Annie
39.9K posts
Retirement – ordinary people being able to enjoy years of leisure after a lifetime of work – is in the premier league of 20th century achievements. We’ve just set out the biggest pension reforms in a generation to safeguard it for workers in the 21st. Here’s what they’ll do.
EXCL: Former Makerfield MP Josh Simons will not take a job in Andy Burnham's administration, the BBC has been told. Simons, whose resignation as an MP cleared the way for Burnham's return to parliament, has been heavily involved policy preparations for the new administration. A Labour source has said Simons has decided to take a breather after Burnham's premiership begins on 20th July. Simons resigned as a minister in February amid questions over his leadership of the think tank Labour Together.
Johanna Baxter "I'm a party loyalist. I didn't spend ten years on of my life on the party's governing body for nothing." "Andy will have my full support ... We have a stable government." Won't reveal what she asked Burnham at private hustings and doesn't think an election is required. House Jock.
On #PoliticsLive LBC presenter Iain Dale and Liberal Democrat MP Munira Wilson speak about friendships across the political divide "PMQs is so unrepresentative of what we do," Labour MP Johanna Baxter says bbc.in/4aTYFoO
Robert Jenrick is spot on here. Stripping Nigel Farage of his security was a completely stupid, vindictive move from a Home Office steeped in lefty bias. The establishment despises Nigel so much they’re perfectly happy to leave him and his family exposed to danger. It’s a pathetic, partisan game.
In the immediate aftermath of Ann Widdecombe’s death on July 9, 2026, Zia Yusuf crafted an @X discourse that fused genuine-seeming tribute with calculated political combat. His posts from July 10–13 did more than mourn a “beloved elderly matriarch”; they engineered a narrative of victimhood and defiance that advanced Reform UK’s agenda while deflecting from simultaneous multiple significant funding scandals. Yusuf opened with warm personal recollections of lunches and mentoring sessions, casting Widdecombe as a “national treasure” and “towering presence” whose law-and-order wisdom would live on in Reform. Memorial imagery manifested in cheap publicity stunts and lines like “Rest in Peace Ann. Your spirit will live on” lent emotional authenticity. Yet this pathos quickly pivoted to graphic outrage: a man driving “hundreds of miles with a stick” to “brutally murder” her. Yusuf has already acted as judge and jury, announcing without caveats the guilt of the suspect, defying the police's explicit calls for people not to speculate online which risks further upset for both the family and friends of Widdecombe and harming the ongoing live investigation. Authorities were slammed for offering “no information” while branding questions as “speculation”—reframed by Yusuf as “shut up and accept the establishment narrative”, which sits uncomfortably with Yusuf denouncing speculative questions around Farage’s donation. Speaker Lindsay Hoyle became a “bully” and “coward” for allegedly ignoring security pleas; media and critics (including from right-wing vouces) were lumped as “crazed leftists” hounding the movement. His Trumpian rallying cry becoming: “None of it will deter us. We will fight on. For Ann. For our country.” Parallel posts hammered “Boriswave” immigration costs, Pakistan’s refusal to take back the “Rochdale Monster,” and inflammatory irresponsible claims of Tory-Labour “traitors,” linking the tragedy to elite betrayal on borders and crime. Rhetorical tricks abound: visceral loaded language stirs fear and sympathy; ad hominem attacks sideline substance; and absurdly simplistic false dichotomies pit “truth-seeking” Reform against a monolithic suppressing 'establishment'. Appeals to Widdecombe’s legacy borrow authority to naturalise the party’s positions as 'common-sense' inheritance. The timing is damning. These posts coincided with breaking police investigations into £500,000+ donations linked to the mother of convicted fraudster George Cottrell (a Farage ally who reportedly funded security and operations) and parliamentary scrutiny of an undisclosed £5 million gift from crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne, flagged for potential money-laundering. Predictably, Yusuf engaged neither issue. Instead, the persecution frame (e.g., 'ignored' security, media hounding, “new rules” for Reform) supplies a ready shield. Funding probes become just another 'elite' assault, not legitimate questions of transparency and source legitimacy. This is sophisticated ideological work. Yusuf builds a classic populist binary: authentic Reform underdogs versus a hostile establishment, naturalising grievance as proof of threat. For Yusuf and Reform, victimhood legitimates combative politics while concealing vulnerabilities (reliance on controversial donors and disclosure lapses) by subordinating them to higher drama. Surface grief and calls for answers mask the real strategic payoff: rallying the base, damaging opponents, and sustaining momentum when financial clouds threaten credibility. Yusuf’s approach turns tragedy into ideological fuel. It persuades followers that external enemies, not internal accountability, are the true danger, politicising mourning to protect the movement’s image and advance its agenda. Such discourse is compelling for insiders but invites scrutiny: when funding questions involve convicted associates and hidden £millions, weaponising grief risks looking less like justice and more like convenient deflection.
@Nigel_Farage @ShabanaMahmood Those who are not MPs already have security. It’s called the police force. Your bunch can well afford any security they feel they need. I’m not paying for it whilst people in this country rely on foodbanks. Get your wealthy donors to cough up.
