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…

Starmer and his team touched down in Samoa this morning after flying for a ridiculous 27 hours (not including refuelling stops). Accompanied by the usual gaggle of lobby journalists looking forward to putting out all the same lines about the PM, just from a different location…

Broadcasters and print hacks paid about £4,750 to fly with Keir, or an eye-watering £10,000 if they were lucky enough to score business class. What do they get for their cash?

• Thunder and showers disrupting the official itinerary.
• A short CHOGM event being hijacked by campaigners demanding the UK pay reparations for slavery…while Starmer tries to talk about trade instead.
• Official snubs from Commonwealth leaders, including Modi and Ramaphosa who are at Putin’s BRICS summit in Russia. Hilariously even Trudeau didn’t bother to come, sending his high commissioner to London in his place. The Canadian PM did however send doughnuts when the plane stopped for fuel in Winnipeg, which were promptly eaten by the lobby, a big news moment…

Lobby hacks who stayed home are feeling smug as more interesting news ploughs on in dry London. One says: “You literally couldn’t have paid me to go on this one.” And they’ve got to fly all the way back…

New RAJAR figures have dropped for the third quarter of this year. It’s more happy reading for GB News…

GB News Radio, which is just a simulcast of GB News TV, has now managed to overtake Talk Radio with a weekly audience of 611,000. It overtook Times Radio last quarter and has just clinched the spot for fastest growing radio brand..

GB’s audience is up a whopping 54% in the last twelve months – 18% higher than August. Listeners are staying tuned for 30% more hours – in particular to Good Afternoon Britain with Emily Carver and Guido alumnus Tom Harwood, which is up 95%. LBC still rules the non-BBC roost while the weekly reach of the BBC’s regional and local stations is down 14% year-on-year and 6% compared with last quarter. People are voting with their ears…

Elon Musk continues on his mission to point out woke British politics, rinsing the SNP for claiming there are 24 genders. The Nats’ official guidance includes terms like “genderqueer,” for anyone who identifies as “other than male or female” or a “combination” of both, and “pangender,” for those who feel “all possible genders at once.” A creative way to look busy…

🥜

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 21, 2024

J.K. Rowling jumped into the fray on X, declaring that the “Scottish endarkenment gathers pace” in response to the long list. Elon summed it up with a “nuts” emoji. Pun intended?

Surprise, surprise – the Chinese press is celebrating Lammy’s obsequious visit to Beijing. The Global Times says “the visit may have the purpose for the UK to review and adjust its China policy.” The state-run paper says it’s about abandoning Tory opposition to the regime:

“The Labour government needs to change the UK’s chaotic China policy over the past decade or so, therefore the visit could be an attempt to stabilize and improve the relationship with Beijing… Although the new Labour government reportedly seeks less confrontational ties with China and to resume trade and investment talks, they still need to balance the impact of the Conservative Party. To bring China-UK relations back on track, the Keir Starmer administration needs to make a clear distinction between its China policy and that of the Conservative Party… the UK should reassess its China policy from a more practical and impartial perspective.”

The praise doesn’t stop there:

• Xinhua celebrates that the UK and China will “have in-depth communication on enhancing strategic mutual trust and strengthening dialogue and cooperation in various fields.“
• China Daily points out that since Labour has come to power “China and the UK have seen good momentum in exchanges at various levels, as senior officials from the two countries, including ministers, have held talks or made phone calls covering areas such as economy, finance, diplomacy and energy.“
• People’s Daily says the governments will now “strive for mutual benefits and a win-win situation, and promote the sustained and steady growth of bilateral relations.“

Obviously none of them bother mentioning the FCDO’s briefing to concerned Western journalists that Lammy will “raise human rights concerns about China’s treatment of the Uyghurs and its support of the Russian war in Ukraine.” Cursory castigation from Lammy which will be ignored…

China sees this as a sign that Labour is taking the opposite approach to the Tories. Lammy has walked into the dragon’s mouth…

SW1 tuned into GB News last night for coverage of its Tory leadership event: Decision Time: The Race to Lead. Chris Hope compèred with questions from the audience aimed at the candidates. Badenoch won the room by the end…

Guido has had sight of the BARB figures for the night. At its peak GB News reached 152,600 viewers for its leadership event – remaining well above 100,000 throughout the two hours of coverage. Sky News had 80,600 and the BBC 70,400 concurrently. GB beat its two rivals’ combined figures…

GB has been leading broadcast coverage of the Tory leadership race. Hosting the only quasi-debate that the leadership camps have managed to agree to so far is a win…