Category Archives: News

Since our last post on the subject three junior ministers have resigned –  John Glen (Treasury Minister), Robin Walker (Minister for school standards) and Will Quince (Minister for children and families). Joining them are one more Tory aide and one more Trade envoy.

So that makes five Tory aides, four junior ministers, two senior cabinet ministers, two trade envoys and the vice-chair of the Conservatives. (Just need another cabinet minister to make it singable)

On top of that several more backbench MPs have sent letters of no confidence to the 1922 Committee.

PMQs should be interesting.

Update

One more junior minister joins the exodus – Health Minister Jo Churchill.

Further update

Two more junior ministers go – Victoria Atkins (Justice Minister) and Stuart Andrew (Housing Minister). Plus one more PPS.

Seven junior ministers, six Tory aides, two senior cabinet ministers, two trade envoys and the vice-chair of the Conservatives.

And another update

Six more junior ministers have gone – Julia Lopez (Culture Minister), Lee Rowley (Business Minister), Alex Burghart (Education minister), Neil O’Brien (Levelling up minister), Kemi Badenoch (Local Government minister), Mims Davies (Employment minister). Plus three more PPSs.

Thirteen junior ministers, nine Tory aides, two senior cabinet ministers, two trade envoys and the vice-chair of the Conservatives. (Sorry, that exceeded my musical expectations)

And more

Two more junior ministers have exited – Rachel Maclean (Home Office minister), Mike Freer (Equalities minister).  Plus 3 PPSs.

And the BBC is reporting that a posse of Cabinet ministers is arriving at No 10 to tell the PM to resign.

What next?

The showdown is going on in No 10 as we write.

In the meantime, the lastest stats are:

Fifteen junior ministers, fifteen Tory aides, two senior cabinet ministers, two trade envoys and the vice-chair of the Conservatives. Can someone write a tune please?

While you are waiting for news from Tiverton & Honiton we can also offer you some encouragement from two other elections, on top of the excellent result in Highley in Shropshire.

First, from the London borough of Kingston upon Thames. Last month Lib Dems had a resounding victory by winning 41 of the 45 council seats. But the contest in one ward, New Malden Village, was deferred after the death of an independent candidate just a few days before polling day, leaving the three seats still vacant.

This created a rather odd campaigning environment – our squeeze message evaporated as there was no danger of another party taking control. Predictably, opposition literature emphasised the fact that people could now abandon tactical voting and vote with their hearts. The other parties also homed in on the very small opposition on the Council, which needed to be strengthened – a fact which had also worried the Lib Dems, as we have always seen Scrutiny as a function of the opposition.

This is traditionally a Conservative facing area, the small Labour representation having been wiped out completely in 2010.

So we are delighted to report that not only did we win all three seats convincingly, but the Conservatives were knocked into third and fourth places by a coalition of Greens and Independents.