His role as Leader of the House of Commons has given Jacob Rees-Mogg ample opportunity to cultivate his persona as a pantomime toff from the pages of P.G. Wodehouse, which he has worked on assiduously since his prep school days. And his Conservative colleagues are only too eager to assist the member for North Somerset […]
As a Yeovil resident and writing in a personal capacity rather than as a county councillor, Oliver Patrick has asked his MP Marcus Fysh to forward a letter to Jacob Rees-Mogg – the new Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. In the letter Oliver says he has “grave concerns” over the way […]
I read with interest the Peter Roberts article you published on 16 April, a ‘letter’ to Jacob Rees Mogg asking him not to make his usual Easter Tweet. As we all know, he went ahead, quoting from the Easter liturgy: “Christ is risen, Alleluia. He is risen indeed, Alleluia, Alleluia.” As a practising Catholic, I […]
Any parallels drawn between Lee Majors’ six-million-dollar man of the 1970s and Jacob Rees-Mogg’s six-million-quid man of the 2020s can only be for the purpose of highlighting polar opposites. While the six-million-dollar man was intent on doing good, six-million-quid man — let’s call him “Squid” for short — seems wholly focused on filling his boots […]
The government’s proposed amendment comes to parliament 8 November and was sneaked out late on Friday night in an attempt to bypass scrutiny. It would allow water companies to claim compliance with the law if they reduced outfall by 1/1,000 a year. Not good enough. As Feargal Sharkey said of the amendment “it will allow […]
When I was at university in the US, a pre-med student, thinking that all Europeans were into high culture, decided to take me to the opera to impress me. That was a night of firsts: our first date, our first opera and our first encounter with the unforgettable character of Tartuffe. I say ‘our’ first […]
Self-professed man of faith gave an interesting demonstration of Christian charity yesterday when he took a pot shot at UNICEF. The government he represents appears to be in denial about the record levels of child poverty, but does not take kindly to being forced to confront the truth by the likes of Marcus Rashford and, […]
“As regards testing, one has to be reasonable,” droned the leader of the House of Commons, Jacob Rees-Mogg, otherwise known as the member for the seventeenth century. “Instead of this endless carping, with people saying it is difficult to get them, we should be celebrating this phenomenal success of the British nation in getting up […]
You could be forgiven for feeling exhausted. Since the general election in December 2019 – in itself a tiring and dispiriting event – it seems as if bad news, government incompetence and poorly judged behaviour have been relentless. When Boris Johnson dreamed of being “World King”, is this the type of prime minister (PM) he […]
On Jan 8, Sky News launched its new Westminster Accounts project with Tortoise Media. Together they have created an interactive database which makes the information reported to the Register of Members’ Interests more easily accessible so that we can really see who is receiving what sums and from whom, whether it’s in the form of […]
If I was asked to sketch a typical Tory minister, they would probably look a lot like Jeremy Hunt. That probably means there’s something reassuringly establishment about JH which is doubtless settling a lot of the country right now after the financial shocks of the last few weeks. But who is the new chancellor? Look […]
Naples. Day Three. Gets me every time. A whole week this time to gulp the fumes, walk the gorgeous bashed-up steep streets all day, drink meloncello and queue up at Michele’s L’Antica Pizzeria. The churches, the paintings, statues, the Capella Sansevero. The gorgeous smell of laundry in the San Giuseppe neighbourhood. The sudden wealthy Chiaia […]
Yesterday [6 September 2022] was bad. It was, in fact, very, very bad. If Johnson was a disaster, Truss has set out to be worse. Richard Murphy very much doubts that any prime minister has set out to create so many conflicts from the outset of their premiership in the way that Truss has. The […]
I have been a Tory supporter since I was a child. My parents were as Tory as they come, our home hosted MP surgeries. Our front room was often piled high with election literature and envelopes. That is my dad in the photo. I have had the privilege of meeting three Prime Ministers: Macmillan, Heath, […]
A richly scatological analysis of the parlous state of our domestic politics by multi-award-winning author, A L Kennedy. This article first appeared as Handgranaten gefüllt mit Dummheit in Süddeutsche Zeitung I know, it’s mystifying. Popo, our killer clown, the dog turd on our national mantelpiece – why is he still Prime Minister? The answers to that question reveal […]
Dear West Country Voices, Boris Johnson has been a good thing for this country, and no, don’t worry, I haven’t gone totally insane after years of gaslighting and government lies, so please hear me out. He has been so awful that he has finally and fully shown that the current parliamentary system based on “gentleman’s […]
This would be a powerful piece on any day of publication but coinciding as it does with the anniversary of that law-breaking party in Downing Street and the very day that author Dr Pam Jarvis’s brother died it has additional heft and poignancy. My mother, who died in February, was born into a generation raised […]
There is something familiar about Brexit ideology, and what’s alarming is that the ‘something familiar’ consists of philosophies and slogans that were debunked decades, even centuries ago… On closer inspection, it looks as if five of the most prominent Brexiters have become ‘modern’ Victorians. Yarn-spinner Hannan Daniel Hannan, who metaphorically speaking has wet dreams about […]
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The wealthy market fundamentalists who fund the right-wing think tanks have different objectives from the UK population as a whole. These think tanks propose such policies as abolishing the NHS, allowing slums with substandard housing to ‘solve’ the housing crisis, slashing benefits to pensioners in order to reduce taxes and letting the climate crisis go unchecked. The UK population as […]
With so many leadership changes and policy U-turns, it is hard to keep track of the promises on which the Conservatives were elected to government in 2019. I have had a detailed look back at their 2019 manifesto; it’s hard for voters to have a clear line of accountability, with weekly “rebrands”, “resets”, and “relaunches”. […]
The statistics keep coming. 14 years of Tory rule leaves us with eight per cent of pensioners failing to eat regularly because of heating costs and other bills. Nine kids in any state school class of 30 are living in poverty (defined as family income below 60 percent of the national average). The Government has allocated […]
The Week In Tory is a whopper, so I’ll do the promo thing first: “Four Chancellors and a Funeral” is out on 21 March; and please support “Tories: The End of an Error”, currently being written. And now, for your pleasure, an 84-point torrent of awfulness… I’m not saying things are getting a bit reactionary, […]
When you wake up on the morning of 5 November, you can reasonably expect fireworks during the evening. This year, they may arrive somewhat earlier, if it turns out that the United States has just elected Donald Trump for a second spell as president. Add to the mix that the UK may also be in […]
Whether you are for or against the refugee exchange scheme known as the Rwanda Plan, the Rwanda Safety Bill is a dangerously bad piece of legislation. Christmas is when we celebrate the birth of the most famous refugee in all history. Setting aside the irony of the PM getting hot and bothered at this time […]
Suella Braverman’s ‘exit’ letter to prime minister Rishi Sunak was a bombshell, but perhaps not in the way she intended. After the usual platitude of it being a privilege to have served as Home Secretary and a list of what she considers to be her achievements, she made some jaw-dropping admissions. First, she reminded Sunak […]
Warning: contains strong language. Somehow, it’s time for #TheWeekInTory again, even though it’s still only Monday. Four more days of this week to go, and we’re already up to 74 points. F*ck-a-doodle-doo! Anyway, do a quick snort of glue, and then let’s get stuck in. 1. Suella Braverman took a break from kidnapping dalmatians to say […]
I apologise, but try as I might, I can’t find any material for #TheWeekInTory. Only kidding. It’s an absolute casserole. Let’s down a pint of absinthe and get stuck in. Also – trigger warning. [Contains strong language] 1. We begin with the Covid inquiry, which revealed the shocking news that everything we all knew three years […]
Delighted to be publishing Russ again. This episode of the week in Tory is a cracker. Contains strong language. 1. Britain faces a crisis in health, education, farming, energy, housing, childcare, social care, imports, exports, manufacturing, services, debt, growth and infrastructure, so Rishi Sunak announced his grand plan to slightly alter A-Levels. 2. As Sunak finished […]
You will need to be on top of the Tory horror show to get every reference in this thought-provoking piece from Richard Haviland, but even if you aren’t, you’ll soon pick up the theme: the casual cruelty, bigotry and hypocrisy of this government and its ministers. In another life, a man with a security fetish […]