Labour drew the wrong conclusions from the Gorton&Denton by-election but it’s quite funny that the lesson Reform took from it was, “People will elect a plumber.”

No Green or Lib Dem 🤷‍♂️

He has to sit now because he can’t stand for an extended time. And if he sits, he falls asleep. This is happening every time now. It’s not “blinking” it is a sick, sick man who is slipping further every day. mdavis19881.substack.com/p/if-they-ar...

Built 1361. Repaired 1631… just wow.

The official probably also increasingly strained.

🫡 to Cambridge.

The Blair diatribe is not regarded as ‘serious’ or ‘excellent’ by anyone. He’s totally out of touch. That’s why Labour does not back him. But it’s Interesting that Shrimsley thinks that Blair is a potential Tory agenda. They are already there: end NZ, back Trump, cut welfare, stop the minimum wage…

Quite how Alan Milburn is or was a ‘serious politician’ is unclear. His post-politics employment has been with private health interests in the NHS. He’s only interested in what he can get out of creating turmoil.

Gotta hand it to the (former) Trotskyites, they’re always organised. Certain PMs excepted.

I can’t help thinking that the NEETS story is another problem that the media forgot about for 14 years and have suddenly rediscovered it @mrjamesob.bsky.social we are now seeing the effects of austerity and Tories stripping out things like Sure Start has had a long term damaging impact.

In 2015, Milburn criticised Labour's health plans to limit private sector involvement in the NHS. He was criticised for doing so while he had a personal financial interest in private health sector. Yet In 2025, he was asked by Starmer to look at the almost one million 16-24 yo NEETs in the UK 🤷‍♂️

In 2013 Milburn joined PwC as Chair of PwC's UK Health Industry Oversight Board, to assist PwC in growing its presence in the health market. He chaired the European Advisory Board at Bridgepoint Capital, which finances private health care companies providing NHS services.

Milburn, an IMG supporter in his youth, is now an angry old Tory. He agreed to ‘advise’ Cameron’s coalition after stepping down as an MP in 2010. He backed education vouchers in place of state education. He was appointed by Cameron to Chair the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission.

Don't let them make out that #UC is the reason kids aren't working! 👇

NARRATOR: no it isn't. Most of the economy is the ordinary stuff that is always there. But these tweets are fun to write.

🇪🇺 EU will demand that Russia limit its armed forces, — Kallas She also noted that the European Union will demand the withdrawal of Russian troops from Moldova, South Ossetia and Abkhazia in Georgia.

In more Spanish Political Corruption Claims News: “Today, coincidentally, former minister Fernández Díaz testifies in the Kitchen trial accused of being the X of the dirty war of the PP party”

He cant do anything successfully..........

Asked how it would be possible to sack more planners than existed, a Reform spokesperson said, "Our number stands." I shit you not.

Reform's plan: sack 450 planning officers to make planning more efficient. Small problem: there are only 445 planning officers in the whole country. So they're going to employ 5 more, just to sack them? Or maybe they're just idiots. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Reminder: Russia was at war with the Taliban forerunners from 1979-89. But now they get along better.

Blair is completely at sea in the world of now. His world was a much more benign place with vastly fewer existential terrors.

But though he aims it at Labour, he could more usefully have aimed it at Farage. For, as he might in the past have put it, the choice at the next GE won't be between Labour as it is and the Labour of your dreams, but between the Labour Party as it is and the Reform Party of your nightmares. 2/2

'A Reform UK spokesperson said: “It has been reported to the relevant authorities. It would be inappropriate to comment further while investigations are ongoing.”' It would be inappropriate to tell you which authorities we consider appropriate or what investigations are being carried out. #R4Today

Mr Eyre isn't very diplomatic about Trump - Iran has lost militarily and won the strategic war. Trump's no good at "phase 2", but very good at moving on to another topic. "Best case" will be roughly equivalent to the JCPOA. The one thing Trump doesn't want to use is carrots. #R4Today

"... the board’s financial fund set up by the World Bank has received no money from donors... the board has received donations directly via its JPMorgan account... No progress has been made..." #R4Today

NEETs is a Blair era term. We are going round in circles…

Trump Latest ‘Peace Deal’ - latest: there isn’t one!

The U.S. has put UN Palestinian expert Francesca Albanese back on its sanctions list. A court had earlier ordered her removed from the list but a US appeals court has now stayed that ruling. www.reuters.com/world/europe...

Europe is stepping up Ebola screening for passengers arriving from Congo. More than 900 suspected cases of Ebola have been reported in Congo, with at least 223 deaths. The actual number of cases is expected to be far higher. Uganda has reported seven cases. www.politico.eu/article/euro...

“The key question is where the PSOE Sanchez coalition with his parliamentary partners stands. So far, there is no sign of an outright rebellion. Polls suggest that in a general election the PP (People’s Party 😆) would win and could form a majority with far-right Vox party”

“Opposition leader Feijóo’s demands that Sánchez call a snap election are predictable but supported by former PSOE PM Felipe González and the PSOE president of Castilla-La Mancha, Emiliano García-Page, both regular Sánchez critics.

“In a fourth ‘lawfare’ case, since 2024, a judge has been zealously investigating the business affairs of Sanchez’ wife, Begoña Gómez. Also, Sánchez’s musician brother, David, is currently on trial in Badajoz, accused of influence peddling in his 2017 appointment to a musical director post”

“In November, attorney general, Ortiz, was found guilty of making public the tax affairs of the boyfriend of Isabel Díaz Ayuso, the populist PP Madrid Mayor, who had committed tax fraud. No direct evidence against Ortiz was presented, yet he was barred from office for two years” This is ‘lawfare’

“Yesterday, police seized documents from PSOE HQ in Madrid to ‘probe allegations’ that party money was used to pay journalist Leire Díez to campaign to undermine legal cases affecting the government and its allies. She denies wrongdoing & is being investigated for misuse of public funds”

“In a separate allegation, transport minister Ábalos has been on trial, alongside his former adviser, Koldo García and businessman Víctor de Aldama, accused of taking kickbacks from purchase of €50 million-worth of Covid face-masks. A verdict is yet to be given”

“An investigating judge suspects former PM Zapatero of ‘leading a criminal network that used his influence’ to secure a €53 million Covid-era government bailout for Plus Ultra airline in 2021. “Zapatero, investigators allege, received a €2.6 million payment” www.politico.eu/article/scan...

NATO is scrambling to fortify a windswept Swedish Baltic island: one of the alliance’s most exposed front lines against Russia. Gotland sits just 300 kms from Russia’s heavily militarised exclave of Kaliningrad. Around 18,000 troops from 13 countries train there. www.politico.eu/article/nato...

Except it isn't what he did in government! He raised spending massively, raised taxes, increased welfare spending, increased immigration and was pro-EU integration. Now he's against all those things.

Thought experiment: what, if anything, would Tony Blair and George Osborne disagree on?

The fact that some people were trying to argue after this that he hadn't done that badly when his wife thought he was having a stroke shows how powerful partisanship can be.

“.. four months after its establishment, the board’s financial fund set up by the World Bank has received no money from donors, according to four people familiar with the matter. ‘Zero dollars have been deposited,’ one said.” @financialtimes.com www.ft.com/content/5ba3...

'The Labour chair has given Nigel Farage 24 hours to report to security services the claim that his phone was hacked by Russia-linked actors or the party will do it for him.' www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

I have a relative who is a doctor. However it was my impression that Streeting had talked about reducing the government offer to doctors, due to BMA intransigence. It had already decided on industrial action— lining up media interviews in advance to publicise it. www.bbc.com/news/article...

Average fuel bills to hit £1,862 in July, Ofgem announced— up an annual £221 or 13%. “result of higher wholesale gas prices, caused by the ongoing Middle East conflict” the regulator explains. Miliband: the government is subsidising bills, among other measures. www.ofgem.gov.uk/press-releas...

Another Ex-PM turned up on the radio to chat leadership. Sunak - Who he? - told Times Radio that “running the UK is harder than it needs to be and should be” due to regulation, courts and other democratic type safeguards that restrict executive power.