Good grief, the Commons was tense yesterday. Tauter than the strings on a well-tuned ukulele. With Brexit trade talks hanging by the flossiest of threads over in Brussels, the House had that subdued air of a hospital waiting room. As each hour passed, the atmosphere grew antsier. Jokes and jibes were in short supply. Penny … Read more
And so came the tiers. There was no actual blubbing in the chamber when Matt Hancock announced his post-lockdown restrictions yesterday. Some Tory MPs looked jolly close to turning on the waterworks though. Blimey, were they cross! The Health Secretary had just announced that all of them – barring members for Cornwall, the Isles of … Read more
Rishi Sunak has developed a flinty side. Unveiling his spending review yesterday, he displayed a grave, gritty mien. Previous Sunak speeches have been sadder affairs – all puppy-dog eyes and regretful delivery. But this time he coarsened his voice and stiffened his brow. He seemed older, weightier, more substantial. High office has hardened him. There … Read more
Boris Johnson was moving through the gears nicely in the Commons yesterday as he laid out next week’s post-lockdown restrictions. There was a pep in his step. A swing to his swagger. Then as Mark Harper (Con, Forest of Dean) pushed the PM to provide the economic impact of his restrictions…zoiks! The PM was rendered … Read more
Cap’n Boris was in Nelson mode, but Keir Starmer couldn’t tell a blunderbuss from a bayonet: HENRY DEEDES watches Prime Minister unveil his defence spending plans By Henry Deedes for the Daily Mail Published: 22:29 GMT, 19 November 2020 | Updated: 22:30 GMT, 19 November 2020 Parp the horns, Cap’n. Bandmaster, a soaring rendition of … Read more
Another day, another deluge of Matthew Hancock. Oh goody. Just what a weary nation needed on a dreary Monday. It was one of those mornings when you couldn’t get away from the Health Secretary. Sky News, LBC, Radio 4. Everywhere you flicked, there was that self-satisfied voice, trotting out the usual government lines with customary … Read more
The Prime Minister was surprisingly jaunty… Keir Starmer’s brow crinkled with perplexity: HENRY DEEDES sees Boris Johnson on top form batting off the Opposition By Henry Deedes for the Daily Mail Published: 23:02 GMT, 11 November 2020 | Updated: 23:04 GMT, 11 November 2020 Armistice Day in the Commons, where at PMQs Labour’s guns fell … Read more
At around 8.40pm, the old man strode confidently on to the stage, casting aside his hitherto creakiness like a leper raised from his sick bed. Suddenly, that purposeful walk turned into a steady jog. That jog became a sprint, which turned into a dash as he darted to collect the prize which had at times … Read more
The deafening scenes outside the Pennsylvania Convention Centre yesterday morning would have been almost entertaining were they not so serious. The furious chanting and angry placard waving simply encapsulated the hate and division creeping across the United States as the presidential election, amazingly, still lies in the balance. And this spot, where the vote counting … Read more
The evening was billed with typically gullet-grabbing urgency as ‘the Battle for America’s Soul’. But for once, America’s hyperbole-prone television networks had sold themselves way, way short. For those who stayed up bleary-eyed to catch this most brutal of Presidential contests, this was no mere ‘battle’. It felt more like a long, protracted war. On … Read more