Callum Williams

@DPJHodges In that people will finally realise they are charlatans?

As I've written, Labour will get monstered on Thursday because of Keir Starmer. But Nigel Farage bottling out of his interview this morning is indicative of where Reform are at the moment. Something's going wrong with their wider political strategy.

@KemiBadenoch Your party kicked off the negotiations so pipe down

The list is long, but surrendering the Chagos Islands was one of the worst decisions Starmer made as PM. Defence spending has to rise. So today I’m announcing that we would spend that money on building British frigates faster. That’s how we build a Stronger Country.

@johnmcdonnellMP Or maybe the rest of you just all said knock it off and rallied round your actual leader?

We’re 6 days off vitally important elections battling against the far right & the factions around leadership contenders are fighting like rats in a sack & aiming to bounce us into an undemocratic stitch up. Maybe it’s time party members raised their voices rather than PLP cliques

@PeterStefanovi2 Well he isn’t an MP which may be a small technicality

“the number of MPs backing Burnham is understood to have grown to far more than the 80 required to challenge the prime minister”

@PippaCrerar Guardian coming up with more nonsense again, having not learnt anything from the last couple weeks

EXCL: Andy Burnham has credible plan to return to Westminster “within weeks” with GM mayor expected to use a byelection fight to set out new agenda for government, allies say. Burnham, who was blocked by NEC from running in Gorton & Denton, has identified several seats where MPs are prepared to step aside for his leadership bid. In a sign that his campaign is more progressed than previously thought, Burnham’s team is understood to have lined up an “impressive” candidate to replace him as Greater Manchester mayor. Allies said he planned to outline a “radical rewiring” of the state in coming weeks – including changes to electoral system and a 10-year growth plan. By @jessicaelgot & @JoshHalliday theguardian.com/politics/2026/…

@owenjonesjourno And where was the bomb threat implied or has you just tacked that on, the force was because he wasn’t letting go of his knife/weapon

Hold on - what? If police officers think someone might be carrying explosives, protocol is to kick them in the head repeatedly like this? Is that actual police protocol? If so, how is it a wise police protocol? Can someone explain the reasoning?

@Nigel_Farage Didn’t bother to vote tho

The vote in Parliament tonight was great theatre, but the three-line whip meant it would never be close. I want Starmer out, which is why I spent the day campaigning for it. If Reform crush Labour next week, he will be gone.

@SamCoatesSky @adamboultonTABB So when do sky lead with “story is overblown nothing”

🤔Honestly it’s +wild+ when MPs are using things that may or may not have been said in private phone calls between an MP and a journalist as part of evidence in select committee questions. And to be clear, Richard is speculating about a phone call with someone else, not him. So it’s even more bizarre I didn’t report this. It was denied.

@macpheb234 @PolitlcsUK @Juve38Wa98021 What pressure, they used an option they are allowed to use for a rapid process

@PolitlcsUK @Juve38Wa98021 So what was Smear Starmer on about when he said Sir Olly reported no undue pressure 🤥🤥🤥

🚨 BREAKING: The former Head of Security at the Foreign Office says he felt under pressure by No 10 to deliver a "rapid outcome" on Peter Mandelson's vetting

@BethRigby If they try and replace him, labour show they’ve learn nothing from the previous govt of constant leadership replacement

ANALYSIS: Even within the circle of loyalists, the conversation shifts to ‘when not if’ on PM’s future. But what happens after local elections so unclear. ‘Ask 10 people, you’ll get 10 different answers,’ says one senior figure news.sky.com/story/when-not…

@LeeSiverns @EdwardJDavey You really blaming the current govt for issues they inherited?

@EdwardJDavey If Argentina invaded again, we couldn’t even respond. It took a month to get a single destroyer to the gulf. It would take years to prepare for any kind of assault by then our weak government would have succeeded the islands anyway

Kemi Badenoch and the administration she wholeheartedly supported in happier times.

@UKHarvey @JenniferJS_ There should be a paper trail of the decision tho, and if it’s being collected as part of a inquiry then it should be given, if it is t then either olly didn’t do it or didn’t record it, both damming of him

@JenniferJS_ That’s because he clearly stated that it is protocol and the same protocol he has undertaken over last 15 years. This protocol is unique to those depts that have power to make final decision. If you are going to comment at least understand the process

Cat Little: "In the middle of March I had a meeting with Sir Olly and a senior member of his team [after she'd been told that 10-page summary document existed]. I asked to see this document and any decision-making audit trail around those judgements at the time. It was made clear to me that that information would not be forthcoming." Emily Thornberry: "Who made that clear to you?" Cat Little: "Sir Olly."

@LizWebsterSBF @patrickkmaguire Burnham still isn’t an mp so no Also no lessons learnt from the tories leadership hopping I see

Significant Times piece by @patrickkmaguire Looks like planned, procedural exit for Starmer after the expected May 7/8 local election disaster: • Cabinet ministers are now privately concluding that Starmer cannot survive the fallout. • The favoured scenario is not an immediate coup, but an “orderly transition” where Starmer is persuaded (or pressured) to announce a timetable for stepping down. • A new leader would be in place by Labour Party conference (late September / early October 2026) • Maguire names @AndyBurnhamGM as a central figure in this thinking. He notes that soft-left powerbrokers (Miliband, Rayner, Haigh) see Burnham as a viable route back into frontline politics and the leadership contest. Maguire writes that this “bloodless regicide” would suit most of the cabinet: it buys time, avoids a messy immediate leadership election, and gives Burnham a runway to return to the Commons and prepare. thetimes.com/article/8d388f…

@NathFerguson @Imogenlemon02 @PippaCrerar @guardian It was said they wanted him, there was a question around vetting because of clearance he already had, foreign office said he must have full vetting. Where’s the regardless?

@CallumAPerson @Imogenlemon02 @PippaCrerar @guardian Yes it was said it was said they wanted him regardless

Olly Robbins is making it abundantly clear, the passing and denying clearance as claimed by the press simply doesn’t exist. The press, in particular @PippaCrerar and @guardian need to hang their heads in shame in not getting this fundamental fact right before breaking their news.

@NathFerguson @Imogenlemon02 @PippaCrerar @guardian That’s not what been said tho

@Imogenlemon02 @PippaCrerar @guardian No but the point that they were going to appoint Mandelson regardless of the vetting is a issue in itself

@Clyde_Ghost @DanielJHannan Any actual evidence for that claim?

@CallumAPerson @DanielJHannan Once you means test, you’re effectively telling people their savings will count against them. That changes behaviour, increases reliance on the state, and adds admin costs - so the idea it’s an easy saving doesn’t really hold up.

@SamCoatesSky It’s a stretch to make this a smoking gun tho

🔥NEW - buried in the bundle of documents from the Humble Address Keir Starmer was advised by the cabinet secretary Simon Case to do security clearance BEFORE appointment but ignored the suggestion. Case said (If you want a political appointment) "you should give us the name of the person you would like to appoint and we will develop a plan for them to acquire the necessary security clearances and do due diligence on any potential Conflicts of Interest or other issues of which you should be aware *before* confirming you choice" Which feels quite material .....

@Clyde_Ghost @DanielJHannan Great so have it means tested then

@DanielJHannan Whilst it is widely know there is no ‘pot’, it is also true we have all ‘paid in’. Pensioners are not super-rich. They still need to be able to live. The triple lock has not given people extortionate pensions. Some can barely live. That money still needs to come from somewhere.

@tomhfh Considering this has been a thing for years if not forever you do only have yourself to blame

I’m just back to London after a weekend away with my family. A busy week ahead, so now is the perfect time to go and do the big weekly shop. Thanks to politicians not understanding how family life actually works I now have precisely 20 minutes before the shop shuts. It’s not going to happen.

@thinkdefence 1p income tax solved

Anyone that advocates for more defence spending must seriously articulate where the money is coming from. We have huge debt, high taxation, and a weak economy.