Reform UK 1) Yusuf returns in new role
“Zia Yusuf, who resigned as Reform UK chairman on Thursday, is to return to work for the party in a new role. Yusuf will lead what the party calls its “Doge team” – which is modelled on the Department of Government Efficiency set up by US President Donald Trump. Earlier this week, Yusuf quit the party, saying working to get it elected was no longer “a good use of my time”, without expanding further. On Saturday, Reform leader Nigel Farage told the BBC he was “delighted” Yusuf was had returned to the party and that he will now take on a more public role for the party in a new role, appearing more frequently in the media.” – BBC
- Reform launches attack on the Bank of England – Sunday Telegraph
- Has Nigel finally shown he can be a team player? – Henry Hill, Sunday Telegraph
- Farage now has to show his party can grow up – Leader, Sunday Telegraph
- Farage is like a tribune for the working class, says former Bank of England economist – The Guardian
>Today: ToryDiary: The message to all parties seems to be: “Get over yourselves there’s work to be done”
Reform UK 2) Further appointments to be announced on Tuesday
“Reform will split Yusuf’s former role into two: a front-facing chairman who will “tour the country” and a deputy in charge of organisational matters. There will also be a new head of operations and someone to run the party’s finances and help Nick Candy, the treasurer, with fundraising. The replacements and appointments should be announced by Tuesday. Farage will give a speech on Monday in Port Talbot, south Wales, as he seeks to build momentum before the Welsh assembly elections next year.” – Sunday Times
Reform UK 3) Hannan: Without a Badenoch/Farage pact, the Left will rule Scotland for decades to come
“Just as the SNP and the Scottish Greens used to maximise their representation by focusing respectively on the constituencies and the top-up list, so Reform and the Tories should do the same in 11 months’ time. In Scotland, as in England and Wales, the parties have similar policies but different electorates. The Scottish Conservatives are strong in the Borders and the north-east, Reform in the more populous Central Belt. An understanding between them would leave both with more MSPs next May…Next year’s Scottish elections will be the first test of whether figures on the British Right are prepared to put country before party. A possible by-election in Jacob Rees-Mogg’s old seat may be another. But one thing is already clear. If the two parties are taking lumps out of each other all the way to the next general election, they will lose – and they will deserve to.” – Daniel Hannan, Sunday Telegraph
Let bosses ban burkas in the workplace, says Badenoch
“Bosses should have the right to ban staff from wearing burkas and other face coverings in the workplace, Kemi Badenoch has said. The Tory leader also hit out at sharia courts and first-cousin marriage for acting as an “insidious” barrier to integration. She said that she had “strong views about face coverings” and would not allow people into her constituency surgeries if they wore face veils. It came after the debate on banning burkas was reignited last week when Reform’s chairman Zia Yusuf quit amid a row over the issue, before rejoining the party in spectacular fashion on Saturday night.” – Sunday Telegraph
White House warns UK not to allow Chinese embassy near City
“The White House has warned Downing Street against allowing a Chinese embassy to be built near sensitive London financial centres. The plan for the “super-embassy” was blocked by the previous government amid British intelligence warnings about its location and the espionage risk, but has been revived after personal lobbying from China’s President Xi.” – Sunday Times
Trump’s state visit “won’t meet his expectations”
“President Xi of China was given a coach parade down the Mall in 2015, which attracted huge protests from human rights campaigners, but officials say Trump is a far bigger assassination threat and there is no coach sufficiently armoured to allow him to use it. Another senior figure involved in the discussions said: “There is a challenge in trying to understand what they want and in tempering expectations of what can be delivered.” However, political sources say that September’s visit will be a “full bells and whistles affair” in which “the red carpet is rolled out in a big way”. One senior figure said: “It will be full pomp and ceremony. The US relationship is important.” – Sunday Times
Badenoch: A simple way to deter migrants? Make them wait for ten years before they can claim any benefits
“Low-paid immigrants and refugees who stay here for five years qualify for ‘indefinite leave to remain’. This allows them to claim the same benefits British citizens are entitled to, such as social housing and Universal Credit. They become automatically entitled to make such claims regardless of whether they’ve paid taxes or have simply lived off the state throughout those five years. To my mind, that is fundamentally unfair to all the hard-working Brits who have dutifully paid into the system – and I’m determined to stop it.” Kemi Badenoch, Mail on Sunday
Rayner and Reeves spending talks “go down to the wire”
“Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves are locked in a row over this week’s spending review — which fellow ministers have dubbed, “The War of the Roses”. The Deputy PM was last night still refusing to sign up to her housing department’s budget.Ms Rayner has been demanding billions more for home building. Talks are going down to the wire, leaving Chancellor Ms Reeves with little time to get her numbers to add up before she presents her spending plans to Parliament on Wednesday.” – The Sun on Sunday
- What to expect in Rachel Reeves’s spend, spend, spending review – Sunday Times
- What we’d do in Reeves’s shoes — by Hunt, Zahawi and Mel Stride – Sunday Times
- Surprise extra £4.5bn for schools – The Observer
- Reeves: I did well at school but I’m here for the girls who didn’t – The Observer
- Crackdown on benefits to save taxpayers nearly £10billion – Sunday Express
- “Reeves looks exhausted. She can’t deliver’: Labour ministers drip poison into my ear – Dan Hodges, Mail on Sunday
Tory activists call for purge of “wets”
“More than nine out of ten Tory supporters want Kemi Badenoch to mount a purge of ‘wets’ in the Tory party in order to meet the challenge of Nigel Farage, new polling has found. According to a survey by the Popular Conservatism group, known as PopCon, 92 per cent of Conservative members and voters agree that there should be a ‘big shake-up’ in the party, including ‘getting rid of the wets who aren’t really Conservative’ and ‘getting rid of the MPs who are big state, pro-EU and arrogantly elitist’. The poll offers support for Ms Badenoch, with 93 per cent agreeing with her vow to abandon Net Zero targets.” – Mail on Sunday
- A full-blooded agenda can help revive the Tory Party’s fortunes. But we must act fast – Mark Littlewood, Mail on Sunday
- Kemi’s Tory party is in crisis – Andrew Rawnsley, The Observer
- The Camerons froze me out too, but I didn’t moan like Sarah Vine – Sasha Swire, Sunday Times
Labour MPs urged to back national grooming gangs inquiry
“Labour MPs will be put under pressure as Tories force a vote on holding a national grooming gangs inquiry. The Conservatives are tabling an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill which calls for a statutory inquiry into the scandal later this month. They say Labour’s plan for five local inquiries is inadequate because the scale of abuse was much wider. And they do not have the power to summon witnesses and requisition evidence. It will put Labour MPs in a tricky position as some have gone against the party to call for a national inquiry. And it could trigger a Red Wall rebellion.” – The Sun on Sunday
Boy turned away by NHS because he is a private school pupil
“An outraged mother has accused the NHS of ‘shocking discrimination’ after her eight-year-old son was denied vital treatment – just because he goes to private school. Tory MPs described the move as ‘morally indefensible’ and a symptom of Labour’s ‘vile class war’, while the parent attacked the unfair ‘two-tier’ decision as a blatant breach of the health service ethos of offering equal treatment for all.” – Mail on Sunday
- Labour’s created an atmosphere where the hard working middle class are now fair game for bigotry – Stephen Pollard, Mail on Sunday
- A serious outbreak of old-fashioned class war hits the NHS – Leader, Mail on Sunday
- From creating the NHS to investing in people, Labour are innovators – next week we’ll do it again… with £86b for hi-tech – Peter Kyle, Science and Technology Minister, The Sun on Sunday
Ashcroft: ‘We can sniff Starmer’s fear of Farage’ say voters
“In a double blow for Starmer, the people who take his new immigration rhetoric most seriously are the ones who like it least, often inside his own party. Most of them don’t think he means it either, but some longstanding Labour voters find it profoundly depressing that the Prime Minister seems willing, as they see it, to pander to the Right. Many found his warning that Britain risked becoming an ‘island of strangers’ particularly worrying. ‘When you’re quoting Enoch Powell, I draw a line at that,’ one told us last week.” – Lord Ashcroft, Mail on Sunday
Other political news
- Ministers told to enforce Supreme Court ruling on sex rights – Sunday Express
- Lib Dem MP claims £154 bill for her Christmas party on expenses – The Sun on Sunday
- Fraud culture was ‘pervasive’ at union, auditors say – BBC
- Tulip Siddiq requests meeting with Bangladeshi leader over corruption allegation – The Guardian
- Trump to send National Guard to Los Angeles amid violent anti-ICE protests – Sunday Telegraph
- Post Office victims offered ‘pathetic’ payouts: 0.5% of their claims – Sunday Times
- NHS ‘to rely on migrants’ as Government cuts British nurse training – Sunday Telegraph
- UK ministers delay AI regulation amid plans for more ‘comprehensive’ bill – The Guardian
- Reeves considers energy bill subsidy for manufacturers – Sunday Times
- Thousands join anti-austerity march in London to protest against Labour’s cuts – The Guardian
- ‘I put my bins out early. The council fined me £1,000’ – Sunday Telegraph
Jenrick: It’s no wonder that the middle classes are fleeing
“The non-dom tax changes may have polled well in focus groups, but they’ve backfired – and the public will now pay the price. Who is going to fund increases in defence, healthcare and transport spending? Yet again, it will fall to the middle classes to bridge the gap left. The Chancellor’s ineptitude means further tax rises on working people in the autumn are now inevitable. The social contract with the middle class hasn’t simply frayed – it’s been shredded. They have been disproportionately targeted to fund a record tax burden while their quality of life has remained largely stagnant. They’re paying more than ever to get less than ever in return. The public services they use are crumbling, the streets they walk feel less safe, and the town centres they visit are hollowed out by petty crime and boarded-up shopfronts.” – Robert Jenrick, Sunday Telegraph
- Starmer’s raid on family businesses to cost his constituents 1,000 jobs – Sunday Telegraph
- The closing of a local hair salon tells you why Britain is going bust – Janet Daley, Sunday Telegraph
Colvile: Young men are being left behind
“Young women in the UK are now, for the first time, more likely to be in education, employment or training than young men. They are more likely to go to university. Their salaries are higher. They are increasingly dominant in many of the professions, including teaching, medicine and law. The world that is emerging, in other words, is one of power women — and powerless men. There has, for example, been much fretting over the rise in economic inactivity in the UK. But this has been, overwhelmingly, a rise in male inactivity….These high-flying career women and sofa-dwelling layabouts aren’t even meeting, let alone mating.” – Robert Colvile, Sunday Times
News in brief
- Why Zia Yusuf changed his mind about quitting Reform – James Heale, The Spectator
- The feminist case against the burqa – Josephine Bartosch, The Critic
- Labour’s fiscal crisis is already here. Britain needs a new economic model – Nick Timothy, Substack
- Starmer is being duped by the EU – Brian Monteith, CapX
- ‘Anti-Semitism is an early-warning siren for a sickness in society’ – Interview with Douglas Murray, Spiked Online
