Ems Barr

@conservativeAWF, Former SpAd & @CPSThinkTank, @Women2Win, @CCHQPress alumna #askhertostand. All views my own.

[Ems Barr @Emsbarr]

Rarely agree with @DrRosena but a thousand times this - “if you are a man with power and money you can get away with anything” it’s not just Labour it’s happening everywhere.

[Noa Hoffman @hoffman_noa]

Given that @labourpress is hyper active today (understandably) due to Tory conference - will they be putting out a statement responding to the Green racism this afternoon? Perhaps one for @bphillipsonMP as Chair and Equalities?

[Andrew Neil @afneil]

Sophie Ridge is wonderful.

[Ems Barr @Emsbarr]

@DPJHodges She is adapting to changing circumstances?

[Ems Barr @Emsbarr]

@EJWoolf Cherie did it and many others have done including Sir Phillip May.

[Ems Barr @Emsbarr]

Define @Ed_Miliband this would have been scripted to the second .. 70th rehearsal.. rightly so for security reasons 👎👎👎

[Steven Swinford @Steven_Swinford]

It looks and feels spontaneous, but is it?

A video of Ed Miliband having an apparently impromptu chat with Feroz Khan, an American social media influencer, on the streets of New York

Khan is an American social media influencer who has made a name for himself conducting seemingly impromptu interviews with people he stops in the street with a simple question: “What do you do for a living?”

The Miliband clips has already had more than 1million views.

But is it real?

In fact it has been carefully staged

There are several clues. The video shows Khan stopping Miliband in the street as he makes his way between engagements. “Excuse me, you have an amazing outfit,” he tells him. “What do you do for a living?”

Rather than walk on Miliband, surprisingly, stops and turns to face the camera. His aides, meanwhile, keep on marching on without even looking back to check who he is talking to. They don’t wait for him, disappearing out of shot

Even for a politician, Miliband appears to have rather well-rehearsed answers for Khan’s questions. “Hang on you’re that Feroz guy aren’t you,” he says. “You interviewed JLo once. What are you doing here?”

Khan replies with a compliment: “I spread positivity on social media and I happened to come across you well dressed. What do you do for a living?”

In a surreal exchange Miliband says he is the foreign secretary of Great Britain. “Please forgive me, I don’t know what that is,” Khan replies

“I’m like the Marco Rubio of Great Britain,” Miliband says. What follows is an extraordinarily soft interview on any level. Khan, who sees his job as “spreading positivity”, says: “Nice to meet you. What makes your work so special?”

The final clue is in the post itself. Khan posted it on his Instagram in direct “collaboration” with the Foreign Office and Britain’s UN mission, meaning it went up on their Instagram accounts at exactly the same time

https://t.co/0U8Wa0GCZ5

[Ben Judah @b_judah]

@Steven_Swinford No SpAd in history has ever walked straight on as their principle is accosted by a man with a camera!

[Sam Coates Sky @SamCoatesSky]

Gordon Brown survives in post!

In a cabinet office list of staff who have remained in No10 following the arrival of Andy Burnham, Brown and Sir Michael Barber remain

Full list:

Gordon Brown as Special Reviewer on Global Finance and Cooperation
Oli De Botton as the Prime Minister’s Expert Adviser on Education and Skills,
Hannah Bronwin as the Prime Minister’s Expert Adviser on Energy and Net Zero,
Victoria Buhler as the Prime Minister’s Deputy Adviser on Business, Investment and Trade,
Axel Heitmueller as Head of the Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit and Expert Adviser on Delivery,
Sir Michael Barber as the Prime Minister’s Adviser on Effective Delivery

https://t.co/9w4HpadFnS

[James Starkie @Jamesara]

@alexburghart Outside of spads, the FS has close protection. It would have to be pre-arranged otherwise they’d step in.

[Alex Burghart @alexburghart]

Like his SpAds would just walk away …

… how much did the Foreign Office pay for this?

[Ems Barr @Emsbarr]

@tomhfh Why did you put us through this again!? 🤣

[Ems Barr @Emsbarr]

@_mr__creosote_ @Conservatives But who decides ?

[Ems Barr @Emsbarr]

Who decides what is a “good lifestyle” is a key question for all @Conservatives - many would argue junk food for someone obese is as much of a harmful lifestyle choice as smoking for someone who started a few weeks prior…

[LBC @LBC]

‘It’s not their money!’

@JamesPriceglos tells @BenKentish that Kemi Badenoch’s pledge to ban people spending their benefits on alcohol, cigarettes and gambling is a ‘no brainer’.

[Ben Kentish @BenKentish]

Under this bizarre logic, so is the state pension. Do you think there should be limits on what that can be spent on?

[Ems Barr @Emsbarr]

But it’s not when it’s an obese person spending it all on mars bars eventually costing the NHS considerably more than a graduate buying a 20 pack while volunteering? Who decides what is acceptable and what isnt ? @KemiBadenoch (again in principle I agree but why some not others)

[Kemi Badenoch @KemiBadenoch]

It’s taxpayers’ money. Well said @Helen_Whately.

[Ems Barr @Emsbarr]

Neither are necessary and I agree with the principle but who decides which “vices” are part of an “acceptable lifestyle” and which aren’t!

[Baroness Foster DBE #FreeIran🦁❤️ @jfoster2019]

@danielmgmoylan The thing is .. I don’t want a ‘nice’

leader of the @churchofengland

the role is not about being ‘nice’

She went on a pilgrimage

and was dragged back by pressure to speak on the Assisted Dying debate / vote !

The Pope is never elected because they think he’s ‘nice’ !!

[Ems Barr @Emsbarr]

@freed_panda @mr_james_c @tomhfh Yes - Most of us want to be the best person for the position not just the best woman, so hard now !

[Ems Barr @Emsbarr]

When will we recieve your resignation @ArchbishopSarah ? Everyone said this would happen but no one thought this soon

[BBC News (UK) @BBCNews]

Archbishop of Canterbury withdraws award from Muslim cleric who praised Osama bin Laden https://t.co/V1zQrgtsrv

[Tom Harwood @tomhfh]

"I accidentally gave an award to an Osama Bin Laden apologist on the 25th anniversary of 9/11."

[Kemi Badenoch @KemiBadenoch]

Britain is a Christian country, yet this image is a sad reminder that if we do not conserve our own faith and traditions, nobody else will.

For the Archbishop of Canterbury to honour on the 25th anniversary of 9/11, a cleric who praised Bin Laden is a significant lapse.

I’m pleased that Conservative shadow cabinet members @NJ_Timothy @Rebecca_SPaul discovered some of this information and called this out publicly, forcing the church to change its position. Yes, the church might have been ignorant of some facts, but the presence of a woman with a full face veil, covered head to toe, in an outfit widely known as a visible symbol of female oppression should have given pause for thought.

Our Culture and Integration Commission was set up to end this sort of naive belief that all cultures are equal. No other party in British politics is doing this work to protect our culture.