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  • Gillian Keegan – 2023 Speech at London Tech Week 

    Gillian Keegan – 2023 Speech at London Tech Week 

    The speech made by Gillian Keegan, the Secretary of State for Education, at London Tech Week on 14 June 2023.

    Good morning,

    I’d like to start by wishing London Tech Week a happy 10th birthday. So, 10 years, an awful lot happens in tech in 10 years, even in 2 years…

    10 years ago, for instance, Goldsmiths, University of London had just published a study that said 1 in 5 Brits were so worried about privacy that they wanted to ban Google’s new wearable tech Google Glass.

    Fast forward to the present day, we seem to have got over somewhat our reservations about sharing and tracking data, even if we didn’t all get behind Google Glass.

    Last year the market for wearable tech was worth around $61billion and is expected to grow 15% a year between now and 2030.

    But, as you know, the tech revolution isn’t just helping us to track our daily steps – it’s transformed every aspect of the way we live and the way we work.

    Take farming – it’s hardly the first industry you think of when you think of tech, but this week I was learning about how farmers are now using satellite imaging to analyse crop quality, and data modelling to predict when to move their livestock from one field to another to get the best grazing. Another example is medicine, where simulations in interactive wards help train the nurses and doctors of tomorrow. The speed, cost and increasingly ubiquitous nature of tech is extraordinary.

    I recently visited City of Liverpool College, where they have a mind-blowing state-of-the-art Mo-Cap or motion capture suite which is used to develop the next generation of games and animated films as well as many other utilities across business.

    When Walt Disney was creating animations in the 1930s, every second of film involved 20-30 drawings. The speed at which Mo-Cap allows current animators to produce content is breath-taking.

    Tech is reaching further and deeper than ever before.

    But if we are to harness its potential, our workforce has to be flexible and ready. Upskilling so that we can use tech to its full potential is one of the biggest challenges we face if we are to keep our economy growing and competitive in a global context.

    Artificial intelligence is transforming the world around us and will help grow the economy. The workforces that are best equipped in AI with the skills they need will be the ones that ride the wave. We must make sure education is not left behind.

    For that potential to be realised, we need to understand the opportunities, as well as the real risks new technology brings.

    That’s why we want to kick-start a conversation with experts from across education and technology to hear their views and learn from their experiences.

    From today we are opening a call for evidence, seeking the views and experiences of business leaders like you on the use of generative artificial intelligence. The scope of this review includes Large Language Models such as ChatGPT, Google Bard and others. We are also seeking views on the benefits and concerns around its use in education.

    And this will help us make the right decisions to get the best out of generative AI in a safe and secure way. So, I ask you, please, get involved with this conversation.

    Your experience and insights are essential to our mission to create an agile and responsive skills system, which delivers the skills needed to support a world-class workforce and drive economic growth.

    The UK is already a world leader in technology with the largest tech sector in Europe and the third largest in the world. We have a focus on the key growth sectors of digital, green industries, life sciences, advanced manufacturing, and creative industries, which is where we really excel. How are we going to make sure we stay ahead of the curve and are not playing catch-up? That will be the challenge for everyone in this room.

    In March this year, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology published a framework that sets out our approach to make the UK a science and technology superpower by 2030.

    We want to make sure there are more opportunities for people to enter the science and technology workforce.

    One of the reasons I went back to study in my 40s was because there’d been a digital tech revolution and I wanted to understand how to deal with it. Suddenly harvesting data about your customers was way more valuable than the actual product or service you were selling. I needed to take the time to understand this change and I spent a year at London Business School to upskill myself.

    For this reason, IT technicians and data scientists are among the professions that are going to be in very high demand, and we have already started to expand routes to these careers by investing in education at all levels to meet the need for these skills.

    Take T levels for example, T standing for tech. Thanks to our close relationship with industry, young people now have far more options to get further qualifications or into actual jobs.

    Yandiya Technologies for example, are among our T level flagbearers. They make sustainable heating solutions. They take T Level students on industry placements, 45-days, and they have done that for the past two years. They now have five apprentices, two of them purely as a result of these T Levels programmes. They are using T levels to make sure they get the pick of the crop. And many smart employers will do the same.

    But getting the skills that lead to great jobs isn’t just for young people. There is already a shortage of people who are coming into computing professions and this gap will only get bigger.

    Thanks to a skills bootcamp in coding, Dan Watson was able to upskill from a career as personal trainer to one as a digital project manager for tech company Wise. He said the experience was ‘priceless’ and has enabled him to future-proof his career.

    We have bootcamps all across the country in many different areas, including digital, which is the most popular bootcamp.

    Let’s not forget that worldwide there’s a massive need for more software engineers… 40 million of them. That’s equal to the entire population of Poland.

    If you think this sounds alarming, by 2030 this gap is expected to reach 85 million – bigger than Germany’s current population.

    Although AI will also have an impact on these numbers.

    This is why we have created the Digital and Computing Skills Education Taskforce. Its role will be to spot what computing and digital skills are needed for the economy, where the gaps are now, and what they’re likely to be in the future and how technology may change these.

    Most importantly the taskforce will make it easier for students to choose computing and digital pathways at school, colleges, Institutes of Technology and universities and we have invested over £100 million in the National Centre for Computing Education.

    To navigate these changes, we are determined to ensure that education and business work really closely together. The taskforce will call on a number of industry experts, from cyber security, artificial intelligence, quantum computing and big data.

    We have 12 Institutes of Technology across the country today with nine more in the pipeline. They are currently working with over a 100 employer partners, including world-leading businesses such as Microsoft, Nissan, Bosch, Babcock, Fujitsu, Siemens and many, many more. This number will continue to grow, ensuring we deliver the STEM skills that the industry needs – now and for the future. We’ve also made it easier for employers to recruit apprentices, as well as introducing a new Level 7, a masters level Apprenticeship Standard in AI and data science.

    I’ve already mentioned T Levels and we’re rolling out more of them including additional digital routes. Eleven T Levels are now available in STEM subjects, including Digital Business Services, which includes specialist content on data analysis.

    Digital skills matter. As tech accelerates, they’re likely to become as important to a person’s employability as English and maths, eventually being on a level pegging with those two core subjects. This will be the cornerstone of how we prepare people for the world of work.

    As part of these reforms, from September students will be able to study our new Digital Functional Skills Qualifications. These will provide a benchmark of digital skills for employers and will give everybody the opportunity to get the full range of essential digital skills they need to participate actively in life, work and society.

    Whether you’re a business or an investor, I want to assure you our workforce will be ready for the future, whatever that future looks like.

    Tim Berners Lee once said “The web as I envisage it? We have not seen it yet. The future is still so much bigger than the past.”

    For me, that is a challenge but an exciting one.

    None of us has a crystal ball but one thing I can promise you, we won’t be settling for anything less than a world-leading role.

    Last night it was announced that a French start-up developing generative AI products has raised a record-breaking seed funding of over 100 million euros. The start-up is only one month old.

    We have innovation woven into our DNA in this country, but in the global tech race, we can’t afford to slow down.  We must work together now to ensure that UK companies and organisations are at the forefront of AI and technological developments, and in the best possible position to take advantage of the transformative opportunities that these generate.

    The Department for Education is ready for that challenge, and we will be there as you face that challenge too.

    Thank you very much.

  • Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice – 2023 Comments After Commons Report Published that Boris Johnson Knowingly Lied to Parliament

    Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice – 2023 Comments After Commons Report Published that Boris Johnson Knowingly Lied to Parliament

    The comments made by the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice on 15 June 2023.

    The privileges committee report is another grim reminder that whilst families like mine were saying goodbye to our loved ones over Zoom, the same Prime Minister that failed us so badly in the first place was breaking his own rules so he could have a party and a laugh.
    Johnson has shown no remorse.
    Instead he lied to our faces when he told us that he’d done “all he could” to protect our loved ones, he lied again when he said the rules hadn’t been broken in number 10, and he’s lied ever since when he’s denied it again and again.
    It’s an utter tragedy that Johnson was in charge when the pandemic struck and he should never be allowed to stand for any form of public office again.
    His fall from grace must serve as a lesson to other politicians to act with honesty and to serve the public as a whole, that is the only positive that can come from this.
  • Kemi Badenoch – 2023 Speech at London Tech Week

    Kemi Badenoch – 2023 Speech at London Tech Week

    The speech made by Kemi Badenoch, the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, at London Tech Week on 13 June 2023.

    Good evening ladies and gentlemen.

    It’s a pleasure to be here at the flagship event for the Department for Business and Trade on the tenth anniversary of London Tech Week.

    This Government has a clear mission: to make the UK the most innovative economy in the world and cement our status as a Science and Technology Superpower.

    As the Business and Trade Secretary, I see it as my job to create the best possible business conditions to encourage innovative tech companies to start-up, invest and expand.

    The door of my Department is always open. We want to hear your concerns, celebrate your successes, and ensure that the Government is doing what it can for the real innovators and wealth creators.

    And we’re starting from a good base.

    The UK’s technology landscape is diverse and thriving, with a vibrant startup culture and a robust ecosystem that fosters innovation and provides significant opportunities for investors.

    We are home to some of the world’s most successful tech companies, including DeepMind, Graphcore and Darktrace, to name just a few.

    Last year, the UK became just the third country in the world to have a tech sector valued at $1 trillion, with more ‘unicorn’ billion-dollar tech startups being created than Germany, France and Sweden combined.

    During 2022, fast-growing UK tech companies raised near-record levels of funding at £24 billion.

    And in support of this success, Government has committed to £20 billion per year in R&D over the next two years.

    Because we want to create an environment that supports tech investment and entrepreneurship.

    Now, some people around the globe have seen recent decisions taken here and said it means Britain is not open for business.

    Let’s not forget those voices have clear skin in the game and speak in their own interests, and perhaps not always for the value and importance of protecting fair and open competition.

    We all depend on the products and services that big tech companies provide in our daily lives… and we all love a success story, but smaller start-ups need competitive markets if they are to grow into the success stories of tomorrow.

    The kind of competition where tech firms compete, prosper and thrive.

    That’s why the UK is providing what tech investors actually want: a highly skilled and engaged workforce and an ecosystem built to grow large scale investments.

    Part of this is ensuring that regulation is fit for purpose. I recently announced a new Smarter Regulation Framework that commits to regulating only as a last resort, and where industry standards and free markets have failed.

    This is the right thing to do. Less regulation means greater innovation, and driven by that enduring spirit of innovation, the UK is a place with all the right ingredients for tech success.

    Ladies and Gentlemen, we are open for business.

    And that’s why I’m excited to announce the launch of our new global tech awards, promoting the benefits of the UK ecosystem around the world.

    Building on the success of our Tech Rocketship Awards, our Unicorn Kingdom: Pathfinder Awards 2023 will identify the brightest and best tech companies around the world. Winners will be flown to the UK and given support to help them accelerate their business growth.

    And while I’m talking about growth, I’m sure you are all aware that it was just a few weeks ago that we agreed our accession to the CPTPP – the UK’s biggest trade agreement since we left the EU – which promises huge potential for the UK economy.

    Such trade deals are often framed as being all about tariffs and the trading of physical goods, but they’re about much more.

    What we actually gain from signing new trade deals and joining new trading blocs is forging new strategic partnerships that can spur collaboration, promote investment, and which encourage innovation, dynamism and creativity.

    London Tech Week is absolute proof of that, as we welcome the biggest ever Asia Pacific delegation this year, including investment funds worth £100 billion.

    The thriving relationship between the tech sectors of the UK and APAC – the fastest growing region of the world – is one that we’re determined to strengthen.

    For this reason, it is my great pleasure to say that the APAC Digital Trade Network, which seeks to raise the profile and accelerate the expansion of UK technology in Asia will expand its coverage to two new markets – Vietnam and Taiwan.

    And I’m also pleased to announce that it has appointed Oxfordshire-based Intralink to take the reins and deliver tailored support across 11 APAC markets, ensuring UK tech firms get the support they need to trade and flourish in this fast-growing and vibrant part of the world.

    I want the Department for Business and Trade to be an office for economic growth, and I see a key part of that ambition as harnessing the power of technology to drive growth, create jobs, and solve the world’s most pressing challenges.

    With your support and collaboration I am confident that a UK… unashamedly and unquestionably open for business… is well placed to lead the way in the tech revolution.

    Thank you.

  • Stuart Andrew – 2023 Speech at the School Games National Summit

    Stuart Andrew – 2023 Speech at the School Games National Summit

    The speech made by Stuart Andrew, the Sports Minister, on 13 June 2023.

    Thank you for inviting me to your event today and apologies that I can not be there in person.

    This government is committed to increasing access to opportunities for sport and physical activity, particularly for children and young people.

    School sport is a key part of a child’s development journey, with that first encounter with sport being truly transformative.

    It’s where they learn about themselves, build resilience and understand the importance of practice and persistence.

    Part of that includes being given opportunities to compete and excel, part of it is nurturing the habit of being up and active.

    That is why earlier this year in March, the Government announced a £600 million package to boost opportunities in and outside of school.

    This included the confirmation of funding for the PE and Sport Premium and School Games Organisers programmes over the next two academic years.

    And outlining our desire for schools to offer a minimum of two hours of curriculum PE and equal opportunities for girls and boys.

    Continuing to support the School Games Organiser Programme and the great work you do is a priority for me.

    We want to ensure that all children, regardless of their background, have the chance to be active and to get the best start in life.

    You all play a vital role in creating these opportunities

    But more importantly you understand how best to reach these communities and the their particular needs

    We highly value the work the School Games network is doing to strengthen links locally and identifying key partners to coalesce around a shared focus on physical activity.

    As a network, you possess the best knowledge about what the real challenges are for children and what works most effectively at a local level.

    So I want to say a huge thank you for all the work you do.

    Moving forward, we will shortly be publishing a new sport strategy that will set the long term strategic policy direction for sport in the country.

    This new strategy will build on the success of the previous strategy, Sporting Future,

    And will have a specific focus on addressing inactivity levels, the barriers that stop people from participating in sport and making the sector more sustainable for the future.

    A healthier nation relies on tackling the low levels of children’s participation in sport and physical activity.

    To do this, we must ensure that we support all young people to enjoy being active, make sport sociable and improve access to opportunities.

    We have already made important strides in this area with our recent funding announcement and the role of programmes such as the Opening School Facilities programme.

    But there is a continued need to go further and our strategy will set out our plans to do so.

    To sum up, the government wants to see more children physically active

    That means having a positive school sport experience, having opportunities in their local community to be active and ultimately having the confidence to throw themselves into it, in whatever form that takes!

    School Games Organisers are a crucial part in achieving our ambitions and I thank you again for all that you do to support children up and down the country.

  • Jeremy Hunt – 2023 Speech to the Centre for Policy Studies

    Jeremy Hunt – 2023 Speech to the Centre for Policy Studies

    The speech made by Jeremy Hunt, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, on 12 June 2023.

    Introduction

    It is a pleasure to be with you this evening and a privilege to deliver this speech for an organisation founded 49 years ago.

    Over that time the CPS can be proud of the profound impact it has had on the way we think about freedom and enterprise.

    And I am delighted – as Chancellor – that even though you will soon reach the ripe old age of 50, there is absolutely no prospect of you taking early retirement, something impossible to imagine under the energetic leadership of Lord Spencer and Rob Colvile.

    Today, I want to talk about one of the government’s five priorities – growing our economy – which alongside reducing inflation and bringing down debt, is central to our economic mission.

    Because just as when the CPS was founded, it is growth that will prove declinists wrong, unleash prosperity through enterprise and give families confidence in their prospects.

    Rob himself pointed this out in his excellent essay, “the morality of growth” when he said:

    “If there is one thing that we all need to do – it is to remind people ceaselessly of the importance of growth.”

    Productivity and growth

    Growth is critical for many reasons.

    It is the way we increase people’s living standards.

    It is the way we increase opportunity with high wage, high skilled jobs based on the innovation that will define this century.

    And it is the way we make sure our private sector is not strangled by an ever-expanding state.

    According to the OBR’s long-term forecasts for the public finances from the end of this decade, our economy’s long term trend growth rate is 1.6% but public spending – even excluding debt interest – will grow by 2% a year.

    So every year, the OBR’s projections suggest that the size of our state will be growing by nearly half a percent more than the size of the economy.

    Now we are not the only ones facing this dilemma. OECD projections say Germany, Italy and Japan will have even lower growth over the next 25 years, with France about the same and the US only marginally ahead. Many of those countries have even steeper demographic challenges than we face and all face pressure to increase the burden on taxpayers.

    You don’t need brilliant Treasury analysts to tell you the consequence of a state growing faster than the economy: higher borrowing, higher taxes or a combination of the two.

    The OBR’s analysis suggests that without any action, the result of these demographic pressures could be a public sector debt of 217% of GDP by 2071, more than double the current proportion.

    I think it is wrong – morally and economically – to pass on that level of debt to future generations.

    Others might look to tax as the solution to this problem.

    But to keep up with projected spending pressures that would mean increasing annual tax revenues by £200 billion by 2071 in today’s money, or to think of it more simply at least doubling the basic rate of income tax and main rate of employee National Insurance.

    I reject that prospect, because that is the path to socialism: less freedom, less enterprise and less prosperity.

    But to borrow an extra £28 billion would have exactly the same impact.

    Higher inflation would lead to higher interest rates and higher debt repayments.

    Rachel Reeves herself said such an approach would spook the markets.

    It would be an illusory dash for growth which would increase the burden on taxpayers, shake confidence in the UK and pass on unsustainable debt to future generations.

    So we need to find a smarter way out of the challenge faced by so many advanced economies.

    Tackling inflation relentlessly must be the immediate priority. High growth needs businesses and investment and consumer confidence, none of those are possible with inflation.

    High growth needs low inflation.

    But tackling inflation is the starting point not the end point.

    Higher living standards means growth in GDP per head, not just growth in GDP. That means growth driven by increases in productivity.

    If we were as productive as Germany, our GDP per head would be £6,000 higher per annum. If it reached US levels, it would be £8,000 a year higher.

    In my Bloomberg speech in January I identified the four pillars necessary to achieve productivity-rich growth. I called them the four ‘E’s: Education, Enterprise, Employment and Everywhere. Education, so we tap into people’s talents by investing more in skills; building an Enterprise economy by reducing the burden of tax and regulation; removing the barriers to Employment so businesses can recruit; and spreading growth Everywhere so all parts of the country are levelled up.

    Now the productivity challenge applies to both the public and the private sector.

    If we increase our productivity growth in the public sector by 0.5% a year, we stabilise the proportion of GDP consumed by the state by closing the gap between anticipated growth and anticipated spending up to 2050.[1]

    And if we replicate that productivity growth in the private sector we start to increase living standards as well.

    That would mean a boost not just to GDP, but GDP per capita. It would mean increasing tax revenues without increasing tax rates.

    And it would put us on a sustainable path to lower taxes.

    It is also the route through which union reforms, privatisations and support for competition delivered lasting growth and productivity.

    Public sector productivity

    Let’s start with the public sector. It is the sector over which governments have the most direct control – and that matters because, excluding benefit system transfers, it accounts for about 20% of our national output.

    The long-term pressures, whether an ageing population or the need for stronger armed forces, won’t change.

    But the way we meet those pressures can change. We can be much, much more efficient.

    We start, I am afraid to say from a low base. Public sector output is 5.7% lower than pre-pandemic compared to private sector output which is 1.3% higher.

    What does that tell you? Our innovators, job creators, entrepreneurs and risk takers have bounced back but the public sector is still feelings the effects of a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic.

    But now, with that pandemic behind us, we need a renewed focus on public sector reform.

    Patricia Hewitt’s review into how we significantly reduce the number of top down-targets in the NHS made a series of recommendations to help empower local leaders, something I am pleased the NHS has already started to take forward.

    A recent review by the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) has already identified that 443,000 officer hours are spent filling in forms and dealing with unnecessary administrative tasks.

    And it was recently highlighted that 10,000 public sector workers are focused predominantly on equality, diversity and inclusion initiatives, with nearly 800 of those in local councils alone.

    Breaking down barriers for disadvantaged groups should be everyone’s responsibility not something you tick a box to achieve at further cost to taxpayers.

    So I have asked John Glen, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, to lead a major public sector productivity programme across all government departments which we will report on in the Autumn.

    He will assess how we can increase public sector productivity growth, both in the short and long term, and look at what it would take to deliver that additional 0.5% every year that would stop the state growing ever bigger as a proportion of our output.

    We also need to be better at measuring productivity.

    The UK is one of the few countries to include public sector output measures as well as input data in its productivity statistics, which is a good start. But we can still do better.

    Crime, for example, is down approximately 50% since 2010, great achievement. That excluded fraud and computer misuse (which wasn’t measured then.) But it barely makes a dent on their policing productivity figures because our productivity figures don’t capture crime outcomes.

    Likewise on defence we measure what we spend, but not how safe that makes us.

    And where we do measure outputs and the quality of delivery, mainly in the NHS, we count the number of hospital treatments but not the value of preventative care, even though that saves lives and reduces cost.

    So I have asked the National Statistician to review how we can improve the way we measure public sector productivity which he has agreed to do.

    I want this to be the most ambitious public sector productivity review ever undertaken by a government, with the Treasury acting as an enabler of reform. So we will spend time getting this right.

    But if we do, the rewards are clear.

    More innovation in the NHS, building on the success, for example, of the new surgical hubs that reduce waiting times and will give us 1 million extra procedures by 2024-25.

    More innovation in our education system, building on the success of places like Oak Academy which has helped deliver over 150 million online classes.

    And more innovation across our public services by harnessing the potential of AI to boost public sector productivity, building on cutting edge initiatives like the NHS AI lab and the Foundational Model Taskforce.

    More innovation. Better public services. Less pressure on the public purse. A growth mindset that delivers more for less not just more for more.

    Private sector productivity

    Nor will we limit our ambitions to public sector productivity. When it comes to the private sector we can only enable reform rather than direct it, but we will play our part.

    That’s why in my Bloomberg speech I announced the four pillars of our productivity plan: Education, Enterprise, Employment and Everywhere.

    On education we have a huge skills programme in place already, including an expansion of apprenticeships, T levels and boot camps. Sir Michael Barber is advising me and the Education Secretary of where we need to go even further on the implementation of our reform programme.

    For an enterprise economy we need more business investment, so we introduced full expensing of capital allowances in the budget, long championed by the CPS and making us the only major European country to do so. We are following this up by looking closely at the way our pension funds operate to consider avenues for reform.

    On employment we know businesses need to be able to recruit the labour they need. So in the budget we set out one of the most comprehensive ever plans to address labour shortages including cutting the cost of childcare by up to 60% for many families and abolishing the lifetime allowance on pensions.

    Finally to make sure we level up the benefits of growth to everywhere in the UK, we are launching 12 investment zones in left-behind areas, mini-Canary Wharfs which will bring clusters of fastest growing industries to areas where they are most needed.

    It has long been thought that emerging economies should be investment-led but advanced economies consumption-led. But if we are to emerge from the low growth trap facing Western economies we should re-examine that orthodoxy because increasing investment is one of the biggest ways we can raise productivity in both the public and private sectors.

    Conclusion

    So I finish where I started: meeting Rob’s challenge to explain to the country why growth is so important.

    Growth gives hope to young people about their prospects.

    It gives security to older people about the public services they need.

    It gives reassurance to taxpayers about the burden they are being asked to bear.

    But it needs productivity. A relentless focus on efficiency and innovation across both the public and private sectors.

    A dynamic, high growth future is ours for the taking – and productivity will be at the heart of it.

    Thank you.

  • Boris Johnson – 2023 Statement on Privileges Committee (9 June 2023)

    Boris Johnson – 2023 Statement on Privileges Committee (9 June 2023)

    The statement made by Boris Johnson, the former Prime Minister, on 9 June 2023.

    I have received a letter from the Privileges Committee making it clear – much to my amazement – that they are determined to use the proceedings against me to drive me out of Parliament.

    They have still not produced a shred of evidence that I knowingly or recklessly misled the Commons.

    They know perfectly well that when I spoke in the Commons, I was saying what I believed sincerely to be true and what I had been briefed to say, like any other minister. They know that I corrected the record as soon as possible; and they know that I and every other senior official and minister – including the current Prime Minister and then occupant of the same building, Rishi Sunak – believed that we were working lawfully together.

    I have been an MP since 2001. I take my responsibilities seriously. I did not lie, and I believe that in their hearts, the Committee know it. But they have wilfully chosen to ignore the truth, because from the outset, their purpose has not been to discover the truth, or genuinely to understand what was in my mind when I spoke in the Commons.

    Their purpose from the beginning has been to find me guilty, regardless of the facts. This is the very definition of a kangaroo court.

    Most members of the Committee – especially the chair – had already expressed deeply prejudicial remarks about my guilt before they had even seen the evidence. They should have recused themselves.

    In retrospect, it was naïve and trusting of me to think that these proceedings could be remotely useful or fair. But I was determined to believe in the system, and in justice, and to vindicate what I knew to be the truth.

    It was the same faith in the impartiality of our systems that led me to commission Sue Gray. It is clear that my faith has been misplaced. Of course, it suits the Labour Party, the Liberal Democrats and the SNP to do whatever they can to remove me from Parliament. Sadly, as we saw in July last year, there are currently some Tory MPs who share that view.

    I am not alone in thinking that there is a witch hunt under way, to take revenge for Brexit and ultimately to reverse the 2016 referendum result.

    My removal is the necessary first step, and I believe there has been a concerted attempt to bring it about. I am afraid I no longer believe that it is any coincidence that Sue Gray – who investigated gatherings in Number 10 – is now the chief of staff designate of the Labour leader.

    Nor do I believe that it is any coincidence that her supposedly impartial chief counsel, Daniel Stilitz KC, turned out to be a strong Labour supporter who repeatedly tweeted personal attacks on me and the government. When I left office last year, the government was only a handful of points behind in the polls. That gap has now massively widened.

    Just a few years after winning the biggest majority in almost half a century, that majority is now clearly at risk.

    Our party needs urgently to recapture its sense of momentum and its belief in what this country can do. We need to show how we are making the most of Brexit and we need in the next months to be setting out a pro-growth and pro-investment agenda. We need to cut business and personal taxes – and not just as pre-election gimmicks – rather than endlessly putting them up.

    We must not be afraid to be a properly Conservative government.

    Why have we so passively abandoned the prospect of a Free Trade Deal with the US?

    Why have we junked measures to help people into housing or to scrap EU directives or to promote animal welfare?

    We need to deliver on the 2019 manifesto, which was endorsed by 14 million people. We should remember that more than 17 million voted for Brexit.

    I am now being forced out of Parliament by a tiny handful of people, with no evidence to back up their assertions, and without the approval even of Conservative party members, let alone the wider electorate.

    I believe that a dangerous and unsettling precedent is being set.

    The Conservative Party has the time to recover its mojo and its ambition and to win the next election. I had looked forward to providing enthusiastic support as a backbench MP. Harriet Harman’s committee has set out to make that objective completely untenable.

    The Committee’s report is riddled with inaccuracies and reeks of prejudice, but under their absurd and unjust process, I have no formal ability to challenge anything they say.

    The Privileges Committee is there to protect the privileges of Parliament. That is a very important job. They should not be using their powers – which have only been very recently designed – to mount what is plainly a political hit job on someone they oppose.

    It is in no one’s interest, however, that the process the Committee has launched should continue for a single day further.

    So I have today written to my Association in Uxbridge and South Ruislip to say that I am stepping down forthwith and triggering an immediate by-election.

    I am very sorry to leave my wonderful constituency. It has been a huge honour to serve them, both as Mayor and MP.

    But I am proud that after what is cumulatively a 15-year stint, I have helped to deliver, among other things, a vast new railway in the Elizabeth Line and full funding for a wonderful new state of the art hospital for Hillingdon, where enabling works have already begun.

    I also remain hugely proud of all that we achieved in my time in office as prime Minister: getting Brexit done, winning the biggest majority for 40 years and delivering the fastest vaccine roll out of any major European country, as well as leading global support for Ukraine.

    It is very sad to be leaving Parliament – at least for now – but above all, I am bewildered and appalled that I can be forced out, anti-democratically, by a committee chaired and managed, by Harriet Harman, with such egregious bias.

  • Boris Johnson – 2023 Letter to Committee of Privileges Stating “I have the utmost respect for the integrity of the Committee”

    Boris Johnson – 2023 Letter to Committee of Privileges Stating “I have the utmost respect for the integrity of the Committee”

    The text of the letter sent by Boris Johnson, the former Prime Minister, to the Committee of Privileges on 30 March 2023.

    I am writing to thank you and the members of the Committee of Privileges for providing me with the opportunity to give evidence ton Wednesday 22 March.

    At the end of the session, Sir Charles and Mr Costa asked me a series of questions regarding comments that have been made about the Committee’s work being a “witch hunt” or a “kangaroo court”. Having reviewed the transcript, I am concerned that, at the end of what had been a long hearing, I was not emphatic enough in the answers that I provided. As I hope I made clear in those answers, I have the utmost respect for the integrity of the Committee and all its Members and the work that it is doing.

    It is of course right to acknowledge that I, along with my lawyers, have raised concerns about the fairness of the process that has been adopted. I think it is impossible for a Committee, however hard its Members try, to perform the roles of investigator, prosecutor and judge/jury. That is of course a separate matter, and participants in any process are entitled to raise such objections. I trust and hope that these objections will be considered and addressed in full on their merits. But that in no sense undermines my trust and belief that the Committee will address the evidence with integrity and with impartiality.

    Yours faithfully,

     

    Boris Johnson.

  • Keir Starmer – 2023 Speech at GMB Congress

    Keir Starmer – 2023 Speech at GMB Congress

    The speech made by Keir Starmer, the Leader of the Opposition, at the GMB Congress held on 6 June 2023.

    Thank you Barbara for that introduction, and for your great service to this great union.

    Thank you Congress for that very warm welcome. It’s always a pleasure to be in Brighton in the sunshine, and especially when the sun is beginning to shine on the Labour argument.

    Now, there’s more work to be done – of course there is, I’m under no illusion the hardest yards are ahead of us.

    We need to be prepared, disciplined, relentlessly focused on the future, show we’re ready to provide the leadership that this country so desperately needs. Meet Tory attacks with hope.

    But make no mistake if we keep demonstrating that we’re a changed Labour Party, that in everything we do, we put country first, that we know what true service means. Then together, we have a golden opportunity to shape the future to the interests of working people – firmly and decisively.

    All around us, the world is changing, it’s becoming a more volatile place.

    Revolutions in technology, energy and medicine are reshaping the economy and our public services.

    Climate change is driving global instability, war has returned to our continent.

    Our job is to lead working people through these headwinds, provide the confidence that Britain will be better for their children, bend the future so it delivers the stability, the dignity and the hope they need.

    Congress, a tide has turned.

    The rest of the world is moving on from the outdated ideas our opponents provide, the economic argument which has held back working people is now on the back foot.

    Put simply: people aren’t going to take it anymore. They’ve had enough. You know that.

    When you ask the key questions now: “where does growth come from”, “who is it for”, the Tory answers – they just don’t wash.

    When it’s your interests on the line, your services being cut, your bills and taxes going up, the Tories say – “well, we’re all in this together”.

    But when it comes to protecting their interests it’s – “well, this is just the way of the world”.

    People see through that. 13 years of the Tories, and it boils down to this: one rule for them, another for working people.

    And the prize at the next election, the prize is not just to win, not just to change our country, it’s to put this damaging idea into the ground – for good.

    That’s what my Labour Party – this project – has always been about.

    I’ve always said we have different roles, different ways of fighting for working people – party and movement.

    I was there in 1986, in Wapping, when the police charged the picket, doing my job as a legal observer.

    Everyone who stood in solidarity with the print workers – they were doing their job as well.

    But you know – I remember thinking that night. There’s one institution that isn’t doing its job here – the Labour Party.

    No – because the Labour Party was in opposition, it was on the side-lines. It was impotent and powerless.

    That’s the condition of opposition and I can’t stand it.

    Gary, I know you feel the same frustration.

    Because, just look at the price working people pay for it – the stagnation, the economic pain, the cuts to public services, attacks on working people and this movement.

    In parliament again this week, a bill that takes away your hard-earned, democratic rights.

    Now, I can stand here and say – we will fight it and we will repeal it and mark my words – we will. But this only demonstrates the prize of power.

    The Labour Party is never doing its job when it’s in opposition – that’s our clause one.

    But power must always have a purpose and I accept that the Labour Party did drift away from its fundamental cause of serving working people.

    So I want to be clear – everything I do, all the changes we are making, are in the service of this goal. They are grounded in a new project which understands that the Labour Party can only restore hope in Britain, if we once again become the natural home for working people.

    This is in our DNA. Who we are in it for, who we serve, who we wake up in the morning and fight for, who we have in our mind’s eye when we make decisions, who we back to grow our economy.

    The answer, the only answer, the Labour answer – is working people.

    Friends, my government will work every day to serve their interests – and protect their future.

    This is about respect and dignity and for me, it goes deep.

    My dad was a working man, a toolmaker who worked all his life in a factory.

    He always thought that people looked down on him for that and it weighed him down, chipped away at his esteem.

    There are millions of people in this country today who feel just like my dad did and that’s not good enough.

    I want Britain to be a country where people don’t have to change who they are, just to get on.

    And at the very least – a bare minimum – whoever you are, whatever your circumstances, however you contribute.

    Whether you work for Asda, Amazon or the ambulance service, you deserve respect.

    That’s not just a moral imperative, it’s also a vast spring of potential, ready to be tapped.

    Because when people are respected, when they feel their contribution carries weight, that they are able to bring their whole self to their work, that they are treated fairly and with dignity – then their shoulders lift up, their belief comes back. Hope and pride are restored.

    When I tell you exactly what my Labour Party will do for working people in the prose of policy and rights. I never lose sight of the emotions, the values, the ordinary hopes that sit behind them.

    The dignity and esteem which comes with respect in the workplace – that’s our project.

    It’s a project for carers, the couriers, the ambulance drivers, the supermarket staff, those in the office and those on the factory floor, those working long shifts, night shifts, 9 ‘til 5s, those working part time and those working full time.

    My Labour Party is the party for those who keep us safe, who create the wealth, who make up the backbone of Britain – this is a project for working people, all across our country.

    Congress, those are the people the country clapped for during the pandemic.

    Even the residents of Downing Street found time to stumble into the street to do it.

    But how have they been repaid?

    Just take carers as an example – this is a subject very close to my heart.

    For many of them, every time they had to self-isolate during the crisis, they did so at their own expense, with no sick pay. That’s not on.

    And let me be very clear, those days are coming to an end.

    A country that doesn’t respect care work – is an uncaring country.

    So we will strike a fair pay agreement for every care worker in the country, we will get you round the table, and the deal you make will set a new floor, a higher floor.

    With more progression, more training, more rights, better standards, and yes – fairer pay.

    A fair deal for our carers, that’s what people clapped for, and that’s what Labour will deliver.

    This goes to the heart of the Tories’ failure.

    It’s why we’ve had 13 years of chaos that have left our economy broken.

    They simply don’t get that growth comes from working people.

    And because they don’t understand that fundamental, they can’t provide the secure foundations to build our country’s future.

    To be honest – I’m not even sure they see the problem.

    If the City of London races ahead, while the rest of Britain stagnates. So long as there is a hint of growth on his spreadsheet, Rishi Sunak will claim that’s fine. But it’s not.

    If you leave that many people behind, a nation can’t grow fairly.

    We can’t do it with low wages, you can’t do it with insecure jobs and bad work, with a stand-aside state that doesn’t fight for the future without a proper industrial strategy.

    The average British family is £8,800 poorer than in other advanced economies.

    Economies like France, Germany and the Netherlands. Economies that have better collective bargaining, have stronger workers’ rights, and a fairer share of wealth across their country.

    So we will strengthen the role of trade unions in our society, and, like you, I want to see Amazon and businesses like it recognise unions.

    Nobody does their best work if they’re wracked with fear about the future if their insecure contract gives them no protection to stand up for their rights at work, or a proper safety net doesn’t support them in times of sickness and poor health.

    That’s what Labour’s New Deal for Working People is about.

    That’s why we’ll ban zero hour contracts, extend parental leave, strengthen flexible working, better protections for pregnant women, close the ethnicity pay gaps, fundamental rights from day one, statutory sick pay for all, no more one-sided flexibility, no more fire and rehire.

    For years, working people have been told that good pay, fair work and dignity are the barriers to growth. Well, no more.

    A reformed labour market where we finally make work pay, provide the security denied to working people for decades, that is my mission on growth.

    But, you know, we are not a nation apart.

    The world around us is changing, and changing fast.

    President Biden once said: “when I hear climate change, I think jobs”.

    When Labour sets out our mission for Britain to become a clean energy super power, we are thinking jobs too.

    For too long, Britain has allowed the opportunities of the new energy technologies to pass us by.

    Without a plan, the energy industries that we rely on will wither and decline.

    The Tories think it’s the market doing its job when British industry falls behind.

    It’s not some glitch in their model – it is their model.

    Yet, our allies around the democratic world are waking up to the threat of energy insecurity and the opportunity of economic security.

    Change is coming and yes it can unsettle us.

    But mark my words, on my watch, good jobs – good, union jobs – will be fundamental to that change.

    Decent pay, respect, dignity and fairness, cleaner, safer work, new and better infrastructure for Britain.

    These are the purposes of our party and they are historic prizes that we will win again.

    I won’t pretend that just because a technology is greener that automatically makes working conditions fairer.

    So as new nuclear, battery factories and offshore wind repower Britain, Labour will build strong supply chains that create jobs, skills and decent wages here in Britain.

    We will work with you and with industry to seize the opportunities of hydrogen, carbon capture and storage.

    Our Green Prosperity Plan, like President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, is our plan for growth, and because we are Labour it is a plan for working people, their jobs and their prosperity.

    We will create a new company – GB Energy – and through that vehicle, we will take advantage of the opportunities that we have.

    And because it’s right for jobs, because it’s right for growth, because it’s right for energy independence, then yes, it will be publicly owned.

    GB Energy will be good for Britain and good for business.

    It will have twin goals: leading the way in better jobs and lower bills.

    I am clear-eyed about how tough the challenges that face us are.

    We have all seen what happens when politicians see change as something to stand and stare at in awe.

    When government surrenders working people to the power of the market, when the future comes and people are left behind.

    That is why the next election is so important for the future of working people.

    Holding back the future is no way to growth. But, equally, there is no way to growth that doesn’t involve bending and shaping that future.

    We can create a new business model for Britain.

    One which creates economic security and grows, not just our productivity, but our hope and our optimism.

    Labour in government will work with unions and with industry.

    We will always have a stake, will always have skin in the game, will always see the fight for working people as our driving purpose.

    Because for us, this is personal.

    Together, we will make Britain work better. Together, we will give working people their future back. Together, we will build a better Britain.

    Thank you, Congress.

  • Andrea Jenkyns – 2023 Comments After Commons Report Published that Boris Johnson Knowingly Lied to Parliament

    Andrea Jenkyns – 2023 Comments After Commons Report Published that Boris Johnson Knowingly Lied to Parliament

    The comments made by Andrea Jenkyns, the Conservative MP for Morley and Outwood, on Twitter on 15 June 2023.

    A bad day for democracy. Boris Johnson won a massive democratic mandate and bravely fought for Brexit. Sad to see him go, with findings of a kangaroo court. May the dust settle and he one day return. Wolves be at bay, so he, Carrie & their wonderful family have peace. Thank you Boris.

  • Boris Johnson – 2023 Statement Following House of Commons Report Stating he Deliberately Lied

    Boris Johnson – 2023 Statement Following House of Commons Report Stating he Deliberately Lied

    The statement made by Boris Johnson, the former Prime Minister, on 15 June 2023.

    It is now many months since people started to warn me about the intentions of the Privileges Committee. They told me that it was a kangaroo court. They told me that it was being driven relentlessly by the political agenda of Harriet Harman, and supplied with skewed legal advice – with the sole political objective of finding me guilty and expelling me from parliament.

    They also warned me that most members had already expressed prejudicial views – especially Harriet Harman – in a way that would not be tolerated in a normal legal process.  Some alarmists even pointed out that the majority of the Committee voted remain and they stressed that Bernard Jenkin’s personal antipathy to me was historic and well-known.

    To be frank, when I first heard these warnings, I was incredulous. When it was first proposed that there should be such an inquiry by this committee, I thought it was just some time-wasting procedural stunt by the Labour party.

    I didn’t think for one minute that a committee of MPs could find against me on the facts, and I didn’t see how any reasonable person could fail to understand what had happened.

    I knew exactly what events I had attended in Number 10. I knew what I had seen, with my own eyes, and like the current PM, I believed that these events were lawful. I believed that my participation was lawful, and required by my job; and that is indeed the implication of the exhaustive police inquiry.

    The only exception is the June 19 2020 event, the so-called birthday party, when I and the then Chancellor Rishi Sunak were fined in circumstances that I still find puzzling (I had lunch at my desk with people I worked with every day).

    So when on December 1, 2021 I told the House of Commons that “the guidance was followed completely” (in Number Ten) I meant it. It wasn’t just what I thought: it’s what we all thought – that we were following the rules and following the guidance completely – notwithstanding the difficulties of maintaining social distancing at all times.

    The committee now says that I deliberately misled the House, and at the moment I spoke I was consciously concealing from the House my knowledge of illicit events.

    This is rubbish. It is a lie. In order to reach this deranged conclusion, the Committee is obliged to say a series of things that are patently absurd, or contradicted by the facts.

    First, they say that I must have known that the farewell events I attended were not authorised workplace events because – wait for it – NO SUCH EVENT could lawfully have taken place, anywhere in this country, under the Committee’s interpretation of covid rules.     This is transparently wrong.  I believed, correctly, that these events were reasonably necessary for work purposes. We were managing a pandemic. We had hundreds of staff engaged in what was sometimes a round-the-clock struggle against covid. Their morale mattered for that fight. It was important for me to thank them.

    But don’t just listen to me. Take it from the Metropolitan Police. The police investigated my role at all of those events. In no case did they find that what I had done was unlawful. Above all it did not cross my mind – as I spoke in the House of Commons – that the events were unlawful.

    I believed that we were working, and we were: talking for the main about nothing except work, mainly covid. Why would I have set out, in the Chamber, to conceal my knowledge of something illicit, if that account could be so readily contradicted by others? Why would we have had an official photographer if we believed we were breaking the law?

    We didn’t believe that what we were doing was wrong, and after a year of work the Privileges Committee has found not a shred of evidence that we did.

    Their argument can be boiled down to: ‘Look at this picture – that’s Boris Johnson with a glass in his hand. He must have known that the event was illegal. Therefore he lied.”

    That is a load of complete tripe. That picture was me, in my place of work, trying to encourage and thank my officials in a way that I believed was crucial for the government and for the country as a whole, and in a way which I believed to be wholly within the rules.

    For the Committee now to say that all such events – “thank-yous” and birthdays – were intrinsically illegal is ludicrous, contrary to the intentions of those who made the rules (including me), and contrary to the findings of the Met; and above all I did not for one moment think they were illicit – at the time or when I spoke in the Commons.

    The Committee cannot possibly believe the conclusions of their own report – because it has now emerged that Sir Bernard Jenkin attended at least one “birthday event”, on December 8, 2020 – the birthday of his wife Anne – when it is alleged that alcohol and food were served and the numbers exceeded six indoors.

    Why was it illegal for me to thank staff and legal for Sir Bernard to attend his wife’s birthday party?

    The hypocrisy is rank. Like Harriet Harman, he should have recused himself from the inquiry, since he is plainly conflicted.

    The rest of the Committee’s report is mainly a rehash of their previous non-points. They have nothing new of substance to say. They concede that they have found no evidence that I was warned, before or after an event, that it was illegal. That is surely very telling. If we had genuinely believed these events to be unauthorised – with all the political sensitivities entailed – then there would be some trace in all the thousands of messages sent to me, and to which the committee has had access.

    It is preposterous to say, as the Committee does, that people were just too scared to mention concerns to their superiors. Really? Was Simon Case too scared to draw his concerns to my attention? Was Sue Gray or Rishi Sunak?

    The Committee concedes that the guidance permitted social distancing of less than 1 m where there was no alternative – though they refuse to take account of all the other mitigations – including regular testing – that we put in place.

    They keep wilfully missing the point. The question is not whether perfect social distancing was maintained at all times in Number ten – clearly that wasn’t possible, as I have said very often. The question is whether I believed, given the limitations of the building, we were doing enough, with mitigations, to follow the guidance – and I did, and so did everyone else.

    They grudgingly accept that I was right to tell the Commons that I was repeatedly assured that the rules were followed in respect of the December 18 event in the media room, but they try, absurdly and incoherently, to say that the assurances of Jack Doyle and James Slack were not enough to constitute “repeated” assurances – completely and deliberately ignoring the sworn testimony of two MPs, Andrew Griffith and Sarah Dines, who have also said that they heard me being given such assurances.

    Perhaps the craziest assertion of all is the Committee’s Mystic Meg claim that I saw the December 18 event with my own eyes. They say, without any evidence whatever, that at 21.58pm, on that date, my eyes for one crucial second glanced over to the media room as I went up to the flat – and that I saw what I recognised as an unauthorised event in progress.

    First, the Committee has totally ignored the general testimony about that evening, which is that people were working throughout, even if some had been drinking at their desks. How on earth do these clairvoyants know exactly what was going on at 21.58?

    How do they know what I saw? What retinal impressions have they somehow discovered, that are completely unavailable to me? I saw no goings on at all in the press room, or none that I can remember, certainly nothing illegal.

    As the Committee has heard, officials were heavily engaged in preparing difficult messaging about the prospect of a No-deal Brexit and a Christmas lockdown.

    It is a measure of the Committee’s desperation that they are trying incompetently and absurdly to tie me to an illicit event – with an argument so threadbare that it belongs in one of Bernard Jenkin’s nudist colonies.

    Their argument is that I saw this event, believed it to be illegal, and had it in my head when I spoke to the House. On all three counts they are talking out of the backs of their necks. If I did see an illegal event, and register it as illegal, then why was I on my own in this? Why not the Cabinet Secretary, or Sue Gray, or the then Chancellor, who was patrolling the same corridors at the time?

    The committee is imputing to me and me alone a secret knowledge of illegal events that was somehow not shared by any other official or minister in Number Ten. That is utterly incredible. That is the artifice.

    This report is a charade. I was wrong to believe in the Committee or its good faith. The terrible truth is that it is not I who has twisted the truth to suit my purposes. It is Harriet Harman and her Committee.

    This is a dreadful day for MPs and for democracy. This decision means that no MP is free from vendetta, or expulsion on trumped up charges by a tiny minority who want to see him or her gone from the Commons.

    I do not have the slightest contempt for parliament, or for the important work that should be done by the Privileges Committee.

    But for the Privileges Committee to use its prerogatives in this anti-democratic way, to bring about what is intended to be the final knife-thrust in a protracted political assassination – that is beneath contempt.