“Seeing off that threat was an important reason why the party leadership abandoned its disciplinary procedures against Dame Margaret Hodge, the Labour MP for Barking who called Corbyn an “anti-semite and racist” after he failed to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of anti-semitism in full. Bringing disciplinary measures against Hodge would have undoubtedly triggered a breakaway in the worst possible circumstances” – Stephen Bush, Sunday Times
> Today: ToryDiary – If May had honoured this Israeli terrorist’s grave…
“Boris Johnson posed for a selfie after arriving back from holiday as row over his comments about burkas rumbles on.
The former foreign secretary landed at Gatwick after a break in Italy and took time to be snapped with admirers as left the airport to head home…dozens of complaints about his comments are thought to have been received by the Tory Party and it has launched a disciplinary investigation.” – Sun on Sunday
> Today: Mohammed Amin on Comment: The toxification of politics threatens us all
“In a withering attack today, one of Theresa May’s own ministers describes her tactics as “cack-handed”. We can only agree. She has left the Cabinet split right down the middle. Senior party figures are also warning that if Boris is disciplined, a full-scale revolt will see the PM toppled within days. In any case there could be anarchy by the time the Tory conference starts next month. What a way to run a party, let alone a Government. The Prime Minister’s attempts to control this have so far turned a drama into a full-blown crisis. She needs to staunch this festering party wound immediately. Or else the infection will prove fatal.” – Editorial
“Like most places outside major urban areas, my constituency voted to leave by almost 60 per cent. But knocking on doors, just as in 2010, people aren’t obsessing about Brexit in the same way that Westminster does. “We voted two years ago – just get on with it” is the familiar refrain. The 2017 general election provided an important warning: even with the mandate of the referendum result, people want, and deserve, more than platitudes about sunlit uplands. It sounded the alarm bells about the risk of the Conservative Party becoming self-defined as the Brexit party, without a clear domestic policy to offer the country.” – Sunday Telegraph
> Yesterday: Phillip Lee on Comment: Dear Sophie – don’t quit the Conservative Party, stay and fight against Brextremism
“The 50-year-old admits he could have walked away from politics after his illness, having already reached what many politicians would see as its pinnacle, with a job in the cabinet. But he claims he felt he still had “something to give”, which is why, less than four months after surgery to remove a tumour, he returned to the front bench in April as the communities secretary. Since then he has given a lot of thought to what he wants to achieve and has concluded that the “biggest difference” he can make is by throwing himself into a mission to eradicate rough sleeping. Tomorrow he will launch a £100m initiative to realise that ambition.” – Sunday Times
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Mr Duncan Smith put forward his proposal: “I think the best thing to do is work with what we have got and make it work for everyone around the world. “You basically extend the work permit process across the EU and the rest of the world. People can come here for work but they need to have work to come to and that work needs to have been agreed and accepted that there isn’t a person in the UK that could do that work and has the skills to do that work.” – Sunday Express
“Many attacks were carried out in exchange for vital goods and services including food, oil, wheat, medicine, transport, loans and education. Ms Patel, MP for Witham, Essex, made officials aware of the issue last summer but claims they “passed the buck” to another government department. “Appallingly, it was dismissed as only a problem with UN peacekeepers, which my subsequent investigations showed to be incorrect,” she said.” – Sunday Express
“A well-placed source said: ‘Gavin became very animated and demanding and it made Liz feel threatened. It soon got back to Downing Street, and Liz sought assurances that she had No 10’s support — which she received personally from Theresa’. It is understood Mr Williamson also clashed recently with a second senior Treasury figure, who warned him: ‘Don’t ever speak to me like that again’.” – Mail on Sunday
“The Home Office will not reveal names of banned Brits but is believed the two surviving ‘Beatles’, accused of hostage taking and executions for ISIS, have been stripped of their right to return. It comes as three of the Rochdale grooming gang have lost their appeal against citizenship being revoked and will be deported to Pakistan. Security Minister Ben Wallace said: “The spate of terrorist attacks last year and the nerve agent attack earlier this year were a stark reminder of the real and significant threat this country faces from terrorism and hostile states.” – Sun on Sunday
“If the regime does make tangible and sustained changes to behave like a normal country, America is prepared to resume full commercial and diplomatic relations. Iran will be free to develop advanced technologies and play a full role in the global economy. Until then, America is turning up the pressure and we want the UK by our side. It is time to move on from the flawed 2015 deal. We are asking global Britain to use its considerable diplomatic power and influence and join us as we lead a concerted global effort towards a genuinely comprehensive agreement.”: – Robert Wood Johnson, Sunday Telegraph
“The person most forceful in cautioning against recall was Hague, who pointed out that, if they really must do it, there were parliamentary procedures that meant they did not have to have a vote. Oliver said that although this might be theoretically possible, there was a real danger of people crying foul. George Young, the chief whip, was quietly confident that he could deliver the numbers. It proved a fatal miscalculation. Cameron ended the discussion: parliament was to be recalled. Oliver dipped out of the room to draft a tweet from the prime minister’s account: “Speaker agrees my request to recall Parliament on Thursday. There’ll be a clear Govt motion & vote on UK response to chemical weapons attacks.” The die was cast.” – Sunday Times