Fraser Nelson

Columnist for The Times. Trial subscription: £1 for 4 months

[Fraser Nelson @FraserNelson]

Healey and Carns resigned because Rachel Reeves won't admit the choice: either defend the realm or expand welfare. Not both.

Starmer's "3.5pc of GDP" on defence is a deceit that everyone pretended to believe. The pretence just ended.

My thoughts:-

https://t.co/CrsDtqox8r

[Fraser Nelson @FraserNelson]

Farage says his new theme of racial politics will now be pushed in his own Substack.

The idea, it seems, is to avoid scrutiny by anyone who may point out his carefully-crafted misrepresentations.

https://t.co/k6ejc34BJW

[Nigel Farage MP @Nigel_Farage]

The mainstream media constantly distorts what I say. You can no longer rely on them to report the truth.

That’s why I’ve decided to speak to you directly and launch my essays to Britain. ✍️

Read my first post out tomorrow at 8am. Click below or in my bio to subscribe.

[Fraser Nelson @FraserNelson]

Amidst the rubble of Starmerism, another strand of the Labour tradition emerges: reality-based radicalism.

Strong on borders, and defence. Radical on welfare.

The leaders are there. Will Labour notice?

https://t.co/ww0htcliaI

[Steven Swinford @Steven_Swinford]

One hell of a letter in The Times today from General Sir Nick Carter, a former head of the armed forces

He warns that Britain risks becoming ‘Belgium with nuclear weapons’ unless it spends more on defence

‘Successive governments have hollowed our armed forces out to such a degree that if we do not spend what is needed now to arrest that decline, and transform them for the modern world, we risk becoming Belgium with nuclear weapons. And our enemies are watching’

Times letters: Britain’s slide down the Nato league table

https://t.co/wwL5HT5fFy

[Fraser Nelson @FraserNelson]

Healey and Carns resigned because Rachel Reeves won't admit the choice: either defend the realm or expand welfare. Not both.

Starmer's "3.5pc of GDP" on defence is a deceit that everyone pretended to believe. The pretence just ended.

My thoughts:-

https://t.co/CrsDtqox8r

[Steven Swinford @Steven_Swinford]

EXCLUSIVE from @oliver_wright

Keir Starmer was blindsided by John Healey's resignation as defence secretary because he was far more worried about Ed Miliband and Rachel Reeves

Miliband was on “resignation watch” after he refused repeatedly to meet Starmer to discuss planned cuts to his net zero agenda. The fear was that the energy secretary would use the announcement to quit and publicly throw his weight behind Burnham

Extraordinarily No 10 was also worried about Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, who had been strongly arguing for a much smaller defence uplift of “single figure billions”

Reeves was said to be so angry about the move to take money from other departments’ spending plans to top up defence that she had refused to take part in the process of drawing up the cuts

While her allies said Reeves had worked “constructively” on trying to find the money, tellingly it was No 10, rather than the Treasury, that negotiated cuts to infrastructure budgets.

“It went well beyond what Rachel wanted,” said one No 10 source. “John [Healey] knew how difficult it was and how hard the prime minister worked to get it up to £13.5 billion.”

Our weekend read on how John Healey’s resignation blew a hole in Keir Starmer’s survival strategy:

Healey’s resignation is deeply damaging for two reasons. First, until now, Healey has been as loyal as they come, resolutely defending the prime minister time and again on the broadcast rounds

But far worse was the timing. Starmer’s whole survival strategy was predicated on playing up his national security credentials. The plan had been to launch Dip before next week’s G7 summit at Evian in France and use the event to present Starmer as the man who could take the “big decisions to make the country safe”

It was deliberately designed to contrast Starmer with the inexperienced mayor of Greater Manchester, giving Burnham and Labour MPs at least a few second thoughts about an immediate challenge

Instead the prime minister heads to Evian with that entire strategy in tatters and a date with President Trump that could be excruciating

“The survival plan has been totally demolished by Healey,” a senior Labour figure said. “Starmer’s strongest card was as the man who can take the big decisions to keep the country safe and Healey has accused him of putting the country at risk. It is hard to see how we go from here.”

https://t.co/ZdP2hCQmNr

[Patrick Maguire @patrickkmaguire]

TIMES EXCLUSIVE: NEW MAKERFIELD POLL

BURNHAM 45%
REFORM 40%
RESTORE 8%

More in Common/UCL Policy Lab, 28 May-12 June, 515 adults

https://t.co/VGiJpBa4Ab

[Tim Montgomerie 🇬🇧 @montie]

No! No! No!
The British state has special powers to at least delay major works of national art being bought by overseas investors and leaving the country.
@TrevorPTweets is a rare voice and sage in our culture - above party, allergic to groupthink, immersed in understanding and context, never personal. We can't afford to lose him. Close the airports. Take away his passport. Double his pay. DON'T GO TREVOR.
i'm serious. We need you.

[Will Iredale @WIredale]

"The strategic myopia displayed by Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves is a condition shared by a parliamentary Labour Party that is the most unserious and most intellectually arid ever to attain power." A withering leader in today's Times.

[Fraser Nelson @FraserNelson]

SpectatorTV was launched as Zoom screen-recording during lockdown. Great to see it now pass 500,000 subscribers: making the news today, as so often. Onwards and upwards! https://t.co/D8mJQwBVM5

[Andrew Neil @afneil]

The Andrew Neil Report. First Edition!
I start by laying out my stall in terms of what I hope this podcast will achieve — a global perspective on politics, geopolitics and economics placing events in the context of worldwide trends.
My first guest is Andrew Ross Sorkin, author of books on the Crashes of 1929 and 2008 (that one turned into The Big Short movie). We look at what happened then to see how close we are to another (AI-inspired?) Crash today.
https://t.co/TRc2qVMbZ4 via @YouTube

[Fraser Nelson @FraserNelson]

Returning sickness benefit levels to pre-surge levels would release all money needed for defence.

[Fraser Nelson @FraserNelson]

@ZacGoldsmith @LoftusSteve Yes that’s why most people didn’t vote Tory at the last election. My point is about the changed picture now: patently under control. Mostly the belated results of Tory system changes. Denying this does the Tories no favours.

[Fraser Nelson @FraserNelson]

@Ystwyth1558 depends what you call sane - but basic migration now in tends of thousands

[Fraser Nelson @FraserNelson]

Odd to see Tories claim "mass migration is still happening" as if there has been no change.

Here's the latest:-

[Fraser Nelson @FraserNelson]

@Ystwyth1558 ...and is now under control. That's the truth that apparently dare not speak its name...