The currently invisible on the channel Darren McCaffrey’s impending departure from GB News means the plum political editor’s job is up for grabs. Speculation is already rife over who will take over the leading role at the UK’s second-biggest dedicated news channel…

• Christopher Hope – Currently Associate Editor (Politics) at The Telegraph. A stalwart of the Lobby and podcaster extraordinaire, surely useful given GB News’ ambitions for their radio station. Chopper’s name is already doing the rounds in the GB Newsroom and would give the insurgent station a big boost. Has notably increased his appearances on the channel recently, even standing in for Andrew Doyle and presenting a full show.
• Tom Harwood – Political correspondent at GB News. Has been at the channel since its launch, has impeccable contacts, knows a story and has concerning levels of energy that would come in handy during the next general election. Might have to sacrifice his love of delivering early morning free market polemics on wonk issues to make time for more mainstream content, though. Shame.
• Camilla Tominey –  Another Telegraph bigwig, currently serving as their Associate Editor and columnist. Has presented the GB News Sunday morning offering for nearly a month now, and in Guido’s opinion is already on a par with Sophy Ridge and Laura Kuenssberg in terms of interview quality.
• Angus Walker – Former ITN political correspondent and Gavin Williamson SpAd. Good broadcaster and Tory-adjacent.
• Gloria de Piero – Former Labour MP with relatively sound Red Wall credentials. Her appointment would surely be a sign the channel is laying the ground for a prolonged period of Labour government. She has a long history of broadcasting, including the BBC and seven years at GMTV, during which time she was the political editor. Has already produced a series of very good interviews with top-level politicians for the channel.
• Kate McCann – Political editor at TalkTV. A very similar job opportunity to the one she’s currently doing, albeit with a guaranteed higher viewership.
• Dehenna Davison MP – Currently Tory MP for Bishop Auckland, though she took SW1 by surprise when announcing she’d be standing down at the next election. Has already presented a show on the channel, and has proved she’s more than willing to be a thorn in the side of the Tory government.
• Matt Chorley – The top choice for all those TimesRadio listeners who feel continually disappointed they only get to hear his lilting tones rather than see the face they’re coming from. Could even appear on the channel’s humorous paper review show to nick some jokes for his next ‘stand up’ tour.

Good luck…

Ben Wallace has confirmed the scrapping of the proposed £250 million national flagship, the successor to the Royal Yacht Britannia. The new ship – which was supposed to be named after the late Prince Phillip – had been a project of the Boris era, and was intended to serve both as a tribute to the Royals and to attract global trade to Britain. Now, sadly, it’s been abandoned. Commiserations, Chopper. Talk about sunk costs…

It’s time for Guido’s daily Piers update, and last night’s figures make even worse reading for his TalkTV team in West London, which is now disowned by many of the executives in the Baby Shard. Piers was once again beaten by Nigel Farage, though the margin of his hammering rose from 14,800 views shy of Nigel to 36,500, two thirds higher. Dan Wootton also beat Piers, by 20,400 views.

This is especially embarrassing for Piers and his team given they were so excited at having an ‘exclusive’ interview with the Taliban spokesman – after he’d been interviewed by almost everybody else in the media. Farage managed to knock these ratings out of the park with… The Telegraph’s Christopher Hope. Until tomorrow…

On the Daily Politics today the Daily Telegraph’s Christopher Hope quoted an MP saying fishing was a small part of its economy “Harrods, the shop, has a bigger turnover than fish in terms of value for this country”. This is something Guido has heard before and read in the FT. Is it true?

According to government statistics, in 2019, the UK imported 721 thousand tonnes of sea fish, with a value of £3,457 million. It exported 452 thousand tonnes with a value of £2,004 million. Harrods turned over £869 million in the same year. So no, it is not true.Read More

The Lobby Chairman Christopher Hope has just announced to hacks in the room that live tweeting from Downing Street press briefings will now be permitted.

Lobby Chairman Chris Hope has just announced to the room that because Guido is live tweeting the meeting, everyone is allowed to file or tweet as things happen now.

— Guido Fawkes (@GuidoFawkes) January 23, 2020

All the disingenuous arguments about why the briefing could not possibly be reported in realtime have been blown away.

An incredible U-turn – White House-style live streaming video of the press briefing is a step nearer today…

The Lobby did not take kindly to Guido’s live-Tweeting transparency initiative today, as one-by-one Lobby hacks erupted into a cacophony of complaints that their cartel is being chipped away. All in a day’s work…

James Slack is now starting the Downing Street briefing this morning #No10Briefing pic.twitter.com/ebiV4rjO2H

— Guido Fawkes (@GuidoFawkes) January 21, 2020

Urgent clarification was sought from half-a-dozen journalists over whether the Number 10 briefing was only for the Lobby or not. The Prime Minister’s spokesman James Slack told the room the rules of Downing Street’s press briefings are determined by the lobby for members of the lobby. As Guido is not a signed-up member of the cartel, this was useful to hear reiterated…

One hack spitefully joined in with the chaotic chorus, saying Guido reporters “aren’t really journalists.” In the heat of the moment Lobby Chairman Chris Hope agreed – something for which he has since apologised. Assorted Lobby hacks asked what the punishment would be for journalists breaking their self-imposed rules. They were none-too-impressed when Slack reminded the Lobby they enforce their rules for their members and Number 10 was not going to get involved…

One hack complained that Guido named the Prime Minister’s spokesman as James Slack, saying “you’re spokesman, aren’t you?” Slack retorted “It’s been convention that I’ve not been named, but some news agencies name me and others don’t. I have no view either way.” This current government is, after all, not afraid to break with precedent…

After around ten minutes of hectoring, Slack wearily asked the Lobby if they had any questions that weren’t to do with themselves, and pertained to actual Government business. They reluctantly accepted…

The post-meeting huddle – led by the chief instigators of the cacophony – Tom Newton Dunn and Pippa Crerar – cornered Slack to demand a discussion about who can turn up to the briefings, presumably pushing for even more of a closed shop. Which would be a bizarre move given the Lobby claims to be all about embracing transparency…