“Theresa May is facing a revolt by mandarins over the power wielded by her longstanding political enforcers, The Mail on Sunday understands. Senior civil servants have complained they feel ‘sidelined’ by the Prime Minister’s joint chiefs of staff, Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill – with Mrs May’s red boxes at the centre of the power struggle… a Government source has claimed officials are being rebuked if they put papers directly into her boxes, or send email files into an electronic ‘red box’ on her computer or phone – as they did with David Cameron – without first going through Mr Timothy and Ms Hill. A source told this newspaper: ‘Mrs May doesn’t want their advice. She only seems to want to hear what her advisers think.’” – Mail on Sunday
More May:
>Yesterday: ToryDiary: Is May trying to engineer an early election?
“The government has ruled out a “Hillsborough-style” public inquiry into the Battle of Orgreave, one of the worst clashes of the miners’ strike. Amber Rudd, the home secretary, has decided claims that South Yorkshire police orchestrated violence between officers and miners at the coking plant in 1984 and falsified evidence against pickets should not be the subject of a “full-blown” judge-led inquiry.” – Sunday Times (£)
>Today: Mark Field MP in Comment: Yes, we need more grammars – but also more technical and vocational schools
“May’s personal adviserate – in the old days it might have been called a kitchen cabinet – threatens to become the most influential and least accountable yet… Timothy was a columnist for the ConservativeHome website, where he expressed his opinions on grammars, Chinese investment in Hinkley and “getting to the bottom of what happened at Orgreave”. They still evince the two-faced spite of student politics. The zeal with which May is setting about unpicking the legacy of Cameron looks like payback for Cameron and George Osborne blighting the career aspirations of Timothy, Hill and the political secretary, Stephen Parkinson, to name but three.” – Sunday Times (£)
>Today: ToryDiary: May needs fixers
“An influential group of Eastern European countries will veto any Brexit deal that diminishes the rights of their citizens who live and work in Britain. The Visegrad Four (V4) – the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia – want a guarantee that their nationals ‘are equal’ before agreeing to any Brexit deal. Robert Fico, Prime Minister of Slovakia, said: ‘Unless we feel a guarantee that these people are equal, we will veto any agreement between the EU and Britain.'” – Mail on Sunday
EU:
Comment:
“There is no doubt Brexit was a disaster that will tarnish his place in history. And the sorry style of his departure, spraying honours around pals and breaking promises to stay in Westminster, has done him no favours. Yet as his successor seeks to airbrush away his successes in office, cheered by backbenchers who once crawled to Cameron for favours and commentators hastily changing their tunes, the demeaning of his legacy has already gone too far.” – Mail on Sunday
News:
“Soldiers are terrified of being arrested more than a decade on from the occupation of Iraq, and are dismayed and disgusted by the length of time the investigations are taking. But for one husband and wife team, the British occupation of southern Iraq has proved a cash bonanza. Martin Jerrold and his wife, Helen, have paid themselves dividends worth hundreds of thousands of pounds after winning the contract to provide civilian investigators for the Iraq Historic Allegations Team (Ihat).” – Sunday Telegraph
“Jeremy Corbyn held a secret summit at a Downton Abbey-style mansion to plot a savage new purge of all his top Labour enemies after this week’s leadership contest, it was revealed last night. Corbyn and his inner circle met at Esher Place, a Grade II-listed country house in Surrey owned by the Unite union, where they reportedly plotted the downfall of his deputy Tom Watson and Labour General Secretary Iain McNicol for opposing the Labour leader. The secret meeting is revealed six days before Corbyn is expected to see off a bid to oust him as Labour leader by Owen Smith.” – Mail on Sunday
More Labour:
Comment:
Editorial:
“New Ukip leader Diane James put on a show of unity with the party’s only MP Douglas Carswell today just hours after Nigel Farage accused him of trying to destroy the party. Mr Carswell, the former Tory MP who won a by-election and was then re-elected under the Ukip flag, has been at the centre of bitter divides within Ukip. Mr Farage re-opened tensions today, using his LBC show to accuse the Clacton MP of ‘sniping from the sidelines’ and questioning his commitment to the new leader.” – Mail on Sunday
Comment:
“A Liberal Democrat councillor has told a party conference that schools could suggest prostitution as a career to pupils. Dennis Parsons, who is chairman of the Cheltenham Liberal Democrats, made the comment during a special session on sex work. The retired civil servant said school career officers are currently not allowed to mention prostitution as a potential line of work, but added: ‘Why shouldn’t they?'” – Mail on Sunday