What you have to understand is there are four people who are running the country now,’ the Minister says. ‘But none of them is Boris. Dom [Cummings], Michael [Gove], Rishi [Sunak] and Carrie [Symonds, the PM’s partner]. That’s it.’ Last week, Tory MPs moved from despair to resignation. Many have given up waiting for the … Read more
Rishi Sunak saved the country from a second spell of solitary confinement. ‘Boris had been persuaded by Whitty and Vallance to go for the “circuit breaker” of a full-two week lockdown,’ one Minister told me. ‘But Rishi said, “I can’t support it”. That’s why they went for the 10pm shutdown. It was basically plucked out of … Read more
Dishy Rishi is about to be put on furlough. ‘People have lost perspective,’ an ally of the Chancellor tells me. ‘We’ve spent £350billion protecting the economy, but we’ve now reached the point where this isn’t even registering. ‘Someone said to him last week, ‘Why aren’t you doing anything for the theatre?’ We’ve given the theatres … Read more
Who do you think you are kidding, Mr Johnson? Just after 4pm on Wednesday, Boris’s carefully cultivated reputation as a Churchillian champion of British liberty crumbled like stale Stilton cheese. ‘We will boost the local enforcement capacity of local authorities by introducing Covid-secure marshals to help ensure social distancing in town and city centres, and … Read more
It is The Guardian – inevitably – that has been leading the sneers. ‘As millionaires inside and outside of government lean on us to stop working from home, what are we really missing?’ the bible of woke Britain intoned last week. ‘If you want to feel like you’re in an office again, just wad a packet … Read more
Former JCB driver Billy Brown feels Boris has let him down. ‘I thought I was voting for someone with balls,’ he tells me caustically. Billy voted Tory for the first time last December. But he thinks the Covid crisis has seen the Prime Minister lose his way. ‘Boris should have sacked that Cummings fella. Everyone … Read more
The Minister was raging. ‘People keep saying the Government is all over the place. But it isn’t the Government, or even the Cabinet. We aren’t being told of plans or developments. We are all basically having to live through Boris’s midlife crisis.’ Many men experience a loss of confidence as middle age wraps them in … Read more
You’ve heard of Black Lives Matter. But you’ve probably never heard of Fans For Diversity. The grassroots football supporters campaign – a joint project run by the Football Supporters’ Association and the Kick It Out alliance – hasn’t had its name or slogan prominently displayed on the back of Premier League matchday shirts. There have … Read more
It’s The Untouchables strategy. ‘When he asked Rebecca Long Bailey to stand down, Keir wasn’t thinking about the Jenrick scandal,’ an ally of the Labour leader reveals. ‘But in hindsight the comparison is stark. It’s like that old Blair line: Keir is leading his party, Boris is following his. He couldn’t sack Cummings, and he … Read more
I have already had two people come up to me today and separately say “I think Boris may have to go”,’ one Tory MP told me last week. ‘There’s no way you would have been hearing that even last month.’ It’s just one sign that some Conservative politicians are starting to think the unthinkable. In … Read more