The Queen’s Speech
The Queen’s Speech outlined a number of government priorities for the coming year. In a stripped down version of the traditional ceremony, the Queen appeared without the pomp and ceremony that usually surrounds this event. Opting for a Bentley over bloodstock and a hat instead of the crown.
The priorities for this year included; infrastructure and ‘levelling up’, the armed forces, borders and security, constitutional reform, housing, education, the environment and animal welfare. One of the most interesting priorities set out in the speech were changes to the ‘Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Bill’. This change will allow a PM to call early elections.
With recent allegations of voter suppresion through new voter ID cards and the re-introduction of a bill that allows the PM to call an early election – are we about to see a general election soon? It would make sense, considering recent Tory electoral successes and Boris’s approval rating.
Labour post-mortem
Following a pretty disastrous run in the local elections, Sir Keir Starmer was forced into action this week. This action came in the form of a somewhat chaotic re-shuffle of the shadow cabinet. Despite taking “full responsibility” for the electoral blunder, Sir Keir is said to be using Angela Rayner as a scapegoat.
Despite mayoral successes, Labour are now looking to re-invent their image. Sir Keir will be trying to root out critical voices from within his own party and move the party towards a unified message. Bringing the various Labour factions together and moving them in the same direction is a daunting task.
Israel vs. Palestine
Tensions have once again reached a boiling point in the Middle East. These tensions have arisen as a result of an unresolved conflict between the two sides. While the rest of the world has been busy with Covid and looking in the other direction, tensions in the region have been steadily rising. In the catalyst Jerusalem, there have been various tit-for-tat scuffles in the hotly contested city, with both sides claiming provocations.
What started with face-to-face altercations with riot police has now turned into Israeli airstrikes. Yesterday Hamas fired rockets into Israel in retaliation for Israeli troops firing upon a mosque. The situation is extremely volatile and will most likely need another international effort to reach a ‘peaceful’ solution.
Cameron faces MPs over lobbying scandal
Accounts committees on Thursday over his lobbying work for the now dissolved Greensill Capital. The company, run by Lex Greensill, had hoped to take part in a government scheme, named the Covid Corporate Financing Facility (CCFF), set up at the commencement of the pandemic to help businesses that had been forced to close. Earlier on in the week, dozens of texts and emails sent by David Cameron to Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Sir Tom Scholar, permanent secretary of the Treasury, were released by the Treasury Committee. Whilst the former PM admits that he should have used ‘only the most formal of channels’, he denies any wrongdoing.
Charlie Souster Account Executive
Benedict Croft Researcher
