After ignoring its own Deputy Leader since the day she cruised to victory, Labour has finally admitted Lucy Powell exists with a 30-second video shared on X and Facebook. Not Instagram yet, for some reason…
Guido pointed out Powell’s absence from Labour’s online portals on Friday. She is still virtually invisible on the party website, and until now had not appeared on Labour social media channels since October. Guido is happy to help out. Powell is hosting a “Lucy Listens” online event for members tonight. The top comment on Facebook is currently “Congratulations and Good luck on the new Liebour comedy podcast”…
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.”