“The Labour leader’s allies scored a victory in the High Court yesterday when a judge backed a challenge to allow 130,000 new members who have joined the party since January to vote in the leadership race. A majority of this group is widely expected to endorse Mr Corbyn. Mr Corbyn’s grip on the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) was also strengthened when his allies won six out of eight places up for grabs in an internal election. The results mean that Labour’s internal chaos is now likely to drag on beyond the party’s annual conference next month.” – The Times (£)
“The Department for Education had been due to announce the ten areas of the country selected to receive additional funding and intensive support to improve school performance before parliament broke for the summer recess. Those plans have been put on hold as Justine Greening, the education secretary, looks into a policy to reverse a ban on new grammar schools. Downing Street believes that its grammar school policy is key to raising standards in under-performing areas.” – The Times (£)
> Yesterday: ToryDiary – More grammars? Yes. But…
> Today:
“The UK should copy other European countries in setting up the department to show it takes the issue seriously and help manage the effects of Brexit, Policy Exchange said. It should also be in charge of making sure new arrivals contribute to society and do not overwhelm certain areas as a “Department for Immigration and Integration”…The Policy Exchange report said Brexit brought opportunities to slash the high number of arrivals but called for migration to be carefully watched so the economy did not suffer.” – The Sun
“The Prime Minister’s official spokeswoman said the strike was “only going to cause more disruption and misery for passengers”. “We are deeply disappointed that union bosses are overlooking the impact that they are having on the public,” she added. Bruce Williamson, a spokesman for the Railfuture passenger group, said “there needs to be some serious banging of heads”, while others suggested Southern should lose the franchise. But the Prime Minister’s spokesman warned that allowing Transport for London to take over the franchise would lead to “more uncertainty and risk to the service”.” – Daily Telegraph
“The official assessment of the Troubled Families Programme, aimed at improving the lives of the most disruptive and damaged families, said the plan had ‘not had a measurable impact’. It will be an embarrassment for the former prime minister, who said last year that the costly scheme was a ‘real Government success’ which ‘changed lives’. Ministers have continued to promote it as a solution to worklessness, crime, drug abuse, anti-social behaviour and truancy.” – Daily Mail
“His 189 peers claim almost £28,000 each in expenses and allowances, according to research from the Electoral Reform Society. And experts say the former PM’s exit list of 16 peers will cost the taxpayer £444,288 per year, for many years to come. Last year alone the total cost of Cameron appointees was £3.04m, with the average peer claiming £24,088…Experts found in the first two months of 2016, the ex PM’s appointees claimed more than £840,000.” – The Sun
“For those of us who have experience of Steve in Government there is actually something comedic in his recent descents from Olympus (California) to lecture us mere mortals on how to improve our sad little lives. With Steve, self-regard has never been a commodity in short supply and the patronising pomposity of his interventions do have the ability to be unintentionally comedic. In Government many of us have had moments with Steve that could have come straight off the script of The Thick of It.” – Daily Telegraph
“Oliver’s Remain campaign was blamed for being too negative, for not highlighting the benefits of the EU, for underestimating the depths of public concern about migration, for not uniting the various political parties, and for failing to counter a nimble, aggressive, motivated opponent. I wondered what Oliver’s own analysis was, now that he’d had a few weeks to ponder, and his answer perplexed me. “Genuinely, I don’t think we would’ve run a different campaign,” he said. They’d had data, polling, past experience. All the experts, all the models, predicted that the economic consequences of Brexit would trump the public’s concerns about immigration.” – Politico