Daily Update – April 22nd

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Politics Live

10.41am – And the extent of the texting and lobbying begins…

In the Greensill inquiry (one of many), Treasury Permanent Secretary Tom Scholar confirms: “Mr Cameron spoke to me on the telephone (end March/start April) and sent me some text messages round about the same time.”

— Dan Bloom (@danbloom1) April 22, 2021

10:13am – Raab has received a lot of flack from charities due to substantial cuts in aid spending. He’s consistently defended the cuts saying that following the pandemic the UK does not have the means to keep up the levels of aid:

Raab, accused by charities of hiding impact of his large aid cuts on countries and programs, tells development select committee, he has provided "as much as we have at this point" and country allocations for 2021-22 would not normally be published until next year.

— Patrick Wintour (@patrickwintour) April 22, 2021

9:43am – The Greensill scandal may have made a huge furore in the political and journalism world, but on the door step there is little evidence to show its impact.

Lobbying, Greensill, Dyson, texts, contracts….it can be tricky to explain & does it have an impact on the doorstep? Consensus is no. But it's a journalists job to show why the public should care.
I think a key takeaway is that long term it erodes the govt's levelling up policy

— Kate Proctor (@Kate_M_Proctor) April 22, 2021

9:03am – This is an extract from a piece by former director of communications at Downing Street, and has highlighted some of the class difference in our political system.

This piece and particularly this quote does make you wonder who there is left in government who can keep up the same narrative and momentum that won in 2019. No one else understands it in the same way. https://t.co/k5pJZEvBmS pic.twitter.com/PCTX5HnAbH

— Jessica Elgot (@jessicaelgot) April 22, 2021

8:28am – Beginning of course with the big news of the day. Count Binface, of Lord Buckethead fame, has announced his manifesto:

Here is my full manifesto for London. Can any other candidate beat this? No chance! #VoteBinface #MakeYourVoteCount pic.twitter.com/ApoIg8jdVe

— Count Binface (@CountBinface) April 21, 2021

8:15am – So what’s in the news this morning?

• Labour calls for a probe into Johnson’s texts to Dyson
• Charities criticise £500m reduction in humanitarian aid
• Former veterans’ minister hits out at government

8:00am – Welcome back to another day of Politics Live!

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