BEST FOR BRITAIN'S 



WEEKEND WIRE



Dear John,



This week, Brexiters faced a humiliating defeat in the Commons, the days are officially longer than the nights, and, hopefully, this Government has seen its last cycle of seasons. Let’s not get our hopes up too far–it can be deadly.



Boris blows up



Marie Antoinette said let them eat cake, Boris Johnson was ambushed with a cake. 



Appearing before the Privileges Committee this week over charges that he misled Parliament over Partygate, the former Prime Minister launched <[link removed]> an ill-fated defence variously predicated on the notion that Johnson was informed no rule breaches were taking place by advisers, that it was a work event all along, that he was too thick to understand the rules he put in in place, and that we should all cut him some slack because it had been a tough day at work.



According to Mark Jenkinson, however, the Committee's findings should be null and void because its questions were too “middle class <[link removed]>”, while Nadine Dorries is confident that “reasonable <[link removed]>” people will see through the pearl clutching and back Boris. Polls, on the other hand, show <[link removed]> over 7 in 10 people think Johnson is lying.







Layla Moran MP, chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Coronavirus <[link removed]>, called <[link removed]> Johnson’s defence an “insult” to bereaved families.



Windsor Framework passes Commons <[link removed]>



As Westminster watched Boris implode with bated breath and schadenfreude, proceedings were interrupted by a vote on the Windsor Framework in the House of Commons.



Despite the defection <[link removed]> of Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, and Iain Duncan Smith alongside the DUP, who brandished their best Brexity negotiating-table-flipping credentials, the Windsor Framework passed <[link removed]> the House of Commons by a margin of 515 to 29. Not even two dozen Tories agreed that blowing up the economy was worth vaguely ‘taking back control’.



Ahead of the vote, Best for Britain coordinated a joint statement of 77 business leaders calling on MPs to back the Windsor Framework, which was carried in the Financial Times <[link removed]>. Signatories included Paul Drechsler, the head of the International Chamber of Commerce, and Jürgen Maier, the former CEO of Siemens UK.



ERG friendly fire



It’s tough being part of Westminster’s most annoying social club–one legitimately funny soundbite and you’re kicked out of the group. 



That’s exactly what Steve Baker found out <[link removed]> on Wednesday after he came out in support of the Windsor Framework and said Boris Johnson risked becoming a “pound shop Nigel Farage” for his intransigence on the Brexit deal. This got him silently removed from one of the ERG’s all-important WhatsApp groups and led to an intervention <[link removed]> from the Fortnum and Mason Nigel Farage–Nigel Farage–who revoked Baker’s Brexiteer card.



We would invite Steve to our WhatsApp chat, but we’re a bit full at the moment, sadly. As a coping mechanism, Baker was reported <[link removed]> to be removing MPs from other WhatsApp groups for which he is an admin. Never say he went down without a fight!



IPCC issues warning







This week, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued <[link removed]> a grave warning on the status of global efforts to reduce warming to under 1.5ºC before the 2030s, with scientists stating that achieving that goal would be unlikely.



However, the report stressed that governments should urgently phase out fossil fuels to avoid the very worst effects of climate change and instead commit to building more renewable energy infrastructure as its price continues to drop.



Reacting to the report, shadow climate minister Ed Miliband criticised <[link removed]> the UK Government’s net zero strategy and pointed to Labour’s planned massive upscaling of clean energy.



UKTBC goes green



Following the latest IPCC report, the UK Trade and Business Commission, for which Best for Britain act as secretariat, held a live evidence session <[link removed]> on the environment and standards and their place in future trade deals.



In the session, environmental, regulatory, and trade experts said that the UK urgently needs a top-down strategy for maintaining the UK’s high standards in climate and regulatory protections, or it risks a “race to the bottom” situation.



Environmental experts in the session, in particular, warned that the UK’s clean energy industries could be locked out of investment as the US and EU commit to bold action on subsidising the transition to a green economy. One academic in the field said the threat to the UK sector is “existential”.



Check out the post-session Twitter Spaces <[link removed]> with UKTBC Trade Adviser David Henig and Senior Policy Adviser at E3G Jonny Peters.



Rishi’s returns: A stealth operation



The man? A multimillionaire Prime Minister, under fire from his predecessors, his opposition, and a local power grid too antiquated to heat his pool <[link removed]>. The mission? Publish his tax returns in such a manner that he escapes scrutiny and ridicule, despite having held <[link removed]> a US green card while serving as Chancellor of the Exchequer. 







The plan? Release said tax returns <[link removed]> during the middle of the aforementioned predecessor’s appearance before a Parliamentary committee about whether he misled the House in relation to lockdown-breaching parties for which the aforementioned multimillionaire Prime Minister was also fined by the police.



The verdict? Sunak has made <[link removed]> nearly £5m over the past three years and paid about £1m in tax, and if he’d had his way, he’d have paid a lot less.



To the barricades



As the UK debates over pension measures announced in the Budget, the ongoing protests over Emmanuel Macron’s plans to raise the state pension age have gripped <[link removed]> France in chaos that has been likened <[link removed]> to the early days of the Yellow Vest movement.



Millions have participated in strikes and demonstrations against plans to up the retirement age from 62 to 64, with sanitation workers’ strikes leading to scenes of rubbish piling up on the streets of Paris. While the vast majority of protests have been peaceful, several skirmishes have broken out between marchers and authorities.







The reforms have also pit <[link removed]> Macron against his own parliament as the President was forced to use executive powers to push the reform though over their objection, in a move that further inflamed tensions and led to a no-confidence vote that Macron managed to fend off. The unrest has grown to the point that the King’s planned state visit to France this week was postponed <[link removed]>.



The long winter has officially, astrologically given way to spring, and a promise of bank holidays sooner than later. Don’t forget to budget extra cash for newly expensive Easter candy and extra time for long passport queues if you’re travelling!



Best wishes,



Tommy Gillespie

Press Officer, Best for Britain







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Best For Britain - United Kingdom

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