Doomsayer Starmer manages to quell the winter fuel allowance rebellion but I promise you it isn't all doom and gloom as Hillier becomes Treasury select committee Chair! Read about it in this week's Who's Top, Who's Not!
Top: Dame Meg Hillier
Labour MP, Dame Meg Hillier became the new chair of the Treasury select committee this week - Congratulations!
Hillier chaired the Public Accounts Committee for nine years, so she is used to running a high-profile committee and having a good eye for issues around government bookkeeping. In truth, she was the natural choice, hence running unopposed.
Hers will be one of the most important non-governmental roles in this Parliament. Not only will she be able to grill the chancellor, but she will also be able to more broadly hold the government to account over its tax and spending plans.
With economic growth being Labour’s most important mission, there will be no shortage of inquiries needed to scrutinise the government’s progress and policy decisions. Key issues Hiller has already identified include long-term mortgage policy, financial instruments such as child trust funds and Lifetime Isas, and tax policy.
Attention will now move to which other backbench MPs will seek to get elected from within their own parliamentary parties to this prestigious select committee. Unlike the election of the chair, this could be a bunfight.
Middle: Keir Starmer
Keir Starmer finishes a turbulent week with a flight to Washington DC to meet President Biden and discuss the War in Ukraine and their request to use Storm Shadow missiles. A fitting end as he continues his role as the UK’s Doomsayer (sorry, Prime Minister).
The flight over would have provided some much-earned reprieve as Starmer managed to get through Tuesday’s rebellion over the government’s decision to means test the winter fuel allowance. Despite it dominating the news agenda, the rebellion went out with more of a whimper than a bang, with just one Labour MP voting against the government.
Despite this, Starmer the apocalyptic horseman has continued to seize the narrative with a speech persuading the public why he needs two terms in power to fix the NHS. Armed with the Darzi report attributing 14 years of Conservative rule to the NHS’s decline; he continued to hammer home the message that Labour needs time to fix the mess left by the Tories. This will give him the political cushion to make even tougher decisions in the upcoming Autumn Budget and soften the blow of inevitable changes to taxation.
Bottom: Mel Stride
Mel failed to pick up his stride as he became the latest Tory hopeful to be eliminated from the leadership race. Considered a Tory moderate, he found it difficult to distinguish himself from Cleverly, and especially Tugendhat, who is already occupying that political space. As a member of the centrist One Nation Conservative caucus, Tugendhat will hope to absorb Mel’s supporters in the next round.
considering the growing gap between Robert Jenrick (33 votes) and Kemi Badenoch (28 votes) compared to Tugendhat and Cleverly (21 votes each), we may see those who supported Stride opt for one of the two frontrunners in the hope of backing the winner. However, it might also be that the Cleverley/Tugendhat/Stride votes coalesce around one candidate and squeeze Kemi out. Let’s wait and see.
For Jenrick, the question will be whether he can shift his support among MPs into votes from the Tory membership. A poll by YouGov in August put him on 12 per cent, significantly lower than Badenoch’s 25 per cent.
The final four candidates' next stop will be the beauty pageant of the Conservative Party Conference, like peacocks in a crowded garden, each will be fanning out their most vibrant feathers. They’ll be vying for attention, hoping to outshine the others with the brightest display of promises, hoping to grow support among MPs and appeal to the membership.