I report on politics for @BBCNews | Author of Project Fear - Books of The Year, The Guardian & The Independent | Story? DM or joe.pike@bbc.co.uk
Aug 30, 2024 • 8 tweets • 3 min read
EXCL: 'Ants are everywhere'
A Labour MP rents out flats with black mould and ant infestations, the BBC has discovered.
My @BBCPolitics story: bbc.co.uk/news/articles/…
NEW: Jas Athwal admits his flats don’t have the correct licences required under scheme he introduced as Redbridge Council leader.
He’d previously claimed he was compliant.
A complete change of tone too:
-“I am shocked”
-“I am profoundly sorry”
-“Repairs… will be done swiftly”
Aug 15, 2023 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
EXCL: Captain Sir Tom Moore’s daughter received thousands of pounds via a family company for charity appearances.
My @BBCNewsnight story:
bbc.in/3OUmXEz
In 2021-22 Hannah Ingram-Moore helped judge the 'Virgin Media O2 Captain Tom Foundation Connector Awards'.
-The name of the awards included the name of the charity (The Captain Tom Foundation)
-The charity’s logo appeared on the plaques
-Hannah Ingram-Moore gave every appearance that she was representing the charity
-At the time she was its interim CEO on an £85,000 salary
Yet her appearance fee was paid not to the charity but to Maytrix Group, a company owned by Hannah Ingram-Moore and her husband Colin.
Mar 2, 2023 • 7 tweets • 4 min read
EXCL: Sue Gray has been appointed chief of staff to Labour leader Keir Starmer.
As a senior civil servant, the job offer will be subject to ACOBA process before formal confirmation.
Major coup for the Labour leader and part of an effort to prove the party is preparing for govt.
Conservative MPs seem largely furious:
Boris Johnson & Liz Truss are now heading to Balmoral to meet the Queen.
Lord Salisbury likened the castle to Siberia.
Tony Blair said his weekends there were "a vivid combination of the intriguing, the surreal and the utterly freaky".
🧵A thread on PMs visiting Royal Deeside:
PM visits to the private castle date back to Queen Victoria's reign.
They typically take place over a weekend in early September.
The estate was bought by Prince Albert for his wife in 1852, and features monuments to Victoria's consort, children and her close friend John Brown.
Sep 4, 2022 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Meeting a Queen, making a speech, appointing a cabinet and writing top secret letters to nuclear submarine commanders.
My guide to the PM’s first weeks in office with @LouisDegenhardt & @AgnesChambre:
BREAK: Liz Truss elected new Conservative leader. She will be appointed PM tomorrow.
Total voters: 172,437
Sunak - 60,399
Truss - 81,326
Sep 4, 2022 • 7 tweets • 3 min read
.@NicolaSturgeon tells @SophyRidgeSky the SNP "can be better" and has "lessons to learn" on sexual harassment after Patrick Grady case.
Nods to Salmond as proof she doesn't sweep allegations under the carpet.
#Ridge
David Davis says broad top team is necessary for Tory unity:
"Greatest mistake BJ made... was creating a cabinet of loyalists. It wasn't a meritocratic cabinet."
BREAKING: Tory MP Imran Ahmad Khan, 48, has been found guilty at Southwark Crown Court of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy at a house in Staffordshire in 2008.
By-election now expected in Wakefield, a marginal ‘red wall’ seat.
Tories won it from Labour’s @MaryCreagh_ in 2019 with a majority of 3,358.
Jan 18, 2022 • 36 tweets • 11 min read
NEW: PM on Dominic Cummings accusing him of lying:
-'No' I haven't lied.
-'I can tell you categorically that nobody told me... this was against the COVID rules'.
-'When I went out into that garden I thought that I was attending a work event'.
PM:
‘I'm deeply sorry for the mistakes I have made.'
-'I only saw [Reynolds email] the other day.'
-'I can't believe that we'd have gone ahead with an event' if warned. 'I'd remember that.'
-Will you resign if you've misled parliament? 'We'll have to see what [Sue Gray] says'.
Jun 26, 2021 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
BREAKING: Matt Hancock resigns.
PM’s response to Matt Hancock’s resignation.
May 5, 2021 • 9 tweets • 4 min read
NEW: Hearing there is a COVID scare amongst India’s G7 delegates. Foreign Office keeping tight-lipped about who or where.
India not a member of G7 but they are attending and there is Indian delegation in London.
Nadhim Zahawi told @skynews this morning it was ‘news to me’.
Senior government sources not denying there have been 2 positive cases amongst Indian delegation.
Questions for organisers about COVID safety precautions at event. Especially ahead of main G7 summit in Cornwall this June.
Mar 26, 2021 • 12 tweets • 6 min read
BREAK: @AlexSalmond launches a new political party @AlbaParty.
Alba will stand candidates on the regional lists only. A minimum of 4 candidates on each list.
The aim is to create a 'supermajority' for Scottish Independence. But clearly could affect the dominance of the SNP.
Mar 1, 2021 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
NEW: PM pool interview in Stoke:
-Brazilian variant: 'We have one of tough border regimes' in world.
-'No reason not to think vaccines effective'.
-PHE don't think there is threat to the wider public.
-'I don't think' too slow on hotel quarantine. Did it 'as fast as we could'.
More from PM pool:
-Testing is key for schools getting back. 50m testing kits available.
-Getting all schools open is priority and 'confident' we will be ready for March 8th.
-Checks will be strengthened at border and in isolation.
-Suspension of travel corridors is 'precautionary measure'.
-Avoids Q on whether hotels will be used for people isolating on arrival.
Raab on quarantine hotels: we've 'considered all the possibilities'.
'People shouldn't be going on holiday. That is not appropriate.'
-Parents should ‘absolutely’ send kids to primary schools tomorrow, in the areas that they are open.
-‘Schools are safe’. The risk to kids and staff is ‘small’.
#Marr
PM avoids question of whether he will consider govt legal action against councils who close schools.
‘I don’t think that’s the case’ that local authorities have taken things into their own hands.
BREAK: Serious warning from scientists in new dump of SAGE docs.
From 14 Oct:
-In England, infection & hospital admission levels breaching Reasonable Worst Case planning scenario.
-Daily deaths now at Reasonable Worst Case levels & 'highly likely' to exceed them within 2 weeks
More from SAGE:
-Evidence that individuals haven't changed behaviour and are meeting same number of contacts as in past 2 months.
-US studies suggest restaurants and bars are particularly risky environments.
-Current outlook is 'concerning', if no 'decisive interventions'.
/2
Oct 30, 2020 • 11 tweets • 5 min read
This seems significant.
‘I cannot agree with [Jeremy Corbyn’s] statement following the publication of the EHRC report’.
Clear split in opinion in the Socialist Campaign Group of MPs:
-Decision to suspend Jeremy Corbyn was ‘wrong’ and ‘unjust’.
-‘We’ve been knocked off the rails’ by his suspension.
-Hope we can resolve this and move on.
-Message to members: ‘stay in the party’.
“In light of his comments made today and his failure to retract them subsequently, the Labour Party has suspended Jeremy Corbyn pending investigation. He has also had the whip removed from the Parliamentary Labour Party.”
NEW: I understand @JeremyCorbyn’s reaction to being suspended from Labour was complete shock: ‘What?!’
-Supports fines for people breaking self-isolation rules.
-COVID testing 'is barely serviceable' and 'a major problem'.
-Reporting neighbours to police 'depends on the circumstances'.
-Govt has 'lost control of testing' so unsure where the virus is.
-PM should apologise.
-PM should restart daily briefings.
-Children should be prioritised for tests.
