Kemi Badenoch Has Repeated A Conspiracy Theory About Adolescence Denied By Its Creator

Posted on 01/04/2025 by Boris Clair

Kemi Badenoch has repeated a conspiracy theory about Adolescence which has been denied by one of the programme’s creators.

The Tory leader told GB News that the Netflix drama is “based on a real story, but my understanding is that the boy who committed that crime was not white”.

In the show, a white boy is arrested after a young girl is stabbed to death.

Posting on X, the right-wing commentator Ian Miles Cheong told his 1.2 million followers: “Netflix has a show called Adolescence that’s about a British knife killer who stabbed a girl to death on a bus and it’s based on real life cases such as the Southport murderer.

“So guess what. They race swapped the actual killer from a black man/migrant to a white boy and the story has it so he was radicalized online by the red pill movement.

“Just the absolute state of anti-white propaganda.”

X owner Elon Musk replied the post saying: “Wow.”

He told the News Agents podcast: “They’ve claimed that Stephen and I based it on a story, and another story, so we race-swapped because we were basing it on here and it ended up there, and everything else. Nothing is further from the truth.

“I have told a lot of real life stories in my time, and I know the harm that can come when you take elements of a real life story and put it on screen and the people aren’t expecting it. There is no part of this that’s based on a true story, not one single part.”

He added: “We’re not making a point about race with this. We are making a point about masculinity. We’re trying to get inside a problem. We’re not saying this is one thing or another. We’re saying this is about boys.”

Stephen Graham told the Radio Times that his inspiration for Adolescence came from a series of different killings he had read about.

He said: “Where it came from, for me is there was an incident in Liverpool, a young girl, and she was stabbed to death by a young boy. I just thought, why?

“Then there was another young girl in south London who was stabbed to death at a bus stop. And there was this thing up north, where that young girl Brianna Ghey was lured into the park by two teenagers, and they stabbed her. I just thought, what’s going on? What is this that’s happening?”

Sky News Presenter Makes Painfully Obvious Point As Tories Slam Labour’s Defence Budget

Posted on 17/02/2025 by Boris Clair

Sky News presenter Wilfred Frost called out a Tory MP for criticising the government’s defence spending today.

Keir Starmer is facing additional pressure on national security as Donald Trump is pushing to secure a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.

The UK has already said it would send peacekeeping troops to protect Ukraine if an agreement was reached – but that declaration has only exacerbated existing concerns over the lack of investment in defence.

Labour has also promised to hike defence spending from its current rate of 2.3% of GDP to 2.5% although it is yet to offer a clear timeline.

But, when shadow national security minister Alicia Kearns slammed the prime minister for not increasing investment in the sector sooner this morning on Sky News, she received a bleak reminder.

The MP began by claiming Starmer’s “priority today should be to talk about defence spending” – something she said should have in place “since July”.

But presenter Frost quickly hit back: “I mean, you’re trying to criticise the state of defence spending, [seven] months into their government when this is a long-term issue after 14 years in power.”

After almost a decade and a half of Conservative government, defence spending in real terms fell to £53.9bn during their last full year in power, 2023-24.

That’s less than the last full year Labour was last in power, 2009-10, when defence spending was at £57.1bn.

But Kearns hit back: “I’ve always been very clear. I was critical of my own government, but the reality is 2.3% of defence is what we’ve been spending, that is a good amount, and we’ve been investing in the right equipment.”

She added: “But what I’m saying is, since July, a decision was made to side with the Treasury to not give the increase in defence spending we need to continue to replenish stocks, replenishing stocks should be the priority.”

She said that was necessary in case the UK needed to provide peacekeepers to Ukraine.

“I will continue to stand with Ukraine, but I will continue to speak out as I have done from the moment I was elected, to make sure we defend our security,” Kearns said.

The Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch also criticised Labour’s defence spending today.

Speaking at the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship conference, she said: “Failing to spend more on defence isn’t peace-making, it is weakness, and it only emboldens their threats to democracy and global stability.”

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Here’s Alicia Kearns(Tory MP) complaining that the govt haven’t increased defence spending since July.

Wilfred Frost: You’re trying to criticise the state of defence spending, 6 months into their govt, when this is a long-term issue after 14 years in power? pic.twitter.com/o5FJTXsW4u

— Haggis_UK (@Haggis_UK) February 17, 2025

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Here’s Alicia Kearns(Tory MP) complaining that the govt haven’t increased defence spending since July.

Wilfred Frost: You’re trying to criticise the state of defence spending, 6 months into their govt, when this is a long-term issue after 14 years in power? pic.twitter.com/o5FJTXsW4u

— Haggis_UK (@Haggis_UK) February 17, 2025

Kearns also said we “all have to worry” Trump will let Ukraine down.

Speaking to Times Radio, she said: “I think we all have to worry because the world has let down Ukraine consistently throughout its history. I mean, whether it was Yalta, whether it’s the last of years, whether it’s when Georgia was invaded.

“I was in Ukraine ten days before the renewed illegal invasion almost three years ago. And I sat there as German and French ambassadors told me that our intelligence assessments were absolutely wrong and that Putin wasn’t going to invade.

“We always seem to take Putin at his word and we always underestimate Ukrainians. I don’t understand how we keep repeating the same mistakes.”

Exclusive: How One Labour Minister Is ‘Smashing’ Tory Attempts To Revive The Culture Wars

Posted on 20/01/2025 by Boris Clair

A Labour minister is waging a one-woman battle against Tory MPs’ obsession with culture war issues.

Diana Johnson has slapped down queries on gender neutral toilets, flags, decolonisation of artworks and diversity advisers.

HuffPost UK revealed last week how former Conservative chairman Richard Holden called for the removal of gender neutral toilets his own government installed.

Johnson told him: “The current number and location of gender neutral toilets in the Home Office’s Marsham office was established under the previous government in October 2017, at a cost of £36,963.20, and has remained unchanged since that time.”

It has now emerged that Johnson has also batted away several questions from Nick Timothy, the Tory MP for West Suffolk, on a similar theme.

In a written question Last October, he asked the home secretary “whether she plans to decolonise the artwork and heritage assets in her department; and what guidance she issues to her department’s arm’s length bodies on decolonisation.”

Replying for the government, Johnson told him: “Our immediate priorities remain the protection of national security, the restoration of neighbourhood policing, tackling the smuggling gangs responsible for small boat crossings and clearing up the chaos left by the previous government.”

In December, Timothy asked if the Home Office “will take steps to remove diversity and inclusion advisers and champion positions”.

Johnson told him those posts “were established under the previous government” and the reasons for having them “remain relevant today”.

Earlier this month, Timothy wanted to know which flags the home secretary planned to fly outside the Home Office “other than the Union flag in the next 12 months and on which days each flag will be flown”.

Johnson replied: “Current Home Office ministers have not been consulted on this issue since coming to office, but prompted by [Timothy’s] question, we have advised that there should be no change from the arrangements in place under the previous government, whatever they may have been.”

A Labour source said: “The Tories keep serving them up, and Diana Johnson keeps smashing them away. But there’s a serious point here. The only people in Westminster who care about any of this culture war stuff are the Tories.

“They’re the ones constantly obsessing about flags, toilets and artworks, while ministers in this government could not care less.

“Speak to any minister right now, and all they’re focused on is how they’re going to deliver their mission targets, what they can do to support growth, and where the money’s coming from.

“The idea they’ve got the time or headspace to think about what flags should be flying outside their department is a joke, and it’s no wonder the Tories left things in such a mess if that’s how they were spending every day.”

Blow For Keir Starmer As Labour Tie With Reform And Tories Take Narrow Lead In Latest Poll

Posted on 15/01/2025 by Boris Clair

Labour are on par with Reform while the Conservatives are just one point ahead in a damning new poll on the UK’s voting intentions.

The Tories are ahead on 25% while Labour and Reform are on 24%, according to research from More in Common and published by Politico.

The Liberal Democrats trail behind all three on 12% – despite having 72 MPs to Reform’s 5 – while the Greens are on 8% and the SNP on 3%.

More in Common also found prime minister Keir Starmer’s personal net approval rating dropped to -39, which is the lowest the pollsters have ever recorded for him.

It’s even approaching his predecessor Rishi Sunak’s low point of -41 in July 2024, which was when the former PM lost the general election.

But Tory leader Kemi Badenoch and Reform leader Nigel Farage have also seen a decline in their net approval ratings in recent months – Badenoch is on -18 and Farage -17.

More in Common asked the public who they would prefer as their prime minister – and the results did not exactly correspond with the voting intentions.

Starmer was in the lead with 21%, while Farage followed with 20% and Badenoch came in last with 12% – while a whopping 47% said they wanted none of the three main party leaders to sit in No.10.

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Our latest @Moreincommon_ voting intention in today’s Playbook finds a virtual 3 way tie with 1 point separating the Tories, Reform and Labour.
Con 25% (-1)
Lab 24% (-2)
Ref UK 24% (+2)
Lib Dem 12% (-)
Green 8% (+1)
SNP 3% (-)
N= 2102, 10-13/1 Change w 8/1 pic.twitter.com/axOsQVyhP1

— Luke Tryl (@LukeTryl) January 15, 2025

","type":"rich","meta":{"author":"Luke Tryl","author_url":"https://twitter.com/LukeTryl","cache_age":86400,"description":"Our latest @Moreincommon_ voting intention in today’s Playbook finds a virtual 3 way tie with 1 point separating the Tories, Reform and Labour. Con 25% (-1) Lab 24% (-2) Ref UK 24% (+2) Lib Dem 12% (-) Green 8% (+1) SNP 3% (-)N= 2102, 10-13/1 Change w 8/1 pic.twitter.com/axOsQVyhP1— Luke Tryl (@LukeTryl) January 15, 2025\n\n\n","options":{"_hide_media":{"label":"Hide photos, videos, and cards","value":false},"_maxwidth":{"label":"Adjust width","placeholder":"220-550, in px","value":""},"_theme":{"value":"","values":{"dark":"Use dark theme"}}},"provider_name":"Twitter","thumbnail_height":790,"thumbnail_url":"https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GhUVS1pWkAA8_uw.jpg:large","thumbnail_width":1194,"title":"Luke Tryl on Twitter / X","type":"rich","url":"https://twitter.com/LukeTryl/status/1879433868882895274","version":"1.0"},"flags":[],"enhancements":{},"fullBleed":false,"options":{"theme":"news","device":"desktop","editionInfo":{"id":"uk","name":"U.K.","link":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk","locale":"en_GB"},"originalEdition":"uk","isMapi":false,"isAmp":false,"isVideoEntry":false,"isEntry":true,"isMt":false,"entryId":"678778dce4b009ff2590bc4a","entryPermalink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/labour-tie-with-reform-and-tories-take-narrow-lead-in-poll_uk_678778dce4b009ff2590bc4a","entryTagsList":"conservative-party,labour,reform","sectionSlug":"politics","deptSlug":null,"sectionRedirectUrl":null,"subcategories":"","isWide":false,"headerOverride":null,"noVideoAds":false,"disableFloat":false,"isNative":false,"commercialVideo":{"provider":"custom","site_and_category":"uk.politics","package":null},"isHighline":false,"vidibleConfigValues":{"cid":"60afc140cf94592c45d7390c","disabledWithMapiEntries":false,"overrides":{"all":"60b8e525cdd90620331baaf4"},"whitelisted":["56c5f12ee4b03a39c93c9439","56c6056ee4b01f2b7e1b5f35","59bfee7f9e451049f87f550b","5acccbaac269d609ef44c529","570278d2e4b070ff77b98217","57027b4be4b070ff77b98d5c","56fe95c4e4b0041c4242016b","570279cfe4b06d08e3629954","5ba9e8821c2e65639162ccf1","5bcd9904821576674bc55ced","5d076ca127f25f504327c72e","5b35266b158f855373e28256","5ebac2e8abddfb04f877dff2","60b8e525cdd90620331baaf4","60b64354b171b7444beaff4d","60d0d8e09340d7032ad0fb1a","60d0d90f9340d7032ad0fbeb","60d0d9949340d7032ad0fed3","60d0d9f99340d7032ad10113","60d0daa69340d7032ad104cf","60d0de02b627221e9d819408"],"playlists":{"default":"57bc306888d2ff1a7f6b5579","news":"56c6dbcee4b04edee8beb49c","politics":"56c6dbcee4b04edee8beb49c","entertainment":"56c6e7f2e4b0983aa64c60fc","tech":"56c6f70ae4b043c5bdcaebf9","parents":"56cc65c2e4b0239099455b42","lifestyle":"56cc66a9e4b01f81ef94e98c"},"playerUpdates":{"56c6056ee4b01f2b7e1b5f35":"60b8e525cdd90620331baaf4","56c5f12ee4b03a39c93c9439":"60d0d8e09340d7032ad0fb1a","59bfee7f9e451049f87f550b":"60d0d90f9340d7032ad0fbeb","5acccbaac269d609ef44c529":"60d0d9949340d7032ad0fed3","5bcd9904821576674bc55ced":"60d0d9f99340d7032ad10113","5d076ca127f25f504327c72e":"60d0daa69340d7032ad104cf","5ebac2e8abddfb04f877dff2":"60d0de02b627221e9d819408"}},"connatixConfigValues":{"defaultPlayer":"8b034f64-513c-4987-b16f-42d6008f7feb","clickToPlayPlayer":"5a777b9b-81fe-41a6-8302-59e9953ee8a2","videoPagePlayer":"19654b65-409c-4b38-90db-80cbdea02cf4"},"topConnatixThumnbailSrc":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABCAQAAAC1HAwCAAAAC0lEQVR42mNkYAAAAAYAAjCB0C8AAAAASUVORK5CYII=","customAmpComponents":[],"ampAssetsUrl":"https://amp.assets.huffpost.com","videoTraits":null,"positionInUnitCounts":{"buzz_head":{"count":0},"buzz_body":{"count":0},"buzz_bottom":{"count":0}},"positionInSubUnitCounts":{"article_body":{"count":15},"blog_summary":{"count":0},"before_you_go_content":{"count":0}},"connatixCountsHelper":{"count":0},"buzzfeedTracking":{"context_page_id":"678778dce4b009ff2590bc4a","context_page_type":"buzz","destination":"huffpost","mode":"desktop","page_edition":"en-uk"},"tags":[{"name":"conservative party","slug":"conservative-party","links":{"relativeLink":"news/conservative-party","permalink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/conservative-party","mobileWebLink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/conservative-party"},"relegenceId":3696340,"section":{"title":"Politics","slug":"politics"},"topic":{"title":"Conservative Party","slug":"conservative-party","overridesSectionLabel":false},"url":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/conservative-party/"},{"name":"labour","slug":"labour","links":{"relativeLink":"news/labour","permalink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/labour","mobileWebLink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/labour"},"section":{"title":"Politics","slug":"politics"},"topic":{"title":"Labour Party","slug":"labour-party","overridesSectionLabel":false},"url":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/labour-party/"},{"name":"Reform","slug":"reform","links":{"relativeLink":"news/reform","permalink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/reform","mobileWebLink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/reform"},"url":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/reform/"}],"isLiveblogLive":null,"isLiveblog":false,"cetUnit":"buzz_body","bodyAds":["

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Our latest @Moreincommon_ voting intention in today’s Playbook finds a virtual 3 way tie with 1 point separating the Tories, Reform and Labour.
Con 25% (-1)
Lab 24% (-2)
Ref UK 24% (+2)
Lib Dem 12% (-)
Green 8% (+1)
SNP 3% (-)
N= 2102, 10-13/1 Change w 8/1 pic.twitter.com/axOsQVyhP1

— Luke Tryl (@LukeTryl) January 15, 2025

It comes as Starmer is already grappling with a floundering economy and the resignation of his second minister in just over six months.

Tulip Siddiq quit as the anti-corruption minister on Tuesday over her links to her aunt, Sheikh Hasina, who was recently deposed as the prime minister of Bangladesh and is currently under investigation for corruption.

A fact-finding probe found Siddiq had not broken the ministerial code, but she announced she was stepping down because she did not want to be a “distraction” to the government.

Meanwhile, inflation continues to hover above the 2% mark – having dropped to 2.5% in December – while government borrowing costs remain high and the pound has fallen in value.

Exclusive: Richard Holden Slapped Down After Calling For Removal Of Gender-Neutral Toilets The Tories Installed

Posted on 15/01/2025 by Boris Clair

A former Tory chairman has been left embarrassed after calling for the removal of gender-neutral toilets his own government installed.

Richard Holden made the request in a written question to home secretary Yvette Cooper.

He asked “if she will make it her policy to remove the gender-neutral toilets in her department in Marsham Street”.

Replying on behalf of her boss, Home Office minister Diana Johnson said: “The current number and location of gender neutral toilets in the Home Office’s Marsham office was established under the previous government in October 2017, at a cost of £36,963.20, and has remained unchanged since that time.

“There are no plans to spend further public money on the reconfiguration of the Home Office’s toilets.”

Holden’s slapdown emerged just a day after another Home Office minister, Angela Eagle, delivered a withering response in the House of Commons to another Tory MP’s question.

Sarah Bool, the MP for South Northamptonshire, asked: “Does the Secretary of State believe it is fair that undocumented illegal migrants get priority access to the NHS over British taxpayers?”

Eagle, who is the immigration minister, replied: “Mr Speaker, they don’t.”

The MP’s question followed reports earlier this month that undocumented migrants were receiving preferential treatment when it comes to hospital treatment.

But an NHS spokesman told the Daily Express: “The NHS is legally required to provide healthcare services to asylum seekers and migrants which are free at the point of use, with local integrated care boards (ICBs) responsible for commissioning these services based on need while ensuring all local residents can still access care.

“ICBs also have a legal duty to address inequalities in access to NHS services, which can include rolling out dedicated services to communities experiencing the worst health inequities, while also supporting all those who need care.”

‘A Reverse Robin Hood’: Kemi Badenoch Accused Of Supporting ‘Massive Tax Cuts For The Rich’

Posted on 17/12/2024 by Boris Clair

Kemi Badenoch has been criticised after saying a flat rate of income tax for everyone in the country is an “attractive idea”.

Labour accused the Tory leader of being “a reverse Robin Hood” because the policy would mean “massive” tax cuts for the rich.

They also compared her to former Tory prime minister Liz Truss, who was forced from office after her plans for huge unfunded tax cuts caused economic chaos.

Under the current tax system, workers pay higher rates of income tax as their salaries increase.

Appearing at an event on Monday, Badenoch was asked is she supported replacing that with a flat tax rate, with everyone paying the same regardless of their income.

She replied: “It’s very attractive but if we’re going to get to that sort of scenario there’s a lot of work we will need to do first.

“We cannot afford flat taxes where we are now. We need to make sure we rewire our economy so that we can lighten the burden of tax and of regulation on individuals, and on those businesses that are just starting out in particular.”

A Labour spokesperson said: “Kemi’s reverse Robin Hood would mean massive tax cuts for the rich, paid for by everyone else.

“While Labour protects working people with no tax rises on their payslips, the Tories are bringing out the ghost of Christmas past with these Truss-style tax cuts for millionaires.

“They haven’t listened and they haven’t learnt.”

At the same event on Monday, Badenoch also suggested that the UK’s regulatory standards were too high – but that she supported them.

She said: “Where we continue regulating ourselves at very high standards – which we should do – but in a way that other countries don’t follow, which puts us at a disadvantage, which means that there’s no level of playing field if you’re a farmer, for example, and many others. And we need to start thinking differently.”

A senior Labour source told HuffPost UK: “I don’t get how anyone could follow each clause of that sentence and have a clue what she is suggesting.”

Liz Truss Left ‘Deep And Painful Scar’ On Conservative Party’s Reputation, Mel Stride Says

Posted on 05/12/2024 by Boris Clair

Liz Truss and her mini-Budget left a “very deep and painful scar” on the Conservative Party, Mel Stride said.

The shadow Tory chancellor, who did not serve in the Truss government, made the admission during a lunch with Westminster journalists.

Asked by reporters if the Tories needed to publicly distance themselves from the mini-Budget by apologising and promising it will never happen again, Stride just admitted Truss’s £45bn of unfunded tax cuts severely damaged the party’s reputation.

The MP for Central Devon said: “I think it’s fair to say the-called mini-Budget – on which I had a lot to say at the time – as I was chair of the Treasury select and I was very vocal about what was going on during and after that event – it is a very deep and painful scar on the Conservative Party.”

He said: “At a stroke, it severely damaged that mantle of economic fiscal competence that our party has always [had].”

He added fiscal responsibility has to be at the centre of Conservatives’ plan to move forward.

Truss was ousted from government after serving just 49 days as the prime minister due to the chaos her mini-Budget caused.

She was also kicked out of her seat in the July general election when her majority of 26,195 was wiped out and Labour’s candidate Terry Jermy took her South West Norfolk constituency by 630 votes.

Stride actually managed to hang onto his own seat, although his majority dropped from 16,831 to just 61 votes.

July’s general election led to a historic defeat for the Tories who took just 121 seats in parliament, their worst defeat in terms of constituencies in history.

Asked if the Tories deserved to lose, Stride said: “If the question is – did we do everything right? And really did we deserve to win? Then I don’t think anybody could argue that we did everything right; a very, very long way from it.”

But he claimed Covid, Ukraine and inflation had all impacted the Tory reputation.

The Tory frontbencher added: “We’ve been around for 14 years. And what being around 14 years does is it deprives you the ability to readily recast yourself as an agent of change and so forth.”

He also expressed optimism about his party’s future, saying: “We have a long way to go in order to get back into political contention, but I believe we can do it, because I think that Labour victory last time round whilst wide is relatively shallow, and under 34% of the vote.

“We are in very volatile territory at the moment in which almost anything can happen in the future.”

The Tories Spent £715 Million Sending No Asylum Seekers To Rwanda

Posted on 02/12/2024 by Boris Clair

The Tories’ Rwanda scheme cost nearly three quarters of a billion pounds despite failing to send a single asylum seeker to the country, it has been revealed.

Official figures released on Monday by the Home Office showed that a staggering £715m of taxpayers’ money was spent on the failed policy, which was scrapped by Labour after the election.

Further multi-million pound payments would have been due to Rwanda had the scheme continued.

Home secretary Yvette Cooper said it showed the scheme was “a grotesque waste of money”.

Former Conservative home secretary Priti Patel signed the “economic partnership agreement” with Rwandan foreign minister Vincent Biruta in April, 2022.

The aim was for the east African country to accept asylum seekers who entered the UK illegally and deter others from attempting to cross the English Channel from France in small boats.

But the European Court of Human Rights prevented any deportation flights from taking off, and the policy was eventually ruled unlawful by the Uk Supreme Court.

According to the Home Office, Rwanda received £290m from the UK government, with a further £50m being spent on flights, escorting, airfield and police costs.

Some £95m was spent on detention and reception centres, while £280m went on other fixed costs, such as developing IT systems and legal costs.

The Home Office said: “During more than 2 years in which the policy and partnership operated, only four volunteers and no asylum seekers were sent to Rwanda.”

In a statement to MPs, Cooper said: “84,000 people crossed the Channel from the day the deal was signed to the day it was scrapped. This so-called deterrent did not result in a single deportation.

“Or stop a single boat from crossing the Channel. For the British taxpayer, it was
a grotesque waste of money.”

Border security and asylum minister Angela Eagle said: “In the Tories’ own words, the asylum system is ‘broken’ and they ‘let the country down badly’ over 14 years in power.

“Now the sheer eye-watering scale of the Conservatives’ Rwanda gimmick has been exposed. The taxpayer has footed a £700 million bill thanks to their incompetence and Kemi Badenoch would do it all over again.

“This government has already started the hard graft. We hired more caseworkers to tackle the asylum backlog and get people out of hotels. We’ve also removed thousands of those with no right to be in the UK.

“Labour is getting on with cleaning up the Conservatives’ mess. Our new Border Security Command is working with our European partners to smash the criminal gang networks driving small boat crossings.”

Lisa Smart, the Lib Dem home affairs spokesperson, said: “The Conservatives should be utterly ashamed of themselves. £715 million wasted on their failed Rwanda scheme with absolutely nothing to show for it is a disgraceful waste of taxpayer money.

“Not only did they recklessly throw millions down the drain, but the Conservatives left our asylum system in a state of disrepair.”

Cabinet Minister Effortlessly Bats Back Tory Frontbencher’s Budget Complaints With 1 Key Answer

Posted on 28/11/2024 by Boris Clair

Lucy Powell calls out Jesse Norman(Tory MP) over NI contributions:

“He’s attacking our plans on NI… but when his govt raised NI on businesses & workers, he was financial secretary to the Treasury… & he said it was a profoundly Tory thing to do… I’m quite confused.” pic.twitter.com/Yw9jgxAA0c

— Haggis_UK (@Haggis_UK) November 28, 2024

A Labour cabinet minister skewered a Tory MP this morning when he tried to lay into the party’s Budget by reminding him of his own role in the last government.

Rachel Reeves announced she was hiking National Insurance contributions for employers in last month’s Budget as part of efforts to fill the £22bn black hole Labour says the Tories left behind in the public finances.

Shadow Commons leader Jesse Norman tried to slam Labour’s decisions today, noting there had been “no compensation whatsoever has been offered for this tax raid”.

He then bizarrely claimed the “desolate, chaotic landscape with wreckage strewn everywhere” of the film franchise Mad Max is the “perfect metaphor for the government’s recent Budget”.

But the government’s Commons leader, Lucy Powell, did not accept his criticisms.

She said: “Mr Speaker I know that the shadow leader is fairly new to opposition, like most of his colleagues, but I might gently say to him that the idea of opposition is to oppose the government not his own record and his own previous government.”

Norman held several ministerial roles in the last government, including in the Treasury under both Theresa May and Boris Johnson.

Powell continued: “When I checked the records Mr Speaker, I did notice that when his government raised NICs [in 2021], not just on businesses, but on workers as well, he was actually the financial secretary to the Treasury.

“When he defended the measure at this very despatch box, Mr Speaker, and I quote, he said it was a ‘profoundly Conservative thing to do’.

“So, he seemed to be for it then and against it now. I’m not quite sure what his position is, I’m quite confused about that.”

Labour have been reminding any Tories who held a ministerial role in the last government of their past whenever they have tried to land a blow on their new policies.

Energy secretary Ed Miliband mocked Tory frontbencher Claire Coutinho on Tuesday by telling her “the job of opposition is to oppose the government, not yourself” after she tried to criticise Labour’s carbon emissions targets.

And earlier this month, deputy PM Angela Rayner dismantled Alex Burghart when he tried to criticise the government after inflation crept up from 1.7% to 2.3% in October.

She replied: “Many people might not know that the honourable member was the minister for growth when under Liz Truss, inflation was 11.1% and growth flatlined. So we’re doing much better than he did!”

The Tories Have Called For Another General Election Just Months After Their Landslide Defeat

Posted on 27/11/2024 by Boris Clair

The Tories have called for another general election less than five months after their landslide defeat.

Kemi Badenoch’s spokesman said the party was ready to go back to the polls after she invited Keir Starmer to resign so the Conservatives can take over.

At PMQs on Wednesday, Keir Starmer said the Tories “haven’t got a clue what they’re doing”.

Badenoch replied: “Mr Speaker, if he wants to know what Conservatives would do, he should resign and find out.”

Asked afterwards if the Tory leader really wants the PM to quit, her spokesman said: “Yes, we would love a go to get back in government and sort out the mess [Labour] have made.”

He was then asked if the party wanted another general election and said: “Why not?”

A Liberal Democrat source said: “Give us a chance, Ed’s wet suit isn’t even dry yet.

“Kemi Badenoch’s bizarre rant at PMQs shows the Tories have lost the plot.

“While Ed Davey challenged the prime minister with questions about the big issues of the day like winter fuel allowances or end of life care, Badenoch is indulging in petty political games.

“As the Conservatives fight the battles of yesterday, we will be fighting to make take even more bricks out of the Blue Wall come the local elections in May.”

Green MP and party co-leader Carla Denyer slammed the Tories’ suggestion.

She told HuffPost UK: “Kemi Badenoch is understandably trying to divert people from the dire record of the Conservatives in government over 14 years.

“It would be great if the Conservatives could reflect a little on their past failures, and choose to offer positive, constructive Opposition.

“We want Labour to deliver the real change needed to put the country back on its feet and that’s what we are pressing for every day in Parliament.”

Meanwhile, a petition on the parliament website signed by more than 2.7 million people calling for another election will be debated by MPs.

Petitions which receive at least 100,000 signatures are automatically considered for debate in the Commons.

Lib Dem MP Jamie Stone, who is chair of the public petitions committee, confirmed that the debate will take place on January 6.

Ironically, that will be the fourth anniversary of the coup attempt by Donald Trump supporters, who stormed the Capitol in Washington in an attempt to overturn the result of the 2019 presidential election.

Badenoch referred to the petition at PMQs, but Starmer told her: “We had a massive petition on July 4 in this country.

“We spent years taking our party from a party of protest to a party of government. They’re hurtling in the opposite direction.”

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