Henry Newman

Decided to have a read of Reeves’s plagiarised book on a quiet Sunday afternoon

On the second page she spells Angela Rayner’s name wrongly (and Layla Moran)

Quite revealing about her attention to detail … it’s a book on female MPs!

Did she actually read the text before publishing it? 🤷‍♂️

CC Rachel Reeves

According to GuidoFawkes the Chancellor lied about her CV to gain advantage including in Parliamentary selection

This can be a criminal offence

See - peoplemanagement.co.uk/article/179632…

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Hypocrites! A surprising appointment as National Security Adviser Starmer's choice of Tony Blair's Chief of Staff, Jonathan Powell, has surprised many. Powell is closely associated with what is arguably the biggest security mistake of the last half century - Iraq.

New Post from TheWhitehallProject

Covering Jonathan Powell's appointment as National Security Adviser

And what Labour figures said last time a political appointee was mooted for the post....

whitehallproject.substack.com/p/hypocrites...

Politicising the OBR The Chancellor has misstepped by politicising the OBR. And the OBR has clumsily allowed itself to be drawn into politics. But the Cabinet Office should have intervened to protect the institution.

See below for latest from TheWhitehallProject 👇

The Chancellor has misstepped by politicising OBR

And the OBR has clumsily allowed itself to be drawn into politics

But why did the Cabinet Office not suggest they separate their 'review' from Budget

whitehallproject.substack.com/p/politicisi...

Budget 2024: UK pledges thousands of new jobs in freeports plan Critics have said freeports do not boost actual job numbers, but move investment to a different area instead.

Freeports have 'relief' from Employer National Insurance contributions

great.gov.uk/internationa...

So at lease five extra areas will be shielded from the Reeves tax grab

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

unlikely with a huge majority

and anyway it's very hard for Parliament to govern....

I think by 2015 Cameron had worked out more of what he wanted to do actually, but didn't have very long to do it.

Public sector reform - schools, prisons etc

do you always dismiss arguments without reading them?

This government stands for nothing. Whitehall is taking back control Its first months in office have been shambolic, with no ideological coherence or guiding purpose. Bureaucracy thrives under such conditions

What's the point of this Government? What are they actually trying to achieve? Does Keir Starmer actually know?

It's hard to parse the kaleidoscope of announcements and parse a 'higher governing purpose'

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/10...

wasnt sure what to make of that briefing - it just sounded like a stocktake

It's better to think of "bad comms" as a leading indicator of bad processes elsewhere.

Henry Newman: Starmer's government has much more fundamental problems than just 'bad Comms' | Conservative Home Having won this majority, the Prime Minister seems to have little idea how to run Downing Street and less idea of what to do with his Government.

This is good from Henry Newman. It's hardly ever about comms. Comms comes at the end of the process. Get the rest of it right and as long as you execute the comms properly - not simple, but simpler than actually running the country - the comms will be fine.

conservativehome.com/2024/10/18/h...

Henry Newman: Starmer's government has much more fundamental problems than just 'bad Comms' | Conservative Home Having won this majority, the Prime Minister seems to have little idea how to run Downing Street and less idea of what to do with his Government.

People keep saying the problems with Starmer's Government are the Comms...

I think it's much more than that

conservativehome.com/2024/10/18/h...

Concerns were raised over the appointment of Emily Middleton An FOI release shows Department of Science officials raised concerns about Emily Middleton's appointment, but did not include details of her former company's donation to Peter Kyle.

New documents obtained under FOI show the Science Department raised concerns about the appointment of Emily Middleton

They also show that the Department did not draw the attention of the Civil Service Commission to her political background

open.substack.com/pub/whitehal...

Wednesday 5pm
@instituteforgov.bsky.social

How can Keir Starmer ensure the centre of government works for the country?

@tombaldwin66.bsky.social
@henrynewman.bsky.social
@theobertram.bsky.social
@drhannahwhite.bsky.social
@jillongovt.bsky.social

instituteforgovernment.org.uk/event/keir-s...

Rachel Reeves' extra support The Chancellor has nine Special Advisers. And yet she had a corporate lobbyist supporting her at Party Conference, and has a Labour Together staffer working for her in Parliament.

Rachel Reeves has NINE special advisers working in HM Treasury

So why did she have a partner from a lobbying firm support her at Conference?

And why does she have a Labour Together researcher working for her in Parliament?

whitehallproject.substack.com/p/rachel-ree...

Looking forward to this on Wednesday 👇

Cabinet and its Committees The list of Cabinet Committees shows Pat McFadden is helping run the show. But it also reveals that the architecture driving the Government's five missions seems deficient.

New WhitehallProject post explores the new Government's Cabinet Committees

1) the importance of Pat McFadden
2) the downgrading of the Chancellor
3) the fact that ‘Mission Boards’ are not Cabinet Committees and are not chaired by the PM

See - whitehallproject.substack.com/p/cabinet-an...

With Sue Gray gone, Keir Starmer will have no more excuses Sue Gray is carrying the can for the shortcomings and mistakes of her boss

It was a brave move of Keir Starmer to make McSweeney his Chief of Staff, when Starmer has made so much of his commitment to Standards

McSweeney used to run Labour Together which was found to have breached Electoral Law on multiple occasions

www.cityam.com/with-sue-gra...

With Sue Gray gone, Keir Starmer will have no more excuses Sue Gray is carrying the can for the shortcomings and mistakes of her boss

If I had been advising Starmer, my pick for new Chief of Staff would have been Pat McFadden, who is already de facto Deputy PM

McFadden knows Labour. He has been a departmental Minister. And was an adviser under Blair, so he knows Downing Street

www.cityam.com/with-sue-gra...

Parliamentlive.tv House of Commons

Interesting moment in Parliament when Shadow Minister Joy Morrissey asked Ed Miliband whether donations were declared when Rachel Kyte was appointed as Climate Envoy

Miliband dodged the question

[For more see this post - open.substack.com/pub/whitehal... ]

parliamentlive.tv/event/index/...

"Go to hell with the other demons" - life as a London Jew since 7 October - CityAM A year on from the worst attack on Jews since the holocaust, the community is fearful, yet resilient, in the face of rising antisemitism

Read this depressing but powerful piece by Ben Bell on what Jews living in London have to face on a daily basis

'Youngsters...become targets the moment they are born Jewish. This is not paranoia. The threat is real and regular'

www.cityam.com/go-to-hell-w...

great exhibition....although this one wasn't my favourite

Why is it all going so wrong for Rachel Reeves? The Chancellor faces scrutiny with her first Budget looming. Questions remain about her strategy and economic plans

The Chancellor likes to present herself as a careful strategist, skilled at thinking several steps ahead in chess.

Yet it’s hard to discern any clear strategy in Reeves’s approach.

What is her central economic argument?

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www.standard.co.uk/comment/rach...

Starmer's Downing Street Shakeup Sue Gray's departure was widely expected to come by the end of the year, but the appointment of Nin Pandit as Principal Private Secretary has turned heads in Whitehall. It seems a rushed decision.

See my new TheWhitehallProject post on Starmer's Downing Street shakeup....

And find out why his new choice of Principal Private Secretary is raising eyes in Whitehall

whitehallproject.substack.com/p/starmers-d...

🚨New TheWhitehallProject post🚨

Is green £££ influencing Labour's policy on climate?

And did Miliband declare the £99,000 he got from Green Finance Institute when he appointed Extinction Rebellion advocate Rachel Kyte as Climate Special Representative?

whitehallproject.substack.com/p/follow-the...

The system pushes back Whitehall has been bruised by the Labour cronyism scandals. Slowly, some Senior Officials are starting to say 'no' to Ministers. In doing so they are acknowledging that mistakes have been made.

Whitehall has been bruised by the Labour cronyism scandals

Slowly, some Senior Officials are starting to say 'no' to Ministers. In doing so they are acknowledging that mistakes have been made.

See the latest post from TheWhitehallProject for more 👇

whitehallproject.substack.com/p/the-system...

Whitehall is adrift As Downing Street factions engage in a circular briefing war, there's a lame duck Cabinet Secretary, no Downing Street Principal Private Secretary, and no clarity over the National Security Adviser

A key troika of Whitehall roles are unfilled or occupied by lame ducks - the Cabinet Secretary, No10 PPS and National Security Adviser

No wonder things are such a mess in Government

Read the latest from TheWhitehallProject

whitehallproject.substack.com/p/whitehall-...

Keir Starmer talked about Levelling Up in his speech today

But over the summer he dropped the term & rebranded that department

Is he for it or against?

I don't get why you would use the phrase if you had tried to claim it was gimmicky

🤷‍♂️

David Lammy’s latest joke is to back ethnic cleansing The foreign secretary’s gaffes once seemed funny. But now they matter

Excellent article by Dominic Lawson 👇

Does anyone know if David Lammy has apologised or retracted the words?

www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...