... and yes, whach her shoes choice. That will show what direction UK will take. By the way, ... Ouch!!!
| Good morning. The treachery of Michael Gove, the ambition of Andrea Leadsom, Theresa May telling more jokes, Boris Johnson delivering a "punchline" with no laughs... There was a point yesterday afternoon when I just gave up. It was impossible to keep track of everything that was happening, and I thought it best to return to it this morning. I was not the only one struggling with the news avalanche. Every day at 3.45pm, lobby journalists climb the stairs to a small room at the top of parliament to put questions to the prime minister's official spokesman. It is a way of taking the government to task on the big issues of the day. But as power seeps from No 10, yesterday's briefing was cancelled "given the news elsewhere". It seems that we are now officially without a government. Just when the day could not get more weird, the Commons debated whether Lindsay Lohan should turn on the Christmas lights in Kettering to apologise for her views on Brexit. And that's even without the utter breakdown of the Labour party. | ||
| Matt Chorley Red Box Editor @MattChorley | ||
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| THE NEXT PM |
| Waiting for the punchline |
| "He who wields the knife, never wears the crown." Mere words are no longer enough. A year's worth of political events happen in the space of an hour, and no one knows how to describe it. The day began with Theresa May ahead in a poll, by 9am Michael Gove was launching a leadership bid, quickly followed by Andrea Leadsom. And then, shortly before midday, the political career of Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson went up in smoke, as he withdrew from the race he had spent his adult life preparing for. After setting out the task of the new prime minister, he gulped and declared: "My friends, you have waited for the punchline of this speech, that having consulted colleagues and in view of the circumstances in parliament I have concluded that person cannot be me." All this less than a week after he celebrated triumphing over his old mate Dave, knifing the prime minister and taking the country to the brink. If there was a suspicion that Johnson's heart was not really in Brexit, Gove confirmed it, first in his statement announcing his run for the job and later in an interview making clear that he had seen "up close and personal how Boris dealt with some of the decisions we needed to make in order to take this country forward". It is the most damaging aspect of the downfall of Johnson, that he was found out by those who had come to know him best. Gove had pledged to back him for the leadership on Friday, but doubts grew, he failed to prove his credentials as a true Brexit leader, so he had to go. Gove launches his leadership bid with a speech this morning making his pitch as the ultra-Brexit candidate, determined that Out means Out. But he is hampered by the knowledge that he is not popular with the public, even before urging Johnson to knife the prime minister before turning the knife on his sidekick. "It was a total cuckoo-in-the-nest operation right from the beginning," one Boris Johnson ally said. Another called it "treachery of the highest order". The Times splashes on claims that Johnson had offered to pull out of the race to become prime minister in return for an assurance from May that she would stand down before the 2020 election. The offer is said to have been made to some of May's aides in the hours after the vote to leave the EU. It demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of how May operates. She doesn't do deals, is a phrase often heard in Westminster. As she described herself in her speech yesterday: "I do not tour the television studios, I do not gossip about people over lunch, I do not go drinking in parliament's bars, I do not often wear my heart on my sleeve. I just get on with the job in front of me." That job is now much easier without Johnson in the race. May now becomes the hot favourite, boosted by news today that the Daily Mail is backing her with a screaming front page endorsement. (Which should be interesting for the Mail's columnist, Sarah Vine, aka Mrs Gove, whose fingerprints appear to be all over the crime scene of Johnson's demise.) The race is completed by Stephen Crabb, who wants to be standard bearer for a new generation of Tory modernisers, and Liam Fox. The contest will be less exciting without Johnson, but maybe we've all had enough excitement to last us a lifetime. One of the brightest stars of the Conservative Party has burnt out, and politics will be a little less colourful because of it. |
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| There is a very deep pit reserved in Hell for such as he. #Gove |
| - James Berry, Conservative MP |
| May's swift U-turns |
| One a day of political treachery and plotting, there was policy too. Theresa May ditchedGeorge Osborne's austerity policies and her own pledge to pull Britain out of the European Convention on Human Rights as she sought to clear her path to No 10. Read the story She also showed her new love of telling jokes, including this zinger: "Boris negotiated in Europe. I seem to remember last time he did a deal with the Germans, he came back with three nearly-new water cannon." Little knowing that the need to hose down her rival would have passed within hours. Patrick Mcloughlin, the transport secretary and former chief whip, backs May in The Sun.Michael Fallon, the defence secretary, is also on board. Not a lot is known about the home secretary, which is now part of her appeal, but Sean O'Neill has pulled together a great profile of her, including the revelation that at home in Sonning, Berkshire, she has upwards of 100 cookbooks but not a single one by Delia Smith, whose recipes she finds far too prescriptive. She prefers the "handful of this, handful of that"Jamie Oliver approach. Read the full profile |
| Boris and the forgotten people |
| Lord Heseltine, who knows a thing or two about being a political assassin and is credited with coining the adage about the wielding of knives and wearing of crowns, had no sympathy for Boris Johnson at all. "He's ripped the Tory party apart; he has created the greatest constitutional crisis in modern times; he's knocked billions off the value of the nation's savings ... He must live with the shame of what he's done," Heseltine fumed. "He is like a general who led his army to the sound of guns and at the sight of the battlefield abandoned the field. I have never seen such a contemptible and irresponsible situation." After declaring himself out of the race, Johnson had vowed to "stick up for the forgotten people of this country". But his interventions will carry much less weight than the days when he was a challenger for the throne. |
| Make a note |
| The Sun has an intriguing line about how Boris Johnson wrote a note for Andrea Leadsom, apparently promising to make her chancellor, but she never got it. A promised tweet also failed to materialise. So she decided to go it alone. |
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| If BORIS Johnson OR NIGEL Farage,ACTUALLY Had To RUN Something,…LIKE A COUNTRY…. THEY'D |
| Cher |
| @cher |
| View tweet |
| Tory leadership runners and riders |  |
| Interest rates could fall to shore up Britain |
| If you were wondering what was happening in the economic crisis triggered by the Brexit vote, don't worry ... it's still there. George Osborne tweeted this morning: "Clear signs of economic shock in aftermath of Leave vote. Will require supreme national effort but we can come through this challenge." Interest rates are on course to be cut within the next two months as the Bank of England moves to shore up plummeting business and consumer confidence and spending in the wake of the EU referendum result. Read the story |
| 400% rise in hate crime |
| Reports of hate crime have leapt by more than 400 per cent in the week since Brexit, police revealed yesterday. The 331 incidents reported to True Vision, an online police portal, were more than five times the weekly average of 63, according to the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC). Read the story |
| Send for Mr Tony |
| Tony Blair pops up in the Telegraph to offer his pearls of wisdom. He claims that the Labour party is "effectively disabled" so turns to the Tory party to run its leadership contest "with genuine patriotic regard for our nation's interest". He also questions Theresa May's suggestion of having a Minister for Brexit, and warns of the damage Nigel Farage has done to Britain with his rants in the European Parliament. Calling for "serious statesmanship", he sets out what "we" need to do in negotiating with the EU. Would someone like to play a role in the talks? |
| Brexit in brief |
| Grin and bear itMinutes after his Old Etonian nemesis abandoned all hope of ever being prime minister, David Cameron was walking through Portcullis House with a huge smile on his face. He could only have looked more delighted at Boris Johnson's downfall if he had been doing cartwheels through the nearby water feature. Watch the birdyMore evidence of BBC bias, this time in the Tory leadership contest. On the day after the hirsute minister Stephen Crabb launched his bid, Radio 4's early morning birdsong Tweet of the Day featured a "bearded tit". Read more, including Boris Johnson's lunch date and Toby Young's £15,000 loss |
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| Groom left at the altar after bride flirts with best man | |||
| Patrick Kidd | |||
| It was a fitting backdrop against which to announce the survivors in the leadership bloodbath. As the chairman of the 1922 committee read out the famous five, the eye was drawn to the Kate Blee tapestry behind him, showing a series of large red splodges that resembled Sweeney Todd's kitchen worktop. Read the full sketch |
| SW1 |
| Cameron knew the game was up |
| Today's exclusive extract from Cameron at 10: The Verdict by Anthony Seldon and Peter Snowdon on the day the prime minister resigned: The study filled up with advisers and officials who normally attend the daily 8.30am strategy meeting. Some suggested that only a few should be present but Cameron insisted on addressing them all. "We are where we are. We didn't win. We've got to get on and do what we've got to do," he told them. He then read out the resignation speech that had been hastily rewritten and which he had to deliver shortly to the waiting media. Few could bring themselves to watch him as he did so and stared at the floor, failing to stop emotion getting the better of them. |
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| Let's take off our 'Leave' and 'Remain' badges and believe in Britain | |||
| Andrew RT Davies | |||
| Leader of the Welsh Conservatives | |||
| The prophets of doom and the independence mongers alike are wrong to take such a warped view of the referendum result. It was this same detachment from public understanding that gave rise to the referendum in the first place. They would do well to lift their eyes to the sky and consider the limitless potential that now lies ahead of us and to embrace the outcome. Instead they seem intent on clinging to a little Britain mentality. A globally facing Britain is what is now needed. Read the full article on theRed Box website |
| CORBYN'S LABOUR |
| He said WHAT? |
| During the referendum campaign the Remain camp used to complain that Labour just could not make the news: the Tory soap opera was so all-enthralling that Jeremy Corbyn's half-heartedness failed to secure airtime or column inches. Since last Thursday Labour has certainly lifted its game in that regard, finding new and innovative ways to punch through the news agenda. From the frontbench resigning en masse, a vote of no confidence ... And now my Times colleague Michael Savage brings the latest in his series of "intros you never thought you'd write": "Jeremy Corbyn has been denounced by the chief rabbi after he appeared to compare Israel to the Islamic State terrorist group during an event designed to confront claims of antisemitism within the Labour Party." The Labour leader has now been reported to his own party for the comments made at the launch of an antisemitism report yesterday. The event descended further into acrimony when a Jewish Labour MP, Ruth Smeeth, left in tears, saying that she had been insulted by a hard-left activist. |
| Not going anywhere |
| Oh, and Corbyn still refuses to go. There have been more resignations from his front bench and demands by more than 500 local councillors for him to go. Labour moderates were trying to broker an exit deal for their leader but he remained defiant. But there are straws in the wind. Last night Streatham Labour party voted 53-13 for Corbyn to resign. Camberwell passed a vote of no confidence by 32 to 15. "The members are really turning against Corbyn," said one despairing Labour member. Labour moderates are now trying to broker an exit deal for Corbyn that would hand one of his left-wing allies a place in a leadership contest, but Angela Eagle last night pulled the plug on her own bid, leaving the party in even more of a mess. |
| Poll: Corbyn would still win... just |
| Ratings for Jeremy Corbyn have dipped among Labour Party members but he would still beat any challenger in a leadership contest, according to a YouGov poll for The Times. Now 50 per cent say they would still vote for Corbyn in a leadership contest, down from 64 per cent in May. Neither Angela Eagle nor Tom Watson would beat him, according to the survey. And last night it emerged that 60,000 people have joined the Labour Party in the past week. What we don't know is whether they are part of the #KeepCorbyn or #SaveLabour movements. |
| Stepping up |
| A quick mention for Paul Flynn, who made his debut as a shadow cabinet minister in the Commons yesterday at the age of 81. Maybe he should celebrate like another 81-year-old, Dame Judi Dench, who has just got a tattoo. |
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| Have you been paying attention this week? |
| 1. Boris Johnson once said there was more chance of finding which celebrity on the moon than him becoming prime minister? |
| 2. Paul Flynn made an appearance at the despatch box yesterday as shadow Commons leader at the age of 81. He spent two years on the front bench under Neil Kinnock, covering which briefs? |
| 3. Crabb, Fox, Eagle. It's been a good week for animal surnames. Which prominent Brexiteer's maiden name was Salmon? |
| 4. Who was shadow education secretary for two days? |
| 5. Who said this week of Britain's split from the EU: "Married or divorced, but not something in between. We are not on Facebook, with 'It's complicated' as a status"? |
| Answers on the Red Box website at midday as usual |
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| Friday's best comment |
| 1. Knife-wielding Gove deserves the Tory crown |
| - Philip Collins, The Times |
| 2. MPs are fiddling while the economy burns |
| - Ed Conway, The Times |
| 3. Having led his troops to the sound of guns, Boris Johnson now abandons his army within sight of the battlefield |
| - Lord Heseltine, The Daily Telegraph |
| 4. Michael made an odd assassin – but then Boris was a strange Caesar |
| - Gaby Hinslif, The Guardian |
| 5. The closer you get, the less you like Boris |
| - Sonia Purnell, The Sun |
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| THE TIMES |
| "Mrs May is the competent candidate who needs to show she has a vision equal to the moment. Mr Gove is the visionary who needs to prove his competence. The consolation for the country at this anxious moment is that both are surely capable of rising to the challenge."Read more |
| DAILY MAIL |
| "For the sake of a Conservative Party that is at risk of imploding and a normally tolerant Britain that is currently so divided, this paper believes MPs and the nation should unite behind Mrs May as quickly as possible. The need for a new era of cleaner, more honest, gimmick-free politics has never been greater. " Read more |
| THE GUARDIAN |
| "It is a situation that cries out for serious leadership, to win popular assent for one imperfect path or another. Without it, the country could end up paralysed, and the people feeling betrayed. At Westminster, however, many politicians seem too consumed with betraying each other to care." Read more |
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