“Boris Johnson will meet the Tory MPs who smashed down Labour’s “red wall” on Monday to promise billions of pounds in Government spending to keep their seats Conservative. The Prime Minister has £78 billion at his disposal to plough into transformative infrastructure projects including major road and rail upgrades across the north and Midlands. Out of the 109 new Tory MPs who will meet Mr Johnson, 55 took seats from Labour, including some that had been held by Jeremy Corbyn’s party for more than 100 years. As well as promising investment in their constituencies to ensure they are not one-term MPs, The Daily Telegraph has also learnt of plans to “Northernise” the Cabinet with more ministers who represent industrial areas outside the south.” – Daily Telegraph
The MPs:
>Yesterday: MPs Etc.: “You don’t want to be told that the system is rigged against you.” Bradley’s Twitter thread on Mansfield’s electoral transformation.
“The inexorable logic of the Brexit vote was that the Conservatives would have to shift their attention from affluent middle-class metropolitans to what Theresa May famously called the “just about managings”: hard-working people, mostly living outside the M25, proud of their country, trying to do the right thing for themselves, their families and their communities. Over the past three years, away from the headlines, that insight has driven the work of a constellation of centre-right thinkers, including Mirza and Wolf, her husband James Frayne, Rishi Sunak, Nick Timothy and Dominic Cummings.” – The Times
>Today: Neil O’Brien MP’s column: Policies for a new Britain – in which the central point for new Tory MPs is the moors on the edge of Sheffield
“Boris Johnson will put control of Britain’s borders, improvements to the NHS and spending in the North at the centre of a Government shake-up designed to ensure years more of Conservative rule. The Prime Minister will welcome 109 new Tory MPs to Westminster today with a message that addressing voters’ concerns now could see the Tories win a record fifth term in 2024 – and rule throughout the 2020s… Tory sources said last night the PM is considering splitting up the Home Office to create a new Department for Borders and Immigration to deliver on his pledge to cut the number of low-skilled migrants coming here. The new department will focus on putting in place an Australian-style points-based immigration system and toughening up the UK’s borders – leaving the Home Office to focus on the fight against crime.” – Daily Mail
Departments:
Comment:
>Today: Rachel Wolf in Comment: I co-wrote this Conservative manifesto. And so can say that its focus was on neither the rich nor the poor.
>Yesterday: ToryDiary: “Get out of London.” Now watch Johnson and Cummings turn the country upside down. Or try to.
“The European Union will not “cut its own throat” with a post-Brexit trade deal next year if Boris Johnson refuses to align Britain’s economy to single market rules, senior Brussels sources said yesterday. Michael Gove, the cabinet minister tipped to become Britain’s lead negotiator on a future trade deal in February, has committed the government to concluding it next year. “What I can absolutely confirm is that we’ll have an opportunity to vote on the Withdrawal Agreement Bill in relatively short order and then we will make sure that it passes before January 31,” he told Sky News yesterday. “We will have concluded our conversations with the EU about the new framework of free trade and friendly co-operation by the end of next year.”” – The Times
Comment:
>Today: ToryDiary: How the half a century-long Conservative civil war over Europe was won last week in a single day. By the Brexiteers.
“The UK’s top civil servant is set to stay in Downing Street and oversee a far-reaching shake-up of the government machine planned by Boris Johnson rather than move to the vacant ambassadorial job in Washington. Cabinet secretary Mark Sedwill had been tipped to move to the US, but friends said he was relishing the prospect of overhauling the Whitehall bureaucracy to help develop a post-Brexit economy — focused on boosting northern England — and to update UK foreign policy based on the concept of “global Britain”. Dominic Cummings, the prime minister’s chief adviser and a fierce critic of Whitehall, is driving the planned changes to the government machine, which will take place after Britain leaves the EU on the scheduled date of January 31.” – FT
Comment:
>Today: David Davis MP in Comment: How to keep the new working class voters we won last Thursday – and win even more
“Boris Johnson will shake up his Cabinet today as he looks to assemble a strong team to push forward with his “get Brexit done” pledge. Mr Johnson is expected to make some alterations to his Cabinet today which could see Jacob Rees-Mogg removed, the Daily Mail has reported. The former Leader of the House of Commons made a series of errors during the campaign, particularly his comments on the Grenfell Tower victims. Michael Gove could be set for a more prominent role in Brexit negotiations while Stephen Barclay could lose his position. Following his landslide victory on Friday, Mr Johnson now has a strong mandate to take the UK out of the EU by January 31 and then complete the transition period by December 2020.” – Daily Express
>Yesterday: James Cleverly MP in Comment: I want to thank you and all our Party members for your hard work in this election campaign
“Michael Gove has categorically ruled out a second Scottish independence referendum as Nicola Sturgeon accused the Tories of “raging against reality”. Mr Gove said today there would “absolutely not” be another indyref – regardless of how Scotland votes in the 2021 Holyrood election. It comes after SNP boss Ms Sturgeon insisted the PM’s refusal to grant another referendum “will not be the end of the end of the matter” and said that the Tories were “raging against reality”. Her Westminster leader Ian Blackford declared Thursday’s election was the “end of the union”… But while relations with the government north of the border plunge to a new low, Mr Gove told Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday: “We were told in 2014 that would be a choice for a generation, we are not going to have an independence referendum on Scotland.”” – The Sun
More Home Nations:
Comment:
>Yesterday:
Downing Street is threatening the future of the BBC by insisting it is seriously considering decriminalising non-payment of the licence fee, while boycotting Radio 4’s Today programme over the broadcaster’s supposed anti-Tory bias. No 10 pulled ministers from Saturday’s edition of the Today programme and sources said it intended to “withdraw engagement” from the show in future. The row is seen as an ominous sign of Boris Johnson’s willingness to bypass independent scrutiny and follows criticism of the BBC’s election coverage from both left and right. No 10 pointed to Andrew Neil’s on-air monologue in which he lambasted Johnson for his refusal to be interviewed, and the BBC’s “extensive coverage” of a four-year-old boy with suspected pneumonia forced to sleep on a hospital floor – as supposed evidence of anti-Tory, pro-remain bias at the corporation.” – The Guardian
“Labour MPs are threatening to choose their own leader until Jeremy Corbyn’s replacement is elected if he insists on remaining in post. Mr Corbyn intends to stay on until March 8 but Nick Brown, Labour’s chief whip, is being warned that survivors of the party’s worst defeat since 1935 will refuse to submit to Mr Corbyn’s authority when they return to Westminster tomorrow. He is being urged to ask Dame Margaret Beckett to become the interim leader of the parliamentary Labour Party to head off a full-scale revolt. The Labour leader’s attempt to defend a campaign in which the party lost 59 of its MPs has fuelled anger at his attempts to cling on to power until the spring.” – The Times
Editorial:
>Yesterday: Video: WATCH: “I’m glad my constituents aren’t as stupid as yours”, Thornberry told MP in a Leave seat, Flint alleges
“Jeremy Corbyn has been accused of trying to “stitch up” the selection of Labour’s next leader by limiting the group which will set out the process to a “cabal” of his supporters. John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, said the officers of the party’s National Executive Committee – a sub-group of senior members of Labour’s ruling body – will meet on Monday and decide the timetable for electing the new leader. It came as Lisa Nandy became the first Labour MP to say she is considering standing for leader. Mr McDonnell praised Rebecca Long-Bailey and Angela Rayner while shadow justice secretary Richard Burgon said he would back Ms Long-Bailey as a candidate.” – Daily Telegraph
More:
Comment:
>Yesterday:
“Sir Ed Davey has evaded questions over whether he will again try to become leader of the Liberal Democrats by blaming Jeremy Corbyn for his party’s poor election performance. When he was asked by Sky News whether he would stand to replace Jo Swinson, Sir Ed, who is joint acting leader, said that the party would “review the general election properly”, adding: “We’ve got to focus on ensuring we learn the lessons properly in a quite a deep, profound way… Sir Ed, who stood for the party leadership when Sir Vince Cable stood down in July, said that the Lib Dems did not get their other messages beyond Brexit across during the campaign. He also said of the government: “I do not believe they can get Brexit done in the next year as they said they would do.”” – The Times
“Given all the difficulties of undertaking polls – including the crucial role that luck and chance play in securing a sample of voters that proves to representative of the country – such a level of accuracy is, in truth, quite remarkable. Indeed, though it seemingly did come as a surprise to many, the scale of Boris Johnson’s victory should not have surprised anyone. The polls consistently reported throughout the campaign that on average the Conservatives were ten or more points ahead. Should it emerge from the ballot boxes, such a lead was bound to translate into a very healthy parliamentary majority… That said, there will be lessons for the pollsters to take away from this election.” – Daily Telegraph