Tory chair: Matt Hancock hurt Conservatives in Batley and Spen by-election July 2, 2021 The Conservative party co-chair has said Matt Hancock’s resignation came up on the doorstep in the Batley and Spen by-election and likely cost them votes. Amanda Milling said there were a “whole load of issues that affected our campaign” and that Hancock “was something that came up on the doorstep, I have to be honest about [...]
Kim Leadbeater wins Batley and Spen for Labour in by-election nail-biter July 2, 2021 Kim Leadbeater wins Batley and Spen for Labour in by-election nail-biter
D-Day for Keir Starmer: Voting underway in Batley and Spen by-election July 1, 2021 Voters in the West Yorkshire constituency of Batley and Spen are heading to the polls in a by-election touted as a potentially decisive day for Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership of the Labour Party. Ahead of today’s election, Sir Keir’s spokesman has insisted he will not resign if Labour loses but new polling this week suggested [...]
Labour unveils new ‘Buy British’ economic policy July 4, 2021 Labour has unveiled a new economic plan that would aim to “make, sell and buy more in Britain” in a bid to counter Boris Johnson’s blue collar Tory message. The new “Buy British” push will be led by Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and will come alongside a pitch to make the party as tough on [...]
Exclusive: Labour MPs have backroom row over by-election candidate doing Sun interview June 16, 2021 A group of Labour MPs have hit out at the party’s candidate in a crucial by-election for doing an interview with The Sun, claiming the piece will cost Labour the constituency. Kim Leadbeater, the sister of murdered Labour MP Jo Cox, recently did an interview with The Sun in the lead-up to the Batley and [...]
Can a new Scots Tory leader regain the party’s mojo? August 7, 2020 The Scottish Tories have got themselves a new leader. This might not move share prices or the relative values of sterling, and gossipers in the markets will now be asking “who is Douglas Ross?” But the same could have been said of Ruth Davidson back in 2011 when she became leader, shortly before her phenomenal [...]
Don’t believe the Scottish independence hype — I’d bet on Johnson’s tortoise to beat Sturgeon’s hare July 24, 2020 For his first significant political event outside the Westminster bubble, timed for his one-year anniversary of becoming Prime Minister, Boris Johnson chose to go to Scotland. The significance of that choice cannot be overestimated. Politics is as unpredictable as ever, and despite chancellor Rishi Sunak hosing Scotland with the billions confected by the Bank of [...]
Ofcom launches probe into Chinese state broadcaster over Hong Kong coverage September 23, 2019 Ofcom has launched an investigation into Chinese state broadcaster CGTN over concerns its coverage of protests in Hong Kong broke the regulator’s impartiality rules. Ofcom is understood to be probing four separate news programmes aired on the station in August and early September. Read more: Ofcom gives green light to BBC’s Britbox push CGTN, which [...]
RT broke broadcasting rules on impartiality, says Ofcom December 20, 2018 Kremlin-funded broadcaster RT broke impartiality in news programmes after the Salisbury novichok poisoning in March, Ofcom said today. The media regulator said RT, formerly known as Russia Today, failed to preserve due impartiality in seven news and current affairs programmes over a six-week period. “Taken together, the seven breaches represent a serious failure of compliance with [...]
Queen’s Birthday Honours: the full 2021 list June 12, 2021 Below the full list of names for this year ORDER OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE) The Rt. Hon. Frederick Richard Penn Curzon, The Earl Howe. For political and parliamentary service. (Amersham, Buckinghamshire) ORDER OF THE BATH Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) [...]