Politics

The publication of extracts from a biography of Carrie Johnson this weekend is another stark reminder that we need a serious look at the over-use of anonymous sources in journalism. I first began to worry about the problem when extracts from another Lord Ashcroft biography – this time of David Cameron – were published. When I was told it included the claim that he once performed a sex act on a pig, I was sure it was a complete fabrication, not least because it was based on a single, anonymous source with nothing else to substantiate it. Seeing the prime minister’s sickened reaction confirmed this view. The claim was deeply

The end of Covid has brought with it the long-overdue restoration of liberties. And few know that better than thirsty MPs and their staff on the parliamentary estate, with the reopening last week of the famous parliament’s Sports and Social bar. On the night in question, Mr S was one of those piling into the legislative watering holes and was the first to report Labour backbencher Neil Coyle’s ‘expletive-laiden tirade’ at Tory MP Craig Williams. It now transpires that following a complaint, Coyle has now been temporarily banned from the estate’s bars – quite the feat to achieve on the first night of normalcy. Speaker Lindsay Hoyle has now been dragged

Boris Johnson’s decision to accuse Keir Starmer of ‘prosecuting journalists and failing to prosecute Jimmy Savile’ while he was director of public prosecutions continues to divide the Tory party. The comment has gone down badly with his own MPs, and the Chancellor Rishi Sunak notably refused to defend the remark. It also led to the resignation of Munira Mirza, the director of the No. 10 policy unit. However, the Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng told Trevor Phillips that although Starmer did not bear any personal blame, Johnson was well within his rights to make the remark: KK: ‘In that context I think it was perfectly reasonable to mention the fact that Sir Keir

Well, that didn’t take long. Scarcely had Boris Johnson announced two new hires to join his depleted Downing Street team, then Dominic Cummings began attacking one of them on Twitter. The Svengali of special advisers reacted badly to the news that Guto Hari, a former Johnson aide during his mayoralty, was to be brought back into the fold as director of communications. Cummings claimed that the ‘message from No. 10’ is that ‘Our new boss is a pro-Remain lobbyist who’s said the PM is ‘sexually incontinent’, ‘hugely divisive’, ‘destructive’, ‘dragging the country down’, & picked ‘wrong side’ in referendum’ GREAT’. Is firing off angry tweets at your nemesis really a sign that

If Brits are falling out of love with Boris Johnson over partygate, there is still hope for him in Turkey. If you were to quiz my fellow Turks on a list of ‘foreign leaders whom Turks find favourable’, there is no doubt Boris would be somewhere at the top of the list. Despite his hand in the Brexit campaign – when the prospect of a possible Turkish invasion was weaponised to convince people not to back remain – Boris remains popular over here.  Boris’s Turkish roots going back to his great-grandfather’s hometown, Orta in Cankiri (a central Anatolian town) are one of the reasons he remains loved. Us Cankiris, at least, are proud of Boris.