WUFOOB … (Apr – Jun 2017)

PM accused of bribing DUP with £1bn deal despite claiming ‘there is no magic money tree’

Independent, 27th June 2017
Theresa May stands accused of using at least £1bn of public money to seal a “grubby deal” with Northern Irish unionists that lets her cling on to power. The cash – branded a “bribe” – helps save Ms May’s premiership following her botched election gamble and was found despite her having claimed during the campaign that there is “no magic money tree”.

Royal Ascot set to relax dress code as mercury rises

Reuters, 20th June 2017
The heat wave sweeping across Britain has led Royal Ascot organisers to consider relaxing the dress code if conditions become too uncomfortable for spectators at this week’s prestigious horse race meeting. Men with tickets to the Queen Anne Enclosure and Village Enclosure must wear a suit with a shirt and tie, although a spokesman said organisers would monitor the weather during the day and could relax rules if the temperature soared up.

Not a “subject of interest”

The Independent, 7th June 2017
One of the London Bridge terror attackers was allowed to enter the UK despite Britain’s intelligence agencies being told he wanted “to be a terrorist”. Youseff Zaghba was placed on an international ‘watchlist’ of suspected foreign fighters after the Italian police caught him trying to travel to Syria last year. The Italians claim both MI6 and MI5 were informed of the fears surrounding Zaghba, who told police he was “going to be a terrorist” when he was stopped at Bologna airport. Scotland Yard said Zaghba had not been a police or MI5 “subject of interest” before the attack.

Not enough is not enough

The Independent, 5th June 2017
Theresa May declared “enough is enough” as she promised tough new action in the fight against Islamist terrorism both online and on Britain’s streets.

A former Metropolitan Police chief has accused the government of “lying” about the number of armed officers on the streets, during an interview in the wake of the London terror attack. Peter Kirkham, a chief inspector between 1981 and 2002, claimed that the Met was “in crisis” in an interview with Sky News, saying the “extra” officers on the streets were actually officers putting in 16-hour shifts or working on “rare leave days”. However the Conservatives said the Government was “providing record funding for counter terror policing”, adding that crime had fallen by a third since 2010.

IFS makes damning assessment of Tory and Labour manifestos

The Guardian, 26th May 2017
Neither of the two main parties “has set out an honest set of choices” to the public over their tax and spending plans, the Institute of Fiscal Studies has said. In a critical assessment of the Conservative and Labour party manifestos, the thinktank said both parties presented a misleading picture of the impact their polices would have over the course of the next parliament. It warned that neither addressed the long-term challenges facing the UK.

Diane Abbott struggles with the sums on Labour’s policing pledge

Sky News, 2nd May 2017
Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott has insisted she “misspoke” after coming unstuck trying to add up the cost of Labour’s big election policing pledge. Mrs Abbott failed to put a correct figure on the cost of providing an extra 10,000 officers on the streets in a stumbling interview, initially coming up with a bill that would have left them earning just £30 a year. The shadow home secretary told LBC radio the policy would cost £300,000 before revising the figure to £80m – which would still only give each officer an annual salary of £8,000 – during a round of interviews on Tuesday morning. It left Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn in the awkward position of having to put out a correction on the £300m cost of the policy and defend his shadow home secretary.

National Trust denies trying to airbrush Easter

The Guardian, 4th April 2017
The prime minister, Theresa May, criticises the National Trust after the organisation decided not to mention Easter in the title of its annual egg hunt. Huge posters at National Trust houses across the country invite visitors to ‘Join the Cadbury Egg Hunt’. Speaking while in Jordan on Tuesday, May adds that, as a Christian and National Trust member, she doesn’t understand what the Trust were thinking when they made the decision. Helen Ghosh, the director general of the National Trust, derides suggestions that the organisation “would want to airbrush Easter”.