Forum Topic

Khans senior aide

1. Breaks lockdown to go and stay with parents in Cheltenham for the weekend. Presumably wide condemnation to follow , although I expect all the Cummings year old stuff will be cited as a defence. Its not really is it.But better than that 2. On £120k a year and usually (when not over here breaking the rules) works from home in San Francisco ! Nothing like keeping it local.

Andy Pike ● 1850d18 Comments

"Think I read recently that support for Labour is falling in Wales, too."Starmer seems like the British ex-pats living in Spain who voted to Leave, but did not realise that Leave's victory would affect them too.

David Ainsworth ● 1848d

The opinion poll only consisted of 502 people, so it’s not that realistic.  the Northern Independence Party got 3% ahead of the Liberals on 1%.  It’s going to be a very interesting by-election. Think I read recently that support for Labour is falling in Wales, too.

Martine Guy ● 1848d

The Northern Independence party polled 2% - see below for their comment regarding it being a poor result.But on a serious issue just not being Boris Johnson is not good enough. The progressive vote will switch to the Greens and other parties unless Sir Kier can show by votes and policies something better.He will probably loose at least 2-3 progressive votes for any blue voter he manages to convert. Have they not learnt from Scotland?I would suggest a new leader that can build a progressive alliance which is what Biden did."It's hilarious that people are pretending 2% is a bad result for us? We started 5-months ago and have not spent a single penny on campaigns yet, and we're already beating established parties? That 2% will go higher."

Ed Robinson ● 1849d

"The rancid right has much to answer for."But they don't answer for it and they don't apologise. And the present-day media mostly protects them."“Never apologise, never explain” is one of those phrases that has ended up being attributed to Winston Churchill, like everything. It may have originally been said by Victorian Oxford scholar Benjamin Jowett, along with “Get it over with and let them howl”.And it turns out to be strong advice.""One of the bigly reasons for Donald Trump’s success was surely his refusal to apologise when provoking outrage; although many of things he’s said in the past are genuinely grotesque, the use of shaming for badthink has been so overused that they’ve lost their power. As a friend at the time observed, Trump is like antibiotic-resistant super-virus totally immune to this form of shaming.And even if Trump’s a horrendous human being, that still makes him appear strong, and preferable, to a politician who cowers and apologises when the self-appointed guardians of morality demand their cancellation."https://unherd.com/thepost/never-apologise-never-explain-turns-out-to-be-right/

David Ainsworth ● 1849d

Jonathan, good question!  According to The Times today, one of the leaders of a big Trade Union calls the Labour Leader “an irrelevance” to working-class voters in seats such as Hartlepool”. It goes on to say “ The surge in support for the Conservatives is partly explained by the popularity of the prime minister among voters in Hartlepool, twice as many of whom 49% have a favourable view of him than Starmer (25%).  As I said before, there is only one Poll I believe and that is the result of the vote, so we will see. My guess, though, is that this is still the Brexit effect.  I doubt, Remainer Mrs May, would be so popular in the North.   The term “metropolitan elite” really emerged during the Brexit debate and I think people see Sir Keir as part of this London set.  Also, I think people do actually like Boris more than Sir Keir.

Martine Guy ● 1849d

Indeed so. Any idea why?

Jonathan Callaway ● 1849d

The Green-Eyed Giant would appear to be alive and well, and what is wrong with working from home even if it is in the USofA? Methinks a biased observation sidestepping our beloved lying PM, cronyism, and huge contracts being placed with drinking pals! The rancid right has much to answer for.

Clifford Cowell ● 1849d

Well Cummings trip to Barnard Castle doesn’t seem to have done the Conservatives much harm with the Red Wall voters.  Perhaps if the Mayor’s aide had also gone on a trip to Durham, Labour might be looking better for the forthcoming Hartlepool bi-election and Sir Keir’s personal ratings might be higher.  Boris seems to be far more popular in the north than Sir Keir.

Martine Guy ● 1849d

I seem to remember back in the Blair days Alastair Campbell coming in for some criticism. Stenner seems to have made a career of being an advisor to various Labour politicians - yes, it would be interesting to know if their were many candidates for his job or whether it came about by "networking" but there's also the possibility he's good at what he does? He also seems to have been fairly low profile until now, unlike Cummings? In fact, one could argue Cummings was good at what he did but some of us just didn't like what he was doing, or his methods - but that's politics, isn't it?He's obviously not working in California at present and I'd admit that I don't know much of the background to that. Many tech organisations have been running management structures that cross national and continental borders for year ad many 24×7 support organisations have a follow thge sun arrangemnt so I don't find that odd if the organisation is ok with it. Back in '81 when I was running a software development and support group in London my boss was based in San Diego and I was also liaising with a development team there to integrate parts of both out developments; so I don't think that being based in a different country has to be a big thing. 

Michael Ixer ● 1849d

Thanks.  Yes, San Francisco normally, but he's in London now and will be here until after the election.  And the trip to Cheltenham was from London and because of a family bereavement which most people might excuse.If people work remotely I suppose they can do it from anywhere on the planet but it does look rather strange doing his sort of job nine time zone hours away.

Jonathan Callaway ● 1849d

Didn't Boris have a Director of Pole-itical and Non-Public Affairs from the USA?

David Ainsworth ● 1849d

Jack Stenner Director of Political and Public Affairs ...... San Francisco borough of London . ?

Andy Pike ● 1849d

Andy, who are we talking about?  I must be reading the wrong papers!

Jonathan Callaway ● 1849d

Finger on the pulse in San Francisco ? Dont disagree  with remote working but another country us stretching it a bit .Worked for Khan for 7 years  now did I hear jobs for the boys ? If Khan were a Tory those defending him would have been unable to restrain themselves on here.

Andy Pike ● 1849d

The opposition obviously has its spies out so from that aspect it was an unwise move. Agreed, he shouldn't have broken the rules, no argument about that, but, if he did it because of a family bereavement, is it better or worse the Cummings travelling while he knowingly had Covid?  Anyway, Johnson's already set the bar, so he doesn't have to go! The working remotely isn't relevant, many have been doing it over the past year and a number of people were already doing it before the pandemic. It does depend a bit on the job and the person but some employers think it broadens the scope of talent to recruit from (as they say in HR) and can increase productivity. 

Michael Ixer ● 1849d

@DavidWhat exactly is vile about Andy's post?

Sue Hammond ● 1849d

As I wrote on 31st March:-"I'm waiting on tenterhooks for what shock/horror accusations of vileness can be conjured up by the Mail/Express/Sun to chop away Khan's 25% majority in a few weeks."

David Ainsworth ● 1849d

It's actually worse than Cummings from what I can see, at least Cummings stayed in a different house to his parents!

Matt Palmer ● 1849d