Hard political times over the last few years clearly left tired and stressed Downing Street staffers reaching for the tissues at times, though not to console an emotional Theresa May. New Freedom of Information request data seen by Guido reveals devices logged into No. 10’s wifi attempted to access hardcore porn websites 2,300 times in the three years between November 2016 and November 2019. For some reason the data stops after Boris moved in…

While the vast majority of attempted r-rated visits came from “guest” devices – what No. 10 attributes to “non-civil servants who are present in the building for various events, such as training.”, 94 of the 2,300 attempts came from full-time employees. The FoI request specified visits to sites including Pornhub, Redtube, Xhamster, Youporn, extremetube and literotica – the last of which proved most popular with 637 successful viewings during the three years…

Given the data covers almost all of Theresa May’s time in office, it’s ironic that a ministry attempting to introduce an internet porn ban completely failed to keep its own affairs in order: despite the Cabinet Office claiming there are filters in place to ban access to adult sites, Guido’s sums show 63% of the requests slipped through the net. Guido guesses Philip had to keep himself occupied somehow…

From Paul, Tom and Christian, to all of you…

Among the usual morning media round interviewees, Right Said Fred appeared on Kay Burley’s show to promote their forthcoming anti-lockdown song “We are all criminals” (a reworking of an older track), and hit out against the latest lockdown and its effect on the arts industry, mental health and residence over other health emergencies such as cancer screenings. The extended clip is well worth a watch…

Right Said Fred aren’t the only artists making news today over their opposition to lockdown. Robbie Williams’ new Christmas single, I Can’t Stop Christmas, also rails against lockdown with lyrics like “let’s lie to Santa Clause, tell him it’s 1984,” and “Nothing’s going to stop Christmas… you can’t take away our season.”

Despite Sadiq coming out in opposition to the clearly counterproductive 10 pm curfew policy, it took the owner of one of Guido’s favourite restaurant haunts – Boisdale – to eke out Starmer’s position on the hospitality-destroying early end time. Sir Keir told Nick Ferrari this morning that he wants to see a review of the policy when the second lockdown ends, with an eye to replacing it with staggered end times so everyone doesn’t spill out into the streets – and off licences – at the same time.

“I can understand what the government was trying to achieve to be honest, but it didn’t work, and we saw people crowding out at 10 o’clock. There’s a smarter way of doing this and I think if you were to stagger that time differently so that people left at different times it would be far better”

If the government’s still keen on listening to the experts, they could do worse than to take Sir Keir’s advice on how to u-turn…

If the pandemic has had one upside, it’s capturing forever footage of every MP’s meeting for Guido to pore over, now unearthing this clip of shadow communities and local government secretary Steve Reed confessing to “stay off the drugs” for the duration of the Zoom chat, only to be reminded it was being recorded at which point he desperately asked the organisers to “delete that bit first then”. Guido suggests Labour policy discussions would be much more watchable if shadow ministers ignored Steve’s advice…

The owner of iconic London gay clubs G-A-Y and Heaven has this morning launched a legal challenge against the Government’s hospitality curfew. G-A-Y CEO Jeremy Joseph has instructed Kings Chambers barristers, including Sam Karim QC, Sarah Clover and Leo Charalambides, along with Dan Rosenberg of Simpson Miller Solicitors to challenge the counterproductive curfew that is crippling the the Hospitality and Entertainment Industry in particular. In a statement, Joseph said:

“This Government has failed to show why the 10.00 pm curfew was put in place and has published no scientific evidence to substantiate its implementation…”

“Enough is Enough. Matt Hancock and Boris Johnson have to be made accountable and today we have instructed our legal team with the support of the NTIA to serve the Government with a Pre-Action Protocol for Judicial Review to challenge the decision to implement the national curfew of 10.00pm on the hospitality sector.“

The action, supported by the Night Time Industries Association, stresses how Joseph has been supportive of other decisions made by the Government naming “social distancing and other measures to protect the safety of their patrons“, and stresses the “arbitrary” and illogical nature of the curfew. Tory backbenchers are finding unlikely allies in the fight for freedom…