Strategic Adviser to Daniel Křetínský & the Energetický a průmyslový (EP) Group. Chair, GRID-UK. MP for Chelsea & Fulham, 2005-24. UK Govt Minister, 2011-24.
London; Prague; Germany
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- Followers 67,505
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...My father is another care home COVID death, but I remember him as a brilliant grammar school scientist, a single-minded & determined man, worked his way out of poverty, fought hard and gave his best. He will be sorely missed. 1934-2020, RIP.
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I have been in actual coups. Like in Venezuela in Nov 1992 and saw the riot, the tear gas, planes bombing of the presidential palace, the charred bodies on the back of the truck, etc. Proroguing Parliament for the 9th time in my 14 years as MP is not a coup. #StopTheCoup
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The continuing boarding up of the Winston Churchill statue in Parliament Square by @SadiqKhan is one of the most shameful things I have seen in 22 years of politics. I am with @ShaunBaileyUK in getting Sir Winston back on view pronto!
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To say that Zelensky, who I think universally regarded as a brave and democratically elected leader, is fearing the ballot box?
When did Putin ever have to face a free and fair election?
This is a disgraceful attack.
🇬🇧 ❤️ 🇺🇦
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I voted Remain in 2016, but I can see that the Cooper-Adonis Bill isn’t about getting “a bit more time...to sort things out,” it’s about reversing the democratic vote of 34 million people all together. No democrat should support it.
Here’s the Bill. It gives the Govt til end of Feb to sort things out, but if they haven’t, then Parliament would get a vote on whether to extend article 50 & get a bit more time. It gives Govt & Parliament a chance to avert No Deal in March if time has run out
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Ed Davey now apologising to the House for not declaring conflicts of interest in relation to energy and climate change questions.
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Great line from the PM to Starmer: “We are the builders, they are the blockers”. #PMQs
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My response to the SNP on the Australia Trade Deal today.
No mention from them of better whisky or financial services access for Scottish exports.
And the SNP hasn’t supported any trade deal ever.
They are trade isolationists.
And let Scotland down.
@ScotTories
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🥀 *The £125 million reason*
A new website to reveal why Labour MPs are so keen to back striking unions.
A huge £125 million in union donations to the Labour Party, including £264,000 to one senior frontbencher.
🔍 TheyWorkForUnions.co.uk
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The SNP don’t want a trade deal with the EU (and will vote for No Deal on Wednesday).
They didn’t want trade deals with Japan, Korea, Canada, South Africa, Ukraine or Singapore either.
@thesnp hasn’t backed any trade deal in more than 15 years.
The SNP are anti trade.
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This is just a bare-faced lie by Starmer. He didn’t show up for a single minute of 4 1/2 hours of debate on the Trade Bill on Monday, and it shows. The NHS is not & wont ever be part of U.K. trade deals. #LearnYourBrief
The Trump administration would like a trade deal with the UK to benefit America’s big healthcare companies.
That's why Labour tried to make it law that the NHS would be exempt from any future trade agreements.
The Tories voted it down.
theguardian.com/commentisfre…
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Am genuinely confused. Apparently, members of the Conservative Government are threatening to resign if they can’t vote away the Government’s power to govern to a Labour-led cross party group of MPs.
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I am very sorry to hear that Westminster North Conservative Association’s office has been vandalised in a targeted attack.
This should be a reminder that flippant remarks like “Tory Scum” can have a real-world impact
@twocitiesnickie
telegraph.co.uk/politics/202…
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Except this isn’t true. I go to a lot of Cobra meetings and they are rarely chaired by the Prime Minister. These 5 meetings were chaired by the Health Secretary.
"I find it incredible that the Prime Minister skipped five COBRA meetings when it was clear a major health emergency was coming."
Labour's @bphillipsonMP tells @skynewsniall the government must face scrutiny over its handling of the crisis. RH
#KayBurley
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Sir Keir attempted to block the referendum result at least 48 times!
Through directly voting against, voting in favour of wrecking amendments & voting against 11 of the Statutory Instruments required for delivering the result, Sir Keir voted repeatedly to obstruct democracy.
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This is extremely concerning.
I was Trade Minister. Barry Gardiner was our Labour Shadow, and we used to brief him confidentially on complex and sensitive international trade negotiations which certainly would have been of interest to the Chinese Govt. independent.co.uk/news/uk/ba…
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As a former Chief Secretary to the Treasury, there is nothing inherently revolutionary or wrong with what the Government is proposing on tax & budgets.
All of the measures have strong merits, and taken together, may well be what’s needed.
Taking the parts in turn:
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The truth does matter.
After her 6-month campaign against me, I welcome @Carolvorders today deleting 22 tweets & setting the record straight that I had no involvement in the awarding of any PPE contracts
These tweets were defamatory and damaging.
An apology would help too
I've been contacted by Greg Hands MP in response to my tweets about his involvement in the granting of a COVID-19 healthcare contract to Luxe Lifestyle in 2020.
While the awarding of this contract was unfortunate, and there remain serious questions about the VIP Lane,
I'm happy to accept Mr Hands’ assurance that his role in the process was simply to refer the approach to the JACT, and that there was no impropriety on his part.
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Good PPE news - after a number of calls with the Egyptian Ambassador & lots of engagement by @GeoffreyDAdams and @UKinEgypt & @tradegovuk teams, a large number of medical gowns are on their way to the U.K. - thank you, Egypt!
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Today’s papers don’t make happy reading for Carol Vorderman after her defamatory, baseless and wild claims of corruption and worse against me.
She has deleted 22 tweets, videos and other social media posts.
But she still needs to apology.
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I used to think the 84 in @OwenJones84 must be his Year of Birth, but maybe it's his I.Q.?
What is communism, can we separate it from the horrors of Stalinism - and what about the crimes of capitalism?
Check out my new interview with the incredible @AyoCaesar piped.video/-H4J7nNazO0
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Rachel lives in Leeds, which has had a Labour Council since 2011.
The solution for her is to vote Conservative in Leeds on 4th May.
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BBC Six O’Clock News:
Q: “What do you think of the Labour Party?”
A: “I remember when they were in Government last time, they left a little note in the Treasury - there’s nothing left”
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Sir Keir asks about foreign donations, and the cry goes out “Where’s Barry?”
#PMQs
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Today marks 30 years since the foundation of the Liberal Democrats. In March 1988 they were on 6% in the polls. Today they’re on 7%. That probably looks like spectacular progress on one of their bar charts.
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160 Labour MPs on picket lines?
Imagine if there were a Labour government?
This handy guide shows which unions fund which Labour MP.
theyworkforunions.co.uk thesun.co.uk/news/21270422/s…
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Something has gone seriously wrong in UK - German relations.
As I witnessed at Munich Airport, British passport holders can’t use the e-gates.
Despite a pledge this would start to happen from Sep.
Worse still, every other OECD member can - Chile, Brazil, Israel, Taiwan…
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I am excited to be asked by @rishisunak to be Chairman of the @conservatives
I joined the Party in 1986 - a ward chairman in 1992, a councillor in 1998, a Group Leader in 1999, an MP in 2005, a Minister in 2011 - an honour to chair it in 2023!
The work starts right away.
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This is odd, as it was LibDem policy up to 2010 to have an In/Out Referendum. Cameron agreed from 2013.
Lib Dem leader @joswinson says David Cameron "cannot be forgiven" for calling the EU referendum bbc.in/30jgUNh #Brexit
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Sir Keir Starmer has never made a pledge he intends to keep.
He will say anything if the politics of that moment suit him.
He lacks principles and has no new ideas – and that is how we know a Starmer Labour government would just revert to the same old Labour habits…
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Unlike Tom who is a 45 year old white Englishman, educated at a major public school (Marlborough) and Edinburgh Uni and is son of an MEP.
What we now know: Britain’s next Prime Minister will be a white Englishman, aged 52-55, who was educated at a major public school and then Oxford, and has recently worked in the Foreign Office. Like quite a lot of previous Tory PMs.
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Carol Vorderman forced into humiliating climbdown over tweets about top Tory express.co.uk/news/politics/…
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Killer question from Jacob Rees-Mogg to Caroline Lucas: “If you have a second vote, and you lose, will you call for a third?” #C4Brexit
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As Labour’s Shadow Chancellor gets ready for her speech, it’s worth remembering how Labour left the country last time.
Broke.
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Former Director of Public Prosecutions Sir Keir says the PM is out of touch with working people.
#PMQs
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First time I met Prince Philip was, in retrospect, very funny.
Elected MP for Chelsea, May 2010, I was in the receiving line at the Chelsea Flower Show, a few days after.
I had practised my bow, nervously.
On performing it, he looked at me & asked:
“Are you new?”
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Priti is right and Mayor Khan is wrong.
What is he thinking, travelling all the way to Los Angeles to visit a cannabis farm?
Sadiq Khan’s time would be better spent focusing on knife and drug crime in London.
The Mayor has no powers to legalise drugs. They ruin communities, tear apart families and destroy lives.
dailymail.co.uk/news/article…
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This is apparently not an April Fool. 43 MPs seek Commons approval to give away their right to determine UK trade policy, so that a Greek or Maltese EU Commissioner and Latvian & Slovene MEPs would have more say than they do.
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Translation: UK in EU’s view would need to be in a Customs Union for years to come, and therefore locked in the Backstop. What motivates these people isn’t peace in Ireland, but locking the UK into a disastrous (for us) permanent Customs Union.
Fact-checking « alternative arrangements » re #Brexit backstop: Can technology solve the Irish border problem? Short answer: not in the next few years. bbc.com/news/uk-47047993
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After a six month campaign of defamation & vilification, @carolvorders has today finally withdrawn her allegations.
She accused me of “illegal corruption”, phoning a friend to say “here’s a nice little £25.8m PPE contract for you mate” & having my “hands in the cookie jar” 1/2
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Terrific performance by @ShaunBaileyUK, only just behind Khan, for London Mayor.
Just 6% behind. Much closer than any opinion poll. Just last month, Shaun was polling 26% behind.
An amazing rally - thanks to Shaun’s energy & vision.
Have been proud to chair his campaign.
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Translation: 'I won't shift on the Treaty which is very favorable to the EU; but if you want to make the Political Declaration even more favorable to the EU as well, then I am open to that."
EU Chief Brexit Negotiator @MichelBarnier "If the UK wishes to leave the EU in an orderly fashion, the only way to do so is based on the Withdrawal Agreement which we agreed upon together... the Political Declaration... can be improved..."
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This is extraordinary. I don’t see how any fair-minded MP could vote for that. And there’s bound to be conditions too...
This part of the Brexit extension bill is v. significant.
It states the EU can choose the length of the extension - without a limit - and the Prime Minister must agree to it:
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On Whitehall this morning, and it’s good to see the repairs and cleaning taking place quickly & efficiently.
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Further, let us all say it loud & clear that Poles are incredibly welcome in the UK & the word "Solidarity" never felt more appropriate.
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Useful call with representatives of the Boehly consortium, would-be buyers of Chelsea Football Club.
Good to hear of their plans to work with fans & community.
I understand they have met with - or to meet - @ChelseaSTrust and @pitchowners & other fans groups.
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I am today appealing to @SamGyimah as a friend & former colleague to stand down in Kensington. He can’t win, but does risk giving the seat to a Hard Left Corbynite. Kensington would be hammered by Corbyn& McDonnell. Sam, it isn’t too late- stand down for the people of Kensington
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Call me old-fashioned, but I resigned as a Govt Minister because I was opposed to Govt policy (on Heathrow expansion). Now we have Ministers threatening to resign unless Govt changes policy, otherwise they will hand over decision-making to a Labour-led cross Party group of MPs.
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Another good tussle with the SNP in the Commons today:
❌ Want to rejoin the EU - but never supported any EU or U.K. trade deals
❌ haven’t noticed that U.K. - EU trade has been recovering
❌ what have they done with the £180m given by the U.K. Government to handle issues?
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Bizarrely, my colleague Dominic Grieve voted against the Commons adjourning for the Conservative Party Conference, but he is still appearing at it.....
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PM rightly pointing out that no Labour government has left office with unemployment lower than when they took office.
#PMQs.
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I know from personal experience that losing a younger brother to cancer is one of the worst things that can ever happen to you and to a family.
Just typing this brings a tear to the eye.
My heart goes out to the Starmer family.
BREAKING: Prime Minister Keir Starmer pays tribute to his brother, who passed away on Boxing Day after a long battle with cancer.
trib.al/Rx0iR33
📺 Sky 501, Virgin 602, Freeview 233 and YouTube
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Easy to say this if you’re never going to be Prime Minister.
Sir Keir Starmer calls on Liz Truss to decline £115,000 annual allowance for former PMs news.sky.com/story/sir-keir-…
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Boris asks Sir Keir with a smile “Did you have a good weekend?”
#cheeky.
#StateOpeningofParliament
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13 ex-Cabinet & Sir Graham Brady letter to the PM: “A Customs Union Brexit deal with Labour is both bad policy and bad politics”. Letter in full here.
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I have been away from Trade for a year, but on my return one thing hasn’t changed.
The SNP hasn’t supported a single trade deal done by either the EU or the UK.
They couldn’t even support the deal with Ukraine 🇺🇦
As well as Japan, Korea, Australia, NZ, South Africa, Canada…
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Channel 4 absurdly calling a Second Referendum a “People’s Vote” almost without qualification - what Caroline Lucas calls “your first chance to vote on the facts” is incredibly condescending to the 17.4 million people who voted Leave in 2016.
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Sadiq, you’re the politician in charge of the Met’s policing.
Why not *you* take some responsibility?
The scenes from Clapham Common are unacceptable. The police have a responsibility to enforce Covid laws but from images I've seen it's clear the response was at times neither appropriate nor proportionate. I'm contact with the Commissioner & urgently seeking an explanation.
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I haven’t seen Labour faces in the Commons so glum since when they first chose Corbyn in 2015.
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This is deeply irresponsible. A blue tick and 61k followers should come with responsibility. Criticise the policy all you like, but the Government isn’t making it as a result of a £25,000 speaking fee he received as a backbencher 18 months ago.
28 May 2019, Boris Johnson. received £25,540 plus VAT from The British Insurance Brokers Organisation (BIBA), 8th Floor John Stow House, 18 Bevis Marks, London, EC3A 7JB, for a speaking engagement on 16 May 2019. Hours: 2 hrs.
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“ANY future relationship”? Barnier threatening *no* relationship at all. I voted Remain in 2016, have family & friends intertwined with the EU, but Brussels saying now it can have a relationship with Russia & China, but not with the U.K. is absurd.
🇪🇺🇬🇧 For there to be any future relationship between the EU and the UK, there must be mutual trust and confidence between us - today and in the future.
My statement following this week’s negotiating round:
europa.eu/!qH97jB
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I will be backing the Prime Minister tonight.
I didn’t back him in 2019, but he has done a very good job on:
👍Backing Ukraine stronger than anyone.
👍vaccination programme
👍backing strong action on climate & energy transition.
👍a proven election winner 2008,2012,2019.
Chairman of the 1922 Committee Sir Graham Brady has announced a vote of confidence in Prime Minister Boris Johnson will be held between 6-8pm today
For more on this and other news visit trib.al/Rx0iR33
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UK jumps to seventh in global prosperity index - up three places. The world has confidence in the UK and we should have the same! cityam.com/269797/uk-jumps-s…
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C4 ask an audience member what he thinks. He says a WTO Brexit. Microphone quickly moves away...#C4Brexit
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I am calling on Labour to return £1.5m in donations from a key Just Stop Oil backer.
And for an explanation as to whether Labour being whipped to vote against our tougher measures to stop these disruptive protests is linked to the donations? telegraph.co.uk/politics/202…
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Today is as good a day as any to reflect on how badly Britain is reported in Germany by mainstream media. Die Zeit says that GB is "a feudal society...where everyone at the top has at least 2 of these 3 things: Eton, Oxbridge & Ancient Greek". #RubbishReporting
Der nun bevorstehende #Brexit ist die Folge einer Feudalgesellschaft, die ihr Verhältnis zu sich selbst verloren hat, schreibt unsere Autorin: bit.ly/37JTXYa
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This is absolutely remarkable & confirms what others in Brussels have been saying in the German press - that the Withdrawal Agreement has been made deliberately anti-UK. But Article 50 guarantees the right for a member state to leave!
Revealing words from Michel Barnier in 2016, quoted in @LePoint. "I would have succeeded in my task if, in the end, the deal is so hard on the British that they’ll prefer staying in the EU.” w.lpnt.fr/2275148t
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Let’s not make the mistake in Chelsea & Fulham that was made in Kensington last time: when 2,000 Conservatives voted LibDem and ended up with a Hard Left Corbynite MP. Remember- only a vote for the Conservatives keeps Corbyn out of Number 10. RT & Share #VoteConservative
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Ten years today since Baroness Thatcher left us.
She is still with us in Chelsea, of course, buried at @RHChelsea.
We remember her saving the country, and for 15 years leading our @conservatives party to three election victories.
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Now you see it, now you don’t!
The Guardian’s Catherine Bennett’s initial take was to use the John Stonehouse drama to attack current Conservative MPs.
On discovering Stonehouse was in fact a Labour MP, the attack line has changed to all MPs.
Sloppy and shameful.
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Tonight in the Lords, Labour has voted against our new protest powers for police.
The British people don’t like seeing their daily life brought to a standstill, by a tiny minority using extreme tactics.
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People more likely to be victims of crime in Labour-run areas, new study shows.
telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/02…
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…And, as the current Energy Minister, the fact that my predecessor Ed Davey was linked in this way to Christine Lee - when he was Energy Minister! - is also a huge concern.
Energy is a very sensitive brief - and with huge national security implications. news.sky.com/video/i-cant-ev…
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As the recent former Energy Minister, I can say that this media report is alarmist & unhelpful.
Blackouts remain very unlikely.
UK 🇬🇧 has the best energy security of any country in Europe, bar only Norway.
Yes, there are uncertainties, but there is no “plan for blackouts”.
Energy crisis: Plan for three-hour power blackouts to prioritise heating in event of gas shortages news.sky.com/story/energy-cr…
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A 52% to 48% victory. But nobody here in Hamburg is calling for the poll to be re-run. #PeoplesVote
AKK wins the CDU leadership contest, winning 517 out of 999 votes🇩🇪 in a close victory over Merz who received 482 votes.
#CDUbpt18 #CDUVorsitz
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An honour and a great privilege to be in His Majesty’s Government.
Thanks Prime Minister @trussliz for the confidence - and looking forward to being back at @tradegovuk, working with Secretary of State @KemiBadenoch, her ministerial team & our brilliant Trade officials!
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Excellent Conservative by-election result in Golders Green.
Congratulations to our new Councillor Peter Zinkin!
Shows the Conservatives are recovering in London.
Augurs well for the Mayoral contest next year and for the next General Election in a key marginal.
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Labour are not fit or ready for government.
They only have 3 policies -
🤕20% tax on independent schools
🤕ending non-dom taxation which they allowed to thrive 1997-2010
🤕abolish the Lords
none of which will do much to help the economy recover from COVID and Putin’s War.
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Pointing out more @theSNP hypocrisy at the Commons dispatch box today, complaining that the U.K. Government hadn’t rolled over EU trade deals - none of which they had ever voted for in the first place! @AndrewBowie_MP @Douglas4Moray @ScotTories
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Interesting constituent at my surgery today who travels frequently in China, said if UK rejected #HS2 would be "a sign of our decline".
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The Labour Party is funded by the same person who funds Just Stop Oil.
In light of yesterday’s attack on the rugby final, and Thursday’s on the Chelsea Flower Show, I have written to Labour’s Chair asking they come clean on their links to this disruptive & unpopular group 👇
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This is the presenter on Good Morning Britain who asked me if I would have sent Jesus to Rwanda.
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Czech It Out!
My interview (in Czech) on Česká Televize @czechtv this week with @Lukas_Dolansky on my 37 year relationship with all things Czech!
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New pork markets!
🇬🇧🇰🇷Great news for British farmers who can now sell pork to South Korea!
🥓We've removed a barrier which blocked exports of products such as bacon & pork sausages and could be worth up to £1 million over five years
Read more 👇
express.co.uk/news/uk/171352…
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The other significant thing about last night is that support for a 2nd Referendum is so low amongst MPs that nobody even bothered to put it to the vote. #Brexit.
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Sir Keir trying to pose as a tax cutter -
seemingly forgetting he wanted Jeremy Corbyn as Prime Minister at the last election.
#PMQs.
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