At the Reform UK conference, Nigel Farage claimed that he would stop small boats crossings in two weeks if elected prime minister. When Laura Kuenssberg asked him how he would manage that, Farage scaled back the promise, saying ‘as soon as the law’s in place, as soon as you have the ability to detain and deport, you’ll stop it in two weeks.’ Kuenssberg noted that it might take ‘many, many months’ to pass legislation, and accused Farage of making big, bold promises that ‘don’t quite stack up’. Farage responded, ‘the difference is we mean it’, and argued that it’s impossible to solve the issue without leaving the ECHR. He claimed that through the ‘battles’ of passing legislation, the country would ‘know.. that we’re on their side’.
Reform’s Zia Yusuf: Boris Johnson ‘one of the worst prime ministers in British history’
Nadine Dorries was on display at the Reform conference, a big name defector who Nigel Farage hopes will help to plug the experience gap he admits his party has. On Sky News, Trevor Phillips asked Reform head of government efficiency Zia Yusuf if Reform might allow Boris Johnson to follow his key ally and join the party. Yusuf told Phillips that was ‘never going to happen’, and that Johnson did not share the values of the party. He said the former prime minister had thrown open the borders, ‘betraying every single person who voted Brexit’, and was ‘one of the worst prime ministers in British history’.
John Healey: Starmer wants cabinet to ‘go up a gear now’
The resignation of Angela Rayner has led to a major cabinet reshuffle, with Shabana Mahmood becoming Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper moving to the Foreign Office, and David Lammy getting the deputy prime minister title to go with his move to the Ministry of Justice.
On GB News this morning, Camilla Tominey put it to Defence Secretary John Healey that the public view the government as being in ‘chaos and crisis’. Healey contested that, saying that Rayner’s resignation was a ‘reflection of the higher standards that Keir Starmer has insisted on’.
Tominey asked why Starmer hadn’t immediately fired Rayner. Healey said it was important that there was an independent process, and that ‘clean, swift, fair action’ had been taken, although he said that ‘any government is stronger if Angela Rayner is in it’. Healey argued that the cabinet reshuffle means the progress the government has made over the last year ‘can be taken further’.
Michael Gove: ‘The fundamental problem is Keir Starmer himself’
Spectator editor Michael Gove was part of Laura Kuenssberg’s panel this morning. Kuenssberg asked Gove if he found it credible that Labour present the reshuffle as a strengthening of government. Gove agreed that some of those given more prominent roles, such as Shabana Mahmood and Pat McFadden, are ‘impressive in their own right’ and could be ‘trusted to do an effective job’. However, Gove argued that Starmer is a problem for Labour, that he has been described by aides as the ‘driver of a Dockland Light Railway train’, someone who ‘sits there looking as though he is in charge’. Gove suggested that Labour’s deputy leadership race will create a debate around how to improve on the ‘vacuum that Keir Starmer currently provides’.
Michael Gove co-hosts new Spectator podcast Quite right! with Madeline Grant, available wherever you get your podcasts.
Defence Secretary: Government is considering military sites to house asylum seekers
On Sky News, John Healey told Trevor Phillips that ‘solving the illegal immigration crisis is the job of the whole government, not just the Home Office’, and that he had been putting ‘military planners’ into the Border Command. Healey confirmed that the government are looking at temporarily housing asylum seekers who have arrived illegally at military sites before they are processed for asylum or deported. The Defence Secretary mentioned that a record number of people have been deported over the last year, but would not confirm whether military sites could begin to be used this year.
Kemi Badenoch: ‘If people don’t like it, they’re welcome to leave’
Laura Kuenssberg presented Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch with a picture of four former Tories who have joined Reform and asked what they have in common. Badenoch said their decision to leave was ‘extraordinary’, because the biggest issue in the country is that ‘the economy is in crisis, and Nigel Farage will only make it worse’.
Badenoch claimed that the Conservatives are the only party talking about ‘living within our means’, and that the country is currently ‘stealing our children’s future… borrowing their money’. The Conservative leader pointed out that Nadine Dorries developed the Online Safety Act which Nigel Farage opposes, and argued that there is an ‘intellectual incoherence’ in the Reform party. Badenoch said the Tories are ‘taking the time to do opposition right’.
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