Michael
10.2K posts
“Rory Stewart is the best prime minister we never had.” I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read that sentence, in my texts, in comments sections, after our interviews. Over the last 10 years he’s spoken to me as a Tory leadership contender, Covid canary in the coal mine, independent London mayoral candidate, or, as in this instance, a podcaster and author.
His brand of conscientious conservatism beguiles the significant part of our country that is relatively normal and looked on in horror/confusion as the right wing actively attacked Britain and/or descended into explicit bigotry, parochialism, and conspiracy.
We spoke about political evil and how it’s often fun to be so, boarding schools, and whether or not we should rewild wolves in Britain.
Eclectic and thoughtful. Performative and precise. I think it’s the best episode of The Exchange so far, but it’s Yanis Varoufakis next week and that was pretty good too. Subscribe, listen in bio, text me about alternate realities. xx
@RoryStewartUK @NewStatesman
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British MP Iqbal Mohamed became emotional in Parliament, arguing that a ban on cousin marriage would be discriminatory and Islamophobic, as he considers it a practice rooted in his cultural background.
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🚨 WATCH: Keir Starmer says he "beat himself up" for appointing Peter Mandelson
"I've been really hard on myself... nobody was criticising me more than myself"
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@_ConnieShaw Matthew Wright is demented. He might even be a psychopath
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Who needs an “anti-Muslim hostility” definition anyway when the Batley Grammar School teacher is still in hiding, and you’ve got useful idiots like Matthew Wright (who has, since our exchange, accused me on social media of “espousing Islamophobic racist bilge”) enforcing the new de-facto blasphemy rule on national radio.
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A woman has to explain to a woke and tragic bloke why trans girls (boys) shouldn’t be in the Girl Guides ffs!! 🤬🤬
A useless man with no grasp on reality!
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So can we be just be clear? Journalists are alleging that Morgan McSweeney staged the theft of his phone, lied to police, and wasted police time, in order to hide messages to Mandelson? And that the Prime Minister might be implicated in a cover-up? These are extremely serious and defamatory allegations.
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This is a brilliant - bleak - piece about the broken local politics of Birmingham. First class on the ground reporting by @alexrogerssky @JoshGafson1
These pieces aren’t easy - you only get footage like this with skill, graft and luck - please watch:
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We tracked down the superyacht owned by the world’s sixth richest man. Larry Ellison won’t like what we did to it 🛥️🏴☠️
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EXCL: Morgan McSweeney's mobile phone with texts to Peter Mandelson was stolen.
These messages may be lost forever - meaning there there will be gaps in The Mandelson files published by No10.
Phone was nicked and reported to police last year.
thesun.co.uk/news/38591267/…
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@KonstantinKisin @estherckrakue Amazing people believe his dross
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Credit where it's due: Tucker is amazing at confidently delivering absolute lies. Here he is claiming that Churchill locked up members of the opposition party during WW2.
When, in fact, Churchill led a National Government, i.e. one that INCLUDED leaders of the opposition parties in prominent roles. Labour leader Clement Atlee was appointed Churchill's Deputy and other leading Labour and Liberal politicians held major roles in the cabinet.
The person Tucker is talking about is Oswald Mosley who was the leader of the British Union of Fascists and was not elected to anything. He wanted Britain to become a fascist country and work with Hitler. Despite this, contrary to Tucker's claims, he was not even detained for the full duration of the war and was released in 1943, two years before it ended. In most other countries he would have been hanged for treason without a second thought the day the war started.
Britain's treatment of this tiny group of fascists, i.e. enemy sympathisers and collaborators, during WW2 is an example of extraordinary restraint and respect for the sanctity of human life and freedom that was not only unparalleled in the world at that time but arguably remains rare and hugely admirable even by the standards of today across most of the world.
In short, Tucker is completely wrong and we can only conclude that the spreading of these malicious lies is motivated not only by his ignorance of history but also by the fact that he will say ANYTHING he deems necessary to suit his political agenda.
His opposition to the current war in Iran, about which I myself have expressed some skepticism, does not justify this behaviour and is, in fact, undermined by it - no right- thinking person can take him seriously after this.
Tucker Carlson Network@TCNetwork
This kind of stuff happens during war. We should be on guard.
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Imagine seeing British people at prayer and thinking “this is a great chance to stoke fear, hatred and division”. People who do that should have no place in British politics.
Freedom to worship is a fundamental British value – one the Conservative Party used to believe in.
Nick Timothy MP@NJ_Timothy
Too many are too polite to say this. But mass ritual prayer in public places is an act of domination. The adhan - which declares there is no god but allah and Muhammad is his messenger - is, when called in a public place, a declaration of domination. Perform these rituals in mosques if you wish. But they are not welcome in our public places and shared institutions. And given their explicit repudiation of Christianity they certainly do not belong in our churches and cathedrals. I am not suggesting everybody at Trafalgar Square last night is an Islamist. But the domination of public places is straight from the Islamist playbook. Trafalgar Square belongs to all of us. It is a national memorial to our independence and our salvation. Last night was not like a televised football match or a St Patrick’s Day celebration. It was an act of domination and therefore division. It shouldn’t happen again.
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Public sector borrowing was £14.3 billion in February 2026, £2.2 billion more than in February 2025 and the second highest February borrowing since monthly records began in 1993, behind that of 2021.
Read the article ➡️ ons.gov.uk/economy/govern…
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Warmest wishes to Muslims who are marking the end of Ramadan across the UK and around the world.
May your Eid‑al‑Fitr be joyful and full of peace.
Eid Mubarak.
UK Prime Minister@10DowningStreet
To Muslims marking Eid al‑Fitr across the UK and worldwide, wishing you a day filled with peace and happiness. #EidMubarak
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Labour is calling on Kemi Badenoch to sack her Shadow Justice Secretary over his appalling online remarks about Muslims.
@annaturley has written to the Tory leader👇
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It shouldn't have to be said, but I am glad you did @Keir_Starmer - thank you for standing up against clear anti-Muslim hatred being peddled by members of the official opposition. Nick Timothy should have no place in politics, let alone his party's front bench.
Keir Starmer@Keir_Starmer
I’m proud of our tolerant and diverse country. I’m proud that in Trafalgar Square we celebrate all faiths. That’s British values. The comments from Nick Timothy are shameful. Kemi Badenoch should do the right thing and sack him.
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Christians, Jews, Sikhs and Hindus have all prayed in Trafalgar Square.
Nick Timothy singled out Muslims, then had the brass neck today to sit on the front bench. He should be sacked.
The Tories are following Reform into the gutter. Neither are fit to govern.
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@Marcm120764 I love football. Been to probably around a 1000 games. I don’t like posh dickheads cosplaying an offensive & lowest common denominator form of working class behaviour for money. As they sterilised the game they toxified the mainstream acceptable culture. Sorry for offending you
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A hill I will die on. Fantasy Football with its "ironic" racism and sexism leading to Soccer Saturday then to blokey football podcasts etc was a key step towards the manosphere.
David Baddiel@Baddiel
Some may be surprised by how all the men in @louistheroux 's Manosphere doc turn out to be antisemites, but it follows from their logic. First, obviously, Jew hatred is clickbait, but more importantly, these men promote versions of themselves as brave mavericks unafraid to stick it to the feminised liberal Establishment - and as such, they need an embodiment of power to kick against - one that they, in their I-don’t-give-a-fuck performance, are smashing through. They need the myth of the Matrix. They begin with women as the control but soon they move on to Jews, who provide a darker mythology of control for them to perform being not-controlled by.
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@gbennett1997 Positive. Assume the football will be an improvement 🤞
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