Labour MPs don't know where money comes from. That's why Keir Starmer is a dud and why every contender lining up to replace him will be one too.
You can't fix this busted flush of economic illiteracy that is the Labour Party, so stop trying.
My open letter to Tony Blair below👇
https://t.co/ugLKx9ufCM
I didn’t vote for either of the winners of the last two General Elections but “traitors” for whom a “reckoning is coming”? Really? This very excitable, angry & hyperbolic man should be nowhere near a position of responsibility in a political party that aspires to power.
Incredibly, 90% of the new Labour MPs at the last election came from a trade union, charity or public-sector background. Barely 1/5th of the Cabinet has any private-sector experience. In the Shadow Cabinet, 3/4 of us do. That distinction matters.
The skills Labour MPs have acquired are in lobbying for more funding, campaigning for more benefits or more red tape. Britain needs a new generation of politician.
Only the Conservative Party can build a team for the economic war effort required after Burnham/Starmer have finished this catastrophic experiment. We will need to fix every aspect of our system at once. There will be no kicking decisions into the long grass, only rolling our sleeves up and getting to work.
If you've ever thought about a career in politics but decided it was too risky or you wouldn’t fit in, now is your time.…We are looking for people from every walk of life who know how to get stuff done.
In return, I will make politics work for you.
Britain does not lack talent. It lacks a system that draws that talent into public life. Join my team and help us get Britain working again.
My piece in the @Telegraph below👇
Work can pay. High streets can recover. Public services can improve. Communities can feel proud and confident about the future.
The centre-right is the answer to angry populism.
Optimism and vision, backed by a relentless focus on growth.
@darrengrimes I a definitely not a Tory supporter but @LiamBones was the only sensible person on that show. I live in Durham and despite @reformparty_uk saying they would cut council tax I am paying more despite more pot holes, litter etc. @darrengrimes has failed Durham
Don't forget governments have no money of their own. They have to get every penny piece from the British taxpayer.
[...]
I'm not going to promise more. I'm not going to enter into an auction of public promises. I know what that would mean on taxation; I know what it would mean on National Insurance contributions; I know what it would mean on the burden of industry.
Ben Rowe, new Reform UK councillor in Plymouth.
“The Jews creating division by forcing other races on our societies? Who’d have thunk’ it”
Antisemitism and Islamophobia from Reform Candidate in Plymouth
https://t.co/t2kPQtFwiz
Recovery will not come from chasing Reform alone.
The Conservatives need an offer for young people, public sector workers, business owners, and the voters who went to Labour or the Lib Dems.
That is how the centre-right gets back on the pitch.
The Conservatives cannot rebuild by chasing the 2019 coalition.
That coalition has gone.
The question now is simple: who is the party for?
If the answer is angry populism, it gets smaller.
If the answer is economic competence, serious government and broad centre-right values, there is a route back.
EXC: One of Nigel Farage’s Reform candidates has spread racist bile – even declaring white people “the master race”. Joint investigation with @hopenothate exposes Stuart Prior for a slew of hateful comments. Reform said it was “looking into” posts.
https://t.co/F47QkMNSO9
You wouldn’t run a business with five chief executives in ten years and expect confidence, investment or growth.
Yet that is how Britain has been governed.
Businesses need stability. Investors need certainty. And young people need politicians capable of thinking beyond the next crisis.
John Major is right: successive governments have failed young people.
Too many problems have been pushed onto them: unaffordable housing, weak growth, student debt, climate change, and a pensions system that politicians are too nervous to discuss honestly.
We won’t pretend there are easy answers. But we are working with experts on serious, long-term policies to give young people a better chance in life than they have today.