NIGHTS ARE GETTING COLDER

There’s a chill in the air as the excitement from the election of a new Government fades into the mist. Keir Starmer’s to-do list appears endless, under strain from a number of unsolved issues and new headaches. As Parliament winds down (again) for a busy conference season, you’d be forgiven for wondering when the bad news stops and when we’ll be whisked away to sunlit uplands.

GRENFELL TOWER INQUIRY - PHASE TWO REPORT

The most striking words from the Chair of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Sir Martin Moore-Bick this week were that the 72 deaths were ‘all avoidable’ and that the residents of Grenfell had been ‘badly failed’ through ‘incompetence’ in some cases, and ‘dishonesty and greed’ in others. 

A NEW ERA

From today, LDN will land in your inboxes a day later than previously. Our aim with this modest shift in our schedule is to fall in line more with the political week, which we think allows a more complete review of the happenings of the previous days. Hopefully you agree – as ever, we value your feedback, so do get in touch.

END OF THE HONEYMOON?

It’s a mark of our political system that Keir Starmer was swept into 10 Downing Street with such ruthless speed, and the past month has flown by with little let up in the pace for the new government. 

REEVES AND MORTAR

Exhausted MPs are slowly drifting away from Westminster to recharge their batteries, but the Government didn’t let up in the last few days before summer recess to push ahead on the housebuilding and development front.

EUSTON WE HAVE SEVERAL PROBLEMS

Earlier this week, the NAO published their latest report on HS2.

For anyone interested in major infrastructure projects and associated development, the report makes for very grim reading, especially for the many residents and businesses living close to Euston station. The summary is only nine pages long. But if you haven’t been up there to look around, it really is a depressing site.

40 BILLS

British politics loves an eponymous legacy. Amendments (see Dubs, Rooker-Wise) formulas (see Barnett), political party funding (see Short, Cranborne) and then there are good old conventions, on which our constitution relies heavily. Lord Salisbury (or to give him his full title, the Third Marquess of Salisbury) lent his name to one such convention which might well become rather critical to Keir Starmer’s government in the coming months.

LONDON'S HOLY TRINITY

London has a Labour Government, Labour Mayor and Labour-controlled London Councils for the first time since May 2006. In our adversarial politics, this alignment – a political Holy Trinity – has the potential to make a big difference as politicians of the same persuasion generally work better together. Both Ken Livingstone and Boris Johnson claim to have achieved more as Mayor during the periods with their own parties in government.

THE RED DAWN IS UPON US

The votes are counted, the results are (nearly all) in and there’s no other word to describe Labour’s performance other than ‘landslide’. Try hard to think of alternatives, flick through the Thesaurus, but ultimately it will always come back to the ‘l’ word.

TIME FOR THE PEOPLE TO DECIDE

It’s six weeks since Rishi Sunak first stepped out of the famous door of 10 Downing Street to fire the starting pistol on a General Election campaign that, frankly, felt like it had already been in full swing for some months – if not years. Now there’s just over twelve hours until the polls open.

TURNING THE SHIRES YELLOW AND RED

It might surprise loyal LDN readers, but I do occasionally stray beyond the Greater London boundary. Just last Saturday, I ventured into Hampshire, spending the day in Basingstoke, a town that has been blue for as long as anyone can remember – failing even to succumb to New Labour’s charms in 1997.

HOW TO LOSE VOTES AND ALIENATE PEOPLE

With the Euros in full swing, it’s fair to say that football rather than politics might be top of many people’s priorities. And the parties aren’t totally immune to the public mood – canvass sessions no doubt routinely suspended to avoid door knocking during key matches. Woe betide any candidate dragging a fan away from the TV just as the ball hits the back of the net – a surefire way to alienate the voters!