Before I wave a flag for the Trump revolution against bureaucratic waste, I’d like to rejoice shamelessly at some news of local consequence.
Published: 14 November 2024
Sue Gray, once upon a time Sir Keir Starmer’s Chief of Staff, no longer strides through the Westminster corridors of power.
The most powerful woman in government — described in a private discussion as a “friend at court” by no less a senior establishment Shinner than Conor Murphy — became infamous in some circles in Northern Ireland for her tireless work to secure hundreds of millions to revive the justifiably defunct Casement Park project.
First, the project was killed off as unaffordable by the Treasury and then, in October, she was cruelly defenestrated by her main rival at court, Corkman Morgan McSweeney, who now has her job.
The fig leaf she was offered was that of the Prime Minister’s envoy for nations and regions, but that hasn’t worked out.
After what are reported as differences about pay and access to Sir Keir, she disappeared “for a break”.
Then we were shown a grainy unauthorised photo of her lunching last week in an exclusive London club with her generous friend Lord Alli (who financed clothes for Sir Keir and Lady Starmer, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, the Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves and many others and much else), who is also maintaining a low profile these days.
She and Lord Alli are good friends. After all his lordship obligingly contributed £10,000 to the election expenses of Ms Gray’s son Liam Conlon, chairperson of the London Irish Society, a new MP who post-election was instantly given a junior job in government.
He was already of such consequence that in August 2024 he was given two free tickets worth £1,660 to a Taylor Swift concert at Wembley.
Well, if I were him, I wouldn’t be counting on any more prestigious tickets for a while. And nationalist optimists who were hoping their ally might be fighting their corner in a new and powerful arena have just had their hopes dashed.
Sue Gray is toast.
According to the BBC the prime minister withdrew her job offer; although no government sources dispute this, according to her friends, it was her decision.
Mind you, Mr McSweeney is unlikely to be cracking open the champagne. The first months of the Labour government have been catastrophically awful and the latest poll shows the Conservatives two points ahead.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, Starmer is continuing his pointless travels.
After a discussion about nothing with President Macron on Monday, he proceeded to Azerbaijan for the Cop29 climate summit that most of the political leaders you’ve heard of chose to avoid, and then announced the exciting news of his target to cut emissions by 81 per cent by 2035.
They do it differently in Mar-a-Lago.
The voters have made it clear that what they want is a government that addresses worries like inflation and immigration rather than imposing DEI (diversity, equality and inclusion), the poisonous ideology being promulgated everywhere by Human Resources disciples, and crazy climate targets.
President-elect Donald Trump has harnessed to his cause the genius Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, a self-made multi-millionaire.
“Together, these two wonderful Americans will pave the way for my administration to dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies,” Trump promised.
Who knows what will happen? But as a one-time unhappy bureaucrat who fears Starmer is taking us back to the 1970s, I hope for the sake of the West, Trump is showing the way.
