“Rishi Sunak has been accused of “silly puffed-up posturing” by senior Tories after being forced to concede at the 11th hour that a pro-Palestine march planned for Armistice Day will go ahead. The prime minister had described the planned protests as “disrespectful” earlier on Wednesday, but had been forced to concede after a meeting with Rowley that those who wished to take to the streets had a “right to peacefully protest”. In a statement issued after a hastily arranged meeting with the police chief on Wednesday afternoon, Sunak sought to portray his acceptance of the Met chief’s decision as a principled one… The former Conservative minister Nicholas Soames said the prime minister should never have interfered, and accused Sunak of “playing politics” with hard-won freedoms.” – The Guardian
Editorial:
>Today: ToryDiary: Yes, supporters of Palestine have a right to protest. And, no, that doesn’t mean marches through central London every Saturday.
“Communities secretary Michael Gove has asked the Treasury for up to £50mn to counter radical ideologies in Britain, after ministers acknowledged that the fallout from the Israel-Hamas war had exposed flaws in their strategy. Gove wants the money to rebuild Britain’s counter-extremism efforts, according to senior government insiders. One admitted: “We’ve taken our eye off the ball.” … Senior ministers met at the Cobra emergency committee on Tuesday to discuss the crisis in Gaza and Israel and to consider how to tackle a rise in radical views and communal tensions in Britain. One person briefed on the meeting said: “Clearly there is a lack of capacity and a skills gap in this space. There’s a gap in our ability to assess, understand and act.”” – FT
>Yesterday: Andy Street’s column: Our higher crime rates are truly shocking. It’s time for the West Midlands’ Mayor to gain powers over policing.
“The organiser of this weekend’s Armistice Day anti-Israel march worked for Sir Keir Starmer until this week, The Sun can reveal. Ben Soffa is the Secretary of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, who have led the marches through London for the last four weeks. Sir Keir had warned Labour MPs they “should not under any circumstances attend any of these events”. Yet until just days ago hard-left Soffa was also the Labour Party’s £61,000 “Head of Digital Organising”. When confronted by The Sun last night, Labour sources said he had moved on in recent days. But last night his social media accounts still claimed he worked for at the party’s HQ. The PSC have been organising marches around the country against Israel’s response to the October 7 atrocities for a month, with Soffa listed as a director of the group since 2013.” – The Sun
Comment:
Editorial:
>Today: Garvan Walshe’s column: Israel can only truly win this war if Netanyahu goes
>Yesterday:
“Suella Braverman has accused the Metropolitan Police of “playing favourites” with protesters as she clashed with Britain’s most senior officer over his decision to give the go-ahead to Saturday’s pro-Palestinian march. In an article for The Times, the home secretary also risks inflaming tensions further by claiming that the weekly pro-Palestininan protests were being used by Islamic extremists as an attempt to dominate the streets of London. She compared what she described as the weekly “hate marches” by pro-Palestinian protesters to sectarian rallies held in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. Braverman claims that senior police officers are biased in their policing of protests and employ a “double standard” whereby they take a significantly softer approach towards left-wing groups such as Black Lives Matter than right-wing protests such as anti-lockdown demos and football hooliganism.” – The Times
Comment:
“Rishi Sunak is facing calls from moderate Tory MPs to sack Suella Braverman in the next reshuffle as more Cabinet ministers refused to endorse her homelessness remarks. On Wednesday, Steve Barclay, the Health Secretary, became the latest senior Tory to distance himself from the Home Secretary’s claim that living on the street in tents was a “lifestyle choice”. Mr Sunak, Claire Coutinho, the Energy Secretary, and Alex Chalk, the Justice Secretary, have done likewise. No Cabinet minister has publicly supported Mrs Braverman’s remarks. Nickie Aiken, the Conservative Party vice-chairman, went a step further on Wednesday when she said: “I would say that her language is wrong.” … Mrs Braverman’s supporters have argued that her comment was misconstrued, insisting she was not talking about all rough sleepers.” – Daily Telegraph
>Yesterday: Igraine Gray in Comment: I was once a rough sleeper. So let me tell you from experience why Braverman is mistaken.
“Jeremy Hunt’s deputy has revealed he is ‘alarmed’ at the level of tax people are paying amid a growing clamour for cuts. John Glen, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said the Government would ‘love’ to be able to slash tax but needs to be responsible. Ministers are under increasing pressure to unveil cuts for households and businesses in this month’s Autumn Statement. Calls have mounted after the King’s Speech earlier this week, which many Tories believe did not go far enough to improve the Conservative Party’s electoral chances. MPs are urging the Chancellor to use any ‘fiscal headroom’ – the amount by which the Government could cut taxes or increase spending without breaking its fiscal rules – at the Autumn Statement on November 22 to lower the tax burden.” – Daily Mail
More:
>Today: Alex Chalk MP in Comment: The King’s Speech and our legislative programme. At its heart is keeping people safe.
“Voters now believe Sir Keir Starmer is more likely to cut taxes than Rishi Sunak – to the despair of anxious Tories. A major poll shows 52 per cent of the public link the Conservatives to higher taxes, compared to 42 per cent for Labour. Meanwhile 77 per cent think they would be stung for either the same amount or even more tax if the PM is reelected, dipping to 66 per cent should Sir Keir enter No10. The Survation research of more than 12,000 Brits heaps pressure on Mr Sunak to ease the burden on clobbered families, with a clamour for relief at this month’s Autumn Statement. Liz Truss warned her successor to remember the party’s true-blue roots and led MP calls for action… The tax burden is at a record high for peacetime after hikes in headline rates and stealthy threshold freezes.” – The Sun
More:
Editorial:
>Yesterday: ToryDiary: The King’s Speech. Sunak ducked the opportunity to flesh out his promise of change.
“UK broadcaster Channel 4 will need to ensure that more than third of its programmes are made by independent producers as part of new rules that will allow it to make and own rights to its own productions for the first time in its 40-year history… Channel 4 – a publicly owned, commercially funded public service broadcaster – had to outsource production of its shows under its original mandate, which was designed to foster a wider TV independent production sector… But new rules have been drawn up to allow Channel 4 greater freedom to invest in the wake of the government’s decision last year to halt the sale of the broadcaster… Lucy Frazer said in a statement to parliament on Wednesday that Channel 4’s independent production quota will be increased from 25 per cent to 35 per cent of qualifying programmes — which must be independently produced in the UK.” – FT
“Britain’s former top civil servant urged Boris Johnson to remove Matt Hancock as health secretary during the pandemic, the Covid-19 public inquiry has heard. Lord Mark Sedwill, cabinet secretary between 2018 and 2020, suggested in a private message to Simon Case, then Number 10 permanent secretary, that Hancock should be fired to “save lives and protect the NHS” in 2020. Sedwill, who was succeeded as cabinet secretary by Case, told the inquiry on Wednesday that it had been “gallows humour” to use the phrase repeatedly deployed by the government at the height of the health crisis. In an extract from Johnson’s witness statement that was shown to the inquiry, the former prime minister wrote: “I do not think that I received any advice from Sir Mark Sedwill that Matt should be removed.”” – FT
More:
Comment:
“Humza Yousaf has been accused of misleading Parliament after finally admitting that the UK Covid-19 Inquiry asked the Scottish Government for WhatsApp messages months ago. The First Minister has repeatedly attempted to explain away his Government’s failure to hand over the evidence by claiming that the inquiry only requested it in September. But, following a demand by the inquiry, SNP ministers published a detailed timeline in which they admitted that the initial request for “messages about key decisions or by which such decisions were taken” was made in February. The Scottish Government then failed to hand over any WhatsApp messages when it gave its final response to the inquiry in June, the timeline said.” – Daily Telegraph
>Yesterday: Alan O’Reilly in Local Government: Will Dublin put an end to Ireland’s experiment with directly elected mayors?