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The Times •

Support for Stonewall crumbles after Cass review

A decade ago, as same-sex marriage became legal, Stonewall was riding high.

Lauded for its key role in pushing for equal rights and campaigning prowess, it was helping government departments and schools expand their diversity offering and become more welcoming to all.

Now, the NHS has distanced itself and other public bodies are reviewing their associations with the charity, as the fallout from a landmark report on gender identity shines a spotlight on the organisation.
The Times •

Meet Labour’s Wellingborough candidate scenting victory against Tories

Gen Kitchen has been making friendship bracelets. The 28-year-old Labour candidate is a massive Taylor Swift fan and she’s taken to making the keepsakes with Swift’s song titles in them, a hobby among fans, for her team to help them to wind down away from the campaign trail.

One member of Kitchen’s team has one decorated with colourful beads and lettered discs spelling out The Man, one of Swift’s hit songs. Another reads We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.

It is the message Kitchen’s team is hoping the voters of Wellingborough give the Conservatives at the ballot box when she tries to turn the constituency Labour for the first time since Tony Blair’s 1997 landslide.
The Times •

Who is the Tory candidate in the Kingswood by-election?

It is lunchtime on a weekday and on Hanham high street, on the outskirts of Bristol, would-be shoppers are greeted with “closed” signs on many of the shop doors.

A café, its front painted bright pink, is locked up tight while the Wetherspoons pub across the road is closing down too.

Now added to the vacant premises, with condensation in the windows and post piling up inside, is the office of Chris Skidmore, the former Conservative MP. A sign in the window tells constituents it is now closed.
The Times •

Next parliament’s first decision will be whether to move out

Nigel Evans is standing in a spot he believes most other MPs do not know exists.

Nestled in the centre of the parliamentary estate, the Commons deputy speaker points out gargoyles and intricately carved flowers dotted around the gothic Cloister Court, once frequented by Henry VIII and rumoured to be where Charles I’s death warrant was signed.

“I’m probably one of the only MPs in the last few years to stand here,” he says.
The Times •

‘Landslide territory’: Labour targets key by-election after Peter Bone downfall

It was 1997 when the market town of Wellingborough in Northamptonshire last changed from blue to red.

Then, on the crest of Tony’s Blair’s landslide win, Paul Stinchcombe snatched one of Labour’s most surprising victories from the Conservative Party, becoming the constituency’s MP with a majority of only 187 votes.

Now, as Sir Keir Starmer’s party ploughs resources into the seat to try and pull off a similar coup after 18 years with a Tory MP, any effort to flip Wellingborough could result in a similarly slim majority, and possibly indicate what is to come when voters go to the polls countrywide.
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