Chris grayling

Chris Grayling recently went down in history as the one of the only men able to lose a rigged election. The former Transport Secretary had been lined up by No. 10 to chair the intelligence and security committee, but ended up being rejected by his fellow committee members when his Tory colleague, Julian Lewis, decided to vote for himself instead. But now things are looking up for failing Grayling. Grayling has got himself a new job advising a ports company for the hefty sum of £100,000 a year. Before critics get too outraged, it’s important to take into account that this is for an exhausting seven hours of work per week.

Chris Grayling is back in the news – and once again it is for all the wrong reasons. The transport secretary is facing calls to quit over his handling of the Brexit ferry debacle, which led to the Government having to shell out £33m of taxpayers’ money to Eurotunnel. Grayling said ‘however regrettable the Eurotunnel court action was, we had to take a decision to protect the interests of the country in the circumstances of a no deal Brexit’. So who is to blame? The whole Cabinet, according to Grayling, who insisted the decision that led to the payout was taken collectively. Of course, this is far from the first

It’s safe to say that Chris Grayling’s trip to Qatar hasn’t exactly gone to plan. The Transport Secretary has been accused of ‘going into hiding’ in the Middle East following his decision to be out of the country on the day train fares are revealed to have their biggest rise in five years. That announcement has gone down like a cup of cold sick with many commuters, with protests already underway. After some prodding from hacks, the Department for Transport has – slowly – managed to release details about the trip: ‘a pre-planned visit to promote the UK overseas, support British jobs and strengthen the important relationship between the two countries’.

Chris Grayling has found himself in the naughty corner today over a leaked letter — to the Evening Standard — from 2013, which appears to show he opposed handing over control of suburban rail to keep it ‘out of the clutches’ of Labour. This is embarrassing — at the very least — for the Transport Secretary as just yesterday Grayling formally rejected Sadiq Khan’s bid to take over commuter routes. Giving the reason for the rejection, Grayling claimed the proposals amounted to ‘deckchair shifting’ with no real improvement for passengers. As Labour accused Grayling of putting party politics before the interests of commuters, Bob Neill — the Conservative MP — added himself to

Good news for Liam Fox. It looks as though the Secretary for International Trade may have a job after all. After No.10 failed to confirm that Britain would leave the EU customs union as part of Brexit, a number of naysayers — including Nick Clegg — suggested Fox’s department could be left unable to strike any trade deals with the rest of the world. Today on Sunday Politics, Chris Grayling gave the strongest hint yet that Brexit would require Britain to leave the customs union. In an interview with Andrew Neil to discuss May’s great repeal act, the Transport Secretary said that Brexit means ‘we do our own trade deals’: AN: For Brexit to

Jeremy Corbyn may not be right about many things, but when he sat on the floor of a train, hoping to raise awareness about overcrowding, he was at least on to something. Of course, in classic Corbyn style, he proved to have ignored reality to make his point: there were plenty of seats on that particular train. It was nonetheless a point worth making. Millions of passengers jostle for standing space every day; Britain’s rail system is in urgent need of help. And there is apparently money to be spent. It just won’t be going on the most overcrowded lines. Instead, the cash is destined for High Speed 2 —

A politician with no legal training and limited experience of the legal world becomes Justice Secretary and Lord Chancellor. The legal world is offended and fellow politicians speak out against this unwise appointment. Some resign in protest, or refuse to work under the new minister. ‘I fear this could be damaging to the justice system,’ warns one peer, as he walks away from his ministerial portfolio. Three politicians who fit that description of no legal training or experience in the legal world have been appointed Justice Secretary and Lord Chancellor in the past four years. Chris Grayling was the first, taking on the job in 2012, followed by Michael Gove

In recent weeks, Westminster politicians have found themselves compared to the characters of House of Cards and Game of Thrones over their post-referendum antics. Happily, parliamentarians were able to put such differences aside on Wednesday night as they took a well-deserved break from work at The Spectator summer party. As Labour’s Rachel Reeves and Liz Kendall caught up with Liz Truss, Laurence Fox — the Lewis actor — put on a passionate display for the cameras with his male companion for the evening. Meanwhile with a Tory leadership contest underway, Theresa May made sure to do the rounds and rally support for her campaign at the champagne-fuelled bash. Her efforts did not go unrewarded, with Fox confiding to

What do David Cameron and the likes of Ed Balls and Harriet Harman have in common? The answer: they’ve all described Brexit as a ‘leap in the dark’. And they’re not alone in saying those campaigning for Britain to leave the EU have no plan for what happens next. We’ve heard the ‘leap in the dark’ phrase repeatedly over the last few months. But today Vote Leave have spelled out their action plan for a scenario that looks increasingly likely, at least if the polls are to be believed: what happens after a vote for Brexit on June 23rd? The ‘Leave’ campaign say that it would ‘make no sense to

Last week John Longworth, the Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce, caused upset in the Remain camp when he used a BCC conference to claim that Britain could have a ‘brighter future’ outside the EU. With No.10 rumoured to have ‘bullied’ the BCC into disciplining him — an allegation they deny — Longworth was suspended before choosing to resign so that he could speak freely on the EU. So, with Longworth now seen to be the first ‘Brexit martyr’ of the campaign, Mr S suspects Downing Street may soon come to miss the days when Longworth felt the need to watch his tongue.  The leading businessman has been drafted in as a last-minute