An announcement fit for a king, more controversy surrounds Kim Leadbeater's Bill and the fateful contents of a Whatsapp group chat. It's all here in this week's Who's Top, Who's Not.
Top: King Charles
King Charles III has been crowned this week’s top spot after his Cornish town, Nansledan, has become an inspiration for Labour’s new towns plan. The King, the Prime Minister and deputy prime minister all took part in an unusual engagement, marking the first time in recent history that a British monarch accompanied the Prime Minister at such a political event. The timing of the visit (smack bang in the middle of the government’s ‘housing week’) has even prompted Downing Street to deny claims of No.10 dragging the King into politics.
King Charles has long been passionate about modern housing, launching Nansledan in 2014 as a housing development that drew on the King’s environmental principles, leant into more traditional architecture, used local building materials and trained people in building skills. Starmer told journalists he was inspired by the King’s historical-style housing scheme, and was struck by the fact that you couldn’t tell which homes were social housing.
The visit coincided with the government announcing a new generation of towns across the UK, revealing that 100 locations have been put forward as potential areas for new towns providing 10,000 new homes. Building work will commence on up to twelve new developments by the next election, which will be a vital step in supporting government ambitions and Labour’s manifesto pledge to build 1.5 million new homes.
Middle ranking: Kim Leadbeater
Kim Leadbeater sparked concerns about her assisted dying bill by announcing an amendment which would replace the role of the High Court with a Voluntary Assisted Dying Commission and expert panels. Leadbeater characterised the changes as being more robust, yet opponents of the bill have characterised the changes as a watering down of previous safeguards to an already controversial piece of legislation.
Leadbeater and her allies have remained steadfast in defending the changes, asserting that the amendment is due to advice from the Ministry of Justice that high court judges would not be able to undertake this role in an already overwhelmed court system.
What to watch now is whether the proposed amendment will prompt tentatively supportive MPs to change their minds ahead of the third reading in April. Twenty-eight MPs would need to change their minds to sink the legislation and with 350 proposed amendments to the bill, some are surely going to disrupt proceedings.
Not: Andrew Gwynne and Oliver Ryan
The Daily Mail revealed last Sunday the contents of a WhatsApp group chat, cringeworthily named ‘Trigger me Timbers’, containing cruel and offensive messages made by councillors, local politicians and two MPs from Greater Manchester. Former Health Minister Andrew Gwynne was sacked by the Prime Minister, Oliver Ryan MP was suspended, and both lost the Labour whip over their participation and comments in the group.
This incident has prompted concerns over standards in public life (and the lack thereof) that the Prime Minister set out to reform in office after the series of scandals that erupted throughout the last government’s tenure. A spokesperson for the Labour party outlined that swift action will always be taken where individuals breach the high standards expected of them.
Though Starmer acted quickly to reprimand those involved, this marks the third Minister who has been forced to step down for ethical reasons, distracting from what the government actually wants to talk about and muddying the political messaging.