[Tubby Isaacs]

That didn't take long.

On the plus side, this is the nearest thing to a plan for the Blue Wall that she's come up with so far.

Tory stamp duty plan 'to benefit the wealthiest the most'
Meanwhile, the Social Market Foundation (SMF) thinktank says that the Conservatives’ plans to abolish stamp duty “will benefit London and wealthiest homeowners the most”.

Theo Betram, director at the SMF, said:

Stamp duty is a brake on the housing market, stops people moving for work, prevents more downsizing. Scrapping it solves these issues, but the benefit will disproportionately go to homeowners and to those in the south east and London, who will gain the most.
The credibility test for the Conservatives is whether they can really make sustained savings of at least £12bn annually to fund the cut. Reforming council tax and introducing a property-based tax could make the stamp duty cut more credible, sustainable and fairer, helping those on lower incomes and around the country.
Together with the £5,000 rebate for first time buyers, this is a policy idea that will stimulate demand for homes but the supply side needs solving.

[Tubby Isaacs]

"While Britain was redefining what a woman is, China built five nuclear reactors."

Credit to OP, but we should never have told their nuclear physicists to stop working on reactors and work on trans rights instead.

Wasn't Kemi a part of this government that wasn't building nuclear reactors? We seem to be making progress on them now, Labour's "stagnation" and all.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Badenoch, who claims to be a former apprentice, will say: “A lot of people know I did two degrees. One in engineering. One in law. But while I can’t remember how to do parallel integration. I can remember how to fix a broken computer. Which I learnt on my apprenticeship. We need more apprenticeships.

“I was working with adults. I was paying my own way. And it gave me self-confidence in a way my university degrees never did. And unlike my subsequent university degree, I wasn’t still paying off my debts in my early 30s.

“So we will shut down these rip-off courses and use the money to double the apprenticeship budget. Giving thousands of young people the chance of a proper start in life. Just like I got.”

This is the first I've ever heard of this apprenticeship. Has anyone else heard of it?

Why did she do a university degree if the apprenticeship was so much more practical? Did she really not derive confidence from her degree, or learn practical skills from it? Is she trying to rebrand her degree as useless?

What the heck is going on here?

[Tubby Isaacs]

[Tubby Isaacs]

Badenoch's said these extra apprenticeships will be funded by scrapping the "rip off degrees" where the students don't pay back full loans. Lots of these degrees are fairly cheap to provide though, and are used by universities to cross subsidize the "proper degrees" she thinks students should be doing. Has she taken this into consideration? And there are degrees in the arts where a lot of people won't pay back the loan because being an artist for most people isn't that lucrative. Yet the arts are a massive earner for the UK economy. Has she taken that into consideration?

[mattomac]

Ah that is where she learnt to hack Harriet Harman’s computer.

What isn’t a Mickey Mouse degree if Law and Engineering are?

[Tubby Isaacs]

It's incredibly confusing, isn't it?

Early career
Badenoch initially worked within the information technology sector, first as a software engineer at Logica (later CGI Group) from 2003 to 2006. While working there she read Law part-time at Birkbeck, University of London, graduating as Bachelor of Laws (LLB) in 2009.[15] Badenoch then worked as a systems analyst at the Royal Bank of Scotland Group,[39] before pursuing a career in consultancy and financial services, working as an associate director at private bank and wealth manager Coutts from 2006 to 2013 and later a digital director for The Spectator from 2015 to 2016.

Which would be perfectly admirable in anyone else. Did a vocational degree, and after a few years decided she wanted to do something else, so went into finance where lots of graduates end up, then took another degree (probably with work's encouragement) that would help her get on in the new career which it sounds like she did. Hard to draw a moral from this- what's the difference between this and somebody studying something non-vocational and getting a job in finance? And what's it got to do with apprenticeships?

The Spectator job looks very crony like. How does somebody who's not been involved with computing for 9 years and has no broader media experience land that job? Even in 2002, when I took an Electronic Publishing course at City, it was well past the time where someone could talk their way into a position because the person interviewing hadn't thought much about this new internet thing. I think her networking skills (no pun intended) may have been what did it- she'd run as parliamentary candidate in 201O and a London Assembly candidate in 2012.

[davidjay]

It's a bit of a jump from banking to publishing, regardless of the medium.

[Watchman]

Interesting that she didn’t mention the real “most hated tax in the world”…..some very rich farmers possibly having to pay Inheritance tax

[Abernathy]

.

[davidjay]

Two years ago they were in government, with a huge majority. Now they're the sort of fringe party that promises the earth because they know they'll never have to deliver. It's some going.

[Tubby Isaacs]

I'm thinking back to Gove as Education Secretary as a sort of golden age. He had some cranky and unpleasant views, but he (and Cameron) was capable of turning up to a school in London with black and brown kids in it (provided it was an academy) and looking genuinely pleased with the good results they'd just got. Hard to imagine Jenrick doing that. Would spoil the narrative that they were all thickos dragging the country down.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Ha ha.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Patriotic Kemi here lining up with US crank ambassador, Mike Huckabee. Fact is the special envoy did acknowledge UK's role. Fact is that the special envoy tweeted what he tweeted and nobody forced him to do it.

Badenoch accuses government of begging Trump administration to tweet praise of Jonathan Powell
Kemi Badenoch has accused the government of asking the Trump administration to tweet praise of Jonathan Powell, the PM’s national security adviser.

Referring to the post from Steve Witkoff this morning (see 9.53am), Badenoch said:

I was not born yesterday. I think it is actually very sad that the government is having to beg people to send tweets to say something nice about Jonathan Powell.
The American ambassador to Israel has actually criticised the government, saying they are delusional for saying that they have anything to do with this peace deal.
I think that that is quite tragic, the way that the UK’s reputation is falling under this Labour government.

[RedSparrows]

Everything in service to the Orange One's ego, ultimately.

[Tubby Isaacs]

She's trying to force out Jonathan Powell, the National Security Advisor. I assume some people on Twitter have alighted on him as a "globalist" or something. As Stephen Bush said, the fact that the US Special Envoy praised Powell doesn't exactly suggest Labour has terrible relations with the US.

Unless she knows something we don't, this looks to be spectacularly irresponsible by Badenoch. Are there any old hands left in the Tory Party to call this out?

[Tubby Isaacs]

She really thinks she's got something with this China stuff. Sunak mostly engaged positively with China, despite the likes of IDS being on his case. What's the end game here? The UK as an adjunct to Trump?

[Tubby Isaacs]

It is indeed "Get Powell" day. The old blurry photo, doesn't someone look terrible trick.

[satnav]

If the Tories keep pushing on the China spying case it is only a matter of time before people start asking questions about the £8m the Tories accepted in donations from Russian oligarchs when Boris Johnson was party leader.

[mattomac]

It's funny she mentions the country's international standing.