A self-declared optimist speculates…
Wes Streeting asked on Sky News if the Chagos surrender deal is dead:
“No. Look, the United States is going through its own process at the moment, and it’s fair to say there has been a shift in position in Washington. We’ve been clear throughout that the objective is to make sure we secure the Chagos Islands for the long term in British and American interests.
“I think there are lots of people in the US administration who understand what we’re trying to achieve, who support that objective. We’re working with the Americans to try and resolve that, because we’ve been clear that we wouldn’t act without the Americans, because this also concerns their interests as well.”
It is in tatters…
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You’re either in front of Guido, or you are behind…
A backbench Labour MP has invited members of the Awami League – the banned Bangladeshi political party belonging to ousted dictator Sheikh Hasina – to parliament. In case you needed any reminder of Labour’s close links to the organisation…
Hartlepool MP Jonathan Brash is hosting a “drop-in session” next Monday afternoon with “members of the Bangladeshi community, including my constituents and people from other parts of the country, to discuss recent developments in Bangladesh.” This will apparently “provide an opportunity to hear directly about concerns relating to the conduct of the elections, restrictions on freedom of association, and wider issues impacting the community.” Those happen to be issues hammered repeatedly by the Awami League since an election put the opposing Bangladesh National Party in power…
Brash added in a round-robin email: “Representatives of the Awami League will also be present. They are constituents of mine whose party was recently banned by the current administration and, as a result, were unable to participate in the elections.” The party was banned with anti-terror legislation by the interim government led by Nobel Peace-Prize winning professor Muhammad Yunus…
Ex-corruption minister Tulip Siddiq – niece of Hasina – has been sentenced multiple times in absentia by Bangladeshi courts on several charges, which she denies. Guido has long reported the close links held at the very top of the Labour Party with the Awami League. Arm in arm – strange look for the ‘human rights lawyer’ PM…
Thirty-eight candidates are jostling for seats on Labour’s national executive committee (NEC), with ballots opening in July. If May 7th delivers the wipeout the polls predict, these elections become the first internal mechanism through which members can pass judgement on Starmer’s leadership. Andy Burnham is watching with close interest…
The left is running three separate slates. Momentum’s Centre-Left Grassroots Alliance is standing on a platform that reads like a direct attack on Starmer, with suspending arms sales to Israel and a second Employment Rights Bill “that goes beyond the current diluted version” on the menu. A new group called ‘Restoration’, offering up five candidates, wants to “make Labour working class again”. Good luck with that.
The Burnhamite Mainstream is standing three candidates. That is eleven left-wing candidates splitting the vote across nine CLP seats, which in theory benefits the right-of-party Labour to Win slate running four.
Jonathan Ashworth has put his name forward after losing his seat in 2024. The race is on…
Starmer said to Robert Peston this afternoon:
“I’m fed up with the fact that families across the country see their bills go up and down on energy businesses bills go up and down on energy because of the actions of Putin or Trump across the world.”