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Sean Kemp @seankemp.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

From the latest story in The Times about Mahmood to the Treasury. Minor point, but I’d say if you’re giving the press quotes like this then you’re not actually an ‘ally’ of Andy Burnham

A senior ally of Burnham said: "Shabana has no sense of the economics. It's just not something she's ever spoken about. She's not collaborative. It's not clear how she would drive the machine."

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Sean Kemp @seankemp.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

Also this section (James Purnell is behaving entirely appropriately!) made me laugh

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Sean Kemp @seankemp.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

This quote from the Morgan McSweeney interview is nuts. Labour had been miles ahead for years by this point. Every public affairs consultancy in the UK was preparing for an inevitable Labour Government. But Labour wasn't? Really?

Quote is "He said that there had been a widespread expectation that Labour would require at least two elections to return to power after its crushing defeat in 2019, and "quite a lot of people" thought it needed a plan for defeat rather than victory in 2024.

He recalled that during planning meetings early that year, he "did start to realise that we hadn't done enough to prepare for government".

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Sean Kemp @seankemp.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

With this and Al Carns, I’m starting to feel like serving in the military should actually disqualify you from being an MP

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Sean Kemp @seankemp.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

Feels to me like there needs to be a better answer than this to the question of 'how does Badenoch beat Farage?' before we start bigging up her chances of being PM too much. www.ft.com/content/d0f2...

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Sean Kemp @seankemp.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

From Politico this morning. Because before the Lobby briefing was axed, these events were just made up of respectful policy questions on whatever the supposed topic was

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Sean Kemp @seankemp.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

I dunno, but two uses of the word ‘pushy’ in two paragraphs from different people does suggest a lot of the Antonia Romeo criticism has a chunk of misogyny to it.

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Sean Kemp @seankemp.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

This piece in The Spectator by @shippersunbound.bsky.social has an absolutely mad detail that I was not previously aware of spectator.com/article/auth...

McSweeney pressed for his mentor to get the job. One of the most bizarre shortlists of all time was drawn up: Mandelson, George Osborne and the rugged TV survivalist Bear Grylls, since it was believed he would appeal to Trump, also a star of reality TV. Starmer initially backed Osborne but McSweeney got his way.

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Sean Kemp @seankemp.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

Actually do respect the way that Starmer’s team are basically replicating the Damian McBride plan for kneecapping David Miliband that he set out in his book

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Sean Kemp @seankemp.bsky.social · 29/01/2026

So much of this is just snark though. I mean, the answer to this question is ‘no’

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Sean Kemp @seankemp.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

As this great thread is doing the rounds again, for me it will always be this

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Sean Kemp @seankemp.bsky.social · 13/11/2025

I have had to pop over to X to stop you posting that bloody Guardian screenshot about Starmer

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Sean Kemp @seankemp.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

Man, this person in No10 really wants to get something off their chest about a career bureaucrat who takes ages to make decisions for some reason that I can’t quite put my finger on

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Sean Kemp @seankemp.bsky.social · 02/09/2025

“Fancy working in Downing Street? The hours are brutal and it’s high stress.” “Is there much job security?” “Most people last a year before being sacked.” “And will I get a reference?” “Oh yes. After you get kicked out we’ll tell the newspapers you were shit.”

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Sean Kemp @seankemp.bsky.social · 24/06/2025

You have to admire the commitment to creating new material for Would I Lie To You?

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Sean Kemp @seankemp.bsky.social · 16/06/2025

And I can exclusively reveal for anyone interested in him (and his diaries were published 20 years ago, so someone out there must be) that he doesn’t appear to be a big fan of the Irish

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Sean Kemp @seankemp.bsky.social · 16/06/2025

He has kindly added a mini review at the start

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Sean Kemp @seankemp.bsky.social · 16/06/2025

Slightly random mini thread , and I doubt anyone will care but I bought a second hand biography of Samuel Beckett the other day which I think was previously owned by the historian AL Rowse en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._L._R...

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Sean Kemp @seankemp.bsky.social · 01/06/2025

Jason Cowley has written a column you say?

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Sean Kemp @seankemp.bsky.social · 25/05/2025

Seems to me the real story here is the intensive use of hallucinogenic drugs in the Conservative Party if people are suggesting this as a way that Johnson could return to politics.

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Sean Kemp @seankemp.bsky.social · 05/05/2025

And on a lesser note ‘has any other political figure used the phrase Hard Rain to sound tough recently? Nope, can’t think of one.’

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Sean Kemp @seankemp.bsky.social · 03/05/2025

Maurice Glasman writes like Adrian Mole doing politics A-Level

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Sean Kemp @seankemp.bsky.social · 03/05/2025

Also a peak political insider quote. Military metaphor, not understanding how life is harder in government, demand for a compelling ‘story’ with no indication of what they think it should be

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Sean Kemp @seankemp.bsky.social · 03/05/2025

Yep, that’s the message the voters were giving load and clear, no time to waste on the crucial business of… splitting up the responsibilities of DCMS?

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Sean Kemp @seankemp.bsky.social · 25/04/2025

That’s not a criticism of the journalist, they’re just reporting stuff like this

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Sean Kemp @seankemp.bsky.social · 25/02/2025

In what world does a book as good as The Dispossessed deserve to have this done to it?

A dreadful cover with a yellow man and a spaceship drawn by someone who has clearly never opened the book

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Sean Kemp @seankemp.bsky.social · 06/02/2025

The Express has published a reshuffle story that seems to confuse Peter Mandelson’s lobbying business with a formal government role

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Sean Kemp @seankemp.bsky.social · 14/01/2025

Mel Stride is absolutely determined to get his ‘The Government’s economic policy is like Hamlet’ line up and running. Presumably to the despair of his team

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Sean Kemp @seankemp.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

There’s a lot Labour hasn’t done well in its comms around all this. But this paragraph sums up the problem when the Lobby just go for it. Either possible answer is seen as evidence of a crisis

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Sean Kemp @seankemp.bsky.social · 12/11/2024

Based on the last week I am suggesting a tweak to the Government’s industrial strategy consultation

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Sean Kemp @seankemp.bsky.social · 12/11/2024

Comes with bonus round of: ‘what weird glitch will pop up at random to put photos or text in the wrong place?’

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Sean Kemp @seankemp.bsky.social · 10/09/2024

This is a classic example of a statement that is true but also not true. The fact is if a spad’s political bosses are prepared to argue for their pay etc they’ll get what they need. If not then they’ll end up getting stiffed on their salaries

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Sean Kemp @seankemp.bsky.social · 05/09/2024

From Katy Balls’ column in the Times: apparently there’s an MP who thinks it’s possible for Labour to run on a Harris-like wave of positivity and they are allowed to vote on legislation and everything.

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