Ain’t no party like a Labour party. Shadow cabinet ministers gathered in a Westminster basement last night for the New Statesman’s summer drinks. But there was a little bit of tension in the air. Before the soirée, there had been a torrid meeting of the parliamentary Labour party in which a number of MPs railed against Sir Keir Starmer backing the Government’s two-child benefit cap. He once called it “punitive” and promised to scrap it if he made it to No 10.
His allies on the Right were out in force last night, among them shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves and shadow health secretary Wes Streeting. Peter Mandelson, the Blair-era Svengali, even made an outing. Meanwhile there were rumours of resignations over the U-turn, which seems to have misfired badly. These came to nothing.
Adding to their headaches yesterday, Labour’s north-east mayor Jamie Driscoll resigned from the party and announced he would run against it as an independent. As the corks were popping at the NS party, Driscoll had already crowdfunded £50,000.
Tory HQ makes car crash Barbie joke
In a last-ditch attempt to hold Uxbridge in Thursday’s by-election, the Tories are trying topical humour. The results are mixed. A Conservative Campaign Headquarters spokesperson briefed journalists yesterday that Barbie wouldn’t be able to visit Uxbridge because her car isn’t compliant with Sadiq Khan’s Ulez rules. “Under Labour’s Ulez, life in plastic isn’t so fantastic,” they said, adding: “As the movie says, she’s everything, he’s just Khan.” CCHQ thinks anti-Ulez feeling will help them keep the seat. But Barbie, of course, drives a bright pink Corvette, and wonks were quick to point out that this would likely exclude her from Ulez rules (many classic cars are given a free pass). It seems the gag team hadn’t done their homework. So if Barbie does end up in Uxbridge, she should be in the pink. Good to know.
