BEST
FOR BRITAIN'S
WEEKEND WIRE
Dear John,
You know how the old saying goes.
Political firestorms are a lot like buses–they always happen right
before you host the biggest trade policy conference since
Brexit.
T-minus 3 days to
#TU23
Trade Unlocked is only three days
away, and the Best for Britain team is making final preparations
before the hundreds of businesses, trade experts, and policymakers
arrive in Birmingham on Tuesday.
Our keynote speakers include Shadow
Foreign Secretary David Lammy MP and Shadow International Trade
Secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds, among dozens of other business leaders
and experts.
Be sure you’re following Trade
Unlocked on Twitter and LinkedIn to catch all our updates from the conference on Tuesday, and
use the #TU23 hashtag to join the conversation on social media. For
those registered to attend, you can have a first look at our app at
app.tradeunlocked.co.uk.
90 Day Fiance: Parliamentary
Edition
Westminster is still reeling from
Boris Johnson’s shock announcement that he would resign late last
Friday, and this week, the Privileges Committee (composed, let us
remember, of a majority of Tories) revealed exactly what had him
running scared and raging incoherently into the ether of the
Parliamentary lobby: Johnson was set to be suspended from Parliament
for 90 days.
The harshness of the proposed
punishment came as a surprise even to the most seasoned Westminster
hacks, including a delicious suggestion that Johnson be banned from
receiving a former member’s pass to the estate. Firing back, Johnson
repeated his line that he was the victim of a kangaroo court and
tried to tattle on Bernard Jenkin, one of the Tories on the
Privileges Committee, for an alleged lockdown breach of his
own.
The House will vote next week on
whether to accept or reject the Committee’s findings, with most Tory
MPs expected to abstain. Johnson, for his part, can never be accused
of failing to multitask in his grifting–he’s already lined up a gig as
a Daily Mail columnist.
Not
Guto
Best for Britain Chief Executive
Naomi Smith appeared on BBC Politics Live on Wednesday, and alongside Labour Mayor of
West Yorkshire Tracy Brabin, aced the formidable challenge of
remaining sane, cool, and on top of their game on a panel that
included Cultural Marxism conspiracy-peddling Tory MP Miriam Cates and
the former Director of Communications for Boris Johnson, Guto
Harri.
Against the backdrop of the
bombshell Partygate Privileges Committee report, Tracy swiftly
dismissed Cates’ claims that the fallout was a distraction, relating her experience meeting constituents who believe Johnson is
a “serial liar and a narcissist”. Naomi shared her powerful personal experience of grief during the pandemic,
which Harri impotently tarred as “parading” personal stories…before
proceeding to a personal pandemic story of his own.
In between dispatching Harri and Cates, Naomi also cued viewers
into Best for Britain’s recent work, including our recent polling and the upcoming Trade Unlocked conference.
Tragedy in the
Mediterranean
An unimaginable tragedy struck in
the Mediterranean early Wednesday morning when a boat carrying up to
750 people capsized and sank off the southern coast of
Greece.
The fishing boat, which was
believed to be en route from Libya to Italy, had been reported in
distress for several hours before it capsized. At least 78 people were
confirmed to have died, but responders said the death toll is expected
to rise.
The Greek government declared three
national days of mourning in response to the tragedy, but observers
have heavily criticised their failure to respond to reports that the
boat was overloaded and in danger of sinking.
Best for Britain’s deepest
sympathies are with those affected by this disaster.
The peerage-denier was Rishi
Sunak in the No 10 bathroom with the candlestick
With all of the humdrum, provincial
frivolities out of the way, it’s time to focus on the real,
hard-hitting news: who’s behind Nadine Dorries not getting a
peerage?
After kicking off the whole affair
with her resignation, initially thinking that she would receive a
peerage from her creepily-doted-upon little brother Boris, the shock
turn of events and subsequent political chicanery that saw the former
Prime Minister resign also cost Dorries her promised place in the House of Lords.
Not one to go down (or do much of
anything) quietly, Dorries immediately went on the offensive, blaming
a cabal of misogynist and classist forces close to the Prime Minister
in a Daily Mail op-ed. To twist the screw, she has refused to formally resign as of Friday afternoon,
until the Prime Minister explains exactly why she didn’t receive a
peerage.
As novelist Dorries surely knows,
this narrative drama could delay the by-election in Mid Bedfordshire
to just before party conference season in the autumn. Anyone who’d
read her work would know not to trifle with her, lest they “unleash the dogs of war”.
Baby of the Other
House
In defence of Nadine Dorries, we’d
also likely have a few choice words to say if we were passed over for
a place in the House of Lords in favour of a 29 year-old
assistant.
Included in Boris Johnson’s honours
list was Charlotte Owen, a former parliamentary aide to Johnson.
Having filtered through a number of roles with Tory MPs, Owen served
as a special adviser from 2021-22 in Johnson’s office, apparently
accomplishing enough to earn herself a lifetime role as an unelected
lawmaker. Criticism of the appointment has followed swiftly, however,
with some commentators accusing Owen of exaggerating her role and
another member of Johnson’s office describing her as “staggeringly junior”.
Trump in
orange
After his bombshell indictment on
charges of illegally retaining classified material, former US
President Donald Trump was arraigned in Miami on Tuesday. He has pleaded not
guilty.
On his way out of Miami, Trump also
found the time to visit a Cuban restaurant, promise free
food for all his gathered supporters, and skip out on the
bill.
At a rally of supporters in New
Jersey after the arraignment, Trump then claimed that the boxes piled up in the now-infamous photographs at his
Mar-a-Lago resort were actually “shirts and shoes”. Apparently he
wasn’t a Marie Kondo devotee.
Whether you will be ascending to
the House of Lords or joining us and Nadine Dorries in lamenting
another day of our wretched plebeian lives, we wish you a happy and
restful weekend. Bye for now!
Best
wishes,
Tommy Gillespie
Press Officer, Best for Britain
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