Badenoch touches a nerve in the Commons Telegraph Front Bencher 25/06/26 It’s hard to know where to begin with Bridget Phillipson’s response to Kemi Badenoch’s PMQs barb. The Leader of the Opposition described the Education Secretary as a “spiteful class warrior”, prompting outcry from the perpetually-outraged Left and an intervention from the Speaker. How else to describe a minister who imposed VAT on private school fees midway through the academic year, guaranteeing maximum disruption to pupils, leaving schools little time to adapt, and almost certainly raising less in net revenue than anticipated? Perhaps Badenoch touched a nerve. Since Labour took office, over 100 independent schools have closed. Universities are on the brink of a funding crisis, while nurseries are grappling with the reality of an expanded “free” childcare offer rolled out with little consideration for how it would be paid. The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act is stripping academies of their freedoms and disco...
New proposals to prioritise ‘trusted’ news outlets like the BBC online will be chilling for free expression Daily Telegraph 24/06/26 Link Britain’s ruling class has a new saviour in Andy Burnham , but on the 10th anniversary of Brexit, that darkest of days for the bien-pensant , they still want answers, and they are still seeking revenge. Why do voters remain so bigoted, so nationalistic, so ignorant, so susceptible to fake news, so unwilling to parrot the groupthink propounded by their betters, they ask themselves? Why do ordinary folk still not listen to experts? Why did the public turn so ferociously against Sir Keir Starmer, a good man, a human rights lawyer for Gaia’s sake! The elite’s conceit, their delusion, is off the charts again. They cannot fathom why Middle England is so preoccupied with what, from their rarefied technocratic vantage point, are exaggerated, divisive, dangerous issues such as migration, Islamist extremism, social decay or elevated energy prices. Wouldn...