Labour Together have commissioned a poll of who Tory members would vote for in a mock leadership contest. Not particularly helpful polling for Sunak…
Apparently (out of the 537 members surveyed), 46% think Sunak should quit if the Tories lose more than half of the seats they’re defending in the locals, while 38% think he should resign as leader full stop. In a race between Penny and Rishi, 58% would back Penny. Meanwhile Farage is the favourite for Tory leader overall at 27%. Perhaps someone in the US can tell him while he’s out there hiding from further pestering about whether he’ll stand or not…
The poll came just hours before the plotters officially threw in the towel in their bid to replace Rishi. They’re all commiserating in the pub, with one plotter telling Guido: “We’re going to get drunk. T’is finished”. Timing is everything…
The votes are in, and, as predicted Labour’s Claire Ward has won, making her the first East Midlands Mayor. Ben Bradley got 28.8% to Ward’s 40.3%. The Greens and Reform scored 11.3% and 10.9% respectively with quite the turnout – 11.5%. Looks like the former Blair Babe is now “Nine Jobs Claire”…
Starmer is reeling in glory having successfully taken back Blackpool South with the third biggest swing from Conservatives to Labour in post war election history. Guido did some digging in to the new Labour MP, Chris Webb. It turns out Webb is a Trustee of a charity whose submissions to the Charity Commission are seriously overdue…
The charity, Communication Workers Union Humanitarian Aid, is currently 185 days overdue to submit annual returns, accounts and trustees’ annual report (TAR). It’s not the first time they’ve filed late either – they were overdue by 127 days in 2018 and 134 days late in 2020. Chris took on the role as Trustee in 2018, and conveniently his father Carl Webb is Chair of Trustees. Doesn’t bode well for his effectivity in the Commons…
Entries in the comments…
Labour has just won the North East mayoralty, with candidate and current Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner Kim McGuinness taking over from ex-Labour Corbynista Jamie Driscoll. Labour got 41.3% to Driscoll’s 28.2% – the Tories trailed on 11.7%. And that’s despite all of Owen Jones’ campaigning?
Meanwhile Labour has just nabbed the usually Conservative York and North Yorkshire. Maybe that’s because the Tory candidate took his inspiration from Engels. Rishi Sunak has a new mayor…
CCHQ is trying to point all noses at the Harlow result in Essex, which has been previously touted as a crucial target for Starmer. Now an “incredible” victory has been claimed as the Tories keep hold of a one-seat majority. Rishi Sunak celebrated the result and Rob Halfon called it the “biggest comeback since Lazarus”…
Was that comment actually directed at recently suspended Tory councillor James Leppard? With 17 seats (including his) versus Labour’s 16, for the Tories to keep control, they will have had to readmit Leppard, who they suspended two weeks ago for saying of Muslims that: “We really don’t need them here. They add nothing”. CCHQ is currently refusing to say whether this has happened – though that is the one way they can claim to have control over the council. So, according to the latest information available, it’s No Overall Control…
