Rolling coverage of the day’s political events as they happenVilification of Corbyn in broadcast media ‘fuelled defeat’ – shadow ministerLabour leadership race begins as senior figures back Rebecca Long-BaileyBoris Johnson tells new Tory MPs they must repay public’s trustDowning Street lobby briefing – Summary 1.37pm GMT At the morning lobby briefing Downing Street confirmed that it would consider decriminalising non-payment of the licence fee. (See 12.08pm.) There was no mention of this idea in the Conservative manifesto, but Boris Johnson disclosed it at a campaign event on a day when he was facing intense criticism for his response to questions about the boy sleeping on a hospital floor and CCHQ was anxious to find another story that might divert journalists.Robert Jenrick, the communities secretary, has been defending the idea in interviews this morning (although not on the Today programme, which still seems to be the subject of a No 10 boycott). He told Sky News:We are going to look at the licence fee because we do think it is an unusual arrangement that it is criminalised. That’s putting a lot of pressure, which I think is unnecessary, on the criminal justice system.It doesn’t seem sensible to me that many members of the public, including vulnerable people, are being taken to court. 1.03pm GMT Continue reading…
Via: BBC 'played a part' in Labour's election defeat, says shadow cabinet minister – live news
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PIERS MORGAN: A phone call I received from a fired-up Trump should be a warning to Democrats
President Trump called me for a chat on Saturday. It was our first conversation since he unfollowed me on Twitter in April after I wrote a Mail column telling him to ‘Shut the f*ck up Read more…