Radio 4’s Today Programme had a segment on the US election this morning. It’s now 11 days away and Trump is ahead…

On that Justin Webb decided to spend a whole 7 minutes discussing Trump’s “his fitness for office or lack of such fitness” and the idea that “he doesn’t understand the Presidency and its responsibilities.” Bob Woodward came on to decry Trump’s high staff turnover and handling of Covid as a “moral felony”…

Webb pressed ex-Trump strategist Sam Nunberg on “the idea that Donald Trump doesn’t really understand the Presidency: the roles and responsibilities of being President of the United States.” Vice-President Harris, who Guido reminds the BBC has never served as President, didn’t even get a mention throughout the segment. Trump Derangement Syndrome is a hell of a thing…

Badenoch’s team briefed yesterday that they were “slightly concerned at possible narrowing of the race… ConHome poll tomorrow rumoured to be positive for Jenrick.” At which point Deputy Editor Henry Hill made clear that he was the only one with the ability to see the score, and even he hadn’t checked it…

The final event in ConHome’s closely-watched leadership polling series has Kemi leading by 24 points at 55%. Jenrick sits on 31% and 14% say they don’t know. Kemi is up 4 points from the beginning of September, Jenrick is down 3. A decisive lead. The poll is of 828 members – the largest number so far…

Jenrick is giving a speech on foreign policy and defence this morning. He better hope it makes an impression…

Labour’s muddled definition of “working people” has now shifted three times in a week, adding to the farcical spectacle surrounding their manifesto tax pledges. Yesterday, Keir Starmer said that Britons earning income from shares or property aren’t “working people.” Sparking fresh fears of looming tax hikes for investors…

In a failed attempt to clarify the “working people” line, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, James Murray, made the morning media rounds. Speaking on the Today Programme, he was asked six times a simple question: “Do landlords work?” And six times, he dodged the question, hiding behind a stream of evasive waffle instead:

This won’t be music to the ears of 2.82 million private landlords in the UK, who now brace for the potential of steep tax hikes in the upcoming budget. Labour has taken the “campaign in poetry, govern in prose” approach to whole new level…

Starmer’s first few months have been more than a little bumpy on the home front. After it emerged that his wife, Lady Vic, had received thousands of pounds worth of clothes from Labour’s human ATM, Lord Alli, she doubled down – making a bold debut at London fashion week on 16 September. On 24^th September she wore a £1,105 designed dress by Edeline Lee at Labour conference in Liverpool – flanked by her husband. Just days earlier, on 14^th September, she had been spotted with Starmer at Doncaster racecourse. It looked like high profile days out in designer clobber would be Lady Vic’s vibe in Downing Street…

But where has she been since? Multiple Labour insiders are raising the question – with regular visitors to Downing Street noting her absence. She’s absent from the wires – which were becoming dominated by snaps of Lady Vic. Downing Street snappers haven’t seen her moving around the area. And Number 10’s own social media channels show no trace. As one bemused Labour wag, almost certainly joking, puts it: “she hasn’t left him, has she!”…