“Theresa May risks being accused of stealing David Cameron’s flagship ‘Big Society’ policy after launching her own version: the ‘Shared Society’. In a speech to charity chiefs tomorrow, she will pledge to improve people’s lives by values based on ‘responsibility, community and family’. It bears a striking similarity to her predecessor’s Big Society campaign unveiled in 2009. Mrs May will be hoping her version is more successful: Mr Cameron’s was effectively shelved after it failed to convince voters.” – Mail on Sunday
“So when you see others prospering while you are not; when you try to raise your concerns but they fall on deaf ears; when you feel locked out of the political and social discourse and feel no one is on your side, resentments grow, and the divisions that we see around us – between a more prosperous older generation and a struggling younger generation; between the wealth of London and the rest of the country; between the rich, the successful and the powerful, and their fellow citizens – become entrenched. Overcoming these divisions and bringing our country together is the central challenge of our time.” – Sunday Telegraph
“A top diplomat who quit as Britain’s ambassador to the EU has been dramatically sacked from the Civil Service after a row between Theresa May and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson. Sir Ivan Rogers was forced out yesterday as the Prime Minister felt his position was untenable after he attacked her ‘muddled thinking’ over Brexit. The Mail on Sunday understands Mr Johnson did not support her decision but gave way because Downing Street was adamant Sir Ivan could not remain in the Civil Service following his outburst last week.” – Mail on Sunday
Analysis:
More EU:
More May:
>Today: ToryDiary: Why May must “get up Trump’s arse and stay there”
“David Davis has spoken of mobilising an army of talent from retired civil servants and diplomats and from the private sector but none of this has happened, as yet. Indeed, senior British international representatives, skilled in trade negotiations and patriotic, hard-headed and multilingual, have told me they barely received an acknowledgment when they contacted their permanent secretaries, offering to serve in the new circumstances of Brexit.” – Sunday Times (£)
Editorial:
>Yesterday: ToryDiary: Experts have their place, but politicians must reclaim theirs
“The Israeli Embassy made a shocking vow to ‘take down’ Boris Johnson’s Foreign Office deputy, a secret film reveals today. The bombshell footage, covertly filmed in a London restaurant and obtained by The Mail on Sunday, shows a senior diplomat making the astonishing threat to target Sir Alan Duncan. Extraordinarily, he is egged on by a senior aide to another Conservative Minister, Robert Halfon.” – Mail on Sunday
“Drivers who throw litter from their cars will soon be slapped with £60 fines – even if their passenger was responsible, it was claimed last night. Councils in England will be given new powers to punish grubby motorists by dishing out automatic penalties… Environment Secretary Andrea Leadsom has taken lead on the proposals while Whitehall mandarins have been consulted. The move is part of a Tory manifesto pledge to “be the first generation to leave the natural environment of England in a better state than that in which we found it”.” – Sun on Sunday
“Nicola Sturgeon has been accused of wasting a decade after claims that 51 manifesto pledges were “undelivered, forgotten or downright ignored”. Analysis by the Scottish Conservatives revealed that dozens of promises made ahead of the 2007 and 2011 Holyrood elections have since been broken. They include a pledge to improve performance in the PISA global schools survey that hit the buffers last month when a devastating report revealed mathematics, reading and science had all declined.” – Sunday Express
“Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has demanded Theresa May appears before parliament on Monday to face questions over “her failure on the NHS”. It comes after England’s top emergency doctor admitted yesterday the health service is “on its knees” as winter pressures mount. Dr Mike Adamson, head of the British Red Cross, spoke as it emerged A&E medics struggled through their worst ever week, having to shut their doors a record number of times. Two patients died in one hospital waiting in its corridors, one from a heart attack and the other from an aneurysm.” – Sun on Sunday
Comment:
Editorial:
>Yesterday: Paul Bristow in Comment: The NHS needs more money
“For the Labour party, which trails dismally in national polls, a row involving the crisis-torn NHS should be a gift, especially before a crucial byelection in the area. But right now the party cannot buy a break. The sprawling Copeland constituency, in which Whitehaven sits, is part of Britain’s self-styled “energy coast” – home to Sellafield and the proposed site of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant at Moorside. Nuclear energy is the area’s major employer and, as the Conservative party have been quick to underline, Labour’s leader Jeremy Corbyn is no fan of nuclear power.” – The Observer
>Yesterday: Andrew Stephenson MP in Comment: Help us win in Copeland
“Small wonder, then, that many journalists in foreign countries look with envy on a place where politicians cannot dictate the public agenda, where censors do not hold sway and where reporters are free to investigate wrongdoing without fear. So they would be shocked to discover that Britain, the mother of parliamentary democracy, faces the threat of politicians muzzling the press. We stand on the brink of permitting a self-protecting political class to impose a state- sanctioned regulator – and incredibly, devolving official approval to a body funded by the embittered son of a wartime fascist who ended up on the front pages in a sex scandal.” – Mail on Sunday
“MPs are to revolt over plans to kick them out of the crumbling House of Commons. Officials want them to move for six years while the Palace of Westminster gets a £4billion refurb. But some MPs fear running Britain “from a Portakabin” as we quit the EU will make us a world laughing stock. At least 80 are threatening to vote against the proposals, instead demanding repairs are carried out on weekends and holidays. Tory Shailesh Vara said: “At a time when we are eager to make new international friends, it would be absurd to leave this iconic building.”” – Sun on Sunday
>Today: Mike Freer MP in Comment: The unexpected consequences of a blanket ban on letting agents’ fees