Heathrow? Ask me again in a few months’ time
Good news for the lobbyists and ad agencies working round the clock for Heathrow and Gatwick – but bad news for business, according to the CBI – as the government delays a final decision on airport expansion. The government insists that further research is required into the detailed submissions on air quality. The small fact of a London Mayoral election is not the reason, according to the Transport Secretary: “If we deliberately wanted to say we weren't going to make this [decision] until after the mayoral elections we'd have just set the timetable for another 12 months.” Well, he would say that, wouldn’t he. If and when a decision finally comes the ad men can pack up and go home, handing over their dossiers to the planning lawyers and specialist planning consultants.
An Eagle has Landed
David Cameron has been in Eastern Europe this week leaving the Chancellor to field questions at PMQs in his first bout with Angela Eagle, Shadow Minister for Business and Shadow First Secretary of State. She has clearly learned a few tricks in her time as Shadow Leader of the House: her pithy approach to questions, combined with a knack for comic timing, had Osborne on the back foot. Having wound the Chancellor up over Europe she teased him about his putative leadership rivals before making him squirm again. Showing that the Labour Party can still (just) laugh at itself she read out a letter from a concerned correspondent, Donald Tusk, the President of the European Council. The uncomfortable news for the PM is that, at least according to Tusk, the rest of the EU is unconvinced of his demands, “Indeed, they are against. Cameron will not be satisfied 100%, that’s for sure.” Labour might struggle to unite on many issues, but in 2016 they should find Europe a safe fall-back when in need of a quick Wednesday lunchtime win.
Boris Tops Trump
Much like the Chancellor, Donald Trump came off worse after his encounter with an eagle – in this case an All-American Bald Eagle, which disobligingly went for him during a photoshoot. Trump’s staggering comments about banning Muslims from the US have given him more airtime than he deserves. He compounded this when he told MSNBC that some parts of London are “so radicalised that people are afraid of their lives”. Boris had it right when he told LBC listeners that the “only reason I wouldn’t go to parts of New York is the very real risk of meeting Donald Trump.” Let’s hope this is the beginning of the end of his bizarre (and worryingly popular) bid for the White House.