Lord Castlereagh

@spectator @michaelgove @Madz_Grant @blue_labour Always fascinating to listen to Maurice Glasman about strands of thought historically within the Labour Party. Know your enemy.

Maurice Glasman argues that restoring Britain's military capability should be a priority for the government after it was hollowed-out for 40 years by a worldview that considered staying close to the EU was enough to keep Britain safe. @michaelgove | @madz_grant | @blue_labour

@clarescastle @DrCKRobinson @ColinBrazierTV If necessary, the British public will ‘Tell Them Again’

Brexiteers, and those courageous people who voted to Remain, but freely admit they now regret it, this is absolutely worth 21+ minutes of your time. @ColinBrazierTV on form, on point, on top of the Brexit arguments, then and now. And yes for me too, the word is ‘sacred’ 🇬🇧

@sandi_whit @nick_field90 Kamala Harris is truly deluded if she thinks the American public will vote for her in 2028.

@nick_field90 If you want to get around the stupid paywall....... archive.is/20260521213553…

“Joe Biden fucked her,” says the third [Biden] White House aide. “He fucked her. And according to her book, he called her the morning of the debate to be like, ‘I heard your donors are talking shit about me.’ He was the fucking worst. He’s a prick.” vanityfair.com/news/story/kam…

@JAHeale If he becomes PM his opinions will swing like a weather vane

In the week since Josh Simons quit, believe Andy Burnham has signalled at least four – possibly five – effective U-turns on his trans stance, EU Rejoin position, concerns about the government's migration policies, criticisms of the fiscal rules and immediate introduction of PR

@barracuda147 Not old enough to realise that warm cheap cider is disgusting 😊

@tweetwatcher761 What age were you in 1987?

The interesting coclusion to a coastal walk between Bloody Bridge and Annalong. The walk involves quite a lot of clambering over rocks which can be slippy in wet weather, but well worth the effort. About 5½ miles. #FootpathFriday #CountyDown

@NahMateUK Quite. Throw them a freebie

Juvenal “Bread and circuses” aka Reeves 2026

@JAHeale @WeBackedBoris Quite. He is not a courageous leader but even Burnham may agree to go for an early election. I still think Labour will lose

If Burnham wins Makerfield, can see the argument for a quick election. Full consequences of Iran yet to be felt, most of the difficult spending decisions are backdated to latter half of this parliament. Reform not prepared for government. Will it ever get better than this?

@ShippersUnbound Very revealing profile. If he wins Mackerfield Labour’s best prospect would be for Burnham to call an early General Election. He may do so, but Labour would lose.

The real Andy Burnham, by many who know him well and rose with him spectator.com/article/being-…

@DouglasKMurray @spectator Pretty shocking stuff about Streeting. No Qs about this from @bbcnickrobinson ?

‘My encounter with Wes Streeting.’ My column in this week’s @spectator spectator.com/article/my-enc…

@_quincey To his credit he didn’t succumb to one of my many bribes in order to secure the passage of the Act of Union 😉

#OTD 21 May 1807, William Saurin appointed Attorney General of Ireland. Belfast born (Shankill), for 15 years he dominated and controlled Irish politics. Daniel O’Connell considered him a 'mortal foe’. A prominent Orangeman, he was strongly against the Act of Union

@SartorialThug The debate goes viral. First the political preaching, then the stubble, now the white-soled trainers, (or whatever we are to call them). A variety of questions to answer.

Oh no. This will not do at all. Leave the white soled nonsense to the pundits. His grandfather must be spinning in his grave. I'm *this* far away from joining the "abolish the monarch" bores

@JamesMelville More air conditioning everywhere ?! And the unintended consequences of that ?

It was a maximum temperature of 13°C in North East Fife yesterday. Absolutely boiling.

@PolitlcsUK @clarescastle The truth about Labour dysfunction hits the media; Starmer (brittle as always) is furious; another sacking; our woeful PM carries on.

🚨 NEW: The deputy of the UK Ambassador to the US, James Roscoe, has been sacked He faced questions after top-secret National Security Council discussions, including Cabinet Ministers' verbatim remarks, were leaked to Tim Shipman of The Spectator

@364690 I stopped going to the authorised dealer several years ago. They really do take the absolute ****. A decent local garage now serves me very well.

@Peston @itvnews Streeting and Burnham are making disastrous political calculations. Even if an EU rejoin policy might garner votes from the PLP and the Labour membership, at the next General Election the Labour leader will lose votes over this. All they care about is winning the leadership.

PS Burnham also signals in @itvnews interview that rejoining the EU and scrapping the UK’s first-last-the-post electoral system would be for the next parliament. If he becomes prime minister his immediate priorities would be to increase public ownership and control of vital public services while somehow reducing the national debt (he tells @DanielHewittITV repeatedly that he won’t take excessive risks with the public finances, but provides no detail). And here is his mantra for the totemic Makerfield by-election: “Whitehall and Westminster don’t work for Makerfield.”

@Steven_Swinford @Fox_Claire Even if Burnham doesn’t succeed in becoming an MP, it is blindingly obvious that Starmer is toast. With every day this chaos continues, the country suffers.

Starmer weighs up his future amid fury at 'betrayal' by his Cabinet - The Times's weekend read: * Starmer is spending weekend at Chequers. Friends say that for all the rhetoric about not walking away and public displays of defiance he is seriously considering setting out a timeline for his departure * He feels betrayed by senior figures in the Cabinet who owe their jobs to his landslide majority and his decision to appoint them to high office in the first place * The Times's disclosure that ministers had called for him to set out a timeline for his departure is a particular source of fury. 'It was unforgiveable,' one ally said * The Cabinet consensus is that Starmer has to go - it's just a question of when and how. 'The local election results show that he has lost the country and his speech proved he didn’t have the ability to turn it around,' one Cabinet minister said. 'We’re in a world where it’s either Andy or Wes now.” * Some members of the Cabinet say it will be a coronation for Burnham if he defeats Reform in Makerfield. “If Andy wins Makerfield he will be carried aloft into the Westminster tearooms on the shoulders of Labour MPs. There is simply not a world in which he doesn’t win the leadership so it must be a coronation — because the last thing we need is a damaging leadership battle.” * The briefings against Starmer are increasingly vicious. One senior Labour MP compared him to Gordon Brown, the former Labour prime minister, and accused him of 'squatting' in Number 10. 'It's over, he's in denial' * Some think Starmer has a duty to play caretaker and unifier. “If Burnham wins he needs to preside over a unifying moment for the party and bring the two sides together. It is a lot to ask of him, but it is an essential role. He cannot leave us in such a chaotic state. If he vacates the pitch and lets them fight among themselves it will be a disaster. Someone has to act as a unifier.” * Streeting has not given up on the leadership and will join any contest * For Starmer, the next month threatens to be humiliating. Most of the Cabinet are likely to go out and campaign for Burnham, the man expected to replace him if he wins. All of which could leave him out of power after less than two years in No 10 thetimes.com/uk/politics/ar…

@SteveBakerFRSA @JAHeale @SpecCoffeeHouse in 12 minutes of succinct, informed analysis, Steve Baker highlights why Burnham may lose Mackerfield and the chaos inflicted by Labour

🤔Why has it all gone wrong for Labour?

@AndyBurnhamGM With growth flatlining, high tax and spend continues to damage the British economy. Now the Labour shitshow is really getting going and is set to continue all Summer. Look at the impact it had on Friday alone

I can confirm that I will be requesting the permission of the NEC to stand in the Makerfield by-election. I grew up in this area and have lived here for 25 years. I care deeply about it and its people. I know they have been let down by national politics. Ten years ago, I decided to leave Westminster. Why? Because, after 16 years, I came to the conclusion that our national political system does not work for areas like ours. I learnt this fighting its failure to invest in the Wigan borough, for justice for the Hillsborough families and against its treatment of Greater Manchester during the pandemic. Over the last decade, I have been challenging this failure from the outside and building a new and better way of doing politics. We have built Greater Manchester into the fastest-growing city-region in the UK and put buses back under public control, introducing a £2 fare cap to help people with cost-of-living pressures. However, there is only so much that can be done from Greater Manchester. Much bigger change is needed at a national level if everyday life is to be made more affordable again. This is why I now seek people’s support to return to Parliament: to bring the change we have brought to Greater Manchester to the whole of the UK and make politics work properly for people. Millions are struggling and they need the Labour Government to succeed. It has already made changes to make life better for them in its first two years. After this week, we owe it to people to come back together as a Labour movement, giving the Prime Minister and the Government the space and stability they need as the by-election takes place. I want to recognise the difficult decision taken by Josh Simons and the sacrifice he and his family are making. I have worked closely with him as Mayor on issues like flooding and illegal waste dumping and have seen first-hand how effective he has been. He has put the communities of Makerfield first, made a real difference for them and should take great pride in that. Finally, I truly do not take a single vote for granted and will work hard to regain the trust of people in the Makerfield constituency, many of whom have long supported our party but lost faith in recent times. We will change Labour for the better and make it a party you can believe in again. ENDS

@wself Interesting. He may be a product of our time, but it would be wrong if it were suggested that most other lawyers or professionals have his infuriating failings. Most professionals today function without being w***ers