Don’t write off Piers Morgan yet

I wish I could persuade certain cabinet ministers to put their money where their mouths are. Several times last month on Good Morning Britain I exhorted Tory frontbenchers, including Liz Truss, to place cash bets with me. If they’d agreed, I’d be richer than Rishi by now. Well, obviously that’s an exaggeration, but I could have at least afforded to hire a private jet to fly me and Judy to our summer hols in France. Oh, all right then, a single-prop Cessna. Bet one was that there would be a swift U-turn on refusing to place a windfall tax on oil companies. I would have staked my house on it. But no takers, despite absolute denials that it was going to happen. Bet two was that there’d be a vote of confidence on Boris before midsummer. Again, no takers, even though the mere possibility was routinely rejected by the designated minister of the day in our 8.30 a.m. set-piece set-to (ministers do Sky first, then us, then the Beeb, then LBC, then the lunchtime news shows – I almost feel sorry for them). And lo, it came to pass. By Monday night the deed was done. Boris had been handed the Black Spot. Next time I interview Dominic Raab, I’ll bet him that Boris is Tory toast before Bonfire Night. If he agrees, that should pay for a nice little display on the 5th, no?

Much ado about nothing in the fuss over Piers Morgan’s ratings for his new show on TalkTV. After an impressive launch with his exclusive Donald Trump interview – 400,000 viewers, trumping, ahem, every rival news channel – figures have fallen to around 50,000 a night. This has been seized on as evidence of the kind of failure that usually stalks close behind hubris.