Dear John,

Firstly, Happy New Year! I hope you had a nice break over the festive period. 

I’m pleased to bring you the first Weekend Wire of 2024, and it’s fair to say we’ve got a bumper edition for you this week. 

You may also notice there’s a new section in this week’s edition that we’re calling the ‘Cringe Column’ to document the unmissable car-crash broadcast interviews of the week. As its existence is entirely conditional on the Government continuing to both do, and say ridiculous things, we’re relatively confident that this will be a permanent feature.

Post Office Pain

The fallout of the Horizon scandal continues to dominate the headlines this week. Since the broadcast of the ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office, there has been a huge public outcry over the wrongful convictions by the Post Office between 1999 and 2015, who prosecuted 700 sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses based on the faulty Horizon IT system. 

This week in Parliament it was announced that hundreds of Post Office operators will have their convictions quashed within months in an unprecedented move to remedy this shocking miscarriage of justice. The Prime Minister also set out compensation for the affected workers to the tune of £450 million pounds, with those having their conviction squashed given an upfront offer of £600,000 or allowed to proceed with a detailed assessment process if they feel they are owed more.

Despite the almost unanimous political and public support for the persecuted posties, Conservative MPs still somehow managed to tie themselves in knots over the issue. More on that in the Cringe Column.

By-Election Bonanza

During his first engagement of the New Year, Rishi Sunak hinted that the General Election will take place in the second half of the year but he might have to be ready sooner than that if the never ending drip of scandal-induced by-elections continues.

Last Thursday, the writ was moved for by-elections to be held in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire; and Kingswood, Gloucestershire both of which were held by Tory MPs. I wonder what Brenda from Bristol would think about all of this.

In Wellingborough, where suspended Tory MP Peter Bone was deselected by his constituents in a recall petition after an inquiry into his conduct, and a successful recall petition to remove him as an MP. The Tories have selected Helen Harrison, the partner of Peter Bone to be their candidate. I’ll leave that one there.

The Kingswood contest was triggered by the resignation of former energy minister Chris Skidmore in protest at Sunak’s plan to promote oil and gas drilling in the North Sea. In a further stab at Sunak’s legitimacy and strength, Skidmore not only refuses to back his own party at the upcoming by-election but has also gone on record supporting Labour’s flagship green energy proposal of their £28bn climate spending plans. 

The by-elections are set to take place on 15th February with the Tories, who have already lost 4 seats in by-elections since Sunak took office in October 2022,

We’ve seen bigger Conservative majorities than the ones in Wellingborough and Kingswood overturned in this Parliament - all eyes on what may potentially be another bruising night for the PM and the Conservatives. 

Rwanda (Bill) Returns

It may be a new year but the Government is still focussed on the same old morally corrupt; highly expensive; and ineffective legislation. I know this could almost apply to most  legislation they have put before Parliament since 2019, but as you’ve probably guessed from the headline, the Rwanda Bill is back.

The Bill is set to return to the Commons next week and is already causing huge headaches for the Prime Minister who is facing a significant rebellion from Tory MPs over his plan to send some asylum seekers to Rwanda. 

The policy, which has become the cornerstone of Sunak’s Premiership, faces a difficult week with Tory rebels on both sides of the argument likely to be less forgiving of the legislation on its return. Over 30 backbenchers on the right of the party are backing plans to make it harder for people to appeal deportation; while the ‘one nation’ group of Conservatives are worried such changes may risk breaking international law. 

As if things weren’t tricky enough for Rishi, reports shown to the BBC suggest that he was highly critical of the plan when he was Chancellor.

Did the Government just break their own law… again?

The Government claims that the Rwanda plan is required to stop small boat crossings which, completely coincidently, have dramatically increased since the Government systematically closed safe routes for people fleeing war, famine and persecution to claim asylum in the UK. Here’s that clip again.

An amendment to last year’s odious Illegal Migration Act requires the Government to publish a review of these routes and to propose new ones. This week it was published but with one key element missing. No new routes have been suggested. Here’s a response from our CEO Naomi Smith.

Posturing at PMQs

As Keir Starmer quipped, “New year, new nonsense.” On Wednesday, we were treated to the first PMQs of 2024, setting the tone for a very busy Election Year.

The Government has clearly been working hard on its messaging for the coming months with the Prime Minister labelling the Leader of the Opposition as “all slogan and no plan” before introducing yet another slogan  “stick with us to deliver the long-term change that the country needs; do not go back to square one with him”. It just rolls off the tongue, doesn't it?

Yes, less than four months after painting himself as the change candidate at Tory Party Conference - he’s decided ‘Mr Continuity’ is a better play. And perhaps it would be, if everything wasn’t such mess.

Then there’s the desperation. ‘Stick with us’ is definitely giving us unwilling divorcee vibes. And while the treat of ‘square one’ may have worked for Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton in 2015 with austerity and recession still fresh, a pre-Brexit and pre-Johnson/Truss/Sunak square one is probably quite appealing to most people.

😬 Cringe Column 😬

Thanks for sticking with me through this bumper edition of Weekend Wire. Have a nice weekend!

Best wishes,
Ben Stead Lewis
External Affairs Officer