“Theresa May last night launched a blistering fightback against attempts by allies of David Cameron to make her look soft on immigration. Friends of Mrs May revealed she had written to Mr Cameron at least twice when he was PM to demand stricter border controls and a brake on EU immigration – only to be ignored. And they said that, when Mrs May spoke publicly about the need for tougher rules on immigration, Mr Cameron’s team slapped her down or complained. The explosive row was triggered by the publication of two new books on the referendum campaign, one of which was written by Mr Cameron’s ex-spin doctor, Sir Craig Oliver.” – Daily Mail
Editorial:
>Yesterday: ToryDiary: Cameron is attempting to blame his colleagues for his failed EU renegotiation
“Boris Johnson said yesterday that Britain should “get on” with leaving the EU, stressing that Article 50 should be triggered at the start of next year. The foreign secretary gave the broadest hint so far that Theresa May will trigger the legal process for Brexit in the first four months of 2017, meaning that the subsequent two-year exit talks end before the next EU elections. “What we want to do is not do it by Christmas but obviously we can’t let the process drag on. If you think about it, you know, there’s obviously Euro elections coming down the track,” Mr Johnson toldThe Andrew Marr Show on BBC One.” – The Times (£)
More EU:
Labour:
SNP:
Comment:
>Today:
>Yesterday:
“Sir Michael Fallon has been accused of ‘gagging’ a senior officer and three soldiers who planned to tell an inquiry how they were hounded by investigators over the Iraq war. The soldiers and the commanding officer of a major now facing prosecution were banned from appearing before MPs on the orders of the Defence Secretary. The soldiers, under investigation by the Iraq Historic Allegations Team, had planned to tell the Commons defence committee how they had been ‘left to rot’ by the Army.” – Daily Mail
Labour:
More Blair:
>Yesterday: Video: WATCH: Corbyn. Saying there should be no prosecution of British troops would be “a step too far”
“A ban on six-figure pay-offs to NHS staff, police and town hall fat cats leaving their jobs will be announced by ministers today in a victory for the Daily Mail. Chancellor Philip Hammond will unveil rules to ensure that public sector staff cannot walk away with more than £95,000. Managers will be able to claw back payments made to departing staff who later return to do a similar job in an attempt to bring an end to the scandal of the public sector ‘revolving door’.” – Daily Mail
“Ruth Davidson has pledged the Scottish Tories will represent the views of “moderate” New Labour supporters left disgruntled by the re-election of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader. Ms Davidson said that New Labour had been an “awesome machine”, but added that the “centrist, inclusive, election-winning juggernaut” that was led by Tony Blair is now gone. After Mr Corbyn, a veteran left-winger, was confirmed as Labour leader after defeating challenger Owen Smith, the Scottish Conservative leader said “moderate, centre-ground voters” would be left “feeling utterly disenfranchised”.” – The Scotsman
>Today:
“The Labour women’s conference is really a ghettoised side-order to the main course; an aperitif put on the day before the big boys take over the main stage. And this year it was a grotesque – a synthetically furious pantomime of righteous indignation and misplaced moral superiority. Speaker after speaker took pot-shots at Theresa May for daring to occupy the highest position in the land. Harriet Harman, a former Labour deputy leader declared that “Theresa May is woman – but she’s no sister”.” – Daily Telegraph
“Labour MPs have been forced to run a gauntlet of hard-left activists calling them “traitors” and demanding that they were deselected because of their opposition to Jeremy Corbyn. Group including the “Labour Party Marxists” and Socialist Labour were on Sunday stationed outside the entrance to the party conference in Liverpool demanding that moderates are not allowed to fight the next general election. The groups called on its members to “use all the weapons at our disposal” to take on the MPs trying to depose Mr Corbyn.” – Daily Telegraph
Sketches:
Editorial:
“Jeremy Corbyn is to launch an imminent reshuffle of his shadow cabinet, despite a series of senior figures warning that they will continue to boycott the Labour front bench. Several influential MPs have claimed they will not serve unless Mr Corbyn allows the parliamentary Labour Party – which is largely critical of the leader – to elect the shadow cabinet. However, allies of the Labour leader suggested he would himself appoint an updated top team in the next fortnight.” – The Times (£)
More Labour:
“The Lords is to try to throw out more than 200 of its own peers and slash its bloated size permanently, The Sun can reveal. Campaigning members of the upper house are to press ahead with a plan to cull it by a quarter next month, in a move that will spark fury with the old guard. A cross-party group of peers will ask the full house to agree it is too big, and force a vote on it if necessary. The Lords themselves will then introduce a new law to strip down the chamber’s membership to 600 – the same size as the House of Commons by 2020.” – The Sun