Optimist. Father. Ex jockey, lawyer, Hexham MP & Minister. Brain tumour survivor and campaigner. Now consulting, chairing and charity work.

Joined May 2010
Guy Opperman retweeted
The strongest section of Kemi Badenoch's speech so far: "To those who say “unite the right”... we are not uniting with THAT. I don’t want to live in a country run by people who threaten journalists, call veterans traitors and debate whether my mixed-race children are English. "I don’t want to explain to my son, when we’re watching our brilliant England team play football, that some people don’t think our black players are English. "I remember back in the day when Ian Wright and John Barnes were playing - nobody was questioning whether they were English. We certainly didn’t have sitting MPs questioning whether they were English. "We must not let these people take us backwards. That is not the country we are. I don’t know whether you’ve noticed, but I am black. I am British. I’m proud of my country, I’m proud of our history."
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Probably good news my dog is a fox red Labrador …
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I confess to liking (and supporting/ drinking in) warm ale 🍺, pubs, cricket 🏏& all labradors 🐕.
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#Northumberland dawn - great way to start the day 🏇
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Visit #Northumberland ⬇️
🌄 Take in this view Taken by one of our rangers while carrying out repairs on the Pennine Way path. Photo taken from Hazely Law near Alwinton.
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👀👀
‘A tax and spend government with better TikTok’ Andy Haldane was chief economist at the Bank of England and has been advising Andy Burnham. He says the Prime Minister's financial credibility is at risk.
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Listen and enjoy ⬇️ One of the great @HouseofCommons speeches and v v funny
My favourite Parliamentarian question - The "President of Europe" Speech (sometime during the Brown years)
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Guy Opperman retweeted
The Tory Shadow Chancellor, @griffitha, has more private sector experience than the entire Labour Cabinet….combined. Wild.
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This is a great campaign⬇️ Very clear that summer and Saturday jobs are increasingly hard to get
My Shadow Cabinet had more business experience before they turned 18 than Andy Burnham’s front bench does today. Why won’t Labour lift burdensome restrictions that are killing summer jobs? Conservatives have a plan to save the summer job… then every young person can be more qualified than the Burnham Cabinet.
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6 years since we lost the twins. Went to see them with Zola, and Marina, who is now 2. We never forget the past …but onwards and upwards 🙏
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Genuinely surprised at this⬇️ 12 years experience of being in government teaches you that 1. Government knows that each separate department has literally 10s of problems 2. Ministers / PMs job ultimately is to find solutions & then sell them to Parliament & the wider country 1/
Yvette Cooper being quite rude about Keir Starmer's governing style in interview with George Osborne, on his podcast
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It is fair to say ministers talk about problems all the time with officials, colleagues, think tanks, voters etc The test of government is can you fix these problems both in theory and then in practice. A successful example is @michaelgove reform of education 2010-2014. 2/
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Guy Opperman retweeted
Archie Goodburn has made an emotional plea to the prime minister. The Scottish 50m breaststroke record holder was diagnosed with brain cancer two years ago.
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“This life is not a rehearsal.” ⬇️🙏 @mattforde optimism is infectious ✅ If you have not seen his show live do so!
Being alive is great isn’t it
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Guy Opperman retweeted
So devolution means getting people's taxes to spend but not being allowed to give it back to them 🤷‍♂️ Last time I spoke to the PM, devolution was about whitehall not dictating what areas can or can’t do. Doesn’t sound much like devolution to me? Just an excuse for a tax grab
Cabinet Office minister Lou Haigh says Tory and Reform mayors will not be able to use new freedoms to hand tax rebates to local people and businesses. Devolution only goes so far…
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To replace the v capable @hilarybennmp with Chris was a clear error. Not a great start on a key issue in Northern Ireland.
NI Secretary of State Sir Chris Bryant has avoided answering a question on if he believes in a united Ireland. Speaking to the press today, he said: "I believe lots of things," before saying that he was 'deliberately avoiding' the question. Read more: tinyurl.com/2f9nb3cs
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Thank you #Scotland … took Kit on his first father / son trip away as a 4th birthday present: a lot of beach, ice cream and a warm welcome 1/
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Being around a 4 year old to whom the world is a place of wonder is a very special thing. #onwards
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Got the chance to play @RoyalDornochGC - if you know you know - justifiably famous, worth the journey and a beautiful beast of a course ⛳️ on the coast
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