Burnham’s Downing Street is in no good mood with officials from the MoJ over exemptions in the early release scheme. It’s falling apart…
Guido understands there is fury at Ministry of Justice officials, who have been accused of incompetence for coming up with changing capacity numbers in the prison estate. They are concerned that the prison crisis which reared its head in 2024 could return – meaning there would be no capacity for prisoners to be sent to prison after conviction…
Officials also advised No10 to exempt convicts based on the lengths of their sentence as opposed to the specific offences. Rejected because the politics of blocking sex offences and so on is more appealing…
Burnham’s strategy of adding exemptions means that he will experience populist drag and find it difficult to resist massive pressure to exempt other offences.
One No10 source describes the MoJ’s Permanent Secretary Jo Farrar as “weak” and suggests new Justice Secretary Alex Norris should turf out the top team. Collective mandarin gulping taking place…
The chairman of the Thames Valley Police Federation, Aileen O’Connor, has told Times Radio today that she’s “incensed” by Downing Street saying it’s “not possible.” She started the petition calling for PC Andrew Harper’s killers to be exempted from early release, which is now at 880,000 signatures…
Downing Street’s argument as of today is that you can’t exempt these manslaughter convicts without exempting all of them. Ever heard of legislation?
There are concerns in Downing Street over Louise Haigh, briefed as the ‘most powerful woman in government’ and Burnham’s right hand. Haigh was handed Deputy Prime Ministerial powers as first secretary as well as the running of the new Office of the PM and Cabinet…
Downing Street insiders stress that Haigh, who was forced out of Starmer’s government as Transport Secretary after details of her fraud conviction emerged, is “still full of rage about having been sacked.” She is held responsible, along with to some extent Angela Rayner, for the brutality of the “revenge reshuffle.” Which purged anyone connected to Morgan McSweeney and caused no small amount of bad blood…
Guido understands Burnham has a close working relationship with proactive Cabinet Secretary Antonia Romeo, who has led on machinery of government changes including splitting the Cabinet Office in two. A No10 source said: “That relationship appears to be annoying Lou as well – she wants to be the only person Andy reaches for.” A government source added: “It’s early days but jealousy can torpedo smooth decision-making.” Close-knit teams have their own set of problems…
Burnham and his close confidantes have prided themselves on being a tiny group in the playground with whom everyone now wants to be friends. To that effect they have also delighted in the Lobby’s humiliation over Shabana Mahmood’s Cabinet appointment. Downing Street sources tell Guido there are worries the first secretary is an “unexploded bomb” and will cause problems for Burnham further down the line. Make Haigh while the sun shines…
The Metropolitan Police finally banned Steve Bray from the gates of Downing Street last night:
“Conditions are in place on Whitehall tomorrow (Monday, 20 July).
Anyone assembling near the Downing Street gates to observe events linked to the new Prime Minister must not use any amplified noise equipment and must stay within the shaded area. These conditions are in place between 10:30 – 13:30.”
GB News’ Cameron Walker spotted the Bray and his loudspeaker outside Buckingham Palace. The King can just shut the window – pity the tourists…
Footage of the new Defence Secretary this morning meeting Starmer and Richard Knighton, Chief of the Defence Staff. Putin quaking in his boots…
Sky News pol ed Beth Rigby attempted to confront minister James Murray with a boom mic only to be blocked by her own wiring set up. At one point Rigby mournfully pointed out that she had spilled two cups of coffee all over the floor. Not to mention the wiring…
Number 10 has refused to say it has confidence in the FCDO as an institution in light of the Mandelson saga. It insists not a single minister, including Starmer, Lammy, or Cooper, knew he had failed vetting. Even though David Maddox spoke to then-Comms chief Tim Allan about the story back in September…
Asked directly at the Lobby briefing of press hacks just now if the PM still had confidence in the Foreign Office, the spokesman said:
“[We] couldn’t be stronger in fact that it is both staggering and unbelievable that he was not told… it is clearly a staggering failure… and that is why he has asked for an urgent investigation.”
Asked why Mandelson was pictured wearing a green-striped DV pass despite failing, the spokesman said it was “one for the Foreign Office“. Downing Street is trying to throw the entire department under the bus to save Starmer’s skin…
Robert Jenrick on the Today programme:
“Can you now give a guarantee to your listeners this morning that no BBC presenter in the future will be exposed as a paedophile, as a number have been in the recent past? No, of course you can’t…”