EasternEye
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Nigel Farage is the MP for Clacton once again, a month after standing down to ask his constituents if they would vote for him again. He is back where he started. Farage’s advisers had mistakenly assumed that his resignation could permanently end the Commons inquiry into undeclared donations after the July 2024 general election. But that inquiry recommenced as soon as Farage’s re-election was…
US PRESIDENT Donald Trump has come out in strong support of Jason Arday, the 41-yearold professor who had to stand down from his position at Cambridge University after being accused of telling porkies about his academic achievements. “I sympathise with you, Jason,” said the president in a personal note to Arday, whose PhD thesis appeared to bear a remarkable resemblance to the work of other…
IT TOOK three nights of violence in Thetford, Norfolk for the police to restore order. A crowd chanted “get them out” and “deport, deport, deport” as they pelted a house with eggs and smashed the windows. Several dozen people tried to break down the door, hoping to confront the people inside, violently attacking the police who blocked them. This violent criminality was not political protest, but…
DONALD TRUMP has once again threatened Iran’s Islamic regime with serious consequences. The US president has effectively been telling Tehran: “I’m locked, loaded and ready to go – if you don’t stop attacking American forces and our allies, we’ll hold peace talks with you.” Instead of an overnight regime change, the war with Iran has now dragged on for five months. It is quite possible the…
“MANY people from other countries have been caring for my dad. I want those carers to know we appreciate you – and we appreciate what you are doing to support people here”. Andy Burnham chose fixing social care for his first major policy speech as prime minister. He also offered the most positive and personal expression of gratitude for migrants’ contribution since Boris Johnson name-checked the…
The politics of identity was central to Andy Burnham’s first week as prime minister, which took him from 10, Downing Street in London to end his week opening a new No 10 North in Manchester. Declaring it “a north pole to balance the south pole”, Burnham took care to make an argument about rebalancing power. As leader of and from the north, Burnham knows he must now commit to being a prime minister…
GREATER love hath no man for his country than Sir Keir Starmer, who gave up his premiership so that Rachel Reeves could be replaced as chancellor by John Healey. But is that it after the bi-annual changing of prime ministers? Starmer was undone by Reeves, who made a wrong move at the start by putting VAT on private school fees. The result is that over 100 schools have closed, with no apparent…
Andy Burnham left Buckingham Palace on Monday (20) acutely aware of the gap between the scale of his ambition - to deliver the biggest changes for forty years - and the Downing Street revolving door that makes him already the sixth new prime minister in a decade. Only two summers before, Sir Keir Starmer, in possession of an election landslide, had spoken of a decade of national renewal. Now he…
SOME political analysts believe Reform party leader Nigel Farage might have passed his sell by date. Does that mean Farage is finished? I would have thought not, but former Spectator editor Fraser Nelson wrote a piece in the Times, headlined: “Is Nigel Farage becoming a liability for Reform? Leader is increasingly tetchy when asked about source of his money and unhappy with the party’s move…
Whether Andy Burnham should be the next prime minister is the question facing Labour MPs this week. It is set to be the shortest leadership contest imaginable. As nominations open on Thursday (9), Burnham's Labour parliamentary colleagues will queue up to nominate him. The main question is whether they will do so in numbers sufficient to already give him an unassailable landslide on day one. There…
