Storm at Westminster: Welfare bill rebellion. Reform splitters. Nigel Farage's run-in with the Albanian PM And much more from #pecksniffsdiary eastangliabylines.co.uk/pecksniff/peck…

Labour's rebels may not all be Macbeths, but they have followed his lady’s advice to “screw up your courage to the sticking point”: and once a rebel, then the second time becomes easier. Pecksniff eastangliabylines.co.uk/pecksniff/peck…

'It is no part of my job … to put before the Commons proposals for the expenditure of public money. The function of the chancellor is to resist all demands for public expenditure made by his colleagues.' Rachel Reeves? Actually a predecessor. eastangliabylines.co.uk/pecksniff/peck…

The PM has scolded his cabinet for leaking against Morgan McSweeney and made clear his chief of staff is safe. So they will tough it out. Pecksniff eastangliabylines.co.uk/pecksniff/peck…

Labour's rebels are mostly new MPs, their optimism and shiny ideals still untarnished. The government’s treatment of them has come as a shock to many, and after allowing time for courtesies, they are not having it. Pecksniff eastangliabylines.co.uk/pecksniff/peck…

Be sure when there are rumours to be revealed, then your humble diarist will be the first to the ink well. We’ll know the game is up when Death on a pale horse contributes to the debate. Pecksniff eastangliabylines.co.uk/pecksniff/peck…

The vibrant green of ring-necked parakeets is becoming a common sight in East Anglia. Their spread raises questions about ecological balance, says David Jobbins. eastangliabylines.co.uk/environment/cl…

Even if the phrase wasn’t intended as a dog whistle reference to Enoch Powell, it suggests alienation, and the PM had no business using it. He should be master of his own words and not just blurt out whatever is put in front of him. Pecksniff eastangliabylines.co.uk/pecksniff/peck…

We can be sure nobody has ever mistaken Nigel Farage (Clacton) for a gentleman. His chosen cologne of eau de fag ash alone gives him away. eastangliabylines.co.uk/pecksniff/peck…

Jenny Riddell-Carpenter understands the malaise we all feel isn’t about red lines or a need for growth. Our frustrations lie much deeper: we ache for change to a more generous-spirited and outward-looking country, where things sometimes work. eastangliabylines.co.uk/pecksniff/peck…

Andrew Lewin urges Keir Starmer to take radical measures – good luck with that – and points out that: “It’s also a little bit less talking about the G7, a little bit more about groceries.” eastangliabylines.co.uk/pecksniff/peck…

Immigration is a subject the right have seized and made their own, yet there is all the evidence the government needs to take back the narrative and tell a different story. But they daren't. #PecksniffsDiary eastangliabylines.co.uk/pecksniff/peck…

There has always seemed something maladroit and inherently disreputable about Mr McMurdock. He looks like a maquereau, or the kind of man who would be thrown out of a fish and chip queue. eastangliabylines.co.uk/pecksniff/peck…

Imbuing your average wannabe Reform councillor with any sense of public service must be like trying to teach dialectical materialism to a mollusc. eastangliabylines.co.uk/pecksniff/peck…

dave lawrence 🐟🐟🐠 My local MP, Chris Hinchliff, has also been suspended. He is a hard working constituency MP with a conscience, something sadly lacking in the Labour Govt at the moment in particular the PM and his Chancellor.

Lee Anderson is frustrated at being unable to make hay over this week’s super-injunction story on the Tories' deal to allow in Afghan refugees. This is because unfortunately he was Tory chairman at the time… eastangliabylines.co.uk/pecksniff/peck…

The first Kemi Badenoch knew about the Afghanistan super-injunction was this week. She had previously been offered a security briefing by the government, but declined. She didn’t think it was important. eastangliabylines.co.uk/pecksniff/peck…

It seems Reform are already losing membership, which may relate to accusations by members that the party is becoming “too left wing”. eastangliabylines.co.uk/pecksniff/peck…

Only last week, Pecksniff congratulated Chris Hinchliff MP for having a mind of his own and putting his voters first when voting. This week, the Labour Party suspended the whip from him for exactly those same attributes. eastangliabylines.co.uk/pecksniff/peck…