Monday, September 1, 2025

The changes in No 10 do not reflect well on Keir Starmer. He is losing good people, such as Liz Lloyd and James Lyons, after less than a year, and gaining some good people, such as Tim Allan and Dan Tomlinson, but it feels as if the churn is the product of the prime minister's own uncertainty.  

It seems to me that if the government cannot stop the boats it is doomed, so Starmer should be throwing everything at that. If that is Darren Jones's job, in the constitutional innovation of "chief secretary to the prime minister", it might work, but the waffle coming out of No 10 this morning was not encouraging.

"The chief secretary role is a new appointment which will work collaboratively across UK government to drive forward progress in key policy areas, reporting directly to the prime minister," the official announcement said. 

Whose middle names were Ronald Reuel?

Answer at the bottom of today's email 

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QUOTATION OF THE DAY

I am a supporter of flags, I own a St George's flag. I am a patriot. I don't want to see our nation's flags devalued by being used by some for divisive purposes

Keir Starmer 

Quiz answer: John Ronald Reuel Tolkien

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