Questions over whether Diane Abbott had been banned from standing as a Labour candidate were a distraction for Keir Starmer’s campaign this week, eventually ending with Starmer confirming that Abbott was ‘free to go forward’ for Labour. Some in the party are unhappy with Starmer welcoming Tory defectors while suppressing left-wing candidates such as Lloyd Russell-Moyle and Faiza Shaheen, who were both barred from standing for Labour this week.
Speaking to Laura Kuenssberg, Baroness Chakrabarti claimed Diane Abbott had been bullied by ‘overgrown schoolboys in suits’ sending anonymous briefings. Chakrabarti said she had been ‘personally assured’ by the Labour leadership that those briefings were unauthorised, but implied that Abbott had not fully made her mind up about whether she wanted to stand as a candidate.
Shadow home secretary denies reports that Labour MPs are being enticed to stand aside
On Sky News, Trevor Phillips questioned shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper over reports that some Labour MPs have been offered seats in the House of Lords so that they can be replaced by hand-picked candidates loyal to Starmer. Cooper denied this, saying ‘no party can do that’ because of the independent committee that vets nominations. She claimed that there had been a series of ‘shocking’ honours lists from Conservative prime ministers, and that Starmer had pledged to change the way the system worked.
Health Secretary Atkins promises 20 million more GP appointments ‘by end of next parliament’
On Sky News, Health Secretary Victoria Atkins spoke to Trevor Phillips about Tory plans to free up GP appointments by expanding the ‘Pharmacy First’ initiative, which allows patients to receive consultations and prescriptions from pharmacies for several common conditions. Phillips pointed out that many pharmacists couldn’t afford to take on the extra burden of these appointments, but Atkins claimed 98 per cent of pharmacists had agreed to the initiative, and there were 120,000 appointments in the first month of the rollout. When Phillips suggested this was nowhere near the 20 million promised, Atkins admitted the plan was to reach that figure in five years.
Yvette Cooper refuses to give a number for reduction in net migration
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper pointed out to Laura Kuenssberg that net migration had trebled since the last election. She said Labour believes that is a problem, and wants the number to come down. However when Kuenssberg repeatedly pressed Cooper to give a rough figure for that reduction, Cooper said Labour was ‘not setting a target’. The shadow home secretary claimed the Conservatives’ targets had been consistently ripped up and that had ‘discredited the whole system’. She also said that the amount of migration necessary varied year on year, and that Labour would focus on fixing the skills shortages that led to employers relying on overseas recruitment.
Green co-leader Ramsay ‘certain’ that rationing won’t be in their manifesto
Laura Kuenssberg asked Green co-leader Adrian Ramsay about the rationing of meat and dairy products, which appears in a policy document on the party’s website as a means to stop the country consuming ‘more than its fair share’. Ramsay said that that policy wouldn’t be in their manifesto, and that the Greens’ focus was on making the country’s food system ‘more resilient’, helping farmers to produce more locally, and increasing grants for nature-friendly farming.
Trump lawyer Habba: ‘we have seen corruption that this country has never seen before’
Finally, after Trump was found guilty this week, Laura Kuenssberg spoke to one of his lawyers Alina Habba about Trump’s remarks that he had been taken down by a ‘fascist state’. Habba agreed with Trump’s remarks, claiming that Biden had used ‘means like this’ to try to jail his political opponent. Kuenssberg asked Habba what evidence she had of Biden interference in the trial. Habba suggested that the case had not been brought to court on multiple occasions because it was weak, and only happened because Trump decided he was running for office.
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