were selected pursuant to that agenda"
He says that "in a few cases, comments were presented in a misleading way"
Jul 19, 2022 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
NEW: Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood has been stripped of the whip by Boris Johnson for failing to support the government in last night’s confidence vote
Ellwood seems to have been abroad. A Conservative source said that he was told last Wednesday he would have to cancel the trip. They said Ellwood was “reminded of the consequences well in advance of the vote”
Dec 14, 2021 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
Government wins vote on masks: 441 - 41
Covid certification passes by 369 - 126
Seems like a much bigger rebellion than on masks
Dec 8, 2021 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
EXCL: PM facing more questions tonight as The Times reveals Tory aides threw a raucous Christmas party and Downing Street staff took part in a Christmas quiz
On December 14, with household mixing banned, about 25 Tories held a party in the basement of CCHQ organised by Shaun Bailey's campaign team (he was present). People danced and drank, and it got so out of hand that some revellers damaged a door
Nov 9, 2021 • 8 tweets • 3 min read
EXCL: Sir Geoffrey Cox is tonight being referred to the standards commissioner by Labour after he appeared to use his Commons office to represent the British Virgin Islands in a corruption case against the UK government
Full story in @thetimes on Wednesday
It emerged yesterday Cox had voted by proxy while working in the BVI. But footage from September 14 appears to show him joining a hearing remotely from Portcullis House. This could be a breach of the rules around the use of Commons facilities - which Owen Paterson also broke
Jun 21, 2021 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
EXCL: Tens of thousands of Europeans will have their benefits suddenly cut off next week because they haven't applied for settled status. Ministers were told early this month that 130,000 of the 820,000 European benefit claimants have still not applied
thetimes.co.uk/article/130-00…
A government source says that since then the number has fallen to about 70,000. But the number is still far higher than even EU citizen campaign groups thought - and the deadline to get an application in is next Wednesday
Nov 25, 2019 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
EXCLUSIVE Ephraim Mirvis, The chief rabbi, has warned that Jeremy Corbyn’s handling of antisemitism allegations makes him “unfit for high office”. Writing only in tomorrow’s Times he the “very soul of our nation is at stake” in next month’s general election
EXCLUSIVE: Here is Rabbi Mirvis’s unprecedented intervention in the election campaign thetimes.co.uk/article/ephrai…
Apr 1, 2019 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
I want to stay in the Common Market
I want to do whatever Europeans do
I want to be in the Common Market
I want to be in the Common Market
Number 2
Well what else could Nick do?
He said: "I'll see what I can do."
He came from Wales had a thirst for Brexit
Said he didn't want a referendum
That's where Nick
Caught his eye
Steve told Nick that his Dad's Neil Kinnock
Nick said "In that case I'll have a CFP opt-out"
Steve said "Fine"
And then in thirty seconds time he said:
Feb 25, 2019 • 12 tweets • 2 min read
EXCLUSIVE: Government planning a "hardship fund" for no-deal Brexit
Here are only some of the "actions arising" from a meeting of the cabinet's no-deal preparedness committee earlier this month. Just direct quotes from the document circulated afterwards.
thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/n…
LOCAL RESILIENCE FORUMS, via the MINISTRY OF HOUSING, COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT to report on potential impacts, including any communities known to be geographically vulnerable to disruptions to food supplies.
Dec 7, 2018 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
EXCLUSIVE: Ministers will have the power to overrule doctors’ prescriptions in case medicines run out after Brexit. Urgent government consultation launched on Tuesday, leaked to The Times
thetimes.co.uk/article/ab72c6…
Under the plans, ministers could tell pharmacies to give patients:
- a reduced quantity
- an alternative dosage
- a therapeutic equivalent
- a generic equivalent
How does the govt intend to take the power to do this? Remember Henry VIII powers from 2017? Yep. Using those.
Jul 31, 2018 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
EXCLUSIVE: Jeremy Corbyn hosted an event in parliament comparing the Israeli govt to the Nazis - on Holocaust Memorial Day. The 2010 event was part of a national tour called: "Never again for anyone - Auschwitz to Gaza" thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/j…
Corbyn booked the room and delivered the opening speech. The main talk was given by Hajo Meyer, an Auschwitz survivor who believed Israel was like the Nazis. Quotes include: “Judaism in Israel has been substituted by the Holocaust religion whose high priest is Elie Wiesel"
