Latest news with #Ungovernable
New European
22-03-2025
- Politics
- New European
This is how the Tory government ended
For four-and a half years of the last Tory government, Simon Hart sat in cabinet, and was later the government's chief whip – he has now published an account of that time, in diary form. On the surface, his book, Ungovernable , is a witty and engaging chronicle of what a rolling political permacrisis looks like from the inside. But it is more than that. As the anecdotes of extreme political dysfunction pile up, what emerges from this book is a cautionary lesson about the corrupting effect that lengthy periods in office can have on governments. Hart presents us with a Tory Party that was morally and politically bankrupted by its decade in office. The people who were meant to be running the government – and the country – had clean run out of ideas. They had grown complacent, and in the end, existed only to serve themselves. After 14 years of rule, during which disasters such as austerity, Brexit, Covid and Donald Trump all happened, the rot set in. Perhaps most alarming of all is the thought that, once that has happened, there is nothing anyone can do about it – until the general election comes round, of course. So, depressing, certainly – but also hilarious, in a sort of 'if you don't laugh you'll cry' kind of way. In one entry from early on in his time as Rishi Sunak's chief whip, Hart receives a call at 2.45am from a colleague who was 'clearly pissed but just about coherent'. The MP in question then announced: 'I'm stuck in a brothel in Bayswater and I've run out of money'. Worse, the trapped MP is convinced that the woman who brought him there and who has left him 'in a room with 12 naked women and CCTV' secretly works for the KGB. What makes Hart's book all the more startling is that it also contains reminders of how far the Conservative government fell. When the story begins in 2019, the Tories are in a position of total dominance, having just won a crushing landslide against Jeremy Corbyn. Hart is appointed secretary of state for Wales in the course of a brief chat with a 'fired up' Boris Johnson, and on entering government he encounters a world of stress, tribalism and strange anachronistic codes. There are endless morning meetings, afternoons in cabinet where the 'usual suspects' drone on, all topped off with long evenings of drinking. Then Covid appears, first as a small speck in the distance, then as a meteor heading straight for the head of government. In February 2020 Hart describes the virus as 'probably still hysteria'. Only a fortnight later, he notes, 'even the PM has cut back on jokes'. As the full magnitude of what is happening begins to dawn on the government, things quickly take a much darker turn. The virus ebbs and flows, there are false dawns, they grow hopeful, only for the numbers to spike again. The government becomes locked in a relentless struggle to save lives and keep the NHS from running out of capacity. The 'usual Brexit suspects' turn on the medical experts, Hart says, 'whom they have concluded are closet lefties'. Among it all, there are also moments of jaw-dropping absurdity – at one point the cabinet discusses the possibility of building 'inflatable mortuaries on your local football pitch'. And on top of it all is the entirely self-made rolling crisis of Brexit, sucking up endless amounts of time and energy. Increasingly drained by the demands of what they begin to realise is an insoluble situation, the government limps on with an outlook that Hart describes as 'another weekend, another crisis', characterised by embarrassing policy U-turns, forced by-elections and sleaze. A vaccine is eventually rolled out and the government manages to get a handle on the pandemic. Brexit deals are finally signed off – and yet Hart concludes that the problems 'will inevitably rise to the surface'. And a mere 24 hours after the country emerges from 'the wreckage of the pandemic', Vladimir Putin launches an invasion of Ukraine. As war builds in Europe, the din of Partygate grows into a cacophony. In December 2021, Hart writes the doom-laden words: 'Some helpful soul is alleging that there was a party in No 10 during… lockdown.' Soon afterwards, ministers begin resigning en masse and Boris Johnson's government begins to fall apart. Hart's take on Johnson and his superficially slick operation is that it was all comically amateur. Cabinet meetings under Johnson, he writes, are nothing but 'a quickfire 55 minutes in which there was no meaningful discussion'. At one point the prime minister criticises a policy decision made by Alister Jack, because it 'resulted in Carrie giving me grief all weekend'. The cabinet eventually becomes so leaky that vital government decisions and information are withheld from them. At this point, the processes of government have ceased to function. As Hart concludes, 'We are, at times, simply very bad at politics.' His picture of Johnson is of a man who brims with optimism and self-belief when in public, but in person is prone to be cold and distant. 'I never feel close to him and wonder if anyone ever does,' Hart writes. But the overall picture here is of an absent-minded joker. Johnson signs off on big decisions without knowing what they are. He is never briefed or prepared. He is clearly unfit for office. When Johnson finally leaves, there follows a stifling summer leadership contest, after which the Tory Party's members – Hart describes them as 'insane and totally ignorant' – deliver Liz Truss as their new leader. If the Johnson period was The Thick of It , the Truss era was pure Fawlty Towers . Truss cuts a completely bizarre figure. One of her special advisers (SpADs) tells Hart that she 'will only drink coffee from Pret' and absolutely cannot eat anything with mayonnaise in it. But prime minister Truss will be remembered for only one thing – the notorious and catastrophic 'fiscal event' delivered by her chancellor and co-ideologue Kwasi Kwarteng that introduced massive tax cuts funded by government borrowing. This stew of hardcore libertarian economic ideas tanked the stock market, the bond mrket and the mortgage market, and sent shudders through the pensions industry – all at the same time . After 44 days Truss is swept into the refuse bin of history, and replaced by Sunak, who is, according to Ungovernable , the first adult in the room since 2019. He is competent, efficient, and immediately sets about rationalising the chaotic government apparatus. He makes life in Downing Street 'a much more serious, organised and less comedic affair.' Sunak calls Hart and asks him 'simply and slightly awkwardly' to be his chief whip. Hart takes the job, which he describes as 'the field hospital into which damaged colleagues are delivered, patched up, and returned to frontline duties'. The chief whip's primary task, Hart reminds us, is to make sure the motley crew of Tory MPs vote together to pass government business. And the crew is very motley. Ungovernable offers countless insights into the whole coterie of the final Tory government. Jacob Rees-Mogg is a painful Victorian caricature with an aversion to modernity. We hear of him demanding 'a bath not a shower wherever he stays'. Nadine Dorries, we hear, 'is, of course, crazy'. Kemi Badenoch exists 'in a permanent state of outrage'. Suella Braverman gets a particularly bad rendering. She is depicted as a tic in the skin of a government that is afraid to dislodge her. 'Suella has screwed up again' is a common refrain. But she is not only incompetent. Hart sees a chilling, sadistic streak in her: 'She really does give the impression of disliking asylum seekers,' and is 'gleeful' about the more cruel aspects of small-boat legislation. But as well as the parliamentary day job, Hart also has other kinds of problem, for example the departmental SpAd who goes to an orgy and ends up 'taking a crap on another person's head'. In another sensitive case, Hart recalls the time when 'a House employee went to a party dressed as Jimmy Savile'. Somewhere, somehow, as the Conservative Party descends into the mire, Sunak manages to force some of his agenda into existence. But the PM is fundamentally a weak political operative, deeply uninspiring and fatally held back by the mistakes of the past. In the end, the party goes down with a whimper and is thrown out of office by Keir Starmer. Throughout this book it's hard to escape the sense that Hart is trying to absolve himself of responsibility for the mess his government created. The book opens with a quote that reads, 'Proximity to power deludes some into thinking they wield it', a line that suggests that Hart himself never really wielded power. There are moments of lucidity, such as in the early stages of his cabinet career when he writes, 'I do wonder… how entitled I am becoming.' But Hart cannot escape the fact that he did hold power – and he was part of the problem, a fact that can be seen clearly in his inability to accept responsibility for any of what happened. Ultimately this is a story of how a party that governed for too long sank into the mire. Although we may laugh at some of its scenes, in the end, it's not really funny at all. Ungovernable: The Political Diaries of a Chief Whip is published by Pan Macmillan. Cormac Kehoe is a freelance investigative reporter
Yahoo
25-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Britain's cultural wealth risks being plundered by foreign oligarchs
Have you read any good books by Franklin Chase recently? Who on earth is he, you may well ask. I was on the Amazon site looking to pre-order Ungovernable, the diaries of Simon Hart, the former government chief whip, only to see another copy of almost the same book was already on Kindle. Moreover, it was 'available instantly', unlike Mr Hart's which does not come out until the end of this week. Only it wasn't the same book, but an AI generated imitation with just 46 pages for £8.99. I downloaded it to find what might charitably be called a pile of old rubbish. 'Politics is not for the weak,' its prologue begins. 'It resembles a battlefield where alliances shift unpredictably, loyalty is often quickly exhausted and the difference between success and failure is extremely narrow. Few have navigated this perilous journey … Simon Hart is one of those exceptional individuals.' Chapter one opens with the 'August sun casting long shadows across the undulating hills of the Cotswolds' where a six-year-old Hart 'dashed through the fields, his laughter carried by the breeze'. At least I hope this isn't the real book. Who has got my wasted £8.99 I have no idea. I called up Simon, an old acquaintance, and pointed out that this book by one Franklin Chase was basically pretending to be his and might be bought by an unwary would-be reader who had enjoyed the newspaper extracts of the real McCoy last week. He had recently been alerted to this but was told by his publishers that nothing could be done about it. 'It is one of those things in the new AI world,' they said. Indeed, it turns out that Mr Chase is quite a prolific mimic of other books. Among his recent publications are the memoirs of the actress Tuppence Middleton – Rising Through the Storm: A Journey of Fear, Fame and Fierce Resilience. Or the footballer Duncan Ferguson – From Prison Walls to Premier League Triumph. Or Robert Dessaix, the Australian author, Abandoned at Birth, Shaped by Love. Each of these authors has a book coming out which these titles purport to emulate, all with the real name far larger than the enigmatic and indefatigable Chase, who is clearly an AI bot. These rip-offs are examples of the way generative AI is able to plunder massive amounts of data to create an almost instant book. Since they are not plagiarised, they are strictly not a breach of copyright but doubtless they use information from some sources that should be protected. Amazon says it takes these fakes down if complaints are made but so many are appearing it is hard to keep up. Indeed, there is already another Simon Hart lookalike on the website: The Untold Story of a Modern Conservative by one Maeve Sterling, who also managed to publish a biography of Louis B Mayer this month. The Labour Government now proposes to blunder into this brave new world by making it easier for tech giants to 'mine' for creative material to feed into the voracious maws of their AI monsters. A 10-week consultation period into plans to remove copyright protections enjoyed by authors, musicians and others so that their work can be plundered to 'train' their algorithms ended on February 24. This would be done by way of what is known as the text and data mining (TDM) exemption that currently applies to non-commercial research and would be extended to creative works still under copyright. The work of British writers, composers and artists could be purloined allowing AI companies to profit from them and, in many cases, not repay the creator. The AI creations would then get IP protection despite having compromised the intellectual property of others. It is astonishing that a British government would contemplate this and yet this is the preferred option in the consultation paper. Ministers are even planning to block an attempt in the House of Lords to preserve copyright laws by amending the Data (Use and Access) Bill now before Parliament. Baroness Kidron, a film-maker and crossbench peer behind the amendments, said this would be a 'travesty'. She added: 'The Government has just shown its colours again. It wants to make the UK an AI hub of America and they're sacrificing the creative industries to do it.' The Daily Telegraph in common with other newspapers has issued an eleventh-hour plea to ministers to drop the idea. If anything, they should be strengthening copyright against this wholly new and sinister attack on creative material. Some big stars have joined the hue and cry. Brian May, the Queen guitarist, fears the industrial scale theft of other people's talent by the AI behemoths cannot be stopped. Simon Cowell, the music producer, said the artistic livelihoods of many risk being wiped out. A letter signed by scores of artists said the Government's approach 'would smash a hole in the moral right of creators to present their work as they wish', jeopardising the country's reputation as a beacon of creativity. The idea that a Labour government is bending over backwards to fill the coffers of Meta, Google and Elon Musk in this way is frankly baffling. So, too, was the Government's refusal along with the Americans to sign a recent communiqué in Paris about controlling the growth of AI. Sir Keir Starmer, who is to meet Donald Trump on Thursday, may have calculated that it would be better to be seen to support the AI Wild West that the new White House is happy to see and hope we get a slice of the action. In the absence of anything else, Labour sees AI as the key to unlocking growth. Supporters say copyright restrictions get in the way of AI's development and leave the UK struggling to catch up with America and China. Meanwhile, the people who invented AI are terrified about what it might do next. Of course, the theft of creative material is hardly new. When a Christmas Carol was published in December 1843, knock-offs were on the streets within days claiming to be by Dickens. When a pirated version appeared in Peter Parley's Illuminated Magazine the author sought an injunction against the publication. He won but the magazine declared bankruptcy, leaving Dickens with costs of £700. It was thefts like these which necessitated copyright laws. It would be grotesque were Labour now to preside over their demise just to ingratiate themselves with J D Vance. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
25-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Britain's cultural wealth risks being plundered by foreign oligarchs
Have you read any good books by Franklin Chase recently? Who on earth is he, you may well ask. I was on the Amazon site looking to pre-order Ungovernable, the diaries of Simon Hart, the former government chief whip, only to see another copy of almost the same book was already on Kindle. Moreover, it was 'available instantly', unlike Mr Hart's which does not come out until the end of this week. Only it wasn't the same book, but an AI generated imitation with just 46 pages for £8.99. I downloaded it to find what might charitably be called a pile of old rubbish. 'Politics is not for the weak,' its prologue begins. 'It resembles a battlefield where alliances shift unpredictably, loyalty is often quickly exhausted and the difference between success and failure is extremely narrow. Few have navigated this perilous journey … Simon Hart is one of those exceptional individuals.' Chapter one opens with the 'August sun casting long shadows across the undulating hills of the Cotswolds' where a six-year-old Hart 'dashed through the fields, his laughter carried by the breeze'. At least I hope this isn't the real book. Who has got my wasted £8.99 I have no idea. I called up Simon, an old acquaintance, and pointed out that this book by one Franklin Chase was basically pretending to be his and might be bought by an unwary would-be reader who had enjoyed the newspaper extracts of the real McCoy last week. He had recently been alerted to this but was told by his publishers that nothing could be done about it. 'It is one of those things in the new AI world,' they said. Indeed, it turns out that Mr Chase is quite a prolific mimic of other books. Among his recent publications are the memoirs of the actress Tuppence Middleton – Rising Through the Storm: A Journey of Fear, Fame and Fierce Resilience. Or the footballer Duncan Ferguson – From Prison Walls to Premier League Triumph. Or Robert Dessaix, the Australian author, Abandoned at Birth, Shaped by Love. Each of these authors has a book coming out which these titles purport to emulate, all with the real name far larger than the enigmatic and indefatigable Chase, who is clearly an AI bot. These rip-offs are examples of the way generative AI is able to plunder massive amounts of data to create an almost instant book. Since they are not plagiarised, they are strictly not a breach of copyright but doubtless they use information from some sources that should be protected. Amazon says it takes these fakes down if complaints are made but so many are appearing it is hard to keep up. Indeed, there is already another Simon Hart lookalike on the website: The Untold Story of a Modern Conservative by one Maeve Sterling, who also managed to publish a biography of Louis B Mayer this month. The Labour Government now proposes to blunder into this brave new world by making it easier for tech giants to 'mine' for creative material to feed into the voracious maws of their AI monsters. A 10-week consultation period into plans to remove copyright protections enjoyed by authors, musicians and others so that their work can be plundered to 'train' their algorithms ended on February 24. This would be done by way of what is known as the text and data mining (TDM) exemption that currently applies to non-commercial research and would be extended to creative works still under copyright. The work of British writers, composers and artists could be purloined allowing AI companies to profit from them and, in many cases, not repay the creator. The AI creations would then get IP protection despite having compromised the intellectual property of others. It is astonishing that a British government would contemplate this and yet this is the preferred option in the consultation paper. Ministers are even planning to block an attempt in the House of Lords to preserve copyright laws by amending the Data (Use and Access) Bill now before Parliament. Baroness Kidron, a film-maker and crossbench peer behind the amendments, said this would be a 'travesty'. She added: 'The Government has just shown its colours again. It wants to make the UK an AI hub of America and they're sacrificing the creative industries to do it.' The Daily Telegraph in common with other newspapers has issued an eleventh-hour plea to ministers to drop the idea. If anything, they should be strengthening copyright against this wholly new and sinister attack on creative material. Some big stars have joined the hue and cry. Brian May, the Queen guitarist, fears the industrial scale theft of other people's talent by the AI behemoths cannot be stopped. Simon Cowell, the music producer, said the artistic livelihoods of many risk being wiped out. A letter signed by scores of artists said the Government's approach 'would smash a hole in the moral right of creators to present their work as they wish', jeopardising the country's reputation as a beacon of creativity. The idea that a Labour government is bending over backwards to fill the coffers of Meta, Google and Elon Musk in this way is frankly baffling. So, too, was the Government's refusal along with the Americans to sign a recent communiqué in Paris about controlling the growth of AI. Sir Keir Starmer, who is to meet Donald Trump on Thursday, may have calculated that it would be better to be seen to support the AI Wild West that the new White House is happy to see and hope we get a slice of the action. In the absence of anything else, Labour sees AI as the key to unlocking growth. Supporters say copyright restrictions get in the way of AI's development and leave the UK struggling to catch up with America and China. Meanwhile, the people who invented AI are terrified about what it might do next. Of course, the theft of creative material is hardly new. When a Christmas Carol was published in December 1843, knock-offs were on the streets within days claiming to be by Dickens. When a pirated version appeared in Peter Parley's Illuminated Magazine the author sought an injunction against the publication. He won but the magazine declared bankruptcy, leaving Dickens with costs of £700. It was thefts like these which necessitated copyright laws. It would be grotesque were Labour now to preside over their demise just to ingratiate themselves with J D Vance.
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
D*** Pics, Orgies and KGB Honeytraps: Truth About the U.K.'s Last Conservative Government
The reputation of the British Conservative Party as an unlikely redoubt of sex-mad libertines has been burnished after a series of lurid revelations by a senior lawmaker in The Times of London. Highlights include a member of parliament getting rescued at 4 a.m. from the clutches of 12 naked women in a brothel they had been taken to by KGB agents, and a special adviser to the government going to an orgy and 'taking a crap on another person's head.' The extraordinary revelations are contained in the unputdownable memoir of Simon Hart, who served as chief whip under the ill-starred Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who suffered a record defeat in the 2024 U.K. elections. Government whips are responsible for enforcing party discipline and, as such, are traditionally privy to jaw-dropping political gossip. Individual politicians also sometimes turn to whips as a last resort to extract them from sticky situations. Hart's book Ungovernable portrays a chaotic and ill-disciplined governing party, with individuals spiraling out of control as it approaches its inevitable doom. Hart oversaw a near-record 15 Conservative Members of Parliament resign, defect, or have the whip suspended, including Matt Hancock, a senior lawmaker who was suspended for making an unauthorized appearance on the TV reality show I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here. However it is the sexual peccadilloes of his colleagues which have inevitably attracted the most attention. In one incident, Hart recounts how a 'House employee' [as in the House of Commons] was fired after it emerged they had gone 'to a party dressed as [notorious sex offender] Jimmy Savile and ended up having sex with a blow-up doll.' On another occasion, one of Hart's team, described as a 'younger whip,' turns up to work 'with a broken rib, apparently the result of an energetic night with his new girlfriend.' Hart comments, 'Oh, to be young again!' Hart also gives an insight into how the party checks new candidates standing for election, saying that 'a fair few fail the vetting process' for sending 'd--- pictures.' He adds that one wannabe candidate claimed 'that a photo of his penis had been sent in error to a contact, rather than his doctor as intended.' The excuse was not believed and the person was not selected. He also describes how politicians are actively warned to be on the lookout for honeytraps, and says he received a security brief advising him and his team that on no account should they 'engage in a chat with any unusually beautiful Chinese women (or men, I guess).' In this context, one minister tells them, 'If you think you are punching above your weight, ask yourself why.' Prime Minister Sunak was voted out of Downing Street on July 5, 2024, after leading the Conservatives to an historic defeat at the hands of Labour's Keir Starmer.
The Independent
20-02-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Orgies, fights and ‘KGB agents' in brothels: Most explosive claims from Tory chief whip's new book
In a book filled with bombshell revelations, former chief whip Simon Hart has recounted the most surreal moments of the ailing Conservative government's final months. Serialised in The Times, it covers orgies, Matt Hancock's abrupt departure to the I'm a Celebrity... jungle, a Tory MP becoming stuck in a brothel and the various misconduct scandals that engulfed various members of Rishi Sunak's government. Simon Hart was the Conservative MP for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire from 2010 to 2024, with his diary covering the final 21 months of Tory leadership before their crushing defeat at the last general election. Here are the most bizarre takeaways from his book Ungovernable: Tory MP asks to be rescued from a brothel Just one month into the job, Mr Hart recalls an MP elected in 2019 called him at 2.45am to report that he was in a brothel with a woman he suspected was a Russian agent. He recounted the MP telling him: 'I met a woman as I left the Carlton Club who offered me a drink, but I now think she is a KGB agent. She wants £500 and has left me in a room with 12 naked women and a CCTV.' After discussing with a special adviser, Mr Hart sent him a taxi to return him to his hotel, before receiving a second call at 4.10am that the taxi driver was an 'Afghan agent' who had asked for £3,000 for a sex act. Sunak appointed a 'f***ing useless' minister In his diaries, Mr Hart recalled Sunak appointing a minister to his cabinet during a reshuffle despite saying: 'Let's all agree about one thing. She is f***ing useless but we can't get rid of her.' He also also criticised the minister for failing to appreciate her new role, writing: '(She) is less grateful than her promotion deserves and more entitled than professionals should be when selected by the PM for high office.' Mr Hart did not disclose the name of the minister but only three women were promoted to the cabinet or given enhanced briefs during the February reshuffle. Kemi Badenoch, now the Tory leader, was handed business brief on top of her role as international trade secretary, while Michelle Donelan was promoted to become science and technology secretary. Lucy Frazer was promoted to culture secretary, having previously been housing minister. Senior married MP makes sexual comment to journalist In February 2023 while at dinner at the Hurlingham Club, Mr Hart recounts being told that a senior married MP got 'a bit fruity' with journalist and suggested her 'dress would look better discarded on my bedroom floor'. Boris Johnson asks to 'kill off' Harriet Harman report Upon informing Boris Johnson that Harriet Harman would be publishing her privileges committee report which would recommend a 20-day suspension, he recalls the former PM asking if there was a way to 'kill off the report or at least vote it down'. 'In any normal circumstances, a former PM asking for special treatment would be a big deal but this being Boris, it doesn't surprise me at all,' he wrote. 'Worryingly, it doesn't even annoy me that much either.' Upon reminding him that it was he himself who had set up this process and accepted Ms Harman as its chair, Mr Johnson replied: 'But I was in India and I wasn't concentrating. I left it all to the whips.' Special adviser defecated on someone's head On Halloween 2023, Mr Hart reported that a special adviser had been to an orgy and that another employee had dressed up as prolific paedophile Jimmy Saville. 'Among today's HR joys is the report that a departmental Spad went to an orgy over the weekend and ended up taking a crap on another person's head,' he wrote. 'To make matters worse, in a separate incident a House employee went to a party dressed as Jimmy Savile and ended up having sex with a blow-up doll, for which he has been subsequently dismissed. Just another day at the office, I guess.' Suella Braverman launches 'ghastly' 10-minute rant Upon her sacking in November 2023, Mr Hart recalled the former home secretary launched a 'ghastly 10-minute diatribe of vindictive and personal bile' while on loudspeaker. 'It's hard to know how to react at moments like this, or where to look. Part of me feels that this is a private call and that we are all eavesdropping, but the other part realises that for the protection of the PM and the government there needs to be a note taken and a record saved,' he wrote. 'So, we sit in astonished silence, doing our best not to grimace, smile or give any indication of what we feel.'
