Politics

Does Momentum do requests? If so, any chance they could deselect Yvette Cooper as a priority? Her dull, maudlin tones are bad enough when she’s lamenting a no-deal Brexit, a prospect she has done more than most to aid, but when the subject is the Labour party her funereal strains bear some of the most trite, vacant analysis around. Eeyore MP was on the Today programme this morning and said: ‘The Labour party only succeeds if it’s a broad church. There is a real concern that we don’t look enough of a broad church at the moment and we have to be so.’ Yvette, your leader invited a bloke who

The PM’s partner has one of the toughest jobs in politics even though it’s not a political appointment. That’s the nub of the difficulty. The role is undefined and unpaid. And whatever the partner does can be labelled a blunder and used to attack the prime minister. I’ve just written a play, ‘Cherie – My Struggle’, about Mrs Blair’s life inside Downing Street. Carrie Symonds is bound to face many of the difficulties Cherie had to grapple with.  First, security. Cherie was shocked to learn that she couldn’t leave Number 10 without informing her close protection officers. They accompanied her everywhere, even to the chemist. She was banned from driving

Boris Johnson is sometimes compared to Winston Churchill, not least by the man himself. Unfortunately for Britain’s new Prime Minister, most of these comparisons are fatuous. But there are some similarities. Both are politically fluid and both share an enormous sense of ambition propelling them in unexpected and contrary directions. So far, we have had two Johnsons: One Nation Boris, the expansive liberal Tory, the man who won Labour London, not once but twice. More recently, we’ve has Brexit Boris, whose constituency seems to have been reduced to the hard-faced men and women of Leave. It is Brexit Boris that Jeremy Corbyn’s advisers choose to see: they believe he is an

You have to admit that Brexit party MEPs have a fun job. Imagine turning up to work to insult your colleagues, ridicule your duties and still collect a pay cheque. As I am fortunate enough to enjoy my work, though, I don’t think it is jealousy that makes me find at least some of their posturing obnoxious. “Every day MEPs get a “media briefing” from the EU,” Martin Daubney MEP informs us: No, in fact. If anything, the EU is offering evidence against bias. First, these words came not from an EU employee but British philosopher John Gray. Second, Gray does not call Brexit “far right” and specifically criticises the

On the surface, Donald Trump and Boris Johnson look like two peas in a pod. Their hairstyles are blonde and moppy. The height of their collective ambition makes the Empire State Building and Big Ben look puny in comparison. Both are proud and unapologetic of their unconventionality and large personalities. Indeed, Trump was so smitten when his pal Boris won the Tory leadership contest that he paid him the ultimate compliment—comparing the incoming PM to himself.  The general consensus thus far is that Donald and Boris will get along like Thelma and Louise. Woody Johnson, Trump’s man in London, told the Guardian, ‘Both these leaders have their own style, but they have similarities and