Was not so much a “Ming Vase strategy” as a “mime that you are holding a vase” strategy.

I get that this must have been unpleasant, but…they were proven right, weren’t they? Two lost elections. Various accounts *from Corbyn’s allies* that he dithered, was easily manipulated by his own office, a rubbish leader. It was evident in Labour and it’s been evident in Your Party.

BABY CAPYBARA

Best moment this government has had was unleashing the police & courts on the far-right in August 2024. It was morally right, politically popular & played to Starmer's strengths. They disgracefully & idiotically allowed themselves to be spooked away from this by a right-wing press that nobody reads

I can’t believe I’m about to defend Andy Burnham here, but the text of the story doesn’t stand up the headline at all. The source quotes just say he’s not going to emphasise Rejoin in the by-election, which, duh, it’s a heavily Brexit-voting seat?

haven’t seen as much Scrimpch! love as I think this character deserves

I know it’s pointlessly pedantic but I absolutely detest the use of the word “coronate” as a derivative of “coronation” in the political sense. “crown” is right there!

Very on my brand posting but my work bestie just asked me in the office: how do you do PR in time for next election? Short answer: Wales it. Set a small-ish magnitude constituency size (I would say 5-7 rather than Wales' flat 6, for flexibility), and have a Commission Lego-brick existing seats...

These commitments from X should now see this unlawful abuse of Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood removed in 48 hours. My colleague Avaes Mohammad @britishfuture.bsky.social will now lead on this: he hopes to update in 72 hours and 7 days on whether the X + Ofcom commitments do now pass this p-word test

"we've got something better than a legally enforceable ruling, we've got Elon Musk's word as a gentleman"

In an extremely weird sort of way the convoluted Burnham to the leadership process — because it requires winning a pretty much straight fight against Reform — might be revolutionary for Labour’s prospects. (Ofc if he loses the by election it’s an absolute disaster)

response from @nujofficial.bsky.social www.nuj.org.uk/resource/nuj... and statement from the Guardian www.theguardian.com/gnm-press-of...

I bought a copy of Dr Kawashima's Brain Training for my forthcoming feature on charity shop video games. It was £1 in Oxfam. These were the people who left saved games on the cart

If you totted up the sums for every financial scandal in British politics (£2k per parliamentary question for cash-for-questions, £200k for Johnson’s No 10 renovation, the cost of that very nice campervan) even with second tier stuff like Rayner and Polanski, would you get close to £5mn *in total*?

are we really going to have five weeks of pretending Starmer would fight Burnham? wouldn’t it be more dignified for him to say now that he’ll stand down after the by-election?

the Mahmood one is so funny. every other matchup is “Starmer loses to prominent politician” or “Starmer beats unknown politician but with lots of DKs” and then you put him against Mahmood and respondents start posting tedious lists of achievements on bluesky and calling him forensic

side note but the NS getting @pronouncedalva.bsky.social back as political editor has been such a good move

been watching Newsnight this week for the first time in ages, and man, you miss Victoria Derbyshire when she’s not there

🫡

It becomes hard to see how Starmer can keep digging in. If he’s not blocking Burnham from running, and if pretty much everyone agrees Burnham would defeat him in a challenge, then he would be reduced to hoping his own party loses the by-election.

Seriously...what is wrong with Polanski? If he spent less time lying, and more time sorting his life out, he might actually be able to behave like an adult

when you click through it says this was due to worries about his security (ie he didn’t want to register to vote as it would link him with his address) but surely other politicians have been able to manage this? deeply odd to not vote as a political party leader

I think the Lib Dems should do straightforward, clear comms like this more often, and from the MPs not just the peers.

if it’s the case that the PLP are overwhelmingly for Burnham - to the extent that there could be a deal with Streeting and a coronation rather than a contest - then it takes a bit of the sting out of having to delay for the by-election (not clear if this is the case!)

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs but at the top it’s a pair on the Pointless head to head going for the right version of the previous pair’s wrong answer

I’m a Burnham sceptic but I’ve always thought he’d win more or less any likely by-election, for the reason below

I’m not saying it’s the right thing for the country but I can’t really get over wanting the NEC to block Burnham again purely because it would be funny

I've really struggled to grapple with the fact Starmer seems so unbothered and disinterested by the political aspects of his job, but then such a stubbornness to stay.

sorry, that’s it? that’s his response? his health secretary resigns saying he’s not up to the job and he’s just like “sorry to hear that mate?” and hasn’t even said who he’s replacing him with?

Also bizarre that no other Cabinet member has resigned today to create such momentum. I know they all loathe him but does he really have no-one else in Cabinet to go with him

it’s not impossible that Streeting has made / wants to make a deal with Burnham, but I think it’s considerably likelier that he just doesn’t yet have the numbers to launch a challenge and wants Starmer to step down (and language about a broad debate is just what he thinks people want to hear)

If Starmer is challenged for the leadership & chooses to fight, something wholly new will happen. For the first time, the question of whether a prime minister is removed from power will be decided, not by MPs, not by voters at an election,but by party members. This is democratically indefensible.🧵

lmao was just typing a tweet about how Streeting doesn’t have the numbers but I guess he does

BREAKING: Reform UK leader Nigel Farage bought a £1.4 million property in cash shortly after receiving a £5m personal gift from billionaire donor Christopher Harborne, according to property records seen by Sky News.

Prince Harry’s piece itself is primarily about antisemitism and Israel. The BBC writeup is a fair summary and gives a similar prominence to anti-Muslim hate as the piece itself does.

Phew, *finally* someone in Labour who’s focused on the electoral coalition Labour must assemble to win the next General Election!

BBS Open Letter on Improving Scottish Parliament Results Reporting An open letter from Ballot Box Scotland urging significant improvements to reporting on Scottish Parliament elections; or, why does a hobbyist publish more data on the regional vote than the BBC?

congratulations to Angela Rayner on her well timed exoneration but she still hasn’t said anything that makes me think she has a plan to do much differently from Starmer

Yet to hear a Labour MP on the news defending Starmer who sounds remotely sincere doing it.

yeah, Labour people love to think every election (except 2017) is a referendum on the Labour leader, but 2015 was a lot more about the uptick in real wages, the success of the Conservative messaging (aligned with their actions in govt) and the collapse of the Lib Dems and Scottish Labour

Think it is also rooted in a misreading of the 2015 about being a rejection for him and not that 2010-15 broadly delivered for Conservative voters, so they voted for them again.

I think it would be pretty hard for Starmer to escape a charge of terminal selfishness if he fought to the bitter end. He must realise that any hope of regaining authority in the country is now completely shot. If he survives, it'll be a pyrrhic victory for him and a real victory for the hard right.

fascinating that “ran as the rebel candidate but has been loyal since” is taken to be a good thing rather than an example of how she has helped squash down the space for debate and dissent until it came bursting out this week.

I don't know how many different ways I can say this but I'm not stepping aside for Andy Burnham, and it's both very tedious for me and very demoralising for my staff to keep seeing it reported that I might be about to go when there's never even been so much as a conversation with Andy about doing so

I’ll believe it when I see it at this point. The article names four seats and says all four incumbent MPs have previously denied they’d go along with it.

so, is Starmer actually going to run against Streeting et al? common sense / human dignity would suggest not, but he has been remarkably stubborn so far

Martin Lewis Money Saving Expert, your time is coming

I agree with Iain that it’s good for the Tories to be clear about where they stand. I think it’s regrettable that they have been so radicalised against tackling climate change that they include little Trump-like asides such as “which nobody wants” as they set out how they would take us backwards.