He didn’t display the same emotional range and his tone was slightly less sombre. But there was something familiar about last Monday’s response from Sir Keir Starmer to the crisis enveloping the Royal Family. ‘The issues that Meghan has raised on race and mental health are really serious,’ the Labour leader said, ‘and it’s a reminder … Read more
Sammy Cotter has been running his grocery wholesalers for a quarter of a century. But now he’s living day to day. ‘I’ve got £7,000 worth of goods sitting in Manchester,’ he tells me. ‘It was supposed to be delivered on December 21. But I’m still waiting.’ At first glance, his warehouse in Quarry Heights, Newtownards, … Read more
You look as fresh as a daisy for someone who’s spent the night counting fish,’ Boris Johnson joked to Ursula von der Leyen as he began the tele-conference that finally brought Britain’s Brexit purgatory to an end. The Prime Minister’s ability to strike up an unlikely rapport with the daughter of one of the EU’s … Read more
So, as I predicted last week, Boris Johnson has decided to ‘hug a fish’. Unveiling his Green Industrial Revolution, the Prime Minister also chose to toss in ‘trash a Transit’ for good measure. The sale of new petrol cars and vans will be banned from 2030, he decreed. Having revealed this master plan for protecting … Read more
The Dom Cummings era is over,’ the Minister told me. ‘But if we’re going to replace it with the Carrie Symonds era, we’re f*****. The environment. Transgender rights. If that’s what we’re going to be about, our coalition is going to fall apart. It’s not what our voters want to hear. We’re going to lose … Read more
Mark Rosser is nervous. ‘You’re the second person to call me today. Why are you doing this? Are you checking up on me?’ I’m actually seeing if it’s possible to book a room at his Crown Lodge B&B in Harlech, Gwynedd. The answer, apparently, is no. ‘Are you mad? I’m not even allowed to leave … Read more
Mark Rosser is nervous. ‘You’re the second person to call me today. Why are you doing this? Are you checking up on me?’ I’m actually seeing if it’s possible to book a room at his Crown Lodge B&B in Harlech, Gwynedd. The answer, apparently, is no. ‘Are you mad? I’m not even allowed to leave … Read more
Mark Rosser is nervous. ‘You’re the second person to call me today. Why are you doing this? Are you checking up on me?’ I’m actually seeing if it’s possible to book a room at his Crown Lodge B&B in Harlech, Gwynedd. The answer, apparently, is no. ‘Are you mad? I’m not even allowed to leave … Read more
Rishi Sunak has finally been tripped up. ‘He got away with it for a while,’ says a Minister. ‘He’d set out a plan. Then go away. Then have to come back a couple of weeks later and set out another plan. ‘At first it looked like he was being flexible. But now people are starting … Read more
Last week, Tory MPs planning to rebel over the 10pm rule were offered the chance to hear from one of the Government’s most senior scientific experts about why the curfew was vital to the fight against coronavirus. ‘The whips arranged a conference call with Jonathan Van-Tam [Deputy Chief Medical Officer],’ one rebel explained. ‘He was supposed … Read more