Disability Pride Month: Why MPs need to do more to support
Even when I got to a point when I had to face that I had a disability and use a power chair to get around, I still felt ashamed. But looking back, I had no reason.
This is me, this is who I am, like it or not. I am proud of myself, disability and all, and I think it has come from being in a community that accepts itself, which has helped me accept myself too.
So this Disability Pride month, I ask you to join us in celebrating our achievements, inclusivity and help to promote equality for all. (Newsquest) (Image: Newsquest)
July is Disability Pride month. It is a whole month for people with disabilities to celebrate diversity and their achievements. It's a month to celebrate inclusivity and promote equality for the disabled community.
However, whilst we celebrate, we do this in the face of adversity. We do this whilst we are up against people who just do not understand. But the problem is, some of the people who do not understand are the people who have our lives in their hands. Is that right?
The recent 'Welfare Reform Bill' showed us just how little understanding there is amongst lawmakers in this country. I watched Parliament session after session, as it was implied multiple times that Personal Independence Payment (PIP) was an out-of-work benefit.
Whether these MPs intended to suggest this, I cannot comment. However, the fact that it was said, for those who did not know, will now assume that it is. Therefore, they may end up voting on something that is factually untrue.
Whilst there have been amendments to the bill and consultations are happening with disabled people and charities, it got me thinking. Is it right that the lawmakers of this land make these rules, having no idea of the facts or the implications that surround them?
Yes, consultations are supposed to happen, but often they don't. A committee meeting just days ago, in which Liz Kendell and Steve Darling discussed the fact that the reform for PIP was consulted on, in Parliament only. Had it not been for the 120 rebels, a consultation with disabled people would not be happening.
Disability Pride should be a month of celebration, and I, for one, won't let anyone stop me from celebrating my achievements or how far I have come. But when our own government makes us feel like we are not good enough or worthy, how long before people start to break?
I would love to sit down with all MPs to find out exactly how much they understood about the bill and what they were voting for. Did they understand the impact, or did they just go by the figures? The impact report, the amount of savings, or just the information being fed by their leaders.
I hope that people out there, before they judge, get behind and find out the facts. Look into the true findings, and yes, there are reports out there that are factually untrue.
Which is why it needs to come from the source. The people who know about it first-hand. The disabled community, their carers, and charities. Why are we not standing up in Parliament and answering the questions these MPs have?
I, for one, would be willing and open to any MP or any member of the public who wants to know more to simply ask.
So this Disability Pride month, I ask you to join us in celebrating our achievements, inclusivity and help to promote equality for all.
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The Herald Scotland
13 hours ago
- The Herald Scotland
Scotland's Red Duchess challenged fascism and changed Westminster
But Kitty, as she was known, had no interest in the passive comforts of aristocracy. Instead, she forged a path so contrary to expectation that newspapers breathlessly declared, 'Anything the Duchess does is news.' The Duchess of Atholl was Scotland's first woman MP (Image: Newsquest) She'd witnessed poverty and hardship across the Highlands and Islands to match any inner-city squalor, and with her husband in Gallipoli, she'd served in the dusty, bloody wards of military clinics in Egypt. She had loudly campaigned for better schools and child welfare with a fervour that impressed both the drawing-room elite and the political men who ran the country. Then, in 1923, she crossed a line few titled women dared to approach – and one few even imagined was ever really open to them – when she stood for election and won. Read more by Sandra Dick: It was an extraordinary leap. Here was a duchess born into privilege, mistress of an ancient estate, one of only eight women among 600 men in the House of Commons. She was the first woman ever elected to represent a Scottish constituency at Westminster, and the first duchess – and so far, the only one – to become an MP. Perhaps more remarkable, a few years earlier she had shared platforms with vociferous anti-suffrage campaigners who raged against the idea that women should get the vote, never mind worry their pretty little heads over great matters of state. The Votes for Women movement. At heart, a shy and withdrawn young woman who preferred the company of her piano and Beethoven's Waldstein Sonata, she would become a thorn in the side of the political elite and Prime Ministers, so much so that some waged a dirty tricks war against her. Her warnings of Hitler's horrific intentions led to her being placed on a Gestapo death list, then post-war she became entangled in a shadowy M16 operation involving spies carried out under the cover of quaint Morningside tea parties. Whether raising the issues of female circumcision to a mainly male House of Commons in an era when such matters were taboo, to guiding to safety 4000 Spanish Civil War refugees, she blazed a trail. What on earth drove her from the comfort of her Blair Castle drawing room to embark on all of that? And why, despite having been one of the nation's most talked-about women, would she eventually fall off the radar and, unlike contemporaries such as Nancy Astor, find her name airbrushed from her former colleagues' memoirs? Nancy Astor arguing with a spectator at the hustings during the election campaign in Plymouth. (Image: Topical Press Agency/Getty Image) Clues behind the personal heartache that drove her headlong into political life have been explored in a new biography. Written by Amy Gray, Red Duchess: A Rebel in Westminster was inspired by a passing comment from a friend about how, despite opposing votes for women, Kitty had become Scotland's first female MP. Astonished that so little was known about the Duchess's political life, she delved into her extraordinary life story to discover how she'd gone from loyal government minister to serial rebel against her own party, ahead of her time on issues as diverse as nursery education to the governance of India. How could a unionist politician be dubbed the Red Duchess for her apparently communist leanings also campaign against the Soviet threat; be anti-suffrage yet also a pioneer for women in Westminster? 'How had all of this existed in the same life?,' Gray wondered. Born Katherine Ramsay, her ancestor Neis de Ramsay was credited with saving King Alexander II's life in 1232 with pioneering abdominal surgery to remove a hairball – a feat that led to him being granted Bamff House and an estate 20 miles north-west of Dundee. Her father Sir James Ramsay was an academic and climber who made one of the early ascents of Mont Blanc in the French Alps. Her mother, Charlotte, came from a family descended from Robert the Bruce. Edinburgh-born Kitty, meanwhile, studied at the Royal College of Music in London and seemed destined for a future of aristocratic comfort. Her marriage to 'Bardie', the Marquess of Tullibardine, in 1899, however, was not smooth: she suffered a string of miscarriages made all the harder by his infidelities, illegitimate children and brushes with insolvency. The 8th Duke of Atholl and his wife, Katherine, aka Kitty, outside Blair Castle (Image: Michel BARET/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images) 'Her family were not really public servants, but the Marquess of Tullibardine was devoted to the idea of service,' says Gray. 'He said that they had a responsibility to Perthshire and Scotland, and she took that idea and ran with it.' With no children to consume her time, she supported his role as Unionist MP for West Perthshire. Emboldened by rave reviews for her work on a highly acclaimed book on the county's military history, she was soon standing for him at meetings – often outperforming any opponents. When a committee was set up in 1912 to improve medical provision in the Highlands and Islands, she became its sole female member. The role opened her eyes to appalling levels of poverty beyond the comfort of her Perthshire estate. Across the Highland and Islands she found families sharing overcrowded living spaces with cattle, well-furnished churches but doctors in homes without bathrooms. Read more by Sandra Dick: Smallpox raged and babies were dying in childbirth for the lack of medical care. The committee's report led to pioneering state-funded medical services 35 years before the National Health Service – and laid the foundations for Kitty's future political career. This was a time when the women's suffrage movement was gaining momentum yet, says Gray, Kitty had had no appetite for votes for women. 'In 1912 she speaks at one of the largest anti-suffrage meetings in Scotland, it's held in Glasgow and one of the speakers is Lord Curzon,' she adds. A new book explores the life and work of the Duchess of Atholl (Image: Newsquest) While he argues female suffrage would take women away from 'her proper sphere and highest duty', namely maternity, Kitty has a different approach. 'She notes some already have the right to vote in local elections and by and large don't use it. 'Some have rights to stand in various local elections but don't use it. 'Her argument is that women need more experience of local politics and local government before they are ready for decisions on the big 'masculine' issues on things like war.' As time would tell, she soon switched sides. By 1917 and with war raging in Europe, Kitty had thrown herself into more service: the Women's Agricultural Committee, the Prisoner of War Committee, Red Cross fundraising bazaars, and recruiting drives for the Women's Land Army and the Women's Auxiliary Corps. 'In 1919 she gets elected to Perthshire education authority,' adds Gray. 'She is doing what she says women should do, getting experience of local government.' With her husband now the Duke of Atholl and the race on among political parties to draw more women to Westminster, Kitty was wooed by political heavyweights to stand as Scottish Unionist MP for Kinross and West Perthshire. She was elected as Scotland's first woman MP in December 1923. But what changed her mind? That was partly down to the influence of another Scottish woman, Elsie Inglis, who had defied being told to 'go home' by First World War military chiefs to establish the frontline Scottish Women's Hospital. Read more by Sandra Dick: 'The whole suffrage campaign had been interrupted by the First World War,' says Gray. 'Kitty goes to Egypt – her husband is a brilliant commander who leads the retreat from Gallipoli. 'She spends time nursing his soldiers, running hospitals, running entertainment for them, and she visits the Scottish Women's Hospital. 'That's really important because she comes into contact with former suffragettes and suffragists. Blair Castle in Perthshire (Image: VisitScotland / Paul Tomkins) 'She has started to see that women and children don't get the attention they need if women are not there.' By the time Lloyd George and others are approaching her to stand as an MP, she has mellowed. 'Lloyd George is the first person she records as saying to her 'have you ever thought about standing as an MP?',' adds Gray. 'That's something we still see now: women still need that extra nudge to get involved.' Aged 49 when elected, Kitty remained as an MP for 15 years, during which time there was never more than 15 women MPs. Early on, she became the first woman minister, overseeing education much to the annoyance of some fragile male egos. So miffed was one colleague that he was openly rude to her and tried to confine her to menial speaking tasks. That, however, may simply have fuelled her fire: 'When the Conservatives lose the 1929 election, she takes on causes that are remote from what party leadership wants to do,' says Gray. 'She becomes more rebellious, she is the 'Red Duchess', not quite part of the political establishment. Kitty had become concerned by fascist movements in Europe, and unlike others, took time to read Hitler's full German version of Mein Kampf which laid bare horrifying detail of his true vision. Neville Chamberlain (1869-1940), British Conservative statesman and Prime Minister (1937-1940), who pursued a policy of appeasement towards Nazi Germany (Image: PA) Appalled, she spoke out against Neville Chamberlain's policy of appeasement, setting her at odds with many political companions and going further than even Sir Winston Churchill dared to go. With the Spanish Civil War raging, she had become increasingly horrified by the British government's non-interventionist stance as Franco, supported by Hitler and Mussolini, battled Spain's Republican government. Basque refugee children aboard The Habana. Their evacuation was aided by the efforts of the Duchess of Atholl (Image: Getty Images) She visited and witnessed the impacts of Nazi bombing, going on to persuade the British government to rethink its policy of non-intervention and to help evacuate around 4,000 Basque children to Britain. The plight of children, whether through poverty or war, was a particular concern for Kitty who had suffered a string of miscarriages and, with her husband having fathered at least one illegitimate child, finally conceded she would not be a mother. Infertility had been one of the most painful wounds of her life, now she channelled that maternal instinct into caring for refugees. But her empathy earned her enemies. Right-wing papers dubbed her the 'Red Duchess' while her warnings about the risks of appeasing Hitler prompted Neville Chamberlain's government to try to silence her. Frustrated, Kitty quit her seat to fight a by-election as an independent and unleashed the full Tory machine against her. Landowners threatened tenants, posters were refused display, and one Liberal supporter told her plainly: 'You have been deserted by your ain class.' A telegram, almost certainly a prank, arrived from "Stalin," praising 'Katherine the even Greater.' Kitty lost her seat but would not be hushed. She had already travelled widely in Europe, and had contacts across Romania, Czechoslavakia, Yugoslavia and Poland. As the war progressed, she became increasingly worried about the Soviet Union's post-war ambitions. Having campaigned in 1943 for aid to Stalingrad and championed the knitting of winter clothes for Russia, realised ahead of most of her contemporaries that Stalin was outmanoeuvring the West in shaping the post-war settlement. Prime Minister of Great Britain Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965) makes his VE Day Broadcast to the world. (Image: Getty Images) She penned countless warning letters to senior politicians including long term family friend Churchill, much to the annoyance of Downing Street staff. It would lead to one of her most intriguing roles. Elma Dangerfield was the widow of a naval officer who had been working for the intelligence service, MI9. She saw Kitty as a valuable potential figurehead for a new organisation, the British League for European Freedom, which on the surface sought to highlight the plight of those behind the Iron Curtain. Soon a sister organisation, the Scottish League for European Freedom (SLEF), was launched with charismatic former spy John Finlay Stewart, a long-time friend of the Atholls, at its helm. Again, Kitty became its highest profile supporter. The SLEF appeared to be an organisation driven mainly by genteel ladies of leafy Morningside and Edinburgh's New Town. Amid tea and scones, they raised money for Ukraine's poor and homeless and brought refugees to safety. Read more by Sandra Dick: It would only emerge many years later that it was really a front for a shadowy M16 operation, which hand-picked 'refugees' to train as covert operators against the USSR. Kitty, unwitting or not, had lent the operation a veneer of respectability. Soon her health was failing. Kitty died in 1960, her final years clouded by dementia. Too outspoken for comfort, she was often written out by political opponents who preferred to tell their own story of achievement. Duchess of Atholl, at the Barnardo's Homes Festival, a benefit for the Barnardo's children's charity, at the Royal Albert Hall, London, January 1929 (Image: Topical Press Agency/) Still, Kitty Stewart-Murray, fuelled by personal sorrow and dedicated to public service, left a lasting imprint. 'She was incredibly shy – surprising, for a woman who did what she did,' Gray adds. 'Her inability to have children was a big turning point. 'As a duchess her first duty was to produce the next duke, and she failed in that. 'The sadness that she couldn't be a mother never left her, but it also opened her life up to being different,' adds Gray. 'When we look at the causes she chose… I think that she is finding substitute children.' Red Duchess: Kitty Atholl, A Rebel in Westminster by Amy Gray is published by The History Press on 18 September.
Daily Mail
21 hours ago
- Daily Mail
The most obnoxious MPs I've met, by ANDREW PIERCE: One physically attacked me. One called me a 'total c***'. And one philandering minister made a VERY sinister invitation. After 40 years in Westminste
It was 1988 when I first started working in Parliament as an ambitious young reporter, meaning I've met more than my fair share of Westminster characters over the decades. Some MPs – despite what you might think – are diligent, decent, dedicated men and women, working gruelling hours and thankless roles to make life for their constituents better. Others, shall we say, are not. Indeed, several MPs and peers I've had the misfortune of meeting across the political spectrum have been among the rudest and most unpleasant in any field. Here are some of the worst offenders I've met during my 40 years in journalism... NICHOLAS RIDLEY The first minister I crossed swords with in my professional life was Sir Nicholas Ridley, one of the cabal of Tory MPs who had plotted the Iron Lady's victory as party leader in 1975. It was 1983 and I was writing a story for my first newspaper, the Gloucestershire Echo, about plans for a major housing development on prized Green Belt land in his Cirencester and Tewkesbury constituency. I had spoken to Sir Charles Irving, the Tory MP for neighbouring Cheltenham, who was suitably outraged. But Ridley, a Treasury minister, stubbornly refused to return my calls. From bottom left, clockwise: Peter Mandelson, Ted Heath, David Cameron, Michael Portillo and Alastair Cambell Not to be thrown off the scent, I went to his constituency office where he was holding a Friday surgery and patiently waited in the queue to see him. When I introduced myself, Ridley – holding his trademark cigarette – exploded with rage. 'I'm a Government minister, and you are a spotty youth! Show me some respect,' he spat as he marched me from his office. But I had my scoop. 'Government minister refuses to condemn major housing development on the Green Belt in the heart of his Cotswold constituency' ran the headline – and went on to be picked up by several national news outlets. He always returned my calls after that. FERGUS MONTGOMERY I've only ever had to run for it once in the Commons – and that was in the early 1990s when I revealed that the Tory MP Sir Fergus Montgomery was hosting a party for showbusiness legend Dame Shirley Bassey. I had been to a similar event on the Commons terrace the year before so thought nothing of pointing out Montgomery's impeccable showbusiness connections. In fact, I assumed he would be delighted. So I was somewhat surprised when I arrived in the Commons on the day my article was published to come face to face with the former private secretary, who was puce with rage. Grabbing the lapels of my jacket, he began to shout so loudly that flecks of spittle formed at the corners of his mouth. Andrew Pierce has met several MPs and peers across the political spectrum who have been among the rudest and most unpleasant in any field 'I told my constituency officers the party wasn't happening this year because I didn't want them there,' he raged. 'They now think I'm a snooty liar. You've put me in an impossible position.' A string of four-letter expletives followed. Attempts by fellow MPs to calm him down seemed to make matters worse. There was no reasoning with him and, as his rage deepened, I made a decision: I legged it. But the surprisingly agile Montgomery gave chase, waving his fist in the air and shouting to any confused onlooker who would listen: 'Stop that man!' GEORGE FOULKES That wasn't the only time one of my scoops almost led to a thrashing. Around the same time, the bulbous-nosed Labour MP George Foulkes took grave exception to my report that he had been found face-down in a gutter after a scotch whisky reception. Lunging at me at a reception in The Reform Club – the famous home-from-home of Jules Verne's protagonist in Around The World In Eighty Days – he barked: 'I want a word with you, sonny.' Unfortunately, he was a little unsteady on his feet. He lunged too far, went flying and sent a table full of drinks glasses crashing on to the tiled floor. It made for an interesting follow-up. DAVID CAMERON In 1990, David Cameron left Andrew with an expensive lunch bill, where the wine alone was £75 – the equivalent of about £200 today – and impossible to get through on his expenses, but Andrew got his revenge years later My first unfortunate encounter with a future prime minister didn't come until 1990 when I had lunch with David Cameron, who was then a special adviser to chancellor Norman Lamont. Even then, I thought that he looked and sounded like a future Tory leader, oozing Old Etonian entitlement. He arrived at the restaurant, the trendy central London bistro Joe Allen, before I did – a vital time-keeping lesson that I've never forgotten. 'Hope you don't mind, old chap,' he crowed as I arrived. 'I've ordered the wine.' I didn't mind at all – until I was left with the bill. The wine alone was £75 – the equivalent of about £200 today – and impossible to get through on my expenses. Fortunately, I was able to wreak my revenge some years later when he was Leader of the Opposition. From my bird's eye view in the press gallery high above the Commons chamber, I noticed during one of his appearances that his hair was thinning on top. What did I do with this interesting nugget of information? Of course, I wrote about it – and dubbed him Friar Tuck. When we bumped into each other outside Parliament a few days later, he erupted. Forefinger stabbing the air, effing and blinding with his puffy cheeks turning blood red, he shouted: 'I'm so bloody furious with you, Pierce. You are – and always have been – a total c***.' And I thought politicians were supposed to have thick skins... ALAN CLARK Thatcher groupie Alan Clark, an unrepentant philanderer, lived in Saltwood Castle in Kent with his long-suffering wife Jane, picture together. Andrew wrote about the former defence minister's affair with a judge's wife and her two daughters Then there was the former defence minister and Thatcher groupie Alan Clark, an unrepentant philanderer, who lived in Saltwood Castle in Kent with his long-suffering wife Jane. After I wrote about his affair with a judge's wife and her two daughters – whom he referred to as the 'coven' in his diaries – he approached me in the Commons in 1994, when he was between seats. 'I gather you're Andrew Pierce,' he said somewhat pleasantly. 'You're a poxy prig. Do come to my home – but be warned, four knights stayed there the night before they went to Canterbury Cathedral to kill Archbishop Thomas Becket.' Needless to say, I never took him up on his kind offer. JOHN GUMMER After the widely-disliked environment secretary John Gummer survived yet another John Major Cabinet reshuffle in 1995, I decided to introduce myself. 'What is it the prime minister sees in you that eludes the rest of us?' I asked. He replied tartly: ' 'Journalism is popular mainly as fiction. Life is one world and life seen in the newspapers another.' That's G. K. Chesterton, you oaf.' Looking me up and down, he added: 'As for you, you're in a different world altogether.' MICHAEL PORTILLO In 1996, Michael Portillo lost his seat by 1,443 votes. Could it have anything to do with a story Andrew wrote about the Conservative Association in his Enfield Southgate constituency and a McDonald's bid to take over the defence secretary's HQ, which outraged residents? Back in the summer of 1996, defence secretary Michael Portillo was the rising star of the Tory party and the frontrunner to replace flailing leader John Major after the election the following year. I picked up a story that the Conservative Association in his Enfield Southgate constituency had accepted an offer of £325,000 from McDonald's – £100,000 more than any other bidder – allowing the fast food giant to take over his HQ. Local residents were outraged. As was Portillo. I had never spoken to him before but he telephoned the Mail's news desk in a fury just before midnight. When we spoke, his tone was menacing: 'I know your editor, I know your proprietor. Think very carefully before you write any more about this.' Thanking him for his career advice, I went on to report that Portillo was chums with Geoffrey Tucker, who was one of the fast food chain's political consultants, and I also discovered that the main Conservative HQ in London would benefit to the tune of a £100,000 loan. The night of the 1997 election, his Labour rival Stephen Twigg called me to say he thought the McDonald's row would shave just 2,000 votes off Portillo's huge 15,000 majority. In fact, in one of the defining moments of Labour's election landslide victory, Portillo lost by 1,443 votes. ALASTAIR CAMPBELL Months before Labour's 1997 election win, a light-hearted exposé caused a stir – and led to Andrew's first encounter with Tony Blair's pugnacious all-powerful spin doctor, Alastair Campbell Enjoying better luck that election was, of course, Tony Blair, who won voters over with his suave speeches and mischievous smile. A little too mischievous as it turned out. Months before his win, he appeared on Des O'Connor's TV show and told the gripping story of how, as a schoolboy, he had managed to lose his father Leo at Newcastle train station while travelling back to Fettes College in Edinburgh – and stowed himself away on a plane to the Bahamas. The adventure could have come straight from the pages of a James Bond novel – the most famous fictional alumnus of Fettes. To put it mildly, I was sceptical. I managed to track down Blair's father, who was 73 at the time. He laughed out loud when I told him about the 'great escape' and replied that Blair had an over-active schoolboy imagination. My light-hearted exposé caused a stir – and led to my first encounter with Blair's pugnacious all-powerful spin doctor, Alastair Campbell. He marched into my office in Parliament and announced to the room: 'Pierce is finished as he has exploited Tony's father.' After many reassurances to confused onlookers that I had not taken advantage of an elderly man, I am, thankfully, still going strong almost three decades later. While Blair was far too canny to be rude to reporters, that encounter was typical of his henchman Campbell: brutal and coarse. PETER MANDELSON The other high priest of political spin, Peter Mandelson, never forgave me for a harmless story while he was campaigning to be the Labour MP in Hartlepool in the 1992 election. Standing in a fish and chip shop, with an incongruous Hartlepool FC football scarf tied tightly round his neck, he pointed behind the counter and asked: 'Can I have a tub of that delicious looking guacamole mousse?' Peter Mandelson never forgave Andrew Pierce for a harmless story he wrote while the high priest of political spin was campaigning to be the Labour MP in Hartlepool in the 1992 election To which the burly owner spluttered: 'It's bloody mushy peas.' It made an entertaining story – and the first of many calls from the Prince of Darkness demanding my dismissal. Now the ambassador to the US, he lives in Washington DC with his partner Reinaldo, whose relationship I revealed in the Sunday Express in 1998. Somewhat hypocritically, despite pushing for gay rights in public, Mandelson was mortified. He lobbied the proprietor, Labour peer Lord Hollick, not to run the story. When it was printed, he demanded my head (again) but failed. However, he did get the scalp of the editor, one Amanda Platell, now a star columnist on the Daily Mail and my very best friend. I was so outraged by her treatment I resigned my post the next morning. TED HEATH In Blackpool, at the Tory party conference in 1999, former prime minister Ted Heath said to Andrew: 'Who on earth invited you? I hope you're enjoying yourself because you won't be invited again' To dinner at the Tory party conference in Blackpool in 1999 with former prime minister Ted Heath, who hosted lavish soirées at the River House Hotel in Lancashire. The grand location meant Ted could avoid any contact with pesky Tory activists if he stayed in a mere conference hotel. But clearly it wasn't only the grassroots supporters he didn't want to see that season. Despite sitting feet from me, Heath pointedly ignored me throughout the dinner. Puzzled, I eventually said: 'Sir Edward, I'm Andrew Pierce from the...' 'I know exactly who you are,' he interrupted. 'Who on earth invited you? I hope you're enjoying yourself because you won't be invited again.' Thankfully, our curmudgeonly exchange didn't continue. About 30 minutes later, he fell into a deep sleep at the table and we were all asked to leave. BARONESS YOUNG I have been accused of many things by politicians but the abuse from Baroness (Janet) Young, the only woman to serve in Margaret Thatcher's Cabinet, was the most astonishing. Young had led the parliamentary campaign against Labour's Bill to lower the age of gay consent from 18 to 16 – which eventually passed in 2000. I spotted her in the House of Lords shortly after the historic vote and went to introduce myself. She was not impressed. 'Oh, it's you,' she said with disgust. 'You're the homosexual who pushed for an equal age of consent. Congratulations. You have enabled old predatory men to prey on young boys. I hope you are proud of yourself.' BORIS JOHNSON In 2007, when Andrew leaked that David Cameron had ordered Boris Johnson to run for Lord Mayor, he denied the story and said: 'Andrew Pierce is a miserable, simpering scuzzbucket' In 2007, I wrote that the then relatively unknown Boris Johnson was being ordered by Tory leader David Cameron to run for London mayor. He hotly denied it – I think. Much of what he shouted down the phone was in Latin so went over my head. But when the London Evening Standard seized on the story, he told them in plain English: 'Andrew Pierce is a miserable, simpering scuzzbucket.' Two weeks later it was confirmed that Boris would be the Tory candidate after all, in a race he went on to win. Boris, of course, is now one of my esteemed colleagues at the Daily Mail in a sign that no ill will or personality clashes last forever in Westminster. Sadly I cannot say the same for the 'scuzzbucket' jibe, which remained on my Wikipedia page for years.
Daily Mail
21 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Little Boats Crackdown! Members of criminal gangs in Britain who advertise migrant Channel crossings online could face 'five years in jail'
Criminal gangs who advertise small boat crossings across the English Channel or fake passports online could spend up to five years behind bars under new legislation. Ministers are looking to create a new offence under the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill already going through Parliament in an attempt to crackdown on criminal gangs promoting Channel crossings on the Internet, The Mirror reports. Under the proposed law, offenders could receive a prison sentence of up to five years and a hefty fine. Assisting illegal migration is already a crime, but officials hope the changes will give more powers to police to disrupt criminal gangs. Around 80 percent of migrants arriving to the UK by small boats say they used social media to find someone associated with a criminal gang who could smuggle them into the country. According to the Home Office, many of those who make the perilous crossings across the Channel are sold a 'false narrative' about their ability to live and work in the UK. 'Selling the false promise of a safe journey to the UK and a life in this country – whether on or offline – simply to make money, is nothing short of immoral,' Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said. 'These criminals have no issue with leading migrants to life-threatening situations using brazen tactics on social media. We are determined to do everything we can to stop them – wherever they operate.' Ministers are looking to create a new offence under the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill already going through Parliament The potential new measure comes the Government announced last week that members of people-smuggling gangs who send migrants across the Channel in flimsy boars will face financial sanctions. The new powers target smugglers and those who supply them with money and equipment. Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the measures are 'the world's first sanctions regime targeted at gangs involved in people smuggling and driving irregular migration, as well as their enablers.' Those in breach of the rules can have UK assets seized, be barred from using British banks and be banned from entering Britain. The government said the new rules are authorised by existing sanctions legislation. British lawmakers won't get a chance to debate them until they return from a summer break in September. Keir Starmer has pledged to stop criminal gangs sending thousands of migrants each year on dangerous journeys across one of the world's busiest shipping lanes. A group of migrants run from the beach into the water to reach an inflatable dinghy to leave the coast of northern France in an attempt to cross the English Channel to reach Britain as tougher migration controls were announced, at the beach of Petit-Fort-Philippe in Gravelines, near Calais, France, July 17, A migrant tries to board a smuggler's inflatable dinghy in an attempt to cross the English Channel off the beach of Gravelines, northern France on July 29, 2025 The Prime Minister has said the crime gangs are a threat to global security and should be treated like terror networks. Some 37,000 people crossed the channel in 2024, and more than 22,000 so far in 2025 - an increase of about 50 percent from the same period last year. Dozens of people have died attempting the journey.
