A very unsatisfactory non-answer to Simon Jupp’s question – Owl
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he plans to announce the successful local authority bids in the third tranche of the Active Travel Fund.
The Department intends to make an announcement on this matter very shortly
Sadly, looks like the slow death of Exeter’s “high street” to Owl
Exeter city centre has seen vast changes over the past few shops with many shops coming and going from independent traders to massive chains such as Debenhams, Topshop and House of Fraser.
Anita Merritt www.devonlive.com
The presence of them remains unforgotten in Exeter, especially because where they once stood still remains the empty shell of what once stood there.
This week, some welcomed good news was received with the announcement that after five years since Jamie Oliver’s chain Italian restaurant closed its doors in Princesshay, the independent owners of existing popular restaurant and wine bar Margoux in Mary Arches Street will be moving into it.
An opening date will be announced shortly, but it is hoped to be in late February or March when it launches as a restaurant and cocktail bar.
The fate of the city centre’s numerous other vacant shops remains unclear.
Ann Hunter, board director of Exeter Chamber and InExeter Business Improvement District (BID) manager said: “Exeter is a city bursting with culture and a huge variety of retailers from award-winning independents to new eateries.
“Compared to the national average, Exeter has a low high street vacancy rate. We’re seeing a number of innovative and High Street changing developments coming through which will continue to drive growth for the city.
“St Sidwell’s Point which brings a leisure offer to the heart of the city, together with Colson’s Parade bringing a hotel and hospitality, are among some of the new and exciting developments due to open this year.
“We also have new leisure and hospitality businesses in the pipeline, so it is a really positive and encouraging time for the city.
“Footfall remains very positive here in Exeter, although down slightly on 2019. However, the national high street average is down 25 per cent. We are therefore continuing to see many people enjoying our vibrant city and we encourage them to continue to do so in accordance to government guidelines.”
Here is a reminder of the shops Exeter has lost while hope remains that they could be taken over during 2022 to bring more visitors to Exeter:
Argos
Argos in Exeter’s Guildhall Shopping Centre (Image: Devon Live)
Among the shops to be hit by the coronavirus pandemic is Argos in the Guildhall Shopping Centre.
In September 2020, Argos wouldn’t confirm whether several Argos branches across Devon, including its Exeter city centre, would reopen.
It has remained closed and signage on the outside now directs customers to how they can shop online.
Gok Wan’s Bling
The former TV show setting of Gok Wan’s Bling (Image: Devon Live)
A sudden spark of three weeks of excitement was injected into the Guildhall Shopping Centre this summer when TV celebrity host Gok Wan took over the vacant unit opposite H Samuel.
The former home of The Works, which has stood vacant for a long time, was temporarily taken over by film crews after Exeter was chosen as the perfect location to host brand new daytime ITV series Bling.
Filming took place in a unit opposite H Samuel for the new ITV show Bling, hosted by Gok Wan (Image: Devon Live)
Gok and the first contestants arrived on Monday, July 12, to begin filming. Over three weeks they shot 20 episodes which have since been broadcast.
During his short stay in Exeter, Gok revealed he hoped the series would be making a return to could some more bling be brought back to life in the shop again?
The Boarding House
The former Boarding House and Animal shop (Image: Devon Live)
Established specialist BMX shop for bikes and parts, plus skateboards, snowboards and streetwear The Boarding House has moved to various locations in the city.
It recently relocated from Fore Street to the Guildhall Shopping Centre inside what was Animal. However, its stay there was short-lived and it moved to smaller premises opposite in Waterbeer Street.
The premises was the home of Surf shop Animal – a concession within Tony Pryce – until July 22, 2018.
Signs of a new lease of life are already evident with scaffolding erected around the building and signs of work going on inside.
Axe-throwing at a Boom: Battle Bar venue
In October, Devon Live reported how an application for a premises licence had been submitted to Exeter City Council, which could see a Boom: Battle Bar coming to the Guildhall.
As yet, Boom: Battle Bar’s official website is giving little away about the proposed Exeter venue other than saying that it’s ‘coming soon 2022’.
The quirky bars offer food, cocktails and an eclectic mix of fun games such as axe-throwing, skee ball, American pool and mini-golf.
Mr Simms Olde Sweet Shoppe
Mr Simms Olde Sweet Shoppe in Exeter (Image: Devon Live)
Mr Simms Olde Sweet Shoppe, the UK’s largest family of traditional sweet shops, opened its first store in 2004.
After five years in Exeter, Mr Simms Olde Sweet Shoppe relocated in January 2017 to its new home in Church Street, Sidmouth.
Sadly Sidmouth’s gain was Exeter’s loss because the shop in North Street remains unlet.
Store Twenty One
Store Twenty One in Exeter (Image: Devon Live)
The company went into administration in 2017, and the Exeter shop has remained closed ever since.
It also had branches in Honiton and Tiverton.
Nationwide, the chain employed more than 1,000 people and had around 125 high street shops.
Ladbrokes
Ladbrokes in South Street (Image: Devon Live)
Another pandemic casualty in the city centre is Ladbrokes which disappeared from its prominent position on the corner of South Street in 2021.
The betting chain had previously announced hundreds of Ladbrokes and Coral betting shops could be closed after a boom in online gambling during the pandemic.
Last March, Ladbrokes and Coral owner Entain said in its annual results this week that online earnings from customers betting through its smartphone apps and websites were up 50 per cent as users shifted online during the pandemic.
The Plant Cafe
The Plant Cafe (Image: Devon Live)
The independent vegetarian cafe in Cathedral Yard was a popular place to eat in Exeter for many years.
In October 2020, it was listed for sale for £119,000. It still currently remains on the market.
Before its closure, it was the subject of an investment. It provided 20 inside covers, and in excess of 30 alfresco covers, the latter of which proved very popular and valuable, in particular during the summer months.
The Edinburgh Woollen Mill
The Edinburgh Woollen Mill in Cathedral Yard (Image: Devon Live)
A long distant memory in Exeter is when The Edinburgh Woollen Mill, which faces Exeter Cathedral, was still trading.
A reminder of how long it has not been trading can be seen from its dilapidated sign which now has letters missing from it.
In 2020, years after its closure, it was announced more than 50 stores were to be closed and 600 jobs axed by the company behind Peacocks and Edinburgh Woollen Mill.
House of Tweed
House of Tweed (Image: Devon Live)
The specialists in creating luxurious handbags and accessories using bespoke designed tweed fabrics took over the former premises of Laura Ashley, but its time there was short-lived.
The womenswear and home furnishings retailer in the High Street was first turned into the Gift Company ahead of Christmas 2020.
Laura Ashley was one of a number of businesses that endured a prolonged closure following the Royal Clarence Hotel fire in October 2016.
Costa Coffee
The former Costa Coffee in Exeter High Street (Image: Devon Live)
A reminder of the impact of the Royal Clarence Fire is the coffee shop in the High Street which was located next door to Laura Ashley.
The building was damaged by smoke and water caused by the fire in the building behind.
It has never reopened. Costa Coffee confirmed it would no longer occupy the unit more than two years after the Royal Clarence fire.
It remains to let or with the option of possibly being bought.
L’Occatane
L’Occatane in Exeter High Street (Image: Devon Live)
Award-winning natural skincare, beauty and organic cosmetics products high street retailer L’Occatane had a prolonged closure following the outbreak of the Covid pandemic, but then announced in June 2020 it would be reopening – but at a new location.
It moved from its home in the High Street next to Waterstones to Princesshay where it remains today.
The unit in the High Street remains empty.
Las Iguanas
Las Iguanas in Queen Street, Exeter (Image: Devon Live)
In August 2020, it was confirmed that Exeter’s Las Iguanas would not reopen following a takeover of the company.
Casual Dining Group was taken over by The Big Table who have acquired the Las Iguanas, Bella Italia and Café Rouge brands.
It had already previously been announced Exeter’s Café Rouge will remain permanently closed.
However, the good news is that finally, a new lease of life is due to be injected into the premises. Last November, a notice on its window revealed the venue in Queen Street is set to be transformed into a Revolution bar.
Inventive Service Company Limited has applied to Exeter City Council for a licence to serve alcohol and play live and recorded music between 10am and 2am daily.
It is also applying to provide late night refreshment between 11pm and 2am daily with the premises looking to operate from 8am until 2.30am Monday to Sunday.
The Real Food Store
The Real Food Store by Exeter Central Station (Image: Devon Live)
The community-owned food store beside Exeter Central station announced it would be closing at the end of September after “weathering a few storms” in the 10 years since opening.
The Real Food Store competed with the big food chains to bring local produce into the city. But after having to move from its successful base in Paris Street, its finances were knocked sideways by Covid.
The store was evicted from Paris Street in 2018 to make way for the Exeter city centre bus station redevelopment.
Announcing closure, the store’s board said: “We are proud of our record in bringing local produce to the city centre providing you with an alternative to the national chains. But pride is not enough to sustain our business through the unprecedented challenges and changes we have faced over the past 18 months.”
Cafe Rouge
Cafe Rouge in Princesshay (Image: Devon Live)
After much speculation, in July 2020 it was finally confirmed that Cafe Rouge in Princesshay would never reopen after a prolonged closure.
High Street dining parent company Casual Dining Group plunged into administration with the loss of 1,909 jobs.
The restaurant was renowned for selling delicious French-inspired cuisine.
The Cove
The Cove in Princesshay (Image: Devon Live)
Tucked away at the bottom of Bedford Street, The Cove launched in 2010.
Since then it has diversified to offer a wide range of facial treatments, waxing (including permanent hair removal) alongside the classical treatments such as manicures.
It moved out of Princesshay into neighbouring Banrfiled Crescent and the shop remains vacant.
JD Sports
JD Sports in Princesshay (Image: Devon Live)
In June 2019, it was announced the national sportswear chain would be moving from Princesshay to take on units formerly occupied by Burton Menswear and Evans on the High Street.
It meant the branch of JD Sports in Princesshay, which replaced USC at the shopping centre in 2009, closed and it has remained empty ever since.
A spokesperson for JD Sports said at the time: “We are moving to larger premises which will let us present a fuller range of our products in the store.
“We have not got a confirmed date for the move and reopening, however, we anticipate it will be the first half of 2020.”
Debenhams
Debenhams in Princesshay (Image: Devon Live)
In January 2021, online fashion retailer Boohoo confirmed it had bought the Debenhams brand for £55 million and would relaunch the department store as an online-only operation.
Bosses said the deal, worth £55million, would not include saving Debenhams’ stores which would close for good as part of a structured winding down of the business.
The large Exeter department store in Princesshay reopened for a closing down sale – but then closed its doors for good.
Topshop/ Topman/ Selfridges
Topsham/ Topman/ Selfridges in Princesshay (Image: Devon Live)
Topshop was among those who did not reopen following the coronavirus lockdown, despite droves of hopeful customers peering through its windows for a flicker of life.
In February 2021, Asos confirmed it had sealed the takeover of Topshop and three other brands from the collapse of the Arcadia retail empire for £265 million.
The online fashion retailer bought the Topshop, Topman, Miss Selfridge and HIIT brands from administrators.
It meant Exeter’s store was among the shops that closed permanently as the brands become online only.
BrightHouse
BrightHouse in Sidwell Street (Image: Devon Live)
The rent-to-own high-street store went into administration in March 2020. The chain had stores across Devon and Cornwall, with outlets in Exeter, Torquay, Plymouth and St Austell.
It is believed to have closed after facing an influx of compensation claims for selling to people who could not afford to repay.
The firm had 200,000 customers and was the largest operator in the rent-to-own sector.
Rent-to-own customers make monthly payments for household items, in effect renting goods until they have paid in full.
The Sidwell Street site still has fencing outside the store to prevent rough sleepers from taking shelter outside the premises.
Timpson
Timpson in Sidwell Street (Image: Devon Live)
The shop which offered services from key cutting to shoe repairs closed in Sidwell Street, but customers can still go to its other location in the Guildhall Shopping Centre.
Sharps Bedrooms
Sharps Bedrooms (Image: Devon Live)
For many years a familiar sight along Sidwell Street was Sharps Bedrooms.
The nearest showroom is now believed to be Taunton. The business offers bespoke fitted wardrobes and home offices, with storage solutions tailored to customers exact needs.
Details of EDDC’s arts and culture strategy can be found here, including invitation to tender for strategy process with 18 January closing date – Owl
John Astley, local author and facilitator of Exmouth community in this week’s Exmouth Journal writes:
Readers of this column will be familiar with my pieces on art and culture. For example, ‘Problems with Art’ (June), ‘Champions of art and culture help connect communities’ (October) and ‘Art and Nature’ (November).
All of these pieces were linked to my role of Education Champion for Arts and Culture East Devon (ACED) which has made a good start in bringing together artists in the widest sense. to discuss their own practice, and crucially their role and how it is played in the everyday life of East Devon. You may know that EDDC has now taken this Arts & Culture initiative a step further by inviting responses to a call for tenders for the new East Devon Culture Strategy (go to the EDDC or Thelma Hulbert Gallery (Honiton) websites for details. The tender documents reiterate the aims. aspirations and priorities of the East Devon Culture Strategy:
I. Better homes and communities for all
2. Greener East Devon
3. A resilient economy
The documents, with quotes from Councillor Nick Hookway EDDC portfolio holder for tourism, sport. leisure and culture. emphasise the social and economic value of the arts and heritage industries to East Devon. This whole initiative raises many key questions about the nature of arts and culture, or perhaps that should be culture and the arts, in East Devon. There are some institutional arts and culture agents already established in that locality. but there are also a very large and diverse number of artists of many practices across our communities. Many of these individuals, and small scale organisations, are actively engaged in creating and promoting the arts within our communities. The diversity of artists who are currently members of the ACED network is impressive, and they bring a great deal to this new cultural strategy They are also looking forward to the successful implementation of the Arts & Culture strategy to help them to continue. and develop as practising artists.
At our most recent Network Forum meeting a good deal was said about the Creative Industries, which is a term that covers a range of economic activities which are concerned with the generation and exploitation of knowledge. information. and artistic endeavour across a wide spectrum. This approach reflects the idea that human creativity is the ultimate economic resource, on a personal and social scale. This seems to be at the heart of the EDDC strategy.
However. we also need to consider the idea of the Culture Industries: a more focussed generalisation of the way artists work within a range of everyday conditions that affect their practice. Are with talking about the solo painter or illustrator, the musician, the filmmaker, the dancer or singer, local galleries, the cinema, the local theatre groups and so on? They are all economically active, it is their labour and livelihood; but it is also their vocation, the way in which their aesthetic values drive them to do what they do.
So, the motives of those engaged with art and culture are inevitably diverse, with some practitioners and organisations being much more profit-driven than others. Many artists in East Devon have created a CIC or Social Enterprise. through which to do their work in a not-for-profit manner. Many artists are very wary of the manner in which the profit motive often trumps aesthetic values. The idea of Culture is also central to this arts and culture strategy because I would argue that ‘culture is ordinary’: it is the lived culture of a particular time and place, our everyday lives which includes our creative and artistic labour ‘Our’ culture also has a history to it, and usually with most artists. ideas about what a future social life should be like, could be like, given more leadership and encouragement. More opportunities. support and access to resources, and less bureaucracy!
So, all of these issues, ideas and arguments about aims, motives and the like, will need to be discussed, and decisions made in the most democratic way possible. Don’t be left out of this discussion!
Dominic Cummings’ claim of another rule-breaking No10 party to be investigated
ITV News www.itv.com
Fresh allegations made by Dominic Cummings of another rule-breaking Downing Street party will be investigated as part of the ongoing Whitehall investigation into claims of other such events.In a blog on Friday, Mr Cummings alleged a party took place in May 2020, around a week after the outdoor drinks gathering the Guardian pictured last year.
Boris Johnson‘s former top aide said an email was sent out inviting people to a “socially distanced drinks” event which he warned could break Covid regulations.
But the event “definitely happened” despite his protests, the former political adviser said, after he went home for the day.
ITV News Political Editor Robert Peston said it had been confirmed to him Sue Gray, the top civil servant appointed to investigate several parties allegedly held on Downing Street during the pandemic, will expand her investigation to cover Mr Cummings’ latest claims.
Mr Cummings said in a lengthy blog there would be an email chain linked to a senior government official Ms Gray could track down.
The government has previously denied that rules were broken on Downing Street during the pandemic.
It is also understood that the garden gathering reported by the Guardian which is said to have taken place five days before the event mentioned by Mr Cummings in his blog, will also be covered by Ms Gray’s inquiry.
Mr Cummings also claimed there was a party in the Number 11 flat shared by the PM and his wife Carrie on the evening he left Downing Street for good on November 13, 2020.
“Staff in the press office said they could hear the music playing loudly in the press office below (the press office is directly below the flat),” he said.
He added: “Officials I spoke to in 2021 said to me and others that there were various parties after I left and the PM was aware of them. I have also been told there are other photos of other parties against the rules in 2021, some picturing the PM.”
Claims by Mr Cummings add to at least 10 allegations of Covid-rule-breaking carried out by members of the Tory party during the coronavirus pandemic.
Despite the government’s denial that rules were broken on Downing Street during the pandemic, a leaked video released by ITV News showed Number 10 staff laughing about attending a Christmas party in 2020.
The video sparked swathes of new allegations and a number of resignations.
But Mr Cummings has insisted a gathering in the Downing Street garden where staff were pictured with cheese and wine during the first lockdown did not break rules and was not a party.
Mr Cummings himself can be seen in the image.
The former No 10 adviser said: “It is alleged by many that this shows ‘a party’, ‘rule breaking’ and so on. This is wrong.”
Following meetings that day, he said: “Someone brought a bottle of wine out to the table. It may have been Martin (Reynolds, who is Boris Johnson’s principal private secretary) but I think it was the PM himself who went inside as I was packing stuff up and brought out wine.
“We carried on chatting about Covid, about domestic priorities, and about how to sort out the Cabinet Office which had totally collapsed. Shortly after Carrie joined us.”
Mr Cummings said that No 10 staff were “encouraged” to meet in the garden between April and August because it was “safer” during the pandemic.
When asked about the image last month, the prime minister also said the image showed people working.
“Those were people at work talking about work,” Mr Johnson said.
“Those were meetings of people at work talking about work. This is where I live, it is where I work. Those were meetings of people at work, talking about work,” he added.
A Downing Street spokesperson also claimed the gathering was a work meeting and that Mr Johnson went back to his flat at 7pm.
Back in December, the prime minister’s spokesperson said: “In the summer months, Downing Street staff regularly use the garden for some meetings.
“On 15 May 2020, the prime minister held a series of meetings throughout the afternoon, including briefly with the then health and care secretary and his team in the garden following a press conference.
“The prime minister went to his residence shortly after 7pm. A small number of staff required to be in work remained in the Downing Street garden for part of the afternoon and evening.”
To put this grim milestone in perspective; these deaths number more than the entire population of East Devon (148,000 in 2020) – Owl
Miranda Bryant www.theguardian.com
More than 150,000 people have died in the UK from coronavirus since the start of the pandemic, according to government figures.
Britain on Saturday became the seventh country to pass the milestone after the US, Brazil, India, Russia, Mexico and Peru.
It comes after an additional 313 deaths were recorded, bringing the pandemic total to 150,057 people who have died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid.
However, separate figures published by the Office for National Statistics show there have been 174,000 deaths registered in the UK where coronavirus was mentioned on the death certificate.
In the past seven days, 1,271 people have died, a 38% rise on the week before.
It comes as an additional 146,390 Covid cases were reported on Saturday, bringing the overall total since the start of the pandemic to 14,333,794.
In the past seven days alone, 1,227,288 people have tested positive, according to official figures, marking more than a 10% rise on the week before.
Last January, the UK became the first European country to pass 100,000 deaths.
While the latest wave of the virus, driven by the Omicron variant, has not led to deaths rising as quickly as during previous waves, hospitals are under increasing pressure as admissions and Covid-related staff absences rise.
Earlier this week, Boris Johnson insisted England can “ride out” its biggest ever Covid wave “without shutting down our country once again”. But the prime minister admitted that parts of the NHS would feel “temporarily overwhelmed”.
While England is currently under plan b restrictions, which include mandatory face masks in most public indoor spaces and advice to work from home where possible, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have introduced tougher measures, including for socialising and events.
Across the UK, 18,454 people were in hospital with coronavirus on Thursday, according to government figures, a 40% week-on-week rise and the highest number since 18 February.
Well over 100 of the Conservatives’ 361 MPs are aligned with one or more of a string of internal pressure groups. Here are the main ones:
Peter Walker www.theguardian.com
Covid Recovery Group
Led by the former chief whip Mark Harper and the former Brexit minister Steve Baker, the CRG’s size and opposition to new Covid rules is essentially the reason why England has notably fewer restrictions than other UK nations. While informal in structure, the CRG has organised and disciplined messaging, employing an external PR consultant. Support estimated at 80 to 100 MPs.
Net Zero Scrutiny Group
Set up in the lead-up to the Cop26 climate summit, its members insist they are not climate emergency sceptics but believe policies such as emissions targets and the phasing out of conventional cars have not been fully thought out and will adversely affect poorer Britons. The NZSG has 18 MPs as public supporters and claims “many” more.
Common Sense Group
Partly based around culture war issues, and what its chair, the Tory backbencher John Hayes, terms a struggle against “subversives” such as Black Lives Matter and Extinction Rebellion, its 136-page policy booklet sets out ideas on everything from immigration to the legal system and family life. Sixteen MPs contributed to the booklet.
Blue Collar Conservatism
Originally launched by Esther McVey in parallel with her brief leadership bid to succeed Theresa May, with policies including redirecting foreign aid to domestic priorities, it boasts 159 MPs as official supporters including several cabinet ministers. However, it is less active in terms of openly agitating for policy change.
Northern Research Group
Led by the former Northern Powerhouse minister Jake Berry, this is a geographical faction aimed at boosting spending and investment in the north of England, north Wales and Scottish borders. More than 50 members.
All-party group on fair fuel
Very low key, and not officially a party faction, as it has two Labour members and one from the DUP. But it is Tory-dominated, and is arguably the most financially significant pressure group anywhere in the UK. It has been central to parliamentary and media efforts to keep fuel duty frozen for 11 years and counting, a policy that has cost the Treasury somewhere north of £100bn.
European Research Group
The model for the other factions. Set up in 1993, gradually moving from being the voice of Euroscepticism to that of hardline Brexiters. Hugely influential in the Commons revolts that saw off May’s limited Brexit compromises, and then ejected her from Downing Street. Largely quiet now, in part as many members have moved on to other pressure groups.
Chair of the East Devon Alliance, Martin Shaw, writes in this week’s Exmouth Journal
I hope you’ve managed to have a good Christmas despite Covid. I’m sure we’re all hoping that 2022 will be better than 2021. and I want to pick out some signs of hope for the new year.
But first we have to get through a very serious health crisis-without a responsible government to protect us. In the short term. the Omicron variant has up-ended much of the progress we were making towards normal lives. Its effects on people who’ve been vaccinated and/or had Covid seem to be less than previous variants on average, but because it’s far more infectious. far more people are getting ill.
The numbers being hospitalised are shooting up in London and the South West is likely to follow in the New Year. Local hospital, GP, ambulance and social care services are already under huge pressure. Omicron is adding a new wave of hospital Covid outbreaks which will take doctors and nurses out of action.
While I can’t emphasise enough that health professionals will always try to help you. and you should always call for help when you need it. we’re in a situation where you just don’t know whether the NHS will be able to respond adequately. Take extra care to avoid Covid, and indeed accidents or illness of any kind. Since the South West is behind London in this wave, we could have been saved much of Omicron’s effects if the Government had taken decisive action. Instead they’ve left it up to individuals – and largely abdicated responsibility for the workers and businesses who are financially affected. £6000 grants are better than nothing but they won’t stop many Devon businesses going under.
I suppose the good news with the fact that in 2021 most voters finally saw through Boris Johnson. In 2022. hopefully they’ll realise that Rishi Sunak, Liz Truss or any other Tory wouldn’t be much better. We’ve had eleven years of this party taking the country – and especially the South West – for granted. and enough is enough. Much fuss was rightly made of North Shropshire. where voters overthrew a bigger Tory majority than either of our MPs has. But do remember the sensible progressive politics that we have pioneered in East Devon.
Here, my East Devon Alliance colleague Paul Arnott heads an open and honest local administration. based on effective cooperation between EDA, the Liberal Democrats, Greens and Labour.
Hope can spring from small local beginnings, but it also needs to look out to the wider world.
2021 saw fine words agreed once more on climate justice we must make 2022 the year when these are turned into more radical policies.
2021 saw mass vaccination across the world – we must make 2022 the year that it is really brought to every town and village in every country We don’t know exactly where Omicron originated, but it was probably somewhere where vaccination rates are still very low.
Could next year be the year where we finally realise that none of us are safe until we all are?
2021 was the year where when we realised that Devon’s health, agriculture and university sectors – and the UK economy as a whole – are being progressively damaged by Brexit and the way it has driven away Europeans. Could 2022 be the year when we actually push the government to restore free movement and full UK access to the Single Market?
2021 was also the year when the public revolted against the cruel attitude which would condemn helpless refugees to drown in the Channel. Remember the huge surge in donations to the RNLI when they insisted they would always rescue people at risk in our waters?
In 2022. let’s press for genuine safe routes to allow people fleeing war and persecution to claim asylum in the UK without risking such dangers – and locally, support the admirable Ottery Refugee Response group. A very happy new year to you all!
In normal times, the absurd Jacob Rees-Mogg would have been regarded as, at best, a political curiosity, a self-consciously self-manufactured, affected toff who goes around with a plummy accent and double-breasted suit merely to goad members of the Labour Party.
Indeed, while David Cameron and Theresa May were running things that is precisely how Rees-Mogg was regarded by some. Not even the most junior of ministerial roles would be awarded to the young fogey. Now, in the post-Brexit world, it would seem, he is a power in the land, clashing with the prime minister and, most recently, the chancellor of the exchequer. The government looks, and is, deeply divided, and “JRM” is becoming the leader of the internal opposition within government.
With an almost admirable impertinence he reportedly argued with the UK chief scientific adviser about Covid, and derailed Boris Johnson’s attempt to extend plan B before Christmas. Johnson was reduced to asking how Rees-Mogg would answer questions about it at a Downing Street press conference. Rees-Mogg gamely replied that he’d ask the British people to be responsible. Perhaps he mistook Johnson’s challenge for an invitation to chair the next live media presentation.
Emboldened by the prime minister’s visibly draining authority, on Wednesday, it’s reported, Rees-Mogg had the audacity to challenge Rishi Sunak (and Johnson) about the scheduled rise in national insurance in the spring. He wants the increase scrapped, because of the cost-of-living crisis. His policy is similar to Labour’s, but he doesn’t mind about that.
It is mark of how weak Johnson has become that he is being pushed around by Rees-Mogg. It is a measure of how fractious the cabinet is that Sunak can be told to abandon a central plank of his fiscal policy by this elegant anachronism. The post Rees-Mogg occupies, leader of the House of Commons, is an ancient and honourable one, but in brutal political terms one of the positions a premier will give to someone they want to marginalise or humiliate, or both. It has been used by prime ministers to park troublesome critics. The very notion of a minister given his job (and the right to attend cabinet) for a laugh chucking his weight around with the PM and chancellor should be ludicrous.
It is not, of course, because JRM is a veteran fundamentalist Brexiteer, a former chair of the European Research Group, a Eurosceptic long before the careerist Johnson clambered onto the bandwagon. JRM has a fan club among the “Spartans” and the wider, substantial, body of Tory MPs fed up with Johnson behaving (in their eyes) like a horrific cross between Jeremy Corbyn and Greta Thunberg.
They see JRM, even more than the likes of Liz Truss, as their champion in cabinet; and they are right to do so. Rees-Mogg is part-high priest, part-shop steward, part-kingmaker for a large faction of the parliamentary Conservative Party, and it is no joke for Johnson.
It is strange. A child of the Sixties (the 1660s), Rees-Mogg fits exactly into the pantheon of past colourful parliamentary eccentrics with reactionary views, now largely forgotten figures such as Nicholas Fairbairn, Sir Gerald Nabarro or, in our own time, Michael Fabricant. Norman St John-Stevas, a now half-forgotten figure, was a similar personality, a parliamentary boulevardier and “wet” Tory who was retained by Margaret Thatcher on sufferance, until one too many of his private jokes about “The Leaderene” made its way back to her ears, and he found himself relieved of his light duties as leader of the House of Commons.
The difference now is that Rees-Mogg is unsackable, even after his disastrous scheme to save Owen Paterson did so much damage to the party. If and when Johnson is replaced, Rees-Mogg will survive and probably prosper. The throwback is here to stay and, for the time being, debates in the British cabinet are increasingly a battle of wills, if not ideas, between two posh blokes who went to the same school. Floreat Etona!
“There must be no bullying and no harassment; no leaking; no breach of collective responsibility. No misuse of taxpayer money and no actual or perceived conflicts of interest. The precious principles of public life enshrined in this document – integrity, objectivity, accountability, transparency, honesty and leadership in the public interest – must be honoured at all times; as must the political impartiality of our much admired civil service.” (Boris Johnson in his forward to the Ministerial Code 2019)
David Conn www.theguardian.com
The Conservative peer Michelle Mone referred a business to the Cabinet Office for potential multimillion pound PPE contracts before it had even been incorporated as a company, it has emerged.
The business, PPE Medpro, was fast-tracked by the government through its “VIP lane” for politically connected firms following the referral by Mone.
Within weeks of the company’s incorporation on 12 May 2020, PPE Medpro was awarded contracts worth £203m to supply millions of masks and gowns.
The Guardian revealed on Thursday that leaked files appear to suggest that Mone and her husband, the Isle of Man-based financier Douglas Barrowman, were secretly involved in PPE Medpro, despite both consistently denying any “role or function” in the company.
It has now emerged that Mone’s referral of PPE Medpro occurred five days before the company was formally registered.
Responding to a recent parliamentary question from the late Labour MP Jack Dromey, health minister Edward Argar said: “Departmental records indicate that Baroness Mone identified Medpro as a potential supplier on 7 May 2020 and highlighted this opportunity by email on 8 May 2020.”
Mone referred PPE Medpro to the office of her fellow Tory peer Theodore Agnew, a Cabinet Office minister responsible for procurement during the Covid pandemic. PPE Medpro was then added by Agnew’s office to the VIP lane, which analysis later showed gave companies a 10 times greater chance of being awarded a contract.
PPE Medpro was not incorporated in the UK until 12 May 2020, five days after the initial referral. The UK company was effectively a subsidiary of another PPE Medpro, registered in the Isle of Man on 11 May. The director of both companies was Anthony Page, who works for Barrowman’s Isle of Man-based financial services firm and runs his family office.
Lawyers for Mone, who ran a lingerie company before David Cameron made her a member of the House of Lords, have always said she “was not connected to PPE Medpro in any capacity”.
They also said she had no “association” with PPE Medpro, and “never had any role or function in PPE Medpro, nor in the process by which contracts were awarded” to the company.
Contacted on Friday, Mone did not respond to questions about why she referred PPE Medpro the week before the company had even been incorporated. Both Mone and Agnew have declined to say what, if anything, she disclosed about her own links to the company when she referred it.
A Cabinet Office spokesperson said Mone’s emailed referral is considered “private correspondence” that would not normally be publicly disclosed.
Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, wrote to Cabinet Office minister Stephen Barclay on Friday, expressing concern about “the lack of transparency around the award of significant sums of public money to PPE Medpro”.
“I would ask now that the government … commits now to place all correspondence and records relating to the award in the library of the House [of Commons] for parliamentary scrutiny,” Rayner said in her letter.
The timing of Mone’s referral of PPE Medpro also appears to be significant because it seems to have occurred days before the company had even secured the crucial business deal that enabled it to supply PPE to the NHS.
Documents seen by the Guardian suggest it was not until 11 May – the same day the Isle of Man PPE Medpro was registered – that the company secured its agreement with a London importing company, Loudwater Trade and Finance.
Under the terms of the business deal, documents suggest Loudwater promised to supply the PPE, whereas PPE Medpro appears to have committed to use its “extensive network to seek to secure … contracts with the NHS and other government bodies within the British Isles”.
It appears PPE Medpro undertook that commitment just days after Mone had made the referral to the Cabinet Office.
Documents seen by the Guardian also appear to show Barrowman was personally involved in setting up PPE Medpro’s deal with Loudwater’s director, Maurice Stimler, as well as related business matters.
Barrowman’s lawyers have also repeatedly distanced him from the company, saying he was not an investor, director or shareholder. They have said the Guardian’s reporting amounted to “clutching at straws” and was “largely incorrect”.
Mone’s lawyers have said the Guardian’s reporting is “grounded entirely on supposition and speculation and not based on accuracy”, adding: “She is under no obligation to say anything to you.”
They have also said that after she took the “very simple, solitary and brief step” of referring the company to Agnew, she “did not do anything further in respect of PPE Medpro”.
However, WhatsApp messages believed to have been sent by Mone in late June 2020, over a month after the referral, appear to show her discussing the gown sizes and purchase order details with a person in PPE Medpro’s supply chain.
The messages, which Mone appears to have sent shortly before taking off in a private jet, occurred shortly before PPE Medpro secured its second contract with the government.
Mone’s lawyers said she could not be expected to comment on “unknown and unattributable WhatsApp messages allegedly sent 19 months ago”.
Her lawyers have also refused to be drawn on why, according to a Financial Times report, Mone was in contact with officials as recently as February 2021, and appeared to be “incandescent with rage” over the treatment of PPE Medpro.
The government’s failure to enable local politicians to meet virtually is hampering councils, worrying older councillors and shutting out new participants, according to Jackie Weaver, who shot to fame thanks to a video clip of an ill-tempered council meeting 10 months ago.
Alexandra Topping www.theguardian.com
Weaver, who became one of the most unlikely breakout stars of 2021 after footage from the Handforth parish council meeting she was attending went viral, has issued the rallying cry amid fears that current high infection rates could hit participation in local politics hard.
In April the high court ruled that from May council meetings in England must take place in person – after coronavirus restrictions which allowed virtual meetings lapsed.
“It is completely unreasonable that we are having to cancel council meetings or hold them only in emergencies for goodness knows how long. Where is democracy?” said Weaver in an interview conducted, inevitably, over Zoom.
This week Lawyers in Local Governmentthe Association of Democratic Services Officers (ADSO) launched a petition calling for councils to be allowed to meet remotely because “they know best” what type of meetings work in their area.
After a tumultuous 10 months in which Weaver, the chief officer of the Cheshire Association of Local Councils, has played herself in the Archers, opened the Brit awards as “Weaver the Cleaver” and featured on Celebrity Mastermind, she is also calling for legislation that will, once again, allow council meetings to be held online.
The public can only hope that it will lead to more filmed exchanges like the Handforth meeting that gripped the nation in the dark days of last February’s lockdown, when Weaver was commanded by Aled’s iPad to: “Read the standing orders, read them and understand them!”
Weaver said: “Despite everyone and their cat and dog saying it should be local councils that are able to determine how they hold meetings, that legislation has lapsed and the impact is quite profound.
“Because of the demographics of many of our parish councils, we have a lot of parish councillors still very reluctant to attend. And should we even be encouraging attendance?”
She said the lack of virtual meetings was a blow to the government’s “levelling up” agenda, making democratic participation more difficult for those with caring responsibilities and disabilities. A recent Local Government Association (LGA) survey of councils, conducted before the emergence of Omicron, found that 72% had recorded a drop in councillor attendance at statutory council meetings and 73% had reported a fall in public attendance.
The LGA has called on the government to urgently bring forward emergency legislation, saying the gathering of up to 200 people in one room is an “unnecessary public health risk”.
James Jamieson, the chair of the LGA, said emergency legislation would help curb the spread of the virus and make sure “councils can continue to make democratic decisions, even during times of emergency”.
A spokesperson for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said it was considering a call for evidence on the matter, which closed on 17 June, and would be responding shortly.
Reflecting on the year that made her a particularly British type of hero, Weaver said that while she relished being given the “opportunity on a plate” to spread the word about the importance of local government, the line between Jackie the local government champion and Jackie Weaver the viral star had become blurred in recent months.
“I can’t say it annoys me, that just would be ungrateful,” she said. “But at the same time, it costs.”
But with the no-nonsense good humour that saw her booting several Handforth parish councillors out of the meeting during the infamous fracas – two have since stepped down – she brushed off any suggestion she was indulging in a “pity party”, expressing her dislike of moaners and admiration for people who get stuck in.
“People feel like the only way you effect change is from the top, and I don’t subscribe to that at all,” she said. “I think often we end up doing nothing, because we can’t change the world.”
As for her own future, after writing a book, You Do Have the Authority Here, based on her own wisdom, she “doesn’t have a plan as such” for this year beyond calmly carrying out her day job and continuing to bang the drum for local government.
“I hope that every time we’re coming up to elections, there is something that helps us capture ordinary people’s imaginations and makes them feel that they actually can make a difference,” she said. “For me, that is always the most important thing.”
According to Thursday’s Western Morning News: “The initial focus will be on restoring England’s water courses and helping native species to recover.”
By Claire Marshall www.bbc.co.uk
Farmers and landowners in England could be paid to turn large areas of land into nature reserves, or to restore floodplains, under new government agriculture subsidies.
When the UK was part of the EU, farmers were given grants based on how much land they farmed.
Following Brexit, the government has pledged to pay based on how farmers care for the environment.
But environmental groups say the new plans lack detail and may not deliver.
In what the government describes as “radical plans”, landowners and farmers will be allowed to bid for funding to turn vast areas of land – between 500 and 5,000 hectares – over to wildlife restoration, carbon sequestration, or flood prevention projects.
“What we’re moving to is a more generous set of incentives for farmers doing the right thing,” Environment Secretary George Eustice told the BBC.
“We can have both sustainable, profitable food production, and see a recovery for nature as well.”
Agriculture is a devolved issue meaning that each UK nation has its own plans. Wales, for example, has said its new funding scheme will promote environmental benefits and be in place from 2025.
Improving the environment
Under the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy, farmers were given taxpayers’ money largely based on the amount of land they farmed: the more land they held, the more cash support they got. In 2020 about £3.5bn was handed out.
Now the government says that instead of rewarding farmers for how much land they work, it wants to encourage farmers to introduce practices that improve the environment.
Farming creates 10% of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions, and large-scale agriculture has long been accused of degrading the environment.
Applications will shortly open for the first wave of “Landscape Recovery” projects. Mr Eustice said the scheme would lead to “fundamental land use change” creating new woodlands, restoring peatlands, and other “intensive interventions”.
The aim of these pilot projects is to create 10,000 hectares of restored wildlife habitat, which could help sequester carbon and restore England’s rivers and streams. Mr Eustice said he hoped it would lead to more large-scale rewilding projects like the Knepp estate in West Sussex.
But Craig Bennett, chief executive of the Wildlife Trusts, said the “golden opportunity” of the agricultural transition was in danger of being “wasted” .
“While we’re hearing the right noises from the government, the devil will be in the detail, and the detail is still not published nearly six years after the EU referendum,” he said.
James Robinson, a farmer in Cumbria with 300 acres of land, said it was difficult to judge the proposals because they still lacked detail.
“It will make a difference but we need action now. The way farming has been run for the last 40-50 years has been for field production at the expense of environment. We can’t keep going as we are, we need to make a change now, and as farmers we need to step up and make a change. But we also need government support to do that and it’s still not quite there yet,” he said.
There were also concerns among tenant farmers about how they could take part. George Dunn of the Tenant Farmers Association said: “Payments are being removed from tenant farmers in real time while we have a vague commitment for further work to be undertaken on how tenants can access schemes”.
Dr Alexander Lees, from Manchester Metropolitan University, said the schemes fitted well with the challenges of reversing declines in Britain’s most endangered species – those on the Red List. But the aspirations of the pilot seemed “simultaneously low and over-ambitious”, he said.
“It would seem very hard to reverse biodiversity loss for the ‘most threatened species’ in just 10,000 hectares,” he added.
“If we are serious, then we need to be racing towards the 300,000 hectare target as fast as possible.”
An additional plan, called the Local Nature Recovery scheme, will pay farmers to deliver on small-scale environmental priorities, such as “creating wildlife habitat, planting trees, or restoring peat and wetland areas”.
Mr Eustice said it was “about individual farms or groups making space for nature on part of their holding, perhaps creating water features on some of the less productive land, or hedgerows for breeding sites for birds.”
The government says, by 2030, the policy aims to:
Details of the broader Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI), which aims to support sustainable farming practices, were revealed in December.
The Wildlife Trusts, National Trust and RSPB were highly critical of the SFI plans, saying they were “deeply concerned” that they did not go far enough.
According to the Wildlife Trusts, the SFI allows 30% of arable soils to be left bare over winter, which is damaging to soil health. The standards also do not address the damaging impact of pesticides and artificial fertilisers on soil, it said.
It also claimed that farmers would be left to measure and assess their own management plans.
Mr Eustice said judging how successful the plan is would be a “complex” thing to do in the years ahead.
He said: “We’ve been running agri-environment schemes in one form or another for well over 20 years, and each of those have been evaluated. It may not be perfect, but we think it’s reasonably accurate. And you have to work on something.”
No 10 party inquiry to name ‘people in charge’
The official investigation into Downing Street Christmas parties will not blame the junior officials who organised them but will instead identify their bosses, Whitehall insiders believe.
Henry Zeffman, Oliver Wright http://www.thetimes.co.uk
Sue Gray, a former Whitehall ethics chief, took charge of the inquiry into alleged rule-breaking last month, shortly after The Times revealed that Simon Case, the cabinet secretary, who had been leading it, had been aware of a Christmas event in his own office.
The inquiry was primarily asked to look into claims that staff at No 10 held a party on December 18, 2020, when London was subject to severe restrictions, but will examine other alleged lockdown breaches too.
It has been widely reported that the December 18 event was organised by civil servants in a WhatsApp group. But Gray is much likelier to find fault higher up the chain of command, senior figures say.
“I don’t think she would reasonably expect an office junior to carry the can for senior people who ended up attending any events,” a source said. “I don’t think she is looking for scapegoats in that sense. If somebody junior was asked to do something that will be reflected, but it will be reflected who asked them to do it.”
Whereas Case’s inquiry was thought to be fairly close to publication before he recused himself, Gray is conducting extensive new interviews. One ally said she was surprised by the limited nature of the work she inherited from Case.
Gray has emailed more than a dozen people, including Downing Street officials, special advisers and departed staff. Some in government expect Gray’s report to be tougher than Case’s would have been. “I think she has to now deliberately go harder than Case because she’s so publicly associated with it,” a source said.
Gray was expected to interview Case in his role as cabinet secretary when the alleged Downing Street parties took place, although he is not accused of having attended them. It is not clear whether Gray has yet done so.
Several people present at the December 18 event have said there was cheese and wine, music and that it went on until 2am. No 10 has denied that it was a Christmas party.
There are suggestions that up to seven lockdown-breaking gatherings took place in November and December 2020. Gray’s investigation will also examine a reported leaving event for a No 10 aide on November 27, which was said to have been attended by Boris Johnson, and a party at the Department for Education. Sajid Javid, the health secretary, has said that Gray will be free to investigate other events.
Downing Street staff were also photographed drinking in the No 10 garden during the first lockdown in May 2020. The government has insisted that it was a work meeting. The Cabinet Office declined to comment.
Boris Johnson is facing fresh sleaze allegations after appearing to back a plan for a new “Great Exhibition” put forward by the Tory donor who funded his luxury flat redecorations.
The prime minister told Lord Brownlow he was “on the great exhibition plan” in a WhatsApp message in which he described his Downing Street rooms as “a bit of a tip” – and pleaded for more money.
Two months later, the donor joined a meeting with the culture secretary “to discuss plans for Great Exhibition 2.0” – a showcase of British innovation later renamed “Festival UK” – a government document revealed.
The link was exposed after Mr Johnson’s ethics adviser demanded to know why WhatsApp exchanges were kept secret in his probe into the controversial £142,000 refurbishment.
In a new letter to the prime minister, Christopher Geidt attacked the failure to pass on the messages – blamed on a change of mobile phone – as “extraordinary”, warning public faith in government had been dented.
He continued to conclude there was no breach of the ministerial code, but did not fully exonerate Mr Johnson, ahead of a further possible inquiry by the parliamentary commissioner for standards.
Lord Geidt expressed “doubt” on whether he would have found that the prime minister “took steps to make the relevant declaration”, had he known the full story.
Opposition parties demanded to know what Mr Johnson promised about an exhibition – after Lord Brownlow’s WhatsApp reply pledged to get the flat funding “sorted ASAP” and added: “Thanks for thinking about GE2.”
Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, alleged: “It appears that Lord Brownlow had access to the prime minister and culture secretary to discuss Great Exhibition 2 because he was paying for his luxury flat renovations.”
And Wendy Chamberlain, the Liberal Democrat chief whip, said: “It stinks of the worst kind of Conservative cronyism, with Boris Johnson seemingly happy to scratch his donor’s back to get his flat spruced up in return.”
Downing Street insisted the idea for “Great Exhibition 2” was “not taken forward” – arguing “Festival UK” was a different project entirely – but was unable to explain the differences between them.
Asked if the prime minister’s support was sought in exchange for “giving him some cash for the flat refurb”, the spokesperson replied: “No. This isn’t something that we’ve taken forward.”
It then emerged that, on 18 January last year, then culture secretary Oliver Dowden met with Lord Brownlow and Royal Albert Hall bosses “to discuss plans for Great Exhibition 2.0”.
Ms Rayner added: “No one should be able to buy access or exchange wallpaper for festivals. Boris Johnson has serious questions to answer.”
The new controversy comes on top of a stinging rebuke delivered by Lord Geidt for the failure to hand over the messages for his inquiry, which concluded in May last year.
No 10 admitted officials failed to take up Lord Brownlow’s offer to provide “all the material”, arguing it feared compromising a parallel probe by the Electoral Commission.
In his letter to his adviser, Mr Johnson agreed it was not “acceptable” that the Cabinet Office “at the very least did not inform you of the position they had taken”.
He offered a “humble and sincere apology” for what happened – but insisted he did not recall asking Lord Brownlow for the funds for the lavish refit of the No 11 flat.
Interviewed at a vaccination centre, the prime minister was asked if he expected people to believe he had forgotten to disclose key evidence simply because it was no longer stored on his phone.
“I followed the ministerial guidance at all times – and yes,” he replied, declining to expand on what happened.
The released messages revealed he told the donor: “Parts of our flat are still a bit of a tip and am keen to allow Lulu Lytle to get on with it,” referring to the designer whose wallpaper sells at more than £800 a roll.
Lord Brownlow funded the redecorations, as attempts to set up a blind trust faltered, before Mr Johnson finally settled the bill – standing at £112,000, with £30,000 met by the taxpayer.
The controversy was reignited when last month’s Electoral Commission report revealed the prime minister personally asked the peer for more funds, in November 2020.
Yet he told Lord Geidt that he knew nothing about the way the work was being funded until three months later, triggering accusations that the adviser was misled.
In his letter to his watchdog, sent on 21 December, Mr Johnson blamed replacing his phone number due to “security issues” – which meant he “did not have access to my previous device and did not recall the message exchange”.
I, For One, Welcome Our New Rees-Mogg Overlords
By Stephen Bush, political editor New Statesman go.pardot.com
Good morning. How should the government respond to the cost of living? The FT reveals that Jacob Rees-Mogg has told Boris Johnson that Rishi Sunak’s planned increase in national insurance should be shelved due to the inflationary pressures facing households – while yesterday in the House of Commons, Boris Johnson faced not-so-subtle calls from his own side to scrap green levies on energy bills and to prioritise the United Kingdom’s energy security.
Johnson’s preferred approach is to invest in renewable energy and in more nuclear power stations – rather than accede to the demand of some of his backbenches and in his Cabinet that the UK end its moratorium on fracking. Sunak is widely believed to have doubts about the government’s net zero strategy: but his aversion to further borrowing puts him at odds with the low-tax Conservatives who ought to be his closest natural allies. (It’s also true to say that most in the Cabinet think that the government should be willing to borrow more in order to avoid immediate tax rises.)
One thing that Rees-Mogg is surely right about: the combination of price increases and tax rises in April look like a perfect storm to make the 2022 local elections a very painful time for the country, and therefore a very painful set of contests for the Tory party, and of course, a painful time for Boris Johnson personally.
One advantage that Liz Truss has over Sunak in the leadership election we’re all pretending isn’t underway is that as Foreign Secretary she has an opt-out from all that. She can use her Women and Equalities brief to wade in or out of domestic policy when it suits her (and it’s a sign of which of the possible successors to him that Johnson favours that she still retains the Equalities brief) but she doesn’t have to get bogged down.
But her and Sunak both share a weakness which is that they are, broadly, from the same bit of the Conservative party and they are fighting for the same set of votes. Truss is using the Equalities brief to signal to the right of the party that she is not just an economic liberal like them, but she is aligned with them on (some) social issues too. Given Priti Patel’s well-advertised difficulties at the Home Office, there isn’t really an alternative candidate on the right of the party at the moment.
Except, of course, if Rees-Mogg’s willingness to intervene on difficult issues like tax-and-spend means that he emerges as the most authentic hope for the party’s right flank. And that’s another looming problem for Boris Johnson: his political weakness means that everyone in the Cabinet will, increasingly, be thinking not of how best to advance under him, but after him.
[Just dream of “fizz with Liz” – Owl]
Boris Johnson forced MPs to show up in parliament to make it look like his support is more solid than it is, sources claim.
Catherine Neilan www.businessinsider.com
Some of Boris Johnson’s own MPs told Insider they were “dragged” into parliament today in a ruse to make it look like the UK prime minister is in full command of his party when in fact his grip over them is slipping.
Conservative backbenchers were strongly encouraged to attend the first session of prime minister’s questions (PMQs) of the year. MPs were also told that party whips had ordered a three-line whip on a vote at 10 p.m. on January 5. Such a measure is usually reserved for controversial votes, meaning they must vote unless there are exceptional circumstances.
It was the first time lawmakers have gathered since Johnson’s Conservatives lost the safe seat of North Shropshire, following a slew of headlines about senior Tories failing to follow pandemic rules they required the rest of the country to obey.
The constituency, previously represented by Owen Paterson and other Conservative MPs dating back to the 1830s, was lost to the Liberal Democrats in one of the biggest political upsets of living memory. Paterson was forced to resign after it was reported he breached parliamentary rules while acting as a paid lobbyist for the healthcare company Randox, which won roughly £490 million in no-bid contracts from the government in 2020.
Over the Christmas break, successive polls suggested Johnson’s popularity continued to decline amid further allegations that he and members of his government held parties in Downing Street in 2020 after asking the rest of the country to cancel their Christmas gatherings to stop the spread of coronavirus.
A three-line whip is suddenly dropped
While it is not unusual for a sitting government to order an en masse demonstration of solidarity, the fact that some Conservatives complained about it afterwards demonstrated the fragility of Johnson’s support among some members of his own party.
This afternoon saw standing-room-only at PMQs in the House of Commons as Johnson was challenged by Labour party deputy leader Angela Rayner on the rising cost of living. This was followed immediately afterwards by the prime minister giving an update on Covid-19 to a packed Commons chamber.
Shortly afterwards, the three-line whip on the otherwise unremarkable public sector pensions and judicial offices bill was dropped.
Angry MPs told Insider there was no reason for the original order. One suggested it was because “they [Number 10] wanted us all here for PMQs and the statement”.
‘A sure sign of a PM in trouble’
But the Tory politician claimed the move had provoked suspicions among colleagues that they had been used. “Not a good one for morale at the start of the year,” he said.
One former minister also told Insider the plan had backfired, saying: “They dragged us in just to sit behind him at PMQs … it has upset a number of the 2019 intake [new MPs who won seats in the last election]. The mood in the tea room is not good.”
Asked if they thought it was a ruse, one MP replied: “exactly that.”
Another added: “We were all strongly encouraged to be in for PMQs — a sure sign of a PM in trouble.”
Number 10 was contacted for a comment but did not immediately respond.
New suit. New hair. Same lies. Well, not the same ones actually. There were new lies too. There always are. Whatever the subject, whatever the question, the prime minister will find a way to lie about it.
www.msn.com Tom Peck
At this point it would be apposite simply to rename the weekly House of Commons sessions “Prime Minister’s Lies”, if only for the acronym. What did you do this week? PMSL at PMLs. It is the only psychological coping strategy.
Angela Rayner had to stand in for Keir Starmer, who – 24 hours after his most recent relaunch –has tested positive for Covid and has had to self-isolate for what is understood to be the eighty eighth time.
Starmer rules the Labour Party in much the same fashion as King John VI of Portugal, when the royal court was formally transferred to Rio de Janeiro; the only difference being Starmer’s Rio de Janeiro is his upstairs back bedroom.
Anyway, back to the lies. Angela Rayner had the temerity to tell the prime minister he had claimed, in October, that fears about inflation were “unfounded.” “I said no such thing,” he replied.
The world moves pretty fast, these days. So naturally, by the time he had sat down, the clip of him saying this exact thing, in a television interview on Sky News, had resurfaced. “People have been worried about inflation for a very long time, and those fears have been unfounded,” Johnson said then.
So, you know, just another one to add to the ledger there. Another blatant lie, breezily told at the despatch box of the House of Commons.
Not that long ago, the Labour MP Dawn Butler got into a tremendous amount of bother for calling Boris Johnson a liar in the House of Commons and refusing to withdraw the remark, arguing that to withdraw it would be to tell a lie herself. Everything, in the end, must be degraded to Johnson’s level.
Rayner also asked him about rising energy bills, and specifically his promise, made in the EU referendum campaign, that “energy bills will be lower.” He said this in a column in The Sun newspaper, featuring not only his byline but also a little graphic of him dressed up as a musketeer.
This was also raised at the Downing Street press conference on Tuesday night. Johnson’s answer, frankly, a lie for the ages. Not a blatant lie, but a misrepresentation so ridiculous as to be far worse.
The promise, made in 2016, that energy bills would be lower was, of course, itself a lie, in the sense that it was a promise that could never, ever be kept. But underlying it was a vague truth – that the EU does not allow member states to charge less than 5 per cent VAT on fuel bills, and outside the EU the government could scrap this charge.
Leave won that vote, you may recall, and five years later, the man who wrote, very clearly, that “energy bills will be lower” is now the prime minister; there’s an unprecedented energy crisis and he’s not done the thing he said he would do.
Having been so hopelessly exposed, Johnson’s only response is to blame remainers. He claimed on Tuesday night that it is “paradoxical” for anyone who voted to remain to expect Johnson to keep the promises he made. He told Rayner the same. That expecting him to do what he said he would do and cut VAT on fuel, was “effrontery”, it was “bare-faced cheek.”
He made a promise on Brexit. He won. He’s now the prime minister. He’s broken it and, in his golden-wallpapered world of lies and absolutely nowhere else, this is, apparently, evidence that “Labour can’t be trusted on Brexit.”
And this, yet again, is the remarkable thing. Why isn’t he any better at this lying business? Having told as many as he has, for as long as he has, can he not see that he really can’t get away with claiming that his own lies are proof that someone else can’t be trusted?
And the answer is no. He can’t. And it’s why his party, and his country, have very clearly seen through him, as everybody who’s ever known him does in the end. The precise circumstances and the intricate details might not be clear just yet, but the outcome will be the same. It will end as it has done every other time before – with Johnson kicked out of the house.
Millions of patients will suffer worsening quality of care unless ministers take immediate action to alleviate the staffing crisis engulfing the NHS, health chiefs have warned.
Andrew Gregory www.theguardian.com
The NHS Confederation, which represents the whole healthcare system, is tonight calling for a range of new measures to be implemented in the NHS in England to help overstretched hospitals and struggling ambulance, mental health, community, GP and social care services cope with “widespread” shortages of medics and health workers.
Tens of thousands of medical students should be deployed on to wards and other healthcare settings, NHS and social care staff must be granted priority access to lateral flow and PCR tests, and the self-isolation period should be reviewed to see if it can be slashed from 10 days to five, as has happened in the US and France, it said.
The call came as growing numbers of operations are being cancelled, with more than 20 NHS trusts declaring an “internal critical incident” in recent days as they struggle to cope with the intense Covid pressure. It emerged on Wednesday that at least four more NHS trusts have taken that step, the highest form of alert any hospital can issue, as had the entire NHS in Norfolk.
NHS staff absences have now spiralled to double what they normally would be at this time of year, and 17,276 people are in hospital in the UK with Covid – up 58% in a week – as Omicron continues to put “enormous strain” on every part of the health service, the NHS Confederation added.
The absence of tens of thousands of staff is already having a “detrimental” impact on the ability of the NHS to provide healthcare, it warned, and said that, without further measures, the staffing crisis “threatens the quality of patient care”.
Given the worsening situation, there should also be “explicit acknowledgment” from the national regulators that clinical tasks “might need to be allocated in ways which would not normally be recognised as best practice”, the NHS Confederation said.
Matthew Taylor, its chief executive, told the Guardian that in the last 24 hours hospital bosses had become “extremely concerned” about the widening ratio of staff to patients.
Boris Johnson insisted on Wednesday he was right not to take any further action.
The prime minister told MPs the cabinet had agreed to keep the existing plan B restrictions and ease travel testing rules. He also confirmed plans being implemented across the UK to end the requirement for confirmatory PCR tests for asymptomatic people who test positive using a lateral flow device (LFD).
An estimated 3.7 million people in the UK had Covid in the week ending 31 December, the highest number since comparable figures began in autumn 2020, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said. In England one in 15 people in private households had Covid-19, according to ONS estimates. The level is one in 10 in London.
A further 194,747 lab-confirmed Covid-19 cases were recorded in the UK as of 9am on Wednesday, while 334 more deaths were recorded – although this figure includes a backlog of hospital data from England since 1 January.
“It’s clear that we are facing a staffing crisis in the NHS, with a number of hospitals telling us they have around 10% of their staff in self-isolation or on sick leave for other reasons,” Taylor told the Guardian. “This is pushing up the ratio of staff to patients to levels hospitals are extremely concerned about.
“The prime minister’s attempts to reassure the public that the NHS is not being overwhelmed will not chime with the experience of staff working in some parts of the NHS. The government now needs to do all it can to mobilise more staff and other resources for the NHS to get through this extremely challenging period.”
While he welcomed Johnson’s announcement that 100,000 critical workers will get direct access to testing from next week, the move “does not go far enough”, Taylor said, and NHS, social care and other key workers should also have “priority access” to tests.
He said there was “merit” in reviewing the self-isolation period “to see if the evidence supports a halving of the period to five days”. “We also need other short-term measures, including deploying medical students on wards and taking other steps to cover rota gaps,” he added.
All of Greater Manchester’s 17 hospitals have postponed non-urgent surgery. Its healthcare system will not necessarily be able to “ride out” the wave of Omicron infections, the mayor, Andy Burnham, said, with the number of Covid patients in the region’s hospitals almost tripling in the past two weeks, from 346 people to 1,020.
Cara Charles-Banks, the chief executive of the Royal United Hospitals Bath trust, one of those to declare an internal critical incident, said it had done so on New Year’s Eve “due to ongoing pressures caused by both Covid and non-Covid patients, sickness among our staff and availability of beds.”
University Hospitals Dorset, which runs acute hospitals in Bournemouth and Poole, is preparing to cancel some routine operations after also declaring a critical incident. On Wednesday Poole hospital had only four free beds while Bournemouth had 25.
The same level of sickness absence prompted West Suffolk hospital to join the lengthening list of trusts declaring an incident. Both the acute trusts which provide care to people in Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire also declared an internal critical incident over the bank holiday weekend.
The chief executive of one trust in the north of England said it has had to scale back non-urgent surgery after the number of Covid inpatients it is treating soared by 80% since Christmas Eve.
“We are doing priority one and priority two surgical cases, with others having to be cancelled,” the chief executive told the Guardian. Their trust is also redeploying staff because 10% of frontline personnel are off sick.
“The NHS runs hot all of the time so it doesn’t have the reserve for extraordinary events. Something has to give and, as in previous waves, it will be the care that can be delayed and it will be the goodwill and potentially the wellbeing of staff.”
Another broken promise
East Devon Watch 