Tory grandee Jacob Rees-Mogg – who lost his North East Somerset seat to ex-Labour MP Dan Norris – was on Newsnight yesterday. Dan Norris was suspended by Labour after he was arrested on suspicion of rape and child sex offences last month…
Speculation on whether Rees-Mogg would run again, were there to be a by-election – and for which party – has been rife. Last night, he called for an electoral pact between Reform and the Tories, telling the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire:
“If we oppose each other, we let Labour win large majorities, and that makes no sense. So we want to come together, we want to co-operate, we want to put the national interest ahead of party pride.”
Both Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage have ruled out a national pact between the parties. Rees-Mogg also didn’t rule out standing for Reform…
Tom Baldwin, author of Starmer’s hagiography, spoke to Times Radio:
Tom Baldwin: “I think he’d like to do something. He’s very dutiful and driven by service. That’s why he came into politics. I think that’s characterised his time as prime minister. He hasn’t always sought popularity or been good at being popular. But I think he has some of the necessary qualities that we actually do want in a prime minister. That resilience, that relentlessness, that ability to carry the weight and the job really does weigh very heavily on people and he carries that weight very, very well.”
Jo Coburn: “NATO Secretary-General?”
Tom Baldwin: “I think that’s something that he would be interested in. I think it probably requires Andy Burnham’s government to support him in that and these are some of the questions which Andy Burnham has to resolve quite quickly.”