James Briddon

🚨 OFFICIAL: Southampton have been EXPELLED from the Championship play-offs. Middlesbrough will now be the finalists against Hull City on Saturday at Wembley as Southampton have admitted to multiple breaches of filming other clubs’ training.

I’ll always champion peaceful protest. But the Unite the Kingdom march organisers are peddling hatred and division. We’ve already blocked visas for far-right agitators who want to come here to spew their extremist views. They don't speak for the decent, fair, respectful Britain I know.

Nothing that has happened today is remotely proportionate or reasonable behaviour this far out from a General Election scheduled for 2029. This level of internal game playing risks driving us into a General Election within months, as well as causing months of deep political instability that have real world consequences for the economy and national security. I am, to put it mildly, unimpressed.

I can confirm that I will be requesting the permission of the NEC to stand in the Makerfield by-election. I grew up in this area and have lived here for 25 years. I care deeply about it and its people. I know they have been let down by national politics. Ten years ago, I decided to leave Westminster. Why? Because, after 16 years, I came to the conclusion that our national political system does not work for areas like ours. I learnt this fighting its failure to invest in the Wigan borough, for justice for the Hillsborough families and against its treatment of Greater Manchester during the pandemic. Over the last decade, I have been challenging this failure from the outside and building a new and better way of doing politics. We have built Greater Manchester into the fastest-growing city-region in the UK and put buses back under public control, introducing a £2 fare cap to help people with cost-of-living pressures. However, there is only so much that can be done from Greater Manchester. Much bigger change is needed at a national level if everyday life is to be made more affordable again. This is why I now seek people’s support to return to Parliament: to bring the change we have brought to Greater Manchester to the whole of the UK and make politics work properly for people. Millions are struggling and they need the Labour Government to succeed. It has already made changes to make life better for them in its first two years. After this week, we owe it to people to come back together as a Labour movement, giving the Prime Minister and the Government the space and stability they need as the by-election takes place. I want to recognise the difficult decision taken by Josh Simons and the sacrifice he and his family are making. I have worked closely with him as Mayor on issues like flooding and illegal waste dumping and have seen first-hand how effective he has been. He has put the communities of Makerfield first, made a real difference for them and should take great pride in that. Finally, I truly do not take a single vote for granted and will work hard to regain the trust of people in the Makerfield constituency, many of whom have long supported our party but lost faith in recent times. We will change Labour for the better and make it a party you can believe in again. ENDS

Poor Wes Streeting. He is the latest victim of Centrist Hack Syndrome. He gets his ego inflated by swooning political reporters. The problem: He doesn’t actually have support from the people who count.

I have no particular animus against Burnham, but if you're a sitting MP and look around at your actually eligible colleagues and think "none of these people could do any better as PM" then that should probably ring some alarm bells about the quality of the PLP.

EXCLUSIVE Wes Streeting has told Sir Keir Starmer that he is preparing his case to be the next Prime Minister, the Telegraph can disclose.

🚨NEW: Labour MP texts me: "When you live in a house share with a load of gay guys and they are all completely fantastic but there is always one who is an absolute cvnt - that guy is Streeting"