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Andy must answer the penis question

Spiked - E mail 21/05/26 Can a woman have a willy? This staggeringly simple question – to which the only acceptable answer is No – is still tripping up even the most seasoned of politicians. This time, it’s Andy Burnham, Labour’s prince over the water, who seems befuddled by the concepts of women’s rights, women’s spaces and biological sex. Footage has emerged from 2022 of this supposed no-nonsense northerner saying that ‘transwomen’ (ie, men) should be let into the ladies’. Worse, he brushes off rational objections as coming from a ‘small minority’ of culture-warring troublemakers. Whatever Burnham really believes, a politician who can’t tell the truth about men in dresses can never be trusted as prime minister.

Rayner embroiled in ‘election fraud row’

Former deputy PM denies involvement after police arrest five people over claims that fake independent candidates were entered in poll Daily Telegraph 21/05/26 Angela Rayner has become embroiled in a row linked to alleged electoral fraud at her local council. Four men and a woman, all aged between 23 and 47, were arrested on Thursday morning on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud, Greater Manchester Police said. It follows claims that fake independent candidates were entered on the ballot for Tameside borough council, in the heart of Ms Rayner’s constituency of Ashton-under-Lyne, to split votes for opposition parties. The alleged plot was reportedly carried out by people associated with Tameside Labour group, with one discussion said to have taken place in Ms Rayner’s kitchen. Labour candidate Atta ul-Rasool, the former vice-chairman of the Ashton-under-Lyne Labour branch, was elected after beating the second-placed candidate, Ahmed Mehmood, an independent, by 177 votes. The two...

Bank of England warns Reeves against supermarket price caps

Andrew Bailey joins retail bosses in opposing the Chancellor’s ‘unsustainable’ plans Daily Telegraph 20/05/26 Andrew Bailey has warned Rachel Reeves against capping supermarket food prices. The governor of the Bank of England said freezing the price of essentials would be “unsustainable” and risked backfiring. The intervention comes after grocers were asked to cap how much they charge shoppers for staple items such as bread, eggs and milk amid growing alarm in Government about soaring prices. Addressing MPs on the Treasury select committee, Mr Bailey conceded that there could be reasons in the “short run” to control prices. However, he added: “I think the question you have to think through with this sort of thing is: are you doing it for some well-grounded, very temporary reason? “I think if you start doing it as a matter of course, then you’re effectively artificially moving prices relative to costs, and that’s not a sustainable thing in the long run.” Another official at the ...

Streeting: PM’s failures will put Farage in power

Daily Telegraph 20/05/26 Sir Keir Starmer’s failures will put Nigel Farage in power, Wes Streeting has warned. The former health secretary used his resignation speech to declare that the Labour Government must change course or risk handing Reform UK the keys to No 10. Mr Streeting, who quit Sir Keir’s Cabinet last week in the wake of Labour’s dire local election results, insisted he had “no regrets” over his resignation. He told MPs: “I left the Government because we are in the fight of our lives against nationalism, and it is a fight that we are currently losing. Unless we change course, we risk handing the keys of No 10 to Reform, and I do not want that on our consciences.” Mr Farage is on track to become the next prime minister, with Reform having enjoyed a comfortable lead in the polls for more than a year. The party won more than 1,450 council seats on May 7, taking control of 14 councils – nine of which it gained from Labour. Mr Streeting’s speech will be seen as the bas...

Burnham’s plans won’t survive contact with the Treasury

Manchester Mayor’s push for public ownership relies on taxes and borrowing Daily Telegraph Published 19 May 2026 During the 2024 general election campaign, I worked as an adviser to Jeremy Hunt and remained at the Treasury to help ensure the basic machinery of government continued to function. But as the outcome of that election was pretty obvious, it was clear Treasury officials were starting to prepare for Labour. Now that Andy Burnham has a reasonable shot at quickly becoming prime minister, something similar will be happening at 1 Horse Guards Road. Civil servants will already be asking themselves what a Burnham premiership would mean for the next Budget, the fiscal rules and the tax system. The bond markets appear to have given their verdict. Ten-year gilt yields have remained above 5pc for days, prompting increasingly awkward attempts at reassurance from the Mayor of Greater Manchester. He first offered a vague commitment to “fiscal rules” in general before aides later c...

Labour needs a plan. It has not got one

Starmer’s party is caught between Rejoiner instincts and Leave-voting heartlands it cannot afford to alienate Daily Telegraph 18/05/26 Brexit is an issue that divides us, both as a nation and as political factions within that nation. Europe was the key fault line within the Conservative Party from the late 1980s until our withdrawal from its political structures was finally achieved in January 2020. The downfall of at least four Tory prime ministers – Thatcher, Major, Cameron and May – can be attributed to internecine conflict about our place in Europe. Today it is Labour’s turn to suffer. The party has a problem that cannot be squared. Sir Keir Starmer and all his leadership rivals seemingly believe that Brexit was a colossal mistake and that they must do all within their power to reverse it in spirit if not in name. But natural Labour supporters in the party’s traditional heartlands overwhelmingly voted to take back control, to regain our sovereignty, in 2016. Most would do so a...