Dear John,

The temperatures have certainly dropped this week but if the news is anything to go by that’s not the only thing sending shivers down the Prime Minister’s spine.

Divisions within the Tory Party have continued to grow, Sunak stood up the Greek PM, Suella Braverman’s Rishi revenge is in full swing, and on Thursday Starmer and Sunak both headed to Dubai for COP28.

Sunak wasn’t the only one to catch a chill this week, as on Monday our team led the UK Trade and Business Commission on a site visit to FreshLinc, who specialise in supply chain management of temperature controlled fresh, chilled and horticultural products. Scroll down for the obligatory team in hi-vis pic!

What a Cock Up!

This week it was Ex-Health Secretary Matt Hancock’s turn in the firing seat at the Covid Inquiry. It seems Hancock developed a case of voluntary memory loss when questioned by Hugo Keith KC, unsurprising when you consider the pivotal role he played in making the worst possible decisions for the country during 2020 - a prime example being Eat Out to Help Out.

If the low sales weren’t a big enough reason for him to regret releasing his book ‘Pandemic Diaries’, he certainly has a reason to now with it being used as evidence to suggest he is lying to the inquiry about advising then PM, Boris Johnson to introduce a lockdown on the 13 March, with there being no record of such advice in his so-called diary.

Conveniently, his voluntary memory loss evaporated when questions arose regarding his then colleague Dominic Cummings, who Hancock described as creating a ‘toxic culture’ and having ‘an unhealthy degree of influence’ over Boris Johnson, which he saw as ‘inappropriate in a democracy’ an appropriate phrase that can be applied to the behaviour of a large proportion of the current Government. 

Meanwhile Dominic Cummings continued his keyboard bashing over on Twitter (X), calling out Hancock for ‘flat out lying’. 

Although, this blame-passing and lack of accountability from those in No.10 is nothing new, which is why the Government must call a General Election now. If you can, do consider donating to our election crowdfunder, and don't forget to sign up for GetVoting alerts here. 

Next up at the Covid Inquiry is Boris Johnson, who will give evidence on both Wednesday and Thursday.

Have you been following the Covid Inquiry?

Sunak's Lost His Marbles

Rishi Sunak hit the headlines this week for his snub of Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Sunak cancelled their planned meeting due to the Greek PM’s failure to keep to their agreement that he wouldn’t use his UK visit as a ‘public platform’ to speak about the Parthenon sculptures.

Said sculptures, which currently reside at the British Museum should be returned to Athens according to the Greek government who are currently in talks with the Museum’s Chair, the not so unfamiliar former Chancellor George Osborne, to make this a reality. Although following a meeting with Starmer, Mitsotakis will be wishing for a Labour Government this Christmas, with Starmer promising their return upon a Labour victory. 

To make matters worse, Sunak offered Mitsotakis a meeting with Deputy PM Oliver Dowden instead, who is renowned for his commitment to keeping the sculptures exactly where they are - can you blame him for flying straight home instead?

The spat has raised further questions about the state of UK-EU relations, with it seeming glaringly obvious that Sunak is only widening the Brexit rift with our European neighbours. Particularly following his rejection of Ursula von der Leyen’s comments at an event in Brussels on Tuesday night - you can see what our Director of Policy and Research Tom had to say on the matter here, and of course we posted a TikTok about it too! 

Stirring the Pot

Senior Labour front-bencher Darren Jones has this week confirmed the party’s plans to halve net migration if they win the next election. This would mean reducing migration numbers to a few hundred thousand a year, down from last year’s figure of 745,000 which was released last week, a figure 3 times higher than before Brexit might I add. It is certainly a bold move from Labour to commit to such a reduction, particularly within their first term, but it will have been sure to ruffle some feathers on the opposing bench.

The announcement follows uproar within the Tory back benches from shock horror, Suella Braverman, who has called last week’s  figures a “slap in the face” despite being the Home Secretary during the period they relate to. She has also claimed that she and Sunak agreed a deal to set a £40,000 minimum salary threshold for migrants, in order for her to back him to become PM. 

Although she isn’t alone, Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch has also called upon Sunak for tougher immigration measures. 

In the opposing corner of the Tory psycho-drama boxing ring, the One Nation group of Conservative MPs have also written to the PM, saying they won’t stand for a rowing back on the UK’s human rights commitments to those seeking asylum.

It seems Sunak only has so long before he has a full Tory revolt on his hands!

COP28

The Government started COP28 as they mean to go on, by destroying the planet, with Sunak and the newly appointed Lord Cameron, taking separate planes to the Climate Conference in Abu Dhabi on Thursday. 

King Charles opened the Conference with a call to arms, alongside wearing a tie covered in Greek flags, which I’m sure can be accrued to his Greek ancestry, rather than him taking sides in the drama from earlier in the week…

The biggest news coming out of the Conference so far is that the UK has pledged £60 million to help repair the damage caused by events such as floods and crop failure, and plans to build an £11 billion wind farm at Dogger Bank. 

Lucky for you, our Press Manager Martha has written a great blog summarising all you need to know about COP28! Read it here.

FreshLinc Visit

As promised, above you can find the obligatory team hi-vis picture from the UK Trade and Business Commission’s trip to FreshLinc on Monday. FreshLinc is a storage and logistics company that specialises in providing plant and animal products throughout the UK and Europe to retailers, food manufacturers and growers.

The visit took place ahead of the introduction of the new Border Target Operating Model from January 2024, which will see a new regime of health certification and physical checks on animal, plant, food and feed products originating from the EU in the aftermath of Brexit.

Find out more about the visit.

And that’s it for this week’s edition of Weekend Wire. Check your inboxes this time next week to hear from our Press Manager Martha.

Have a great weekend!

Best wishes,

Georgia Wiltshire
Development Manager
Best for Britain