Natalie Perera worked at the Department for Education for 12 years. Angus Walker was a special adviser to Gavin Williamson. Jonathan Simons worked in Downing Street under Gordon Brown and David Cameron. They spoke to Schools Week deputy and political editor Freddie Whittaker about the last 10 years of education policymaking. Source link
Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more “Octomom” Natalie (formerly Nadya) Suleman shared that she had recently become a grandmother. On Instagram, the 49-year-old media personality posted a photo showing a baby girl’s tiny foot peeking from underneath a pink blanket. Without revealing which of her 10 sons the daughter belonged to, Suleman gushed over the latest addition to her huge family. “Thank you my son and my lovely daughter in law for giving us this beautiful gift!” the mother of 14 wrote in the caption. “We are so blessed that she is a new addition to our family!” She concluded the caption confirming the baby’s birthday, “Baby girl you are so very loved and we can’t wait to watch you grow!! 8/30/24.” Suleman rose to fame after giving birth to …
Keir Starmer has faced a backlash from his own MPs after Natalie Elphicke defected to Labour (Alamy) 3 min read56 min Conservative MP Mark Garnier has said he would have better understood Natalie Elphicke’s decision to defect from his party if she had chosen “Reform or the BNP” rather than Labour. Elphicke, the MP for Dover, defected from the Conservatives to Labour on Wednesday arguing that the governing party had “become a byword for incompetence and division”, while she believed Keir Starmer’s party had “changed out of all recognition” since the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn, who stood down in 2020. The move surprised MPs on both sides of the House of Commons as Elphicke, a former member of the Tory Common Sense Group, is known for belonging to the further right wing of the party, and holds hardline views on immigration. She had previously accused Labour of advocating for “open borders”. Garnier, the MP for Wyre Forest, told PoliticsHome podcast The Rundown that it was “completely surreal” to see Elphicke make a surprise appearance on the …
Keir Starmer has defended welcoming former Tory MP Natalie Elphicke into the Labour Party, arguing politics should be less “tribal”. Elphicke, the MP for Dover, shocked Westminster when she sensationally defected to Labour on Wednesday. Her decision to cross the floor at the start of PMQs was another blow to Rishi Sunak in the wake of the local election results. But Starmer has also come under pressure from within Labour over the move, given Elphicke’s right-wing views on immigration. She also previously supported her ex-husband despite him being found guilty of sexually assaulting two women. Speaking in Dover to announce Labour’s new immigration policy, Starmer said the defection was “testament to the hard work” the party had done to change since Jeremy Corbyn was leader. “This changed Labour Party ought to be a place where reasonably minded people whichever way they voted in the past, feel that they can join with our project and change the country for the better,” he said. “It is an invitation that we should be less tribal, in the pursuit …
A BBC Question Time viewer was scathing in his assessment of former Tory MP Natalie Elphicke’s defection to Labour. The elderly gentleman in Stoke-on-Trent told Fiona Bruce and the panel that he thought her crossing the floor was a “betrayal of the constituents who voted for her as a Conservative MP”. Drawing a sporting analogy, he added: “I like football, if I go to a football match and watch the players in blue, and halfway through when they’re losing they put a red shirt on and play for the opposition, I’d be very angry as a fan. And the voters should be very angry too.” The MP for Dover sat behind Sir Keir Starmer on the Labour benches prior to the start of Prime Minister’s Question Time on Wednesday. The Hertfordshire-born MP, who had garnered a reputation for being tough on immigration, and indeed on Labour’s plan for reducing it, drew raised eyebrows from both sides of the House when she swapped parties. Tom Tugendhat said Mr Starmer’s acceptance of Ms Elphicke as a Labour …
It is clearly moving season for MPs. First Dan Poulter, a former Tory health minister, defected to Labour at the end of April because of the government’s lamentable failings on the NHS. Fair enough. Then there was the breathtaking defection to Labour of Natalie Elphicke, one of the most rightwing Tory MPs who has made a career of high-volume criticism of Labour policies, some of which would have meant a lifetime ban had the criticism come from a serving Labour MP. Elphicke was welcomed in by Keir Starmer (Report, 8 May). On the same day, the Labour whip was restored to Kate Osamor after what was described as “a full investigation” for claiming, on the eve of Holocaust Memorial Day in January, that what is happening in Gaza should be remembered as genocide. I can’t help wondering what due diligence Labour performed before admitting Elphicke and why Osamor was readmitted just over three months after her remarks. Meanwhile, Diane Abbott, despite a full apology, has not had the whip restored more that a year after …
Labour’s newest MP Natalie Elphicke has been forced to apologise for the role she played in defending her ex husband both during and after he was imprisoned for sexual assault. The Tory defector defended her ex-MP husband, Charlie, after he was found guilty of sexually assaulting two women and jailed for two years. Ms Elphicke argued he had merely been “attractive, and attracted to, women” and that made him “an easy target for dirty politics and false allegations”. She claimed he had been the victim of a “terrible miscarriage of justice”. She was then temporarily suspended from the Commons and told to apologise in 2021 for being found to have tried to influence a judge presiding over Mr Elphicke’s trial. In a statement this afternoon, Ms Elphicke said she is sorry for her comments and blamed her actions from 2017 to 2020 on stress. She has said: “My decision to join the Labour Party is not one I have taken lightly but one I made because I am convinced that this country needs a new …
Nigel Farage has slammed Natalie Elphicke’s “complete and utter rubbish” reasons for quitting the Conservatives. The Reform UK Honorary President suggested Ms Elphicke will be given a seat in the House of Lords for inflicting another blow on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. Ms Elphicke crossed the floor in the Commons just moments before PMQs and sat behind Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, who hailed her defection as another indication of how he had changed the Labour Party. She said the “key deciding factors” in her defection were housing issues and “the safety and security of our borders”. But Mr Farage said: “So what’s going on here? Well, if you go back to the last years of the Major government, there were defections; Conservative MPs joining the Labour Party. “Do you know something? Every single one of them got looked after. Yep: They all went to the House of Lords and I’d be very surprised if Poulter and Elphicke didn’t go to the House of Lords. “Whether she thinks Keir Starmer can give her some kind …
Some things you just don’t see coming. Defections from the Tory party may be very on trend: just last month it was Dan Poulter. Or Dan Who? to his friends. But when Natalie Elphicke took her place right behind Keir Starmer on the Labour benches for prime minister’s questions there were open mouths on both sides of the Commons. Penny Mordaunt had to do a quick double-take. Could it be? Surely not. It was. She dashed to the speaker’s chair to warn the prime minister. Elphicke is no ordinary defector. Not some Tory wet like Dripping Dan, who was so centre-right, one nation that he may as well have been Labour anyway. Natalie is about as far to the right as you can get. Not only that, but with an unpleasant backstory too. A woman who defended her former husband, Charlie, the previous MP for Dover, until she inherited the constituency after he had been convicted of three charges of sexual assault. Not the best of looks. Natalie was even suspended from the Commons after …
Natalie Robyn is leaving Formula One’s governing body after serving just 18 months as its first chief executive, the FIA said on Wednesday. Robyn was one of the most senior female executives in motorsport and her arrival from the auto industry was hailed by the sport’s governing body, the FIA, as a “transformative moment” for an organisation led by Mohammed Ben Sulayem. Ben Sulayem, from the United Arab Emirates, highlighted Robyn’s appointment as proof of his commitment to equality and diversity after a controversy over remarks he had once made about women “who think they are smarter than men”. The governing body said Robyn had decided to pursue opportunities elsewhere and was leaving by mutual agreement at the end of May. “Performing in the role of CEO at the FIA has been an enormous privilege and I am grateful to have directed a programme of restructuring and reform,” she was quoted as saying. “Now is the time to step away in the knowledge that the organisation is better placed for the challenges which lie ahead.” …
