Day: 10 September 2020

Guy de la Bédoyère My name is Boris Johnson, King of Kings The other day I ventured forth to London for the first time since March. My visit was to the British Museum where I wanted to take some photographs. First stop was the ghost train from Grantham – surprisingly pleasant since it was so empty, but the enjoyment was dented by the frequent announcements about safeguarding and having to be stifled by a mask. No-one checked my ticket. London itself seemed to be as busy as it had ever been. The main roads around Kings Cross were heaving with cars, vans and trucks. Entering the British Museum on my timed ticket meant the usual perfunctory bag search by staff hiding behind Perspex windows but with holes big enough for the bags, making the protection about as much use as a broken window in a submarine. As I walked on and up into the Museum it really started to dawn on me what has happened to this country. There is now an army of people everywhere you go whose sole function is to gesticulate at you to walk this way, turn that corner, not go through that door, and so on. I remember a deceased telecommunications engineer friend who over 20 years ago bemoaned how Britain was becoming a country ...

"I will be voting to curtail the Government’s powers in this area" – MP backlash begins MPs are beginning to suspect they know what ministers have replaced Parliament with Sir Charles Walker, the Vice Chairman of the influential Conservative 1922 committee of MPs, slammed the new restrictions on social gatherings saying he would vote to “curtail” the Government's powers. The Telegraph has the story. The changes will impose a legal limit on gatherings in private homes, parks, pubs and restaurants and will come into force in England on Monday.Sir Charles argued that ministers needed to come to the Commons and “win the argument” on policies, admitting he was “increasingly uncomfortable” about the way the Government was running.He said: “I am incredibly exercised about the continued use by the Government of powers that we granted it six months ago admittedly, to basically restrict people’s civil liberties without any recourse back to Parliament.“Now these powers are due to be reviewed at the end of September, or the beginning of October, and hopefully there will be another vote on them.“And I will be voting – if given the chance to vote in this rather strange Parliament – to curtail the Government’s powers in his area.” Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle was visibly livid that Matt Hancock had failed to make the announcement in the ...