Dear John,

At time of writing the opening ceremony of the 33rd Olympiad in Paris is just about to get underway, so please imagine that your Weekend Wire includes a stirring report of the astounding spectacle on the Seine, as I don’t plan on waking up early to update this email. Anyway, this is supposed to be about politics!

Jover and out

Democracy enthusiasts around the world were given a glimmer of hope on Sunday when President Joe Biden bowed to the inevitable and confirmed he was ending his reelection campaign.

Longstanding calls for the octogenarian incumbent to end his race reached fever pitch following that debate, and intensified after his rival achieved near messianic status among his base following that assassination attempt. Yes, that was only two weeks ago!

Following public pressure from House Democrats and reported private pressure from party grandees like Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama, Biden broke the news in a letter that led bulletins around the world. In a subsequent White House address, Biden confirmed that now was the time to pass the torch to a younger generation… aged around 60, but more on her later.

Despite the relief from the many who saw no chance of a Biden victory, there’s a reason he's only the fourth incumbent to ever relinquish the opportunity to go for a second term. The record shows that incumbency could be the number one factor in deciding who wins White House elections, with two thirds of sitting presidents winning a second term.

Democrats are keenly aware they are taking a massive risk in changing their ticket with only 100 days until the Election, but as Republicans performed a barely disguised victory lap at their convention last week, Democrat hands were forced. With Trump's platform including but not limited to ending democracy in the US and offering Ukraine to Putin on a silver platter, the stakes have never been higher so let’s hope this gamble pays off.

Cometh the hour, cometh the Kamala

The question of who will replace Biden at the top of the Democrat ticket and the potential for their Chicago convention to descend into internecine bloodletting, were quickly and methodically crushed when Vice President Kamala Harris confirmed  on Tuesday that she had the support of enough delegates to clinch the nomination. 

Cue an avalanche of flashy vids, dank memes and (most importantly) donations as supporters recovered from their Biden-induced despondency and opened the taps. In 24 hours, Harris smashed all records, seeing a huge uptick of volunteers in key states and drumming up a quarter of a billion dollars ($231million) in new donations, the life-blood of US elections. To put that in perspective, parties in the UK are only allowed to spend $45million across their entire election campaign.

Harris made her case to the American people by making her case against Trump in her first campaign address where she drew sharp contrasts between her record as a criminal prosecutor and his record as a criminal.

Despite the revitalised Democrat campaign, most commentators and polls suggest Harris is at best, neck and neck with the orange Orban. All eyes now turn to who she might pick as a running mate. Here’s a good summary of who’s in contention.

Tilting at windmills

Back in Blighty, this week the Prime Minister launched GB Energy, Labour's new publicly owned energy company with an announcement that they would be partnering with the Crown Estate to build more wind farms in the pursuit of energy independence and lower bills for households. 

It was also announced that GB Energy would be headed up by former Siemens boss Juergen Maier who was part of the organising committee of our Trade Unlocked Conference last year. Good to see experts are back in fashion.

Rebel quell

Things were slightly less rosy in the House of Commons for the Prime Minister this week when he decided to come down like a tonne of bricks on seven of his MPs for backing an opposition amendment to the King Speech calling for an end to the two child benefit cap. The rebels have had the Labour whip temporarily suspended.

Bye-Bye Bibby

This week we got the welcome news that one year after opening, the new Government will close the Bibby Stockholm barge by January next year as they seek to clear the massive backlog of asylum seekers and refugees built up by the last Government.

Not only is it inhumane and gross to keep people in such intolerable living conditions, it was revealed that barges like Bibby are also more expensive than the repurposed hotels they are supposed to replace.

Best for Britain CEO  Naomi Smith described the barge as “a symbol of everything wrong with the last Government’s approach to asylum, prioritising performative cruelty over effective policy and value for the taxpayer.”

So a failure on all fronts. No surprises there. Let the great detoxification of Britain continue!

Speaking of the Tories…

That’s a semi-decent segue to talk about the party responsible and what they have planned for the next few months because this week we discovered a little more about who might actually take over the Tories.

Having learned nothing from the last s***show, the plan is to hold yet another months-long leadership race with hopefuls needing the support of at least 10 Tory MPs  by next Monday. The list will then be whittled down by their parliamentary colleagues to a final four who will compete in a ‘beauty pageant’ at their annual conference in September. Mercifully, there isn't a swimsuit round.  A winner will then be crowned in November after Conservative Party members vote and after which the husk of Rishi Sunak will at long last be released.

At time of writing all confirmed contenders have disgraced themselves and/or damaged the country in some way and so are probably in with a real shot of winning over the same people who liked the cut of Liz Truss’ jib.

New Welsh Labour

Following the resignation of short-lived First Minister Vaughan Gething last week, Welsh Labour have elected his successor, their Health Secretary Eluned Morgan.

We wish her well in her new role and have our fingers crossed that this is the last news of a leadership change from the devolved administrations for some time.

🫣 Cringe Column 😬

À la prochaine

Niall McGourty
Director of Communications
Best for Britain