Lee Anderson says he’s in “campaign mode” up in Blackpool with Reform and he’s missed his scheduled appearance on The Sun’s new politics show. He’s ducked Cole…

Empty chair: Lee Anderson has chickened out of @MrHarryCole‘s new politics show.

Watch #NeverMindTheBallots (without Lee) on https://t.co/sOsZmZ2K9A and The Sun’s YouTube channel from 7pm: https://t.co/SgJzTMSLSK pic.twitter.com/LpUcr2gsAL

— The Sun (@TheSun) March 28, 2024

It was bold from Starmer to go on Sun TV’s first show with Harry Cole. He should have known that Cole would be asking the more fun and personal questions. Still, when asked if he had ever taken drugs, Starmer stonewalled. Harry challenged Keir: “When did you last take illegal drugs?” All Keir would confirm was that “Harry, I had a good time when I was a student”. When asked what a good time was, Keir simply repeated the line “It means I had a good time.” Starmer, characteristically, stayed on the fence.

Guido reminds his readers of an anecdote of a square, slightly fresher faced Starmer. In 1989, the young barrister argued on our behalf that Thames Valley Police had acted unlawfully by setting up roadblocks and confiscating sound equipment to prevent a Sunrise rave from taking place. Amongst small talk with the rave organisers, Starmer told them that during his youth, he had experimented with LSD. Perhaps an attempt to boost his street-cred, though notably he didn’t say a hard no to Harry’s question… 

After Guido exclusively reported all the way back in June last year that The Sun TV was on the way, it’s finally arrived. Harry Cole and The Sun’s lobby team will lead a weekly show called “Never Mind the Ballots” to shed light on the state of politics, hitting airwaves every Thursday. The Sun’s “cabinet” of punters will chime in to give their verdict on the politicians hauled in to face Cole’s questioning. Jeremy Kyle will be upset he’s still attached to TalkTV despite all his rehearsals…

The first guest under The Sun’s spotlight will be Keir Starmer tomorrow. Is it The Sun wot sees the way the wind is blowing?

Harry Cole on activist Civil Servants briefing against Ministers…

“There is a tension between the Civil Servants [and Ministers] being played up by left-wing agitators like Dave Penman from the FDA, who’s clearly now an activist. He’s not your sort of standard union leader representing the poor, downtrodden pinstriped Sir Humphreys. He is a player in this, and so Ministers need to be careful. They need to know that actually, give them an inch and they will be on the front page of the Guardian…”

In rare SW1 scenes, it was the Lobby – not MPs – leaking via Whatsapp this lunchtime.

At 11.19 the Press Gallery chat was lit up by FT pol-ed George Parker forwarding a link to the gov.uk page on tax dividends. Harry Cole promptly thanked Parker for the tip and commiserated with him for buggering up the FT’s splash. 

Sure enough, at half past four, George hit publish on an FT exclusive – that the government is looking at hammering hard-working, self-employed people by halving the current tax-free dividend allowance, and increasing taxes on dividends beyond the annual limit.

Parker’s tweet of the story joked that the scoop was “hinted at exclusively by mistake on the Press Gallery WhatsApp group earlier.”

Guido’s not a member of the Lobby and therefore not privy to the chat. A co-conspirator was only too happy to oblige…

Harry Cole has finally addressed the thus-far unpublished rumour in SW1: that Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng previously enjoyed a sexual relationship.

The rumour has been around for years and following Liz’s victory in the Tory leadership race, and appointment of Kwasi Kwarteng as Chancellor, plenty of news outlets used knowing euphemisms such as ‘political bedfellows’, ‘close allies’ and ‘ideological soulmates’. Now Harry Cole’s finally addressed the rumour in his new biography of Liz:

“The suggestion was from, perhaps, her political enemies and wider-spread Westminster gossip that perhaps there was something more than just friends to Kwasi Kwarteng and Liz Truss. 

“We reveal that their allies, their friends, their supporters that know them best are actually saying they were nothing more than political bedfellows.”

And that’s the end of the matter…