News about Georgia Gould

Labour was accused of a 'power grab' yesterday as its bid to banish hereditary peers was backed by MPs. It wants to end the right of hereditary peers to sit in the Lords, believing places should not be 'reserved for those born into certain families'. But Tory shadow deputy prime minister Sir Oliver Dowden said the Government was motivated by 'optics' and making 'change for change's sake'. During the second reading of the House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill, he said the legislation was not driven by 'considered and enlightened principle'.

Even as Sir Keir ousts nobles who owe their place in parliament to their blood line, the hereditary principle is alive and flourishing in Labour which is stuffed with the offspring of ­prominent MPs, former MPs and Party grandees. Take Liam Conlon, son of Sue Gray (above left), minister Georgia Gould (pictured with Sir Keir Starmer) and Minister of State for Care Stephen Kinnock (above right).

It emerged last night that as a 'special adviser', Sue Gray (left), the new Prime ­Minister's Chief of Staff, is still in ­the probation period for her role. And the former top civil servant - who is allegedly locked in a power struggle with fellow No 10 aide Morgan McSweeney (right) - will have to wait until the middle of November before her post is ­formally confirmed. The terms emerged after ex-Cabinet Minister John Glen used a Commons question to establish Ms Gray's terms of employment. In reply, Cabinet Office Minister Georgia Gould referred him to 'paragraph 6 of the Model Contract for Special Advisers (Probation)'.

QUENTIN LETTS: Here at Westminster, where flag-waving children line the boulevards to celebrate socialism's triumph and civil servants dance at maypoles to the bark of Garrison Sergeant Major Sue Gray, English has been replaced as the official language. Its successor: Mandarin-Esperanto. It is an elusive tongue. At first you think you understand but soon you realise it might as well be Swahili, or a Cecil Sharp recording of Silbo Gomero shepherds whistling across Canary Isle ravines. Questions to the Cabinet Office brought Pat McFadden to the despatch box. Mr McFadden, grindingly mirthless, bald as a walnut, is the Andrei Gromyko of the British Left. Aged 58, he could be almost twice that. Audiences soon look older, slumped in their seats, mouths agape, dribbling. A couple of new MPs asked about official usage of technology. Mr McFadden talked of 'the government digital service's incubator for artificial intelligence'. The MPs blinked a bit. They had no more idea than the rest of us what an incubator for intelligence might be. Georgia Gould, under-minister, was asked to stop the public being ripped off in state contracts. She replied that 'public procurement is a key lever for enabling the delivery of missions.

It's been less than a week since they were elected to Parliament for the first time - but five of Labour 's newbie MPs have already been given ministerial jobs. Sir Keir Starmer last night made Georgia Gould, Miatta Fahnbulleh, Sarah Sackman, Alistair Carns and Kirsty McNeill members of his new Government. Their appointments came even before they had officially been sworn in to the House of Commons - a process that is taking place for all 650 MPs throughout this week. Most of the five new Labour MPs promoted straight into ministerial office have existing links to current or former Labour Cabinet ministers or, even, prime ministers. Their swift elevation to the Government comes despite Sir Keir having snubbed some of those who served previously him as shadow ministers, such as long-time MP Emily Thornberry.

Residents of Camden, North London, were left 'completely distraught' after being told that their homes are now worth £0. Due to a number of deficiencies, the homes have been classified as 'unmortgageable.'