Conservative Peer. Ex-Minister for Energy Efficiency and Green Finance. Formerly in DexEU and DfT. Proud Geordie and Toon fan.

Newcastle Upon Tyne, England
Joined October 2011
Martin Callanan retweeted
Jonathan Powell’s position as National Security Adviser is untenable. His repeated meetings with the CCP were disclosed not by the British Government, but by Chinese Communist Party read outs, and serious questions remain over his role in the collapsed China spy case. He is responsible for the Government’s disastrous Chagos negotiations and still advocates giving away billions in taxpayer money to surrender a British territory. He has refused to appear before many Parliamentary committees. Now, concerning material shared publicly by his wife raises further questions about his judgement and sharing access to sensitive information. If he were a Minister, he would have to appear in front of Parliament to answer for these glaring concerns. Instead, the man running our foreign policy and national security refuses any scrutiny. telegraph.co.uk/politics/202…
The National Security Advisor’s wife’s tweets have raised serious questions about the handling of sensitive national security information, and the process of approving proscriptions. Is Jonathan Powell's position still tenable? I’ve written to the Prime Minister for answers.
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RT @HLConservatives: Today, Lord Callanan asked Caninet Office Minister, Baroness Twycross, how Sarah Helm, the wife of National Security A…
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Martin Callanan retweeted
A Conservative gov’t fought to defend the Falklands. A Labour gov’t signed away sovereignty over the Chagos Islands. That’s the problem with projecting weakness: others notice. We should resolutely defend our territory, our sovereignty and our national interests. Everywhere.
The UK's position on the Falkland Islands is unwavering. The Islands are British and will remain so because that is the overwhelming position of the Islanders. Their right of self-determination is paramount, grounded in international law and we will resolutely uphold it.
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Today, Lord Effingham asked a Private Notice Question about the Government’s planned early release of two of PC Harper's killers halfway through their custodial sentences. Conservative peers resisted the early release of criminals for months. But despite that Conservative opposition, the Government passed the legislation with the help of the Liberal Democrats.
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WATCH: Today, Lord True argued for proper Parliamentary scrutiny of the Prime Minister's policies. Having changed the programme in the House of Commons to avoid Parliamentary scrutiny, the Government has once again blocked Parliamentary scrutiny in the House of Lords with the support of the Liberal Democrats. Only the Conservatives are standing up for Parliament's right to hold the Government to account.
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The House of Lords will begin debating Lord True’s business of the House motion to enable Parliamentary scrutiny of the Prime Minister’s policies in the House of Lords at 3.25pm today. Today's motion, if passed, will enable a debate on following motion tomorrow: Lord True to move that this House takes note of the Prime Minister’s statements regarding the policies of His Majesty’s Government. Watch here: parliamentlive.tv/Event/Inde…
Tonight the Leader of the Opposition in the House of Lords, Lord True, tabled a business of the House motion to enable ministers to come to the House of Lords and answer questions on the Prime Minister’s policies. If passed, this motion would ensure the Prime Minister’s announcements are subject to proper Parliamentary scrutiny before the summer recess. If the initial motion is passed on Tuesday, peers will debate the below “take note” motion on Wednesday, allowing peers to ask questions of ministers and scrutinise the Government’s announcements: Lord True to move that this House takes note of the Prime Minister’s statements regarding the policies of His Majesty’s Government. Read Lord True’s letter to all peers here👇
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Tonight the Leader of the Opposition in the House of Lords, Lord True, tabled a business of the House motion to enable ministers to come to the House of Lords and answer questions on the Prime Minister’s policies. If passed, this motion would ensure the Prime Minister’s announcements are subject to proper Parliamentary scrutiny before the summer recess. If the initial motion is passed on Tuesday, peers will debate the below “take note” motion on Wednesday, allowing peers to ask questions of ministers and scrutinise the Government’s announcements: Lord True to move that this House takes note of the Prime Minister’s statements regarding the policies of His Majesty’s Government. Read Lord True’s letter to all peers here👇
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Martin Callanan retweeted
Sir Hubert Pommebois (Sir Humphrey Appleby’s Bruxellois cousin) has produced a masterpiece (h/t @alemannoEU)
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Martin Callanan retweeted
I’ve never been to Moscow, but I must say that the footage going round today really makes me want to see more videos of its skyline.
A few years ago, nobody would have believed it. But this is Moscow today.
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Martin Callanan retweeted
Finally, a proportionate response to people playing music out loud on their phone.
Armed police at St. James Park tube station
Readers added context they thought people might want to know
The Metropolitan Police have clarified that this video dates from 23 April not today. It shows officers detaining three boys aged 15-16 suspected of robbery and carrying knives. They have since been bailed. x.com/metpoliceuk/st…
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Hilarious confected outrage from these PA protesters that they might be made to cough up for the damage they caused. I hope more companies will do the same.
This quoted post is unavailable.
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Martin Callanan retweeted
Breaking: Donald Trump's latest broadside against Keir Starmer: 'It's not Winston Churchill we're dealing with' He says the UK's refusal to alllow the US to use Diego Garcia meant that US bombers had to 'fly many extra hours' 'I'm not happy with the UK either. That island that you write about, for whatever reason he made a lease of the island. Somebody came and took it away from him. It has taken 3-4 days to work out where we can land. 'It would have been much more convenient landing there as opposed to flying many extra hours. We are very surprised. This is not Winston Churchill that we're dealing with'
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Martin Callanan retweeted
“The stupidity of that decision allowing international lawyers of a dubious provenance to determine the national interest of the United Kingdom is a disaster for transatlantic relations.” The special relationship has reached a new low, says @AfNeil.
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RT @HLConservatives: Tonight, the Leader of the Opposition, Lord True, replied to today’s statement on Iran and the conflict in the Middle…
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Great to see Vlad’s concern for morality and international law….🙄
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If this is true then it’s fatal for Starmer’s treaty. It contains a crazy clause saying that Mauritius must be informed ‘expeditiously’ if base is used for an attack.
🚨EXC: w/@Tony_Diver 🚨 Donald Trump is refusing to back Sir Keir Starmer’s Chagos deal again unless the Prime Minister allows the US to use the islands to strike Iran. The US president is understood to have asked to use Diego Garcia as part of contingency planning for potential bombing raids. However, Downing Street is concerned that supporting any such strikes by Mr Trumpwould breach international law. US officials have also demanded confirmation in writing that America will not be required to tell Mauritius about attacks launched from the base after the sovereignty of the islands is transferred. Ministers are now concerned that it will not be possible to resolve the situation before the end of a 10-week deadline to return the Chagos bill – legislation that underpins the deal – to Parliament for the approval of MPs. telegraph.co.uk/politics/202…
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Great article by Dan Hannan on Starmer’s Chagos surrender. telegraph.co.uk/gift/2c9d09f…
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Martin Callanan retweeted
CHAGOS: AN APPEAL TO LABOUR There is, as I keep pointing out, no enthusiasm for the Diego Garcia surrender on the Labour benches. Its only supporters are Keir Starmer, Richard Hermer, Philippe Sands, Peter Mandelson and Jonathan Powell. Even a month ago, Labour cannot have imagined quite how awful the politics would become. They are handing away a pristine marine conservation zone, betraying a dispossessed black population and paying billions of pounds more to Mauritius than it would cost to resettle the outer atolls with Chagossians. Now they are ordering the eviction of those Chagossians who have returned home to stake their claim. Think about that. We won’t stop small boats in the Channel, but we lose no time in ordering the removal of British subjects from British territory. We are slow and reluctant when it comes to deporting illegal immigrants, but we snap into action to evict British Overseas Citizens from a British Overseas Territory. Labour friends, this is not why you went into politics. You can see as clearly as the rest of us how shameful all this is. You know that, under any other Labour leader, the whole project would have been dropped long ago. Well, here is your last chance. Donald Trump has given you a final off-ramp. For the love of justice and decency, take it. If that means replacing Starmer with someone more sensible, so be it.
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Martin Callanan retweeted
We are ordering the removal of British subjects from British territory so that we can hand that territory to a state that has never owned it. Even if we set aside, for a moment, the ancestral claims of the Chagossians to their own archipelago, this is despicable behaviour.
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It is clear from this that the Government has midled Parliament on the Chagos Islands. Surely they must now withdraw the Bill that is in its final parliamentary stages, no matter how embarrassing that would be.
🚨 Huge news: The FCDO admits a crucial detail that destroys the government’s basis of their Chagos Islands deal
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