What a car crash. Incoherent performance from Badenoch. #r4today

She is using extreme examples straight out of the Reform UK playbook. #r4today

So Badenoch wants everyone to be treated equally in an unequal society. A GCSE student could do better. #r4today

Badenoch has offered a ridiculous example. #r4today

The people of the UK are heard by politicians. We call it democracy. #r4today

By calibre alone, it was clear last night that Reform UK are not taking this seriously. That said, potential voters may identify with him precisely because he did not come across as very bright. #r4today

Robert Kenyon way out of his depth on #bbcqt

Nigel’s little elves are hard at work this morning, spreading their poison. #FarageOut

So alongside the subsidised booze, we learn that MPs get free Sky Sports. #PMQ’s

Doubtless people will be critical of Zia Yusuf appearing on #WATO. The interview exposed him for what he is.

Farage is using Henry Nowak’s death to inflame racial resentment. Henry’s own father has reportedly asked that his son’s death not be used in this way. For Farage to call for “pure cold rage” anyway is not justice for Henry — it is incitement. #Farage #Farageout

Peter Mandelson privately told Pat McFadden that Labour ministers looked too much to Whitehall and the party base, not the public. His suggested remedy? Behave in a more “Trumpian risk taking and dare devil way.” #PeterMandelson

Mandelson’s private verdict after Labour’s local election losses: “It stems from the top and Keir lacks verve as does the Cabinet as a whole.” He said the government needed “more dynamism”, “can do optimism” and “more panache.” #PeterMandelson

Mandelson privately warned that a “huge bank levy” to pay for winter fuel/two child would be “tantamount to abandoning long term growth for short term PLP management.” #PeterMandelson

Mandelson privately told McFadden he’d spoken to McSweeney “a lot” and been direct: Starmer was not leading from the front and McSweeney was not organising the centre. He added: “Brown has it in for Starmer and Reeves big time” and said Rayner was an “instrument of destabilization”. #mandelsonfiles

After Labour’s May 2025 local election losses and Reform’s six-vote Runcorn by-election win, Pat McFadden privately asked Mandelson: “But how do we fight Reform?” Mandelson replied: “Fight Reform by being Successful Labour not Blue Labour.” #mandelsonfiles

Wes Streeting suggested Mandelson should get Matthew Doyle to handle his DC comms. Mandelson replied: “All my comms have been shut down by No10.” Then added: “The government problems do not stem from comms.” #mandelsonfiles

Wes Streeting privately told Peter Mandelson: “I fear we’re in big trouble here - and I am toast at the next election.” After Labour lost its safest Redbridge ward to a Gaza independent, he added: “There isn’t a clear answer to the question: why Labour?” #MandelsonFiles

Wes Streeting warned Mandelson that Labour’s Gaza split could be “on a bigger scale than welfare” and “could prove fatal”. He said if MPs were whipped against Palestine recognition, there could be resignations “at every level”. Mandelson replied this would make Labour look “unfit for government”.

Mandelson privately suggested Starmer had developed a pattern of retreating under pressure, citing immigration, welfare and Gaza. He added that Morgan McSweeney’s view of Keir’s career was: “advance/buckle/advance/buckle”.

Peter Mandelson told Pat McFadden he had received a “wild long hysterical message from Wes about Israel”, adding that it reflected “pretty badly on his maturity”. McFadden replied that Wes was “very active” on MPs’ WhatsApp groups.

Peter Mandelson privately described No.10 as “beleaguered and bereft”, saying most senior staff “don’t think Keir knows what he wants”. Pat McFadden did not push back.

Peter Mandelson privately warned Pat McFadden that Keir Starmer might not survive defeat on the welfare reform Bill, amid the disability benefits rebellion. He said there was a “strong anti Keir tide”. McFadden replied that defeat, pulling it or gutting it would “destroy his authority”.

This guy has convinced me… not to visit the US at the moment. #r4today

People wait until the last minute to buy tickets for the World Cup. Seriously? #r4today

Chris Philp on Times Radio hasn’t got a clue.

Heroes. #Arsenal #AFC

Helen Whately: out of her depth as ever. #r4today

Today is not the warmest May Day; it is the warmest May day. #heatwave

Danny Kruger sounding desperate in his defence of the plucky plumber earlier on Today. Even by his standards, this is a new low. Defending a sexualised, degrading and misogynistic comment about @carolvorders.bsky.social is appalling. #r4today

The problem is that people think things can change. Unfortunately, it is mainly those who have been hoodwinked by Farage. #r4today

Starmer is transformed today. #PMQs

Ian Wright sounded rather churlish pointing out that some people do not eat dairy or bread. Perhaps retailers might be more cooperative if the government finally dropped the restrictive Sunday trading laws. #r4today

Pensioners certainly know how to moan. The state pension isn’t supposed to cover everything. #youandyours

Tory MP Rebecca Smith moans on Times Radio that the last Conservative government wasn’t allowed to be Tory enough - pesky events and the Liberal Democrats got in the way, apparently.

Lisa Nandy is an excellent media performer.

points deduction for the pitch invasion #thefootball

Hearts lost. Scottish football lost.

Gutted for Hearts.

Emily Sheffield being vile on LBC.

In Scotland, VAR is known as “Var”. Hearts fans probably call it something else entirely.

Noooooooooo

I’m unconvinced by research companies having well-known spokespeople. At what point does the person speak louder than the research? #c4news

Farage is such a cunt.

Very little of this interview has anything to do with local elections. #r4today

Kemi Badenoch: I was perfectly clear. What I said was not what you heard; what you heard was not what I meant; and what I meant is whatever I now say I meant. I am always right. Put another way: I am never wrong. #r4today

Regeneration in Sunderland seems to have gone better than in many post-industrial cities. EU money helped, and Labour locally appears to have delivered. Yet voters backed Brexit and may now reject Labour too. What exactly do they want instead, and why? #r4today

The views of younger people were interesting but, considering how British they feel, they do seem, respectfully, rather naive about other minority groups. #r4today

Any other minority? Really? #r4today