Markus Andrews

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailWatch live as Vaughan Gething is expected to be officially nominated as the next first minister of Wales on Wednesday, 20 March.It comes after Welsh Labour members chose the current minister for the economy, 49, to be their next party leader succeeding Mark Drakeford, who had held the position since 2018.Mr Gething is expected to be declared the country’s fifth leader since the National Assembly for Wales, now the Senedd, was established in 1999.He has been a Member of the Senedd (MS) since 2011, and has sat in the cabinet since 2016.Mr Gething rose to prominence as health minister from 2016 to 2021, holding the position throughout the Covid pandemic.On Wednesday, the Senedd will meet to choose a nominee; if only Mr Gething’s name is put forward he will be declared the nominee, but if more than one nomination is made then every member except for the Llywydd, or Presiding Officer, and the Deputy Presiding Officer, will vote for their preferred candidate by roll call. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailWatch as Rishi Sunak faced Sir Keir Starmer at Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, 20 March, ahead of his expected appearance before the 1922 Committee of backbench Tory MPs.The prime minister will address Conservative MPs as he looks to face down reported attempts to depose him.Mr Sunak’s appearance before the committee will honour the tradition that a Conservative Party leader appears before it at the end of the parliamentary term.Rebels have reportedly talked up the prospect of House of Commons leader Penny Mordaunt replacing Mr Sunak in Downing Street if he were to face a no-confidence vote before the general election.Ms Mordaunt, who has campaigned in previous leadership contests, has said she is “getting on with her job”.It comes as the Conservatives trail heavily in polls; according to Ipsos’ February 2024 UK Voting Intention, Labour are at 47 per cent (-2 pts) while the Tories sit at 20 per cent. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailJeremy Hunt has been involved in a furious row with billionaire inventor James Dyson in a tense meeting about research and development, it has been reported.Mr Hunt is understood to have told Sir James Dyson – inventor of the Dyson vacuum cleaner – “If you think you could do a better job, why don’t you just stand for election?” in what has been described as a “fiery” exchange by insiders. Sir James met Mr Hunt to discuss tax relief after the business mogul made a series of public remarks about the government’s approach to entrepreneurship, according to the Financial Times.Sir James Dyson has been a vocal critic of the government’s approach to business One person familiar with the meeting between the chancellor and the entrepreneur told the FT it was “fiery”, while another said: “It was an awful meeting.” However, a Treasury insider is alleged to have disputed the description of the encounter, describing it as a “good, robust discussion”. The outspoken Brexiteer has been highly critical of Rishi Sunak’s approach to government as the prime minister has attempted to reconfigure the UK as a leading power in science and innovation and pitch London as the new “Silicon Valley”. Though the Conservatives had once been seen as the definitive party of business, Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves have been courting business by meeting corporate leaders across the country.According to one Whitehall insider, Sir James has been forthright with the government about views on their economic policies. The source said: “He keeps sending quite aggressive letters. He’s quite forthright in his views, both publicly and privately”. Writing in the Times last year, Sir James said that ministers “talk hubristically” about making Britain a science and tech “superpower”, while overseeing “woeful policies”. The billionaire inventor – who relocated to Singapore before returning to the UK in 2019 – warned he is investing in “forward-looking economies” that encourage “growth and innovation” and hit out at “rocketing corporation tax” and “damaging legislation on working from home.” Chancellor Jeremy Hunt had a tense exchange with the billionaire Brexiteer He has also praised the tax-cutting policies of former chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng and Liz Truss, telling the Telegraph: “I thought they were doing the right thing – I’m the only one who did”. Mr Kwarteng’s 2022 mini-Budget triggered turmoil in the UK economic markets by promising unfunded tax cuts while former prime minister Liz Truss was forced from office not long after.A Treasury spokesperson refused to comment on the meeting while a Dyson spokesperson said: “We never comment about private meetings.” More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailA Post Office manager who helped to wrongfully convict a sub-postmistress during the Horizon scandal is handling victims’ compensation claims.Caroline Richards – who has worked for the Post Office for over 30 years – is reported to have played a key role in the wrongful prosecution of former sub-postmistress Jacqueline McDonald, who was sentenced to 18 months in prison after she was convicted of stealing almost £100,000 from her branch in Lancashire.Her conviction was overturned in 2021.Ms Richards now works as a “senior dispute resolution manager” on the Horizon Shortfall Scheme since 2021, assisting with reviewing cases against the Post Office, according to the i newspaper. The job description for the role states that all cases will be “investigated or reviewed fairly and impartially”.Post Office minister Kevin Hollinrake has introduced legislation to overturn the wrongful conviction of hundreds of sub-postmasters According to a court report in the Lancashire Evening Post and Ms McDonald’s witness statement handed over to the Horizon IT inquiry, Ms Richards initiated an investigation into Ms McDonald after discovering a mismatch between the amount of cash declared and the amount of cash being held in her safe.Campaigners and MPs told the i that the revelations are “outrageous”. Kevan Jones MP, who has campaigned on behalf of Horizon victims, said it shows the Post Office “just don’t get the sensitivity of these cases” and called for the compensation process to be made completely independent.In January, the inquiry was told that a former assistant at Ms McDonald’s branch wrote a letter of complaint to the Post Office about Ms Richards and investigator Stephen Bradshaw.Katie Noblet complained about “the unprofessional, disgusting behaviour and actions” of the pair and said that they came to her place of work in 2009 and that Mr Bradshaw was “very confrontational” and said she couldn’t have legal advice which was a “complete lie”. There is no suggestion Ms Richards knew the Horizon IT system was faulty at the time of the investigations.An online public petition with over 50,000 signatures has called on the Post Office to axe Ms Richards from the compensation scheme.Petitioner David Innes called her appointment an “insult to all of the 550 Post Office staff who were wrongfully prosecuted, including all those still awaiting compensation.” Former Post Office chairman Henry Staunton said postmasters felt there was a ‘complete lack of respect’ Labour MP Mr Jones told i  that the appointment of Ms Richards to a job in the compensation scheme is “outrageous”.“You couldn’t make it up. It shows the Post Office just don’t get it, especially the sensitivity of these cases” he added.Earlier this year, former Post Office chairman Henry Staunton wrote in an email that two former postmasters who sat on the board as non-executive directors, Saf Ismail and Elliot Jacobs, felt there was a “complete lack of respect for [postmasters]” and that the culture was “toxic”.Chief executive Nick Read has admitted the Post Office is investigating more than 40 cases of alleged inappropriate behaviour by existing employees relating to the Horizon scandal.A Post Office spokesperson said: “Claims in the Horizon Shortfall Scheme are assessed by an independent advisory panel of external experts. There is a full governance process for each and every claim. Our sole aim is that every Postmaster affected by the scandal receives full and fair redress as swiftly as possible.” More