Boris Johnson told the Cabinet on Thursday the Government’s priority was “jobs, jobs, jobs”.
Within hours of uttering these comments he announced plans to make more than 90,000 civil servants redundant.
The Prime Minister’s justification for the cull of Whitehall staff is that the savings can be used to support households with the cost of living.
A more plausible explanation is that Mr Johnson was seeking to distract attention from the fact the police have now issued more than 100 partygate fines and he needed a policy to appease his right-wing critics.
Thousands of civil servants, many of them in low-paid jobs, now face an uncertain future because he is trying to save his own skin.
The Government needs to explain how the mass lay-offs fit with its levelling up agenda of moving civil service jobs out of the capital.
It also needs to explain why it is reducing the headcount when staff are needed to clear the backlogs at the Passport Office and DVLA.
This is not about improving efficiency but an act of vandalism by a PM happy for others to be made redundant if he keeps his job.
They're a joke
Police issued another round of fines for Covid lawbreaking in Downing Street.
It should have been a moment for the Conservatives to display remorse, instead they regard the whole affair as some sort of joke.
Party chairman Oliver Dowden was at an event where Champagne was auctioned as a “valued souvenir of partygate”. Jacob Rees-Mogg has described the fines as a non-story.
The Tories insulted the British people by breaking the rules they expected them to follow. Now they are insulting them again by treating their rule breaking as a trifle matter.
Pride of city
A caring mum and daughter who survived the Manchester Arena terror attack are now studying to be nurses.
Their decision to choose a career in caring captures the spirit of Manchester.
