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Ben Bradshaw

@benbradshaw.bsky.social
1.1K followers 246 following 534 posts

Ex Labour Minister & ex MP for Exeter, now growing olives in Sicily. He/him

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Reposted by Ben Bradshaw
Dan Snow @thehistoryguy.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
This a million times. People of colour being dragged on to debate maniacs about imaginary labels & race science is an abomination. proper ‘how German are you’ Nazi shit Note that people like me with white migrant parentage never asked to defend our identity Englishness. Is. A. Made. Up. Thing
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Ben Bradshaw @benbradshaw.bsky.social · 13h
“A charlatan and a coward”. @jonathanfreedland.bsky.social on top form & not pulling his punches on Green Party leader Polanski.
theguardian.com
Andy Burnham is lucky – Polanski, Farage and Badenoch all seem determined to help him | Jonathan Freedland
Everywhere the PM turns, he finds generous adversaries. They have made his early days in No 10 so much easier, says Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland
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Ben Bradshaw @benbradshaw.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
And the views over central Sicily to Etna in the background are stunning!
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Ben Bradshaw @benbradshaw.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Been there twice in the last year. Morgantina is a wonderful Ancient Greek site, hardly visited, and the museum in Aidone is excellent. The recovered treasure is such a great story.
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Dan Neidle @danneidle.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
More here: taxpolicy.org.uk/2026/10/08/c...
taxpolicy.org.uk
Tory IHT cut could cost £11bn - almost twice the advertised price
Our modelling suggests Badenoch’s inheritance tax cut could cost £7.7bn-£10.9bn a year and shift £60bn-£110bn from savings and investments into housing.
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Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Best thing I read on the Tories this week? This counter to the emerging common wisdom by @joxley.jmoxley.co.uk
inews.co.uk
Badenoch has fallen into the trap that locks parties out of power
Her Tory party is restating all the old ideas voters have rejected, but harder and louder
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paulusthewoodgnome @paulusthewoodgnome.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
"I'm not a defence expert." Even by Kemi Badenoch's lamentable standards, this is agonising. Just give thanks she will never, ever be Prime Minister. 🙏 #politicslive
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Ben Bradshaw @benbradshaw.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
The Conservatives are looking so amateurish. Badenoch can’t answer simple questions about her “flagship” iron dome announcement & would-be London mayoral candidate James Cleverly won’t give straight answers on Heathrow, Net Zero or Europe. 🤷‍♂️
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Ben Bradshaw @benbradshaw.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Looks like the Green Party really has been taken over by a bunch of antisemitic Trots & Corbynites.
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Reposted by Ben Bradshaw
David Henig @davidheniguk.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
I see that Kemi Badenoch will finally unveil the long lost magic money tree at Conservative conference. Well, either that or make a lot of promises that like the last government she couldn't deliver.
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Ben Bradshaw @benbradshaw.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Disappointing to hear Lib Dem leader Ed Davey, who comes across as a reasonable man, sounding so churlish on the Today programme about Andy Burnham’s big moves on #Brexit, PR and social care, especially given they are long standing Lib Dem priorities. 🙄
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Ben Bradshaw @benbradshaw.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
As a mild Andy sceptic, that was terrific. The leader’s speech I’ve been waiting for. National Care Service, Triple Lock, honesty about disaster of #Brexit & a renewed closer relationship with the EU, electoral reform. If he delivers, he’ll go down as a great Labour PM & all Labour should back him.
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Ben Bradshaw @benbradshaw.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Time for Andy Burnham to say in his conference speech the UK will negotiate to rejoin the European customs union if Labour win the next electionhttps://giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/actions/redeem/298f2775-1b14-4c58-a135-762cafbe3658e
giftarticle.ft.com
EU urges UK to raise tariffs on Chinese cars to avoid ‘made in Europe’ barriers
London has lobbied intensely to secure equal treatment for British products but continues to rule out a customs union
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Ben Bradshaw @benbradshaw.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
At last, a UK Prime Minister willing to spell out the scale of Kremlin generated misinformation poisoning our politics & undermining Britain & other western democracies. This goes back to long before the #Brexit referendum. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
UK to fight Russian disinformation and push new global AI standards, Burnham says
The UK could act as "an honest broker" on AI and other global challenges, the prime minister tells world leaders at the UN.
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Ben Bradshaw @benbradshaw.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Although the latest German state election results are bad, they’re not as terrible as the last one in Sachsen Anhalt. SPD likely to lead governing coalition in Mecklenburg & right lose power in Berlin. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
German state elections: Chancellor Friedrich Merz vows to stay on despite 'disaster' in polls
Exit polls show damaging losses for Merz's centre-right CDU party in the states of Berlin and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
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Reposted by Ben Bradshaw
George Eaton @georgeeaton.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Lib Dem pledge to cut fuel duty by 10p is depressingly bad policy: poorly targeted, expensive (£5bn), and it weakens incentives to switch to EVs and reduce usage.
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Ben Bradshaw @benbradshaw.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Brazen cheek for Badenoch to attack *this* Govt on Russian threat when she was in a Cabinet that *cut* defence & tried to block publication of the Intelligence & Security Committee report that found the then Govt had “taken their eye off the ball” & “seriously underestimated the Russian threat” 🤬
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Phil Brickell MP @philbrickellmp.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Party financing in this country is out of control The government needs to act via the Representation of the People Bill to restrict spending limits and donations👇🏻 Reform receives second £36m donation in two days as crypto investor matches record www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Reform receives second £36m donation in two days as crypto investor matches record
Cryptocurrency investor Christopher Harborne says he has matched a donation from Ben Delo announced late on Friday.
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Ben Bradshaw @benbradshaw.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Sounds like his employers could be on very shaky ground. transactual.org.uk/law/workplac...
transactual.org.uk
Your Rights in the Workplace – TransActual
There have been a lot of court cases recently related to trans employees’ access to facilities (such as changing rooms, locker rooms etc.) and toilets when at work.
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Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Media presenters in UK may have skewed perceptions of balamce of Jewish opinion towards Israeli govt. Centre of gravity aligns with Miliband (attached to Israel & critical of Netanyahu). Varies by faith/denomination & politics: many cons & mainstream orthodox disapprove Netanyahu govt too. See IJPR
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Henry Mance @henrymance.ft.com · 09/09/2026
Yet he is regularly presented on the BBC as speaking for all British Jews.
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Ben Bradshaw @benbradshaw.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Badenoch might have ingratiated herself with Netanyahu with her opposition to the UK other democracies sanctioning the illegal Israeli settlements in Palestine, but 3 out of the 6 backbench Tories who spoke in his Commons statement backed Ed Miliband hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2026...
hansard.parliament.uk
Israel and Palestine - Hansard - UK Parliament
Hansard record of the item : 'Israel and Palestine' on Tuesday 8 September 2026.
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Mark Chadbourn @chadbourn.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
For those still learning about Germany’s neo-Nazi AfD, here are the salient facts:
INTELLIFACTS
ALICE WEIDEL BECOMES THE FIRST LEADER IN THE WORLD WHO IS ANTI-IMMIGRATION BUT HAS AN IMMIGRANT WIFE, IS ANTI-LGBTQ+ BUT IS A LESBIAN HERSELF, OPPOSES LGBT ADOPTION BUT HAS ADOPTED TWO CHILDREN, AND IS A HARDCORE GERMAN NATIONALIST BUT LIVES IN SWITZERLAND
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Oliver Bullough @oliverbullough.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
The fact something as fundamental and superb as the RNLI is a charity is one of the most magical and strange things about Britain. You can support them here. rnli.org/support-us/g...
rnli.org
Donate to the RNLI and help save lives at sea
Your donations really make a difference. We depend on your generosity to educate people to stay safe and prevent tragedies on and offshore. Donate here.
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Chatham House @chathamhouse.org · 08/09/2026
The UK has a strategic interest, a legal obligation and a moral duty to stop any trade with unlawful Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
chathamhouse.org
Banning UK trade with illegal Israeli settlements is long overdue
It would be a natural extension of current UK positions, and parliament’s cross-party Foreign Affairs Committee has recommended a formal ban for over a year.
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Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
New PISA data out England is now top ten in all three areas (reading, maths, science) and the second highest performing country outside of east Asia (after Estonia). This is a huge public policy success.
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Ben Bradshaw @benbradshaw.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Following the black-masked fascist thugs invading Dover & Portsmouth have just donated to the excellent @hopenothate.org.uk
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Ben Bradshaw @benbradshaw.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Having lived in Germany & followed its politics for 50 years I never thought a far right German aristocrat, granddaughter of a leading Nazi, relative of our King, would take prime slot on BBC Today celebrating victory for her AFD - a party Berlin’s intelligence service considers unconstitutional.
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Robert Hutton @roberthutton.co.uk · 05/09/2026
How could an associate professor in divinity at Cambridge be expected to know that lying is bad? thecritic.co.uk/mone...
Ah yes, James Orr. A lot of us had been hazy about what it is exactly that associate professors in a divinity department do all day. It doesn’t seem to involve a lot of work: Orr is often to be seen at Reform events in London, which take up the whole morning even for those of us with offices down the road. Now we know he was also sipping cocktails while discussing ways in which wealthy foreigners might be able to get round the laws that ban them donating to the party.

The associate professor of divinity was filmed explaining to an undercover reporter that so long as everyone kept their mouths shut, there was no way that the authorities would ever find out. Orr spent four years as a postdoctoral fellow in theology, ethics and public life at Oxford, and it would be fascinating to know at what point he developed this theory of What the Electoral Commission Don’t Know Won’t Hurt Them. Perhaps he was off sick the day they opened the gospel of Luke: “What you have said in the dark will be h
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Ben Bradshaw @benbradshaw.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
👍🏼
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Ben Bradshaw @benbradshaw.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
It’s 10 minutes brisk walk from Commons just past St Martin in the Fields.
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Ben Bradshaw @benbradshaw.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
What’s wrong with the Harp? One of the best pubs for real ale and real cider in London. I know it’s cramped, but you can’t sit in most central London pubs and you can stand outside.
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Election Maps UK @electionmaps.uk · 04/09/2026
🚨 | Following the Channel 4 News Investigation, the British Polling Council has confirmed that JL Partners were in clear breach of Rule 2.1 and that the matter has been referred to the Market Research Standards Board.
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Jim Pickard @pickardje.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
it’s weirdly fortuitous that the FT Magazine just happened to run a brilliant deep dive into James Orr yesterday morning, hours before the scandal broke: www.ft.com/content/c2d0...
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Ben Bradshaw @benbradshaw.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Indeed he hasn’t
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Ben Bradshaw @benbradshaw.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Seems Reform might have broken both party funding laws & polling transparency rules 🍿
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Ben Bradshaw @benbradshaw.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Wonderful media coverage of the unveiling of the Bayeux Tapestry at the British Museum & the power of cultural diplomacy. High time now for the UK to follow Macron’s lead & allow the Parthenon sculptures to be exhibited in their original home in Athens.
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Ben Bradshaw @benbradshaw.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Tell a convincing story, explain, place your decisions in a context that helps take people with you? One of Keir’s problems was he wasn’t very good at that, though he had lots of other strengths.
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Ben Bradshaw @benbradshaw.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Delivery is vital but so is the ability to frame a narrative about what you are doing & why.
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Ben Bradshaw @benbradshaw.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Very impressive first #pmqs by Andy Burnham after his record breaking statement answering MPs’ questions yesterday. Well briefed, quick on his feet, effective at setting a narrative. He’s matured & improved considerably during his years in Manchester.
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Peter Stefanovic @peterstefanovic.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
“The decade of low growth has partly been the result of BREXIT and the sooner the party opposite accepts that the more we can start to face up to Britains future” Prime Minister Andy Burnham #PMQs 👏
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Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
My main thought from that PMQs (which I rarely watch) is about Badenoch not Burnham (who was v nervous but tonally fine).... She desperately needs a way to disassociate herself from the Truss/Boris era and she doesn't seem to realise how much of a barrier that is to getting heard.
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Ben Bradshaw @benbradshaw.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Yes, Bridget did a good job sacking the former EHRC chair & forcing them to improve their guidance. Still not ideal, but much better than before. This briefing from Transactual is good. transactual.org.uk/law/workplac...
transactual.org.uk
Your Rights in the Workplace – TransActual
There have been a lot of court cases recently related to trans employees’ access to facilities (such as changing rooms, locker rooms etc.) and toilets when at work.
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Ben Bradshaw @benbradshaw.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Amid the snarky comments about Keir’s announcement, I’d like to thank him for helping make Labour electable again, a much better record in Government than he’s given credit for, leaving a strong foundation for Andy to build on, the gracious way he’s handled the transition & wish him well.
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Rob Davies @byrobdavies.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
"I want your children's lungs to be smaller and less functional" is a bold electoral strategy.
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Ben Bradshaw @benbradshaw.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
*Love* the Quakers. Trans rights are human rights 🙌🏼 www.quaker.org.uk/news-and-eve...
quaker.org.uk
Quakers reaffirm commitment to trans inclusion in the wake of EHRC Code of Practice
Quakers in Britain has refreshed and reaffirmed its commitment to providing trans-inclusive facilities across its buildings.
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Roland Smith @rolandmcs.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
With each passing day, there's more and more fighting and bad blood among the parties of the Right. They are starting to hate each other more than they hate the Left.
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Ben Bradshaw @benbradshaw.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
Superb & very timely editorial from the world’s leading medical journal on the dangers of the current backlash against LGBT people & the need to fight back, for the sake of everyone. Bravo 🙌🏼 www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
thelancet.com
Attacks on LGBTQ+ health are a threat to all
The health of LGBTQ+ people has long been an indicator of wider advances in human rights and health equity. Modern LGBTQ+ liberation movements have achieved substantial progress towards the decriminal...
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Best for Britain @bestforbritain.org · 21/08/2026
Incredible photos from the National Trust. Rewilded land - rivers returned to natural courses, wetlands restored - have stayed green and lush during this summer's extreme heat. Reform (and Trump) claim rewilding is to blame for wildfires. These pictures are visual proof of that fallacy.
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Ben Bradshaw @benbradshaw.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Trade with the illegal Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories should have been banned long ago. If true, this is an encouraging development.
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