UK Politics

[Dong Zhou]

Reshuffle: After I left, Justine Greening resigned, May wanted to move her former ally from education as she had incurred wrath of certain MP's by managing to block grammar schools and her willingness to grapple the funding formula was always going to lead to rumblings, number 10 was unhappy she refuses to defend unpopular policies and had briefed against her in build up. A skilled technocrat who impresses whichever sector she is given, she was offered DWP but refused and instead resigned. An alarm for the whips as she is n a super remain constituency where she has a narrow majority and been willing to rebel in the past, feels like her career has been hampered by others as she displeased Osborne and while May should have been a comeback, the two had a massive divide on educational policy. Damian Hinds took over at education, from the liberal left of the party who is seen as a potential future leader, done work on social mobility but his Catholic faith has led to speculation he may free up faith schools, nobody expects him to do anything on grammar schools despite being from one due to hung parliament. Esther McVey gets works and pensions, she knows the department after serving there under IDS while Tories will be glad to have a spiky media performer back on frontlines, she has long been tipped for cabinet. McDonnell may be less pleased ad some worry that, after Gauke's diplomacy, McVey's fighting style might inflame tensions on the controversial department it's reforms.

This followed the day's pattern of appointments generally making sense but still managing to be farcical.

Claire Perry allowed to attend cabinet, remains junior at business but a sign of confidence towards her future, Jeremy Wright ditto as Attorney General though perhaps less of a nod towards his future, Amber Rudd gets woman and equalities at a very late hour and then Caroline Noakes to immigration from her role at DWP, hard working figure but immigration has never come across as her interest.

Stays: Cairns, Leadsom despite briefings, Truss, Julian Smith

Number of cabinet sacked: 0. Authority!

Junior ranks: Mark Garnier said he was sacked from trade while quickly emerged Philip Dunne (health), Robert Goodwill (education) and John Hayes (transport) were gone, Dunne perhaps dooming himself with health questions yesterday before "resigning" while Hayes does seem to have actually resigned so he can do stuff on "socially elevating conservatism" and increasing membership. Alok Sharma moved from housing to employment to free up the post for David Raab[b] who might not be overly pleased having been widely expected to get to cabinet, leaves a role he was well suited for one that doesn't seem Raab's strong suit but on other hand housing is something that needs major minds, he would seem close to Javid's way of economic thinking and meant to be key government priority. [b]Jo Johnson moves from universities to transport+London which seems an odd move and is replaced by Sam Gyimah who has worked on education before, DWP's Caroline Dinenage moved to health and promoted as has treasury's Stephen Barclay. In a "Jo Johnson" like bizarre move, the able and experienced Rory Stewart moved from Africa to Justice which seems ill-suited, Margot James moved from business and given bigger rank at Culture, Harriet Baldwin promoted as she goes from defence to foreign office+Dfid so that one at least makes sense

Then the backbenches got their chance, Rishi Sunak to housing, barrister Lucy Frazer gets justice (a legal mind in justice, must be an error by May ), Cameron's former deputy chief of staff Oliver Dowden gets cabinet office which also seems a good place, Boris former deputy Kit Malthouse gets DWP I assume for his accounting experience, former business lawyer and commercial director Robert Jenrick becomes Exchequer Secretary, Nadhim Zahawi gets education. Prominent Tory Brexiteer Suella Fernandes gets Brexit which means European Research Group has lost it's last two chairs to the department, Shailesh Vara gets a surprise return (was a minister under Cameron, backed Gove and sacked by May) to N.Ireland, Nusrat Ghani gets transport and whip.

Six news whips: Kelly Tolhurst, Mims Davies, Amanda Milling, Jo Churchill, Wendy Morton as well as Ghani

Note most do not have any past connection to their roles, just some so bizarre I felt need to comment on it.

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-Hunt apologises after liking tweet of Greening going, says it was an error. Zahwai then retweets Nandy saying McVey's appointment is appalling

-Rayner shows class as she says she and Greening disagreed on a range of policies but Greening always treated her with dignity and respect, she wishes Greening well.

-The education establishment and unions not happy at Greening going, they liked her diplomacy and the quiet reforms

-I think press share Soames comment "Is that it? I don't mean to be rude or to be seen as disloyal but there needs to be a major improvement to the reshuffle tomorrow", though I liked Telegraph's "Night of the Blunt Stiletto"

-Been noted no BME person got promoted on day 1 and though up to 10 females in cabinet, only 6 are full appointments which is less the Blair managed

-May has managed to keep the Brexit/Remain balance in cabinet, says the entire team including junior ministers means her government is more representative of the people it serves

-Commons was clearly not happy with Toby Young and he has now resigned

-Brandon Lewis defends reshuffle but when asked if Tory party is in a mess, merely says he wouldn't quite go that far

-Juncker says Brexit will go ahead

-A fair few wishing May wouldn't swap people's jobs around as she is doing

-Ministerial Code to be beefed up

-Matt Hancock says BBC must do more on gender pay while the Director General has been summoned by culture Committee to explain

-Hollyrood's finance and constitution committee asks Hollyrood to refuse to give assent to Brexit bill due to clause 11 (ie what is delegated from Westminster to Scotland)

-Brexit department tables 25 amendments to Brexit bill

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-Osborne pleased to see old friends of his doing well but describes the reshuffle as unusual

-IDS thinks changes at junior ranks will allow May to do a major reshuffle to promote them in around nine months

-Richard Leonard says election is more likely then second Brexit referendum but thinks Commons will reject Brexit deal

-Steve Richards doing a radio show on radio 4 about Cameron

-Osborne says Tories would be finished if Labour were competent as May delivers hatrick of worst manifesto, worst conference speech, worst reshuffle

-Soames unhappy at sacking of Dunne and puzzled by Rory Stewart move

-FT’s legal commentator David Allen Green has raised the point that moving out Lidington and Raab, who had both done the heavy legal work, of justice department party way through Withdrawal bill was not a good idea

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-Eaton on reshuffle exposes May weaknesses

-Bush puzzled by sacking of Greening

-Toynbee rails against May reshuffle

-Ian Sinclair sees Thornberry's rise as a danger for Corbynites

-Jane Merrik calls reshuffle a wasted opportunity

[Dong Zhou]

PMQ's Started late, Crbyn went on NHS expected and referred to May's last answer before the winter crises. May defends winter preparations by use of statistics and says Corbyn was incorrect about mental health budget last time, Corbyn on nurses having to treat people in carpacks due to ambulances being backed up and then goes on trying to be sacked+if so well prepared why were there so many operations cancelled, May uses heckles of apologise to suggest Labour should have listened as she did apologise then praises staff before quoting NHS providers on how well prepared things were, Corbyn goes on an individual case which May promises to look at the case but accuses Corbyn of scaremongering about the NHS. Corbyn moves onto carehomes being of poor quality and thus leading to NHS strain so why has Hunt got promoted, May says she is recognising calls for Labour about need to integrate health and social care but doesn't answer about care home quality, attacks Labour's record in Wales, Corbyn blames Westminster funding cuts to Wales and that funding to social care has been cut and NHS funds goes to private companies. May says money to Wales has gone up and points to Labour's record on use of private companies in NHS, Corbyn uses Bercow rebuke to Ashworth to talk of his passion for NHS, Corbyn points to private company rise and tries to link tax cuts+privatization for NHS lacking funding,, May says more money to NHS, more staff and more operations while strong economy needed to fund it while using Rayner's "bleep and bust", her questioning where Rayner was saw her quickly offering a fulsome apology as Rayner is going on hospital.

Neither were at their best including with their summaries, Corbyn will be disappointed not to land a massive blow on May on NHS. Blackford goes on Brexit bill not being fit for purpose and says clause 11 is a powergrab, May has said government says they will look to amend and improve the clause and is working with devolved administration on how to do that, Blackford says not good enough and is another broken promise, May says she is doing what the SNP want and talks of delivering for Scotland. Feel May mnaged to undermined Blackford's charge and he went shouty which is not a good look.

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-Hancock and others point out BBC led protests against having to publish it's payscales

-Sense McVey's appointment tilts cabinet towards Brexit but Brexiteers feel they were promised a no deals minister and are furious it didn't happen

-Ruth Davidson says Greening was a role model for LGBT Tories and a real loss

-Rumours David Davies has complained UK firms are losing out due to EU preparing for no deal as EU issues guidance that UK is to be treated as third country with no trade deal. EU points out UK have mentioned no deal repeatedly

-Hammond and Davies tell German business that aces to finical services is vital for Brexit deal, continued financial and regulatory co-operation within Europe is essential so Europe can lead the world in enhancing global financial supervision.

-Government firmly rejects Public Administration Select Committee call for MP's to set inquiry scope and length

-Welsh government consulting on banning smacking

-Plastic bag levy to be extended

-National Audit office slams Govia Thameslink for poor service and disruption

-Bradley to visit Belfast for first time

-Leadsom hoping new rules on bullying would lead to recall bylection of offenders

-Morgan has written to National Audit Office to request it investigate Brexit bill, it has agreed to do so

-Industrial production has longest run of growth (eight months) for 23 years

-Clark sent to meet Carlos Tavares, the chief executive of PSA, after job losses at Port Ellesmere

-Government policy for opposition days is still to abstain like NHS funding one

-Virgin Trains bans Daily Mail. Labour says if people want that reversed, they should support renationalisation as public trains won't back newspapers

This is going to leave both sides with very conflicting emotions!

-Dawn Butler on Toby Young

-Hunt says he wants consensus on funding for next NHS decade but refuses to commit to cross party talks, says Ashworth should look at how Lansley handled the 2009 winter crises as shadow health secretary

-Foster warns Sinn Feinn eulogising IRA does not help talks

-Scottish Government preparing their own Brexit contingency bill

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-Gove now has reusable coffee cup

-Patel calls for party chair to be elected

-Newly-sworn in North Wales AM Mandy Jones has been barred from siting with UKIP group as some of her staff (who she inherited from Gill and has decided to keep) have campaigned for other parties

-Umunna walks out of PLP meeting when Corbyn committed to leaving single market and customs union, the backbencher says he will vote against any Brexit deal that sees us leaving those

-BBC seems to be going for "why go for Toby Young but allow Jarad O'Mara remains" to Labour figures who are struggling with that

-While I'm surprised Debbie Abrahams (who was otherwise impressive) seemed unaware of McDonnell's lynch story (which shadllow chancellor's office wrote in to challenge), she refused to defend him on any of the comments Andrew Neill brought up and she couldn't answer why Labour demanded Young go but appoint a similar man as their chancellor, she seemed very uncomfortable

-Farron says he regrets saying gay sex is not a sin

-Chief executive of the Berlin stock exchange, Artur Fischer, predicts hard Brexit and if there is a Brexit deal, it will almost certainly not be a bespoke one

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-John Harris argues Tories are dying and seem incapable of reform

-Kuessenberg on a reshuffle that didn't go down well in Tory ranks

-George Monbiot accuses media of no-platforming

-Sean Coughlan on challenges facing Hinds

-Andrew Price on Greening vs May

-Jonathan Lis not impressed by Davis complaint

[Sun Fin]

-Fallon says he regrets saying gay sex is not a sin

When he said it I was skeptical. Poor man. the pressure he was under must have been horrendous.

-Farron says he does not considering being gay a sin, been accusations he has been... dodging around that question in past

Is that exactly how he phrased it? In which case I suspect he has dodged the question again. I would say that I don't think being gay is a sin, its the actions that are sinful.

When asked if gay people are sinners “No I do not.”, later talked of “celebrating people’s right to be who they are, to love who they love, to marry who they marry”. and extending marriage as right now “It doesn’t include full equal marriage for people who are transgender and our fight for rights and freedom will continue,”

-BBC seems to be going for "why go for Toby Young but allow Jarad O'Mara remains" to Labour figures who are struggling with that

-While I'm surprised Debbie Abrahams (who was otherwise impressive) seemed unaware of McDonnell's lynch story (which shadllow chancellor's office wrote in to challenge), she refused to defend him on any of the comments Andrew Neill brought up and she couldn't answer why Labour demanded Young go but appoint a similar man as their chancellor, she seemed very uncomfortable

Labour's capacity for double standards on this kind of topic is extraordinary. You can reform and change if you vote/belong to Labour but if you're a Tory you're just inherently evil obviously. This is the kind of thing that will stop Labour winning a majority.

[Dong Zhou]

Sorry, accidentally put Fallon the ex defence minister instead of Farron who of course had the "what is your stance on homosexuals" throughout election

-Greening sat herself close to the Brexit rebels at PMQ's

-May vows to eradicate avoidable plastic littler by 2042, says UK world leader on environment and conservation is a natural ally to conservativism, growth and protecting environment can go together, will strengthen environment protection after Brexit

-Hammond says EU needs to say what it wants from Brexit UK, that a hardline and failure to show enthusiasm could strengthen Brexit hardliners

-Dr Fox urges 1922 committee not to take every piece of econimic news through prism of Brexit

-Peers vote for second stage of Leveson inquiry to start, Hancock calls it an attack on press freedom

-Tory vice chairs to be paid from party funds though less then the ex-ministers were getting, Bryant calls it hush money

-Scotland to ban sale and manufacture of plastic-stemmed cotton buds

-McDonnell goes to Davos

-Missed A&E time targets for December at highest ever level. Target is 95% within 4 hours, it was 77.3%

-Chris Williamson resigns, the shadow fire minister had suggested doubling the tax on highest band homes which isn't party policy trigged it and while I can't say I'm mourning his going, it is puzzling. 1) Corbyn is not ruthless, 2) while there has been a tightening up on such outside role comments, I can think of worse that has gone on punished, 3) Williamson has been a fierce loyalist to Corbyn. Possibly it is just one time too many at this point and they want someone less liable to speak his mind

-Peter Riddell, the commissioner for public appointments, says procedures were followed in appointing Toby Young but the procedures were flawed as officials should have flagged up to Jo Johnson the tweet issue

-SNP talking to crossbench peers to act on their behalf for Brexit bill

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-Ashworth with a decent attack on Hunt as having lost everyone's confidence and fighting for himself rather then NHS, Dr Whitford warns flu is likely to get worse. Lords debate on cutting their numbers in good humour with Lord Young leading the way, Ofgem head Dermot Nolan hammered as Sandbach and Kyle ask devastating questions about what they are doing to help the poor

-Vaizey bemoans three art ministers in 18 months

-Caroline Lucas not exactly greeting government plans with a generous spirit

-Been noted Ben Bradley has reached out to reality show winner Georgia Toffolo after Tory highcommand rejected her as too posh

-Farage suggests second referendum to just shut Remainers up, Remainers delighted, UKIP not so pleased, IDS calls it Trump like attention seeking (media pretty much all agree on this), Baker says it confirms his view that Farage is one of the great impediments to Brexit

-Nicky Timothy says Greening was sacked/moved for refusing to allow tuition fees to be cut and blocking school reforms, Jo Johnson says she never blocked any of his suggestions, Nick Timothy says that doesn't contradict anything he said but it seems to have infuriated MP's who suspect he may have had a hand in Greening's unpopular sacking (Timothy and number 10 deny this)

-Nick Boles want national insurance put up and ring fenced for NHS, Graham Brady indicates support for this and calls for a Royal Commission

-Mayor Khan commissions econimic assessment of no-deal Brexit impact on London, predicts loss of half a million jobs and 50 billion of investment by 2030

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-Bush on May's reshuffle suggests she has no plans to step down before election and why Williamson left

-Hardman on the Virgin Train ban of Daily Mail

-Katy Balls on Tory struggles with social media age

-Peter Franklin the changing political tribes in UK

-Gavin Pearson on Labour Brexit strategy

[Dong Zhou]

-Speculation that Greening and Jo Johnson were moved so May could change tuition fee policy

-A sense within the press that Williamson's comments on council tax rise was a gift to Tories and so Labour moved to neutralize it

-Trump cancels Feb trip to UK, says he isn't a fan of the new embassy but suspicion it wasn't a big enough occasion with no royals for him, the fear of protests and recent disagreements. Tillerson will do it, will be a blow to May who has put in a lot to back Trump and is getting damaged. May Khan says Trump finally got message he isn't wanted, Boris says such a stance risks a big investing country

-Public accounts committee not convinced HMRC can handle Brexit, internal reform and Paradise Paper allegations

-Andrew Grimson profiles Damien Hinds

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-Rudd seemed quite warm to Greening when asked by the recently sacked minister about updating sex-ed

-Katy Balls interviews Ben Bradley

-Williamson says Corbyn has told him to help develop thinking on environment and animal hunts. Did feel he got interrupted too much by Coburn doing DP

-Due to tradition in his area that mayor, councillors and MP gets publicly weighed once a year, Steve Baker has produced some fitness videos

-Aaron Banks backs his hero and calls for second referendum for people to show their Brexit joy, Suzanne Evans calls it epically stupid, Bill Cash says it is amusing to see Farage in bed with Lib Dems on this

-Farage now saying he doesn't want a second referendum but he suspects one will happen and they need to be ready

-Dugdale writes to McVey about rape clause

-Donor Peter Stringfellow leaving Tories due to Brexit

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-Eaton says EU not punishing UK

-Katy Balls on Tory concerns at education changes

-George Monbiot on environmental plan not being enough

-Martin Kettle urges Labour to be old on Brexit

[Dong Zhou]

Labour reshuffle: One was expected but given Corbyn's lack of ruthlessness, was not expected to be a big one and Corbyn had indicated it would be of junior ranks. So it proved. Doing it on Friday eve may not have made him popular with the press, ditto failure to have some social media mishap or hilarious error. The two that have caught attention are Clive Lewis returns as a junior Treasury shadow minister and Laura Pidcock for employment. Clive Lewis is an economist and an able figure whose econimic thinking is on the Corbynite wing, his star has been diminished but he is able media performer and it shows a limited reaching out given the falling out. I assume Lewis has promised to behave on EU while there will be unease given recent scandals despite being cleared. Pidcock has raised eyebrows, Tories are using these two appointments to show Labour are the nasty party, and if one is losing Williamson due to tendency for bad press and mouthing off, Pidcock makes no sense but she is being seen as a potential successor.

The experienced Jack Dromey gets pensions after moving from health, replaced by the fiery Paula Sherriff who gets mental health and social care. Planning goes to former academic Roberta Blackman-Woods where she has experience in housing matters so makes sense, moved from Dfid. Journalist Matt Rodda gets buses, Lewis is joined by the expired Lyn Brown in Treasury, new MP and former nurse/mayor Karen Lee gets fire, Judith Cummins gets trade, cabinet office gets Burnamite and former rebel Chris Matheson and newly elected MP/former teacher Laura Smith which gives them an econimic figure and one who has shown campaigning skills. Dfid gets McCluskey's old mate and new MP Dan Carden and Preet Gill who has worked in social care in other countries.
Overall? Reaches out to some non-Corbynite parts of the party, reaches out to unions, brings up some young Corbynites like Pidcock who may be the future for his faction, some of the posts suit the people given (Lewis, Blackman-Woods, Matheson, Gill) make good sense for those posts, plenty do not.
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-Comres poll has Remain beat Leave by more then margin of error for first time in any poll since Brexit result. Of course, one poll means little

-Labour refer Ivan Lewis and Kelvin Hopkins to an internal disciplinary committee.

-Ruth Davidson frustrated at how long Brexit amendments, particularly to clause 11, are taking. Seems like Scottish Tories are aligning with SNP outrage on this rather then May

-Sterling highest since Brexit result

-Dutch and Spanish governments deny their finance ministers have agreed to tie UK as close to EU as possible

-Lots of eyes on struggling firm Carillion which has a lot of construction contracts from government

-D'Arcy on week ahead

-Frank Field feels Finical Conduct Authority has failed to protect steel workers from those seeking access to their pensions

-National Audit Office looking at cost of smart meter roll out

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-John Glen on end of surcharges

-EU diplomat to journalist when asked about second referendum ""Do what the bleep you want but stop bleeping around. We're moving forward and would appreciate some clarity on the matter"

-EU fines Farage 35k for misuse of funds meant for assistant who was then used on non EU work

-Williamson denies being sacked

-Farage calls Umunna anti-US for his attitudes on Trump

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-Andrew Grice on renovation of Gove

-Jasmin Beckett wants more from Labour on tackling sexual misconduct

-Bush on what would happen if there was a referendum

-Kate Maltby on how Westminster handles sexual harassment

-Lara Pendegrast the digital inquisition

-Peter Oborne on Labour hypocrisy on Trump, BBC wages and CBE's biased towards Tories

-Forysth (sun) on need to decide on what Brexit means, tution fees, Greening, expect a reshuffle sooner rather then later

[Dong Zhou]

-Gauke has sought advice about seeking a judicial review of Worboy getting parole and (in sun) his hopes for justice

-Sturgeon says it beggars belief after 18 months that nobody knows what relationship UK wants with EU

-Brandon Lewis really need to apologize to Abbott on Marr show if he wants his cross party respect/no abuse idea to work

-Reeves and Field accuse Ryanair of fobbing off their committee's when they inquired about pay

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-UKIP have been a tad frustrated that their main publicity of late is 1) Henry Bolton's new relationship 2) Farage "second referendum. They won't like "suspend leaders girlfriend due to racist tweets about Prince Harry's fiancée" . Ukip chair Paul Oakden warns Bolton has "very difficult decisions to make"

-Mayor Khan's address to Fabian Society interrupted by pro-Brexit/Trump supporters

-MEP Seb Dance on Farage's influence

-Farage says Brexit could be overturned with Remainers making the running and fears Brexiteers have stopped fighting their corner

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-Rawnsley on second referendum

-Henry Porter bemoans his once friend of liberty David Davis

[Dong Zhou]

-NSFWSunday politics got ahold of a recording of McDonnell/lynch comment here. Interesting how the swear word is different from what was originally reported

-Government under a lot of pressure over Carillion's liquidation, government itself has taken charge with an Official Receiver rather then usual process of administration an dhaving to fund any public services being covered by the company. Public Administration Committee teams up with Constitutional Affairs for an inquiry, Public Accounts Committee want a word with former Carillion CEO Richard Howson but Labour calling for public inquiry Lord Adonis says it might become UK's Enron

Expect huge debates about outsourcing and PFI

-Home Affairs Select Committee suggests dropping migration target as constant failure hits public trust but suggests annual estimate of how much illegal immigration there is

-Corbyn says respect is a basic in Labour party (doesn't pay much attention to what is going on around him?), isn't looking at second referendum (though Thornberry says if public turns to want one, it will become a challenge for democrats), can't sty in single market as needs to be EU member for that and even if within EU there are things he would like changed about single market, relationship with US is important but just one of many important ones

-Equalities Committee launches inquiry into sexual harassment

-MEP's not happy that Tories are taking credit for ban on surcharges. Which came from EU.

-Scottish government economic analysis has hard Brexit with WTO rules costing Scotland £12.7bn a year/8.5% of GDP

-Momentum win all three Labour NEC seats up for grabs including for Jon Lansmann

-Rumours Boris is briefing friends that Brexit might not happen as May gets worn down and ceded to Remainer mandriains

-Sinn Fein MP Barry McElduff has resigned as MP for West Tyrione meaning we will get a byelection. Apparently he posted a video that some felt was posting fun at IRA Kingsmill massacre

-Morudant says UK won't pay for aid projects that a country can pay for itself

-Sturgeon says Norway is proof we can remain in single market

-European scrutiny committee seeking government reassurance on supply of medical radioisotopes after Brexit

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-Henry Bolton breaks up with girlfriend over texts an d says he won't resign as UKIP leader but feel like the sense is he will have to go by end of week with some MEP's already acting against him

-Hugh Gaffney accuses Tory MP's of heckling him about his weight and his Scottish accent (he says the MP that did the latter was called up on it by another Tory MP and later apologized)

-Leanne Wood welcomes potential leadership challenge

-Eaton profiles Jon Lansman

-Gavin Shuker on what men must do to help on sexual harassment

-Commons restaurant seeking a Michelin star

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-Hardman on Gove using environment to help sell Tories and Brexit

-Stephen Glover on vice chancellor pay

-Toynbee on NHS crises and Hunt staying is probably for best

-Ross Clark warns MP's may need to be careful of jumping in on Henry Bolton's troubles

-Simon Jenkins on Carillion

[Dong Zhou]

-Boris says £350 million for NHS was a gross underestimate which has got the expected reaction (Labour has asked the statistics authority to investigate), doubts people want another referendum

-International Development Committe about the Rohingya people being returned to Myanmar, they fear it will lead to radicalization, bemoans lack of international consensus on path ahead

-Business Committee describes Whirlpool's reaction their unsafe dryer as woeful

-Scottish government report says Canada style deal would cost 6.5% of GDP by 2030

-Inflation down to 3.0% thanks to lower prices for airtravel and recreational stuff like games

-President Tusk says Brexit can still be cancelled if we wish it (did not get strong applause from MEP's for that one), hard part ahead, wants unity, wants to know UK wants

-Verhofstadt says second stage of talks will be harder, citizen rights guarantee the big aim and no cherry picking for UK, not allowing them to have better deal outside then UK had inside

-Junker says we can remain

-Unionists welcome resignation of McElduff but are annoyed this took so long

-Bercow gently mentions to Williamson that recent leaks to press by somebody tends to lead to annoyed MP's summoning relevant minister to Commons

-N.Ireland want government for a year

-Government asks Receiver to fastrack probe into whether there was wrong doing at the top of Carillion

-Reeves calls for tightening of corporate culture rules

-Labour asking how much government knew of some of the practises going on and why they kept giving Carillion jobs, attacking government of being ideologically committed to privatization

-Corbyn and his allies manage to oust the left-wing Ann Black as chair of the Labour party’s disputes panel, she had voted against him on some NEC matters, Momentum's Christine Shawcroft takes over. Corbyn's opponents worry this could mean lighter punishments for some in upcoming cases, they feel Black has a strong elected mandate and they are not happy with Shawcroft given she got punished for backing controversial former mayor Luthfar Rahman against Labour. Shawcroft calls it a minor subcommittee (yes, the role that enforces discipline and where Corbyn's group just made a big powerplay is minor....) so doesn't see why there is any fuss and that Rahman's case was a miscarriage of justice while Momentum point to Black helping vote down some members from being allowed to vote in second leadership election

-Ruth Davidson manages to avoid saying Boris lying but says econimic figures back up what she said in referendum

-Gerry Adams seeking to overturn two convictions for attempting to escape detention

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-Manfred Weber, leader of the centre-right European People’s party group in Burrsels, says blue passports are only thing UK has managed during Brexit so far and evven then Croatia had blue passports so... also asks UK to stop complaining and just tell EU what UK wants

-Umunna on NHS funding

-Ian Murray on Remain still an option

-Rees-Mogg doing fortnightly podcast for ConserativeHomes

-Soubry bemoans Boris conning people with 350 million++ claim, she feels he is being irresponsible and she is disappointed in him

-Swayne falls asleep during debate apparently

-Bernard Jenkins says idea UK will change it''s mind on Brexit is absurd, says governments must expand pool of companies they outsource too

-Clarke calls the Commons pathetic for it's handling of Brexit bill

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-Dominic Carnell on Carillion, John Peinaar on this could change thinking, Robert Peston on the unusual method government have used to deal with the collapse

-Bush on Labour NEC elections

-Rafael Behr says we must prepare for third country status with EU

-James Frayne warns law and order is a rising issue and it could be a problem for government

-Abi Wilkinson on why people struggle with debt when they have low income

-Lord Ashcorft with his latest focus group

[Dong Zhou]

PMQ's: Starts late again. Corbyn went on Carillon, starting with why government kept giving them contracts when firm was clearly struggling. May says there would be mass bankruptcy if they reacted to every profit warning while explaining they had contingencies when it became a severe profit warning so public services would not be harmed, points out Welsh Labour and gave contracts to Carillon and Labour Leeds made them preferred bidder last week. Corbyn's "didn't sign a contract" with Leeds is weak then press on government contracts when share price was collapsing and three profit warnings, suggests government was either deeply negligent or trying to save the company. May points out there wasn't a question and sits back down, Corbyn says his negligent bit was a question (May should have acted as if it was, Corbyn shouldn't be angry about it because he didn't ask a question) then uses Tory MP's shouting to give a sharp rebuke about the concerns of the workers, Corbyn lists the clear signs of concerns and government should have been protecting money so why did they not have a crown representative at vital time. May is halted by a Thornberry heckle and delivers a decent putdown then gives a technical answer of who was giving oversight, Corbyn seems to admit there was oversight but clearly they didn't do a good job, points to Carillon getting lots of riches while the poor suffer, doesn't quite land that line with punch. Calls for the board to not get any more money, May says there seems to be agreements on private sector contracts, May dodges around the question but says they are trying to get answers into board fastracked, May makes point that it isn't government job to manage company but is a customer (referring to an earlier Corbyn point) and government ensures there was no public money bailout.

Corbyn on Carillon's notorious late payments to small business, May's answer is weak as she mentions it is an issue that has been going on ever since she was an MP and meetings by Greg Clark to all sorts being hit by the collapse. Corbyn says some small contractor has already had to cut jobs and then builds case of this being an example of a broken system like Virgin and Stagecoach getting rewarded for mismanaging, Atos and Acos continuing to wreck lives, G4S Olympic failures, it should go back to public service and public service ethos. May points out a third of Carillon contracts are from Labour, sets out defence of how government is handling the collapse and attacks Labour trying to roll back private sector and quotes McDonnell as business being the real enemy before "Labour putting politics before people.

A fiery and interesting PMQ's, would have been derelict of Corbyn not to go on this subject so faced a well prepared May. Corbyn was best with some of his unexpected questions and a good angry summary, he showed passion but found some of his points well dealt with. May had some good answers but also some weak ones, I suspect the tone could be a disaster as she seemed to treat this as a normal event so got good shots in but is Carillon's fall really the right time for that? Ian Blackford went on Brexit and what official advice she got at econimic impact of Brexit,, May says she is seeking good access+trade with others and constantly takes advice, Blackford says no econimic analysis for leaving single market 19 months later whereas SNP has two, raising the points it makes, May attacks econimic record of SNP like growth is poor. I feel this was wrong week to raise this from Blackford and May easily handled him.


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-Tracey Crouch becomes minister of loneliness

-Carywn Jones says he will protect Wales from the assault of devolution that is the Brexit bill

-EU tightens up negotiation guidelines, suggesting heavy restrictions on UK's freedom to decide on immigration, trade and fishing during transition

-President Macron wants UK to tweak immigration rules and seems set to sign another treaty on handling migrants with UK, says we would be welcome to return to EU

-NHS losing 1 in ten nurses a year now with more leavers then joiners

-Committee on Climate Change says to meet targets we need drastic improvement to housing standards and by 2030, 3/5th's of cars need to be electric, wood and plastics should be banned from landfill in order to re-use them, carbon capture needs to happen, more trees, farmers must do better

-President Junker says EU arms remain outstretched to UK if it wishes to come back, EU will keep funding cross-border peace projects in Ireland

-Taoiseach Leo Varadkar says he finds it hard to see that Good Friday agreement would have been signed without EU membership, Ireland is grateful, hard border is less likely after phase 1 but they must ensure no UK backsliding, wants a deep relationship as possible between EU and UK

-Farage says EU is conspiring with Clegs and Blairs of UK to make second referendum happen, he doesn't want one himself.

-Eyes on Interserve for fears it could be another Carillon though as I understand it, it's underlying finances are in considerably better shape

-Mordaunt urges Saudi Arbia to let Yemen ports be open

-Steve Baker says he expects Brexit not to be ratified till Commons and Lords agree

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-Lord Adonis fears the trickle down wider impact of Carillon's collapse could be as bad as Lehman brothers

-Ben Bradley apologises for 2012 blog post saying welfare claimant should have vasectomies, says he has matured since, then it was found he posted as a student in 2011 that public sector should stop complaining about pay. Labour says it exposes the nasty party but doesn't feel like this one is particularly sticking as yet (it will be intresting to see how people respond compared to O'Mara)

-Press enjoying Swayne seemingly sleeping during Clarke's Brexit speech, being teased by some MP's and even some teasing of himself

-Bayeux Tapestry to be displayed in the UK after France agreed it could leave France for the first time in 950 years

-Jared O'Mara is phasing in a return to work. Labour might be wishing he didn't

-Greening warns a Brexit that doesnt work for young may be unsustainable as young would seek to change it as they got power

-Christophe Bondy, senior counsel to Canada during Canada-EU free trade deal, says there will be trade barriers between UK and EU with EU dictating the rules, compares Brexit to blowing up a bridge, timetable is very scary,

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-Bush on the Ann Black ousting, Katy Balls alls it a sign of things to come

-Rebecca Lowe looks at what Keir Hardie platforms are still relevant today

-Gary Younge calls for no immigration controls at all

-Iain Watson on Labour internal changes

-Ayesha Hazarika warns only Corbyn's foes support deselection

-Alex Massie Sturgeon is in trouble