Day: September 25, 2016

    The plan had been touted by some MPs as a potential way for the leader to repair relations within the party, but after the National Executive Committee put them on hold one senior Labour figure said it doesn't look good for them. A meeting of Labour's ruling executive has failed to agree on proposals allowing MPs to elect members of Jeremy's Corbyn shadow cabinet. Others claimed there could still be hope for the proposals, which leading moderate MPs urged Mr Corbyn to adopt after his convincing leadership contest victory. The plan, proposed by deputy leader Tom Watson, would have seen MPs given a say on who from among their ranks would sit with Mr Corbyn in the shadow cabinet. One senior backbencher said: "The PLP [parliamentary Labour party] offered to return to an electe...

    Cameron's ex-spin doctor reveals crisis talks between Cameron and May in the days leading to Brexit. Former PM David Cameron was prepared to stay on as Tory leader, but decided against it for fear of being led to the "slaughterhouse", a top aide has claimed. Cameron's former director of communications Sir Craig Oliver also suggests that the current UK prime minister, Theresa May, was seen by some members of the Remain campaign as an "enemy agent". In Oliver's book, Unleashing Demons: The Inside Story of Brexit, the former Tory aide says that May reluctantly "came off the fence" to support the Remain campaign during the EU referendum campaign, after Cameron became "visibly wound up" and rebuked her in tense phone conversations. "Suddenly he picks up his mobile and calls May...

    The bitter divisions between David Cameron and Theresa May over Brexit have been revealed in two books about the EU referendum campaign, in which May is described as lily-livered and an enemy agent by Cameron and his allies. Cameron’s director of communications, Sir Craig Oliver, says in his exposé of Downing Street that the former prime minister’s advisers used the nickname “Submarine May” because she never came to the surface to support his efforts. In extracts from Oliver’s book, Unleashing Demons: The Inside Story of the EU Referendum, published in the Mail on Sunday, Cameron’s chief spin doctor says the prime minister pleaded with May to “come off the fence” about Brexit. Oliver also describes how Boris Johnson “flip-flopped” between Leave and Remain before finally de...