BEST FOR BRITAIN'S
WEEKEND WIRE
Dear John,
The end of May bank holiday weekend typically heralds the beginning of summer. If you’re on the road, be prepared for some defensive driving against an errant Home Secretary–hers will be the car blasting Alex Jones conspiracy theories as she speeds past.
Trade Unlocked prep kicks into overdrive <[link removed]>
Trade Unlocked is less than a month away, and our preparations for the summer’s biggest business and political event have ramped up.
This week, we continued our rollout of speakers and panels, including BAFTA Cyrmu Award winner John Giwa-Amu and Budweiser UKI Legal + Corporate Affairs Director Timiko Cranwell. Sarah McCartney, a perfumer who founded the artisanal perfumery 4160Tuesdays, shared this message for her fellow SMEs and exporters about the conference.
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Make sure you’re following Trade Unlocked on Twitter <[link removed]> and LinkedIn <[link removed]> to catch all our latest updates!
Suella the speed demon
Apparently Suella Braverman doesn’t think the blob is so blobby when she’s trying to score privileged access to a drivers’ awareness course after you got busted for speeding.
Reports this week revealed <[link removed]> that Braverman, after being caught speeding last summer, tried to get civil servants to arrange a private one-on-one course to get her driving licence back in good standing, a move that many observers claimed amounted to her umpteenth breach of the ministerial code.
Alongside a separate revelation that Braverman failed to disclose <[link removed]> past work for the Rwandan government, which stands to benefit financially from her department’s cruel deportation policy, the news led critics of the Home Secretary from all sides of the political spectrum to renew calls for her sacking or resignation.
After two days trademark dithering of a Prime Minister who has none of necessary control of his party to act decisively, Sunak declined <[link removed]> to open a probe into Braverman’s conduct on Wednesday. Spare a thought for the Tory MP overheard <[link removed]> calling her “stupid and incompetent” in Parliament earlier this week.
Hunt wins the Not Haemorrhaging Money As Fast As We Were Before Award
Jeremy Hunt’s Treasury is making fiscal responsibility cool again–and they want to tell you all about it. Just last month, he tweeted <[link removed]> a thread reminding the grateful public that they had reduced debt by £53bn during his tenure.
Where did they find this unexpected cash splash? The OBR found it! Where did they find it? In the charred remains of the public purse after Liz Truss took a flamethrower to the British state and economy.
In fact, the Treasury will actually be saving no money, and will be tens of billions <[link removed]> deeper in debt, just £50bn less than what was projected in the autumn after Liz Truss’s disastrous mini-budget.
Hunt’s equivocation earned the Treasury a reprimand from the Office for Statistics Regulation about the importance of full transparency and clarity in their public comms this week. It’s not all negative, though–he’s given your writer the confidence to go to his parents and ask them to pony up the cost of all the Rolexes he didn’t buy in his youth.
Bregret intensifies
A new poll released this week <[link removed]> by YouGov has confirmed what we at Best for Britain have long known: Remoaning is SO five years ago; we’ve now graduated to Leavementing.
With the blessing of Nigel Farage, a plurality of Leave voters finally feel safe to admit that it’s all gone a bit crap–37% say Brexit has been more of a failure than a success, 35% say it’s been a mixed bag, while just 20% say it’s been a success.
Among all voters, the consensus continues to grow: 56% say the decision to leave the EU was the wrong one, while 31% think it was right. 62% say Brexit has been more of a failure compared to just 9% who believe it’s been a success. The Government will have its work cut out getting Brexit true-believers back up above the level of Brits who believe the moon landings were faked (16% <[link removed]>).
Best for Britain Chief Executive Naomi Smith warned <[link removed]> that “we will continue to feel the economic pain until policymakers acknowledge this clear consensus”.
Raab us once…
After 13 years of torment, barbells and boxing pads around Westminster finally exhaled this week, because Dominic Raab announced <[link removed]> on Tuesday that he would stand down as an MP at the next election.
In a solemnly-taken decision that surely has nothing to do with his ignominious exit from the Cabinet this spring or the fast-shrinking <[link removed]> Conservative majority in his Blue Wall seat of Esher and Walton, Raab attributed his exit to pressure on his family. Fair enough.
By bowing out, Raab has joined Sajid Javid, Nadine Dorries, Dehenna Davison, Matt Hancock, and George Eustice, to name just a few, in the Conservative Chicken Run Club. We’d like to give our best wishes to Raab as he sets off on his next Cretan holiday <[link removed]>, and our commiserations to the airline ticket agent who gives him a boarding pass in a font he doesn’t like. <[link removed]>
If you, perversely, want to reminisce about Raab’s worst misadventures in Government, you can have another look at Best for Britain’s “Absolutely Raabulous” blog <[link removed]>
Reopening the partygate
In a twist that would have Sisyphus himself asking if this is all a bit repetitive, Boris Johnson has again been referred to police for potential breaches of lockdown restrictions.
The new allegations concern visits to Chequers <[link removed]> during national lockdowns by non-government employees. With a tactical masterstroke Richard Nixon would nod approvingly at, Johnson, having seen fit to accept a taxpayer-funded legal defence, was hoisted <[link removed]> by his own ministerial diary after he turned it over to Cabinet office lawyers, who felt duty-bound to report whatever was in them.
The new referral has right-wing Tories raving <[link removed]> about the civil service “blob” like extras in a 1950s horror movie. Johnson himself is reportedly furious with what he sees as a “stitch-up <[link removed]>” by political enemies—the same people who ambushed him with a cake must have forced him to entertain unauthorised visitors at gunpoint.
Layla Moran MP, Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Coronavirus, said <[link removed]> Johnson’s “desperate attempt” to evade accountability for his rule-breaking had blown up in his face.
With Parliament heading off for a questionably-deserved vacation, we think you should follow their cue and rest up yourself. They’ll be back, they’ll probably get worse, and we’ll tell you all about it.
Best wishes,
Tommy Gillespie
Press Officer, Best for Britain
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