Exc: James Roberts, who handled relations between LOTO and Tory MPs, will be leaving his post ahead of his second child’s birth

New: Danny Kruger’s first print interview - How Reform will overhaul Whitehall - One Tory MP sent him a rat emoji - JD Vance’s interest in the British right - Says Farage “more serious” than Boris And why Edmund Burke would back Farage not Kemi…. t.co/UHwZqK9W2U

New: Danny Kruger has defected to Reform UK as the party’s new head of ‘Preparing for Government’

Friday morning means another set of local by elections. Reform won 4 out of 5 seats up for grabs yesterday - including one with a 27 per cent swing in the safest Tory ward in Walsall.

Foreign Office minister Stephen Doughty tells the House of Commons that Lord Mandelson "has been withdrawn as Ambassador with immediate effect"

This week's Spectator column on the battle for the north: - Fears that Phillipson v Powell could turn into proxy war - Pipe-smoking Farage hoping to be new Harold Wilson - Labour looking at how to lean into northern identity www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-...

Full information here on how Labour's deputy leadership contest will work:

A great point and as @kevinschofied.bsky.social notes, at least eight North West casualties in this reshuffle

Reshuffle wraps up with a raft of new appointments to the Whips' Office under the new Chief, Jonny Reynolds:

Reports of McSweeney's demise have been greatly exaggerated: www.spectator.co.uk/article/star...

Some of Labour's brightest young MPs – Kanishka Narayan, Kate Dearden, Josh Simons, Josh McAlister – handed junior ministerial posts

Farage demands unity in his closing remarks: "Can we please exercise discipline and air our disagreements not in public but in private?"

Exc: Reform UK to launch its own 'ReformGo' app as the party eyes further electoral gains next May Senior insiders believe that it will show that they are most advanced ‘high tech’ party in Britain www.spectator.co.uk/article/refo...

"Reversing recent low-skilled migration will likely mean a sustained period of net emigration. I would support that." Punchy Robert Jenrick interview with my colleague Tim Shipman in this week's Spectator www.spectator.co.uk/article/robe...

Senedd by-election on October 23 in Caerphilly. Parties have held off publicly commenting or campaigning out of respect after the tragic death of Hefin David. But expect Reform to be eyeing up this seat as a portent for May next year:

New: Angela Rayner has referred herself to the standards commissioner after admitting she did not pay enough tax on her purchase of a Brighton flat. Tells Sky that she has discussed resignation with her family.

Punchy prediction in this week’s cover of the left’s house journal

Would get this framed if I worked in the DPM's office

Reform hit 35 per cent in today's i poll – the party's dream of the magic 40 figure now in sight

New: Home Office wins appeal against Bell Hotel injunction

This week’s Spectator column. With the government in crisis, the left is returning with a vengeance, outside the auspices of the Labour party. For some key players involved, it’s not just business - it’s personal too: t.co/vXbxb33eAK

Another top aide leaving their role in No. 10 - nice scoop from Joe Pike

The Conservatives in Scotland now sit on just 10 per cent, less than half their 2021 share. Graham Simpson is the third MSP to quit the party in four months, after Jamie Greene and Jeremy Balfour. www.spectator.co.uk/article/refo...

Striking from ConHome’s editor on Kemi Badenoch’s Sunday Times interview

Nick Thomas-Symonds: “Nigel Farage wants Britain to fail. His model of politics feeds on it.”

Kemi Badenoch in The Sunday Times: “When people hear me speak, they say ‘You’re really good, why didn’t you guys do that over 14 years?’ And I say, ‘I wasn’t in charge for 14 years’.”

The Times on a looming gvt shake up: “There are rumours that Sir Chris Wormald, the recently appointed cabinet secretary, could be removed.” He’s only been in the job 250 days!

NEW: Reform unveil their six-man board Gawain Towler, Darren Grimes and Dan Barker elected Andrea Jenkyns, Paul Nuttall and Zia Yusuf appointed by the leader

A great line

In this week’s Spectator column: - The key think tanks influencing Reform - Conference plans - Deportation strategy due next week - Jack Duffin new Director of Campaigns - Farage aide’s lawyers write to Labour - Civil service access schemes to be widened www.spectator.co.uk/article/nige...

Freudian slip!

An elected MP speaks. Someone who meets more voters, constituents and (quote, unquote) ‘ordinary people’ then her critics meet on a weekly basis. Worth beating in mind:

When Terence Stamp met his neighbour Ted Heath in The Albany:

Labour going after Farage very hard today:

“Nick, 30 ans” is now an online simulator game. Play here: t.co/PyGUXvClGq

Enjoyable “Conservative source” quote in the i paper: “Tom Skinner is at the foothills of something interesting – the enormous possibilities for the posh-bosh alliance”

Jenrick calling for ‘activist judges’ to be sacked in the Telegraph today. It’s part of a carefully organised team effort to highlight perceived judicial excess. From June: www.spectator.co.uk/article/what...

Striking to see which members of the shadow cabinet have criticised the Ricky Jones verdict and which have not

Farage’s letter to Starmer re peerages is the opening shot in a long campaign to get Reform ready for government. From June: www.spectator.co.uk/article/nige...

After the “Blair babes” and “Cameron’s cuties”, Andrea Jenkyns tells today’s Reform UK press conference that “I’m proud to be one of Farage’s fillies”

Reform’s first successful council ward defence:

Woe betide any minister caught in trouble; the bodies of Louise Haigh, Tulip Siddiq and now Rushanara Ali show they can expect little sympathy from No. 10 www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-...

New: Rushanara Ali quits the government. Exchange of letters here:

Like a shark, Reform UK has to keep moving forwards. Rupert Matthews’ defection is another encouraging projection of momentum for the party. One Tory messages to say “Rupert is a good man. Well liked: hard worker, stalwart type figure for many. Consistently sound.”

Should definitely show more declarations. Politics is a blood sport - lots of people tuning in at 3am on July 4 2024 were only watching to see certain Tory MPs lose their seats

Why JD Vance is the White House trip to the UK worth watching this summer: t.co/7tvlNtBcRM

Get Richard Curtis on this immediately:

EXC: another former Tory MP defects to Reform UK Adam Holloway, the MP for Gravesham from 2005 to 2024 becomes the latest to switch parties www.spectator.co.uk/article/excl...

Downing Street cabinet read out on Gaza:

Punchy: