Newslinks for Sunday 25th February 2024 | Conservative Home

Whip withdrawn from Anderson after attack on Khan…

“Former Tory deputy chairman Lee Anderson has been suspended from the party after “refusing to apologise” for comments aimed at Sadiq Khan. The Conservative Ashfield MP told GB News on Friday “Islamists” had “got control” of the mayor of London. Responding on Saturday, Mr Khan described the remarks as “pouring fuel on the fire of anti-Muslim hatred”. Mr Anderson said his comments had put the chief whip and PM in a “difficult position”. Losing the Conservative whip essentially expels Mr Anderson from his party in Parliament.” – BBC

• Protestors close Tower Bridge – Sunday Times
• Starmer accuses Sunak of harbouring ‘extremists’ – The Observer
• Whipping up Islamophobia must be stopped – Leader, The Observer

…as Farage calls on Anderson to defect to Reform

“Lee Anderson has been offered a place the Reform party by Nigel Farage after he was stripped of the Conservative whip after claiming that “Islamists” have “got control” of Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London. Mr Farage said he believed Mr Anderson would “feel happier” in Reform and would be a “massive help to the cause” after the MP for Ashfield was suspended for his comments, which were criticised as Islamophobic.” – Sunday Telegraph

More MPs are being provided with bodyguards

“Private security is being deployed to protect MPs amid warnings that the Israel-Hamas conflict is a “generational radicalising moment”, The Telegraph can reveal. Security personnel working for private firms are guarding constituency surgeries and providing close protection for a growing number of politicians who are assessed to be at risk by the authorities. One MP who has accepted Parliament-funded protection at constituency meetings warned that “people are underestimating” the threat to politicians from extremists. Some female MPs are also now using chauffeur-driven cars as part of a move to “close the gap” between protection given to Cabinet ministers as standard and measures for backbenchers now also considered highly vulnerable.” – Sunday Telegraph

• Three female MPs given taxpayer-funded bodyguards over safety fears – Sunday Times
• Call for new police powers to protect MPs from protestors – BBC
• A mob is harassing Britain’s Jews and intimidating MPs. Hate is winning and it has to stop. – Dan Hodges, Mail on Sunday
• Our great challenge: protect MPs and the right to protest – Leader, Sunday Times

SNP to push for new Commons debate on Gaza

“The SNP says it will push for another Commons debate on Gaza following the chaotic vote on the conflict on Wednesday. There was uproar in the Commons when Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle allowed MPs to vote on a Labour amendment to the SNP’s ceasefire motion. It meant the SNP motion was not voted on, prompting the party to say Sir Lindsay should quit as Speaker. The SNP now says it will apply for another debate on the issue next week.” – BBC

• Labour MPs boasted Sir Keir Starmer was ‘going to fix the Speaker’ in crunch meeting over Gaza votes – The Sun on Sunday
• After a week of chaos, Sir Lindsay Hoyle is running out of options – Sunday Times
• Either the Speaker bowed to the mob or to Keir Starmer. He must go. – William Wragg MP, Sunday Times
• My haunting visit to Israel’s bloodstained kibbutzim – and my despair that Hamas’s monstrosity has been all but forgotten in the clamour for a ceasefire – Lisa Nathan, Mail on Sunday

Sunak backs sending Ukraine billions in funding from frozen Russian assets

“Rishi Sunak has backed plans to send Ukraine billions of pounds in interest from frozen Russian assets as world leaders gathered in Kyiv to mark the second anniversary of the war. In an article for The Sunday Times, the prime minister also said that he wanted to be “bolder” in seizing the assets themselves. He described it as a fitting tribute to Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader who died in mysterious circumstances in an Arctic penal colony this month.” – Sunday Times

• We will always stand with Ukraine and hold Putin to account – Rishi Sunak, Sunday Times
• To understand this war, live with Ukrainians – Dominic Lawson, Sunday Times
• Putin could kill again on Britain’s streets, warns Shapps – The Sun on Sunday
• For the preservation of Western democracy and the rule of international law, Ukraine must prevail – Leader, The Sun on Sunday
• Sunak drops hint that Boris Johnson could make a comeback – Sunday Express
• The West must stand with Israel and Ukraine – Leader, Sunday Telegraph
• Ukraine is victim of the West’s dithering and bare self-interest – Leader, Mail on Sunday
• Estonian PM urges Nato to bolster support for Ukraine – BBC

Rayner made a £48,500 profit on her ex-council house thanks to the right-to-buy policy

“Angela Rayner has been accused of hypocrisy after it was discovered she made a £48,500 profit on her ex-council house thanks to the right-to-buy policy she now wants to reform. Critics say Labour’s deputy leader wants to ‘pull up the ladder’ to make it harder for other social housing tenants to benefit in the same way she did. Ms Rayner is also Shadow Housing Secretary, and has spoken out against those who get ‘loads and loads of discount’ when purchasing their properties under the right-to-buy policy first introduced by Margaret Thatcher, and long despised by the Left…The purchase is revealed in a new book by Lord Ashcroft, which will be serialised exclusively in the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday next month. The volume, Red Queen? The Unauthorised Biography Of Angela Rayner, raises other questions about the outspoken MP’s living arrangements.” – Mail on Sunday

Tory MPs rebel over abortions after 24 weeks

“Rebel Tories are threatening to bring down the Government’s flagship law and order legislation if it leads to abortion being decriminalised. A number of Conservatives are furious that a senior Labour figure has inserted into the Criminal Justice Bill a clause that would mean women could no longer be prosecuted for ending pregnancies after 24 weeks. It is now widely believed in Westminster that Dame Diana Johnson’s amendment could be passed next month in a historic vote… Tory MP Miriam Cates told the MoS: ‘To make it lawful to end the life of a viable baby right up to the moment of birth for no other reason than it is not wanted is morally wrong.’ Her colleague Nick Fletcher added: ‘Decriminalisation of abortion will no doubt end with abortions happening much later, even up until full term. This cannot be right in a civilised society.’ ” – Mail on Sunday

RMT to back Corbyn in the General Election

“The RMT Union has announced it will be supporting former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn at the next general election. Mr Corbyn is the independent MP for Islington North – a seat he has held since 1983. Last year, the 74-year-old was banned from standing for Labour, having been suspended from the parliamentary party over an antisemitism row in 2020. RMT leader Mick Lynch said the union would back Mr Corbyn should he run for his seat again as an independent.” – BBC

Other political news

• Trump easily wins in South Carolina but Haley fights on – BBC
• Growth Commission to say reducing annual net migration would improve living standards over long term – Sunday Telegraph
• Sunak stands next to No Farmers No Food campaigners, who oppose Net Zero measures – The Observer
• Scottish Conservatives attack Yousaf for “brazen hypocrisy” over North Sea oil – Sunday Express
• Government U-turn on plans to double number of medical students in England – The Observer
• Turn up for an interview? We just couldn’t be bothered, say 93 per cent of 18-24 year olds – Mail on Sunday

A spending squeeze in the Budget from Hunt would put Labour under pressure

“So far, Labour’s response to Hunt has been to loudly lament his spending decisions while banking his tax cuts. But would Rachel Reeves feel able to endorse another national insurance cut, at the price of tying her party’s hands still further on spending? The Tories are certainly desperate to fight the election against a higher-spending, higher-taxing Labour Party. March 6 may be the moment at which Rachel Reeves and Keir Starmer are finally forced to oblige them.” – Robert Colvile, Sunday Times

• The Tories are giving free rein to the collectivist Left – Leader, Sunday Telegraph
• Hunt is about to plunge Britain into a house price catastrophe – Kate Andrews, Sunday Telegraph

>Today: Tory Diary: Whatever happened to prudence?

Hannan: Closing the coal mines should be celebrated

“During the 1980s, Britain went from being a poor, indebted, strike-ridden country, with fixed wages and prices and double-digit inflation, to being the most successful economy in Europe. That shift did not just happen. It took place because the Thatcher government stopped misallocating resources, allowed unsustainable industries to give way to profitable ones, and stood aside to permit innovation. Yes, that process was painful. But how many coalminers of that era would want their grandsons to have jobs like theirs?” – Daniel Hannan, Sunday Telegraph

News in brief

• Britain needs to decolonise itself from America – William Atkinson, CapX
• Dark rumblings at the RIBA – Ophelia Payne, The Critic
• Sunak was right to suspend Lee Anderson – Fraser Nelson, The Spectator
• The cowardice of our elites is emboldening Islamism – Tom Slater,  Spiked Online