Election results
‘Labour has suffered its worst post-war election result as it was beaten into third place by UKIP and saw the BNP gain its first seats at Brussels.’ – BBC
‘The pressure on Gordon Brown to stand down intensified last night as the Labour vote went into meltdown in the European elections.’ – Andrew Grice and Nigel Morris, The Independent
Hope not hate
‘Sign our petition and help show what Britain thinks of the BNP – we’ll be handing our petition to the European Parliament on the day Griffin and Brons take their seat. Join the campaign, upload a photo of yourself holding a sign saying “Not in my name” and then share this petition with your friends. Let’s send a deafening message of defiance: NOT IN OUR NAME.’ – Hope not hate
‘BNP leader Nick Griffin has been elected to the European Parliament as the party won its first two seats.
Mr Griffin was elected for the North West region while Andrew Brons picked up another BNP seat in Yorkshire and Humber, where it won 10% of the vote.’ – BBC
Cabinet gets to work
‘Instead he has become the elder — “a bit less of the old” — statesman. “Sometimes I do feel I’m standing a bit apart. I’m an outsider but at the same time I feel very much in the swing of it. I enjoy being in the Cabinet now more than I did before’ – Rachel Sylvester and Alice Thomson, The Times
‘That is Johnson. Mr Ordinary. Mr Helpful. Now he takes over as Home Secretary at a time when the police need direction and reform. Chief Constables are seen as a law unto themselves, running fiefdoms with no accountability to local people. Every MP will tell the new Home Secretary that the 999 call-out service is a joke and there is more chance of getting through to the White House than to a local police station. The police were, of course, invented by Robert Peel, one of three Home Secretaries to go on to Downing Street.’ – Denis MacShane, Daily Telegraph
‘It lasted no more than an hour, but boy what an hour. Yesterday Gordon Brown was stuck in an East London meeting hall with a group of Labour party activists, all of whom were free to speak their mind on whatever subject took their fancy, and for the entire duration of the meeting no one called on him to resign, or thanked him for his contribution but suggested perhaps it was time to make way for someone else. Not one. Mr Brown is probably thinking of venturing out to there more often.’ – Valentine Low, The Times
Speaker election
‘The Commons is currently engaged in another exercise of nods and winks, discreet soundings-out and gentlemen’s club politics. The candidates to be Speaker only reveal themselves on the day of the vote, June 23, and are then elected in a secret ballot. Of course, a secret ballot is fine. But a secret campaign? Manifestos should be published and the hustings covered on television. It is time that would-be Speakers made their case in public.’ – Leader, The Times
Royal Mail
‘The government’s plans to part-privatise the Royal Mail are to be put on hold pending an increase in the price bidders are willing are to pay, ministerial sources said last night, in what is likely to be seen as a significant concession to Labour rebels.’ – Patrick Wintour, The Guardian