Boris Johnson has finally resigned as Prime Minister. But despite his resignation he remains in charge as a lame duck Prime Minister whilst the Conservative Party picks our new PM, again. I challenged Boris Johnson at a meeting of the Liaison Committee (the committee of select committee Chairs) this week before he resigned. During the meeting, the number of ministerial resignations and new backbench Conservative MP critics kept escalating. But I also pressed him on meeting with ex-KGB agent, Alexander Lebedev, without any officials present and whilst Foreign Secretary (see here). His resignation is welcome but Hackney needs much better than another Tory Government – we need a Labour Government.
 
The Public Accounts Committee looked at the issue of unsafe cladding on buildings. Five years after the tragedy at Grenfell Tower, we haven’t seen much resolution. Many residents in Hackney are still suffering, living in unsaleable homes as their lives have been put on hold. I’ve been meeting various housing association Chief Executives, residents, and I’ll be meeting the Fire Safety Minister soon. If you haven’t been in touch already, please get in touch and let me know your issues so I can raise them at this meeting.
 
And last weekend it was a delight to be out and about at the De Beauvoir Association’s party in the park. We’ve really missed this fabulous event over the last two years of the pandemic so it was great to see Hackney out in force celebrating together.