Over the weekend Twitter was trending with news that Boris was yet again doomed because Jonathan Harmsworth (Lord Rothermere) had turned against him. Guido has tracked down the sources of this conspiracy theory…
On Saturday night Tim Walker tweeted about an article he had written for the New European – where Alastair Campbell is Editor-at-Large – which claimed:
It’s over now for Johnson. The Mail papers were his last defenders. They’ve given up on him now, too. The dynamic here was Rothermere and his concern for his papers and Dacre and his concern for his peerage. Rothermere has had enough of that. … Trust me, this change of direction is seismic.
Likewise, Adam Bienkov, political editor of the conspiracy website Byline Times, joined in by opining on Sunday:
The Mail turning on Boris Johnson means the last prop keeping him in power is starting to fall. If it weren’t for his few remaining press supporters, Johnson would have long ago been forced out of Downing Street.
Tim Walker had some kind of breakdown over Brexit, and Adam Bienkov has written for a decade about the coming collapse of Boris. Their followers lapped it up and it was trending on Twitter with much rejoicing and admiration for the new-found wisdom of Lord Rothermere. Monday came, and this morning’s Mail leader will have unravelled all their hopes:
A Daily Mail editorial, fulsome with praise and advice for Boris that suggests perhaps the paper hasn’t turned against him. As it “asserts this paper unequivocally believes Boris Johnson is the right man to lead the party and the country”. Walker and Bienkov have yet to explain how their seismic weekend scoop has unravelled on Monday…
Big changes afoot over at Northcliffe House as Mail+ – the online branch of the Daily Mail definitely not to be confused with the Mail Online – makes some major changes to cut losses. Guido learns that Michael Crick has gone along with most of their video team being made redundant last month. Editor Gordon Thompson has also left, supposedly of his own accord. It is noticeable that the production of expensive original video content is being dropped at a number of digital media outlets. Clearly Lord Rothermere, like Guido, is unable to figure out how to make news-focused video content commercially viable…
The Mail mole who alerted Guido to the Mail’s de-Cricking also said that, amid rumours of a £20 million loss, Andrew Pierce and Sarah Vine are also facing the loss of their podcasts. No doubt they’ll be relieved not to do them…
As if his newfound commitment to low taxes wasn’t enough, Sir Keir’s now doubling down on his efforts to infuriate the far left ahead of conference. According to BFAWU union president, Ian Hodson, Labour has banned Socialist Appeal from reporting from the Brighton conference this weekend – yet to the annoyance of some comrades accrediting The Sun and offering a double hall stand to GB News:
“Hearing the s@# will be in the @UKLabour conference but they have banned #SocalistAppeal from being able to report on the conference. How did we get here Trade unionists Anti racists should be absolutely livid, that the hate filled rag is attending conference #JFT97“
Skwawkbox insists the party is “fundamentally diseased” if it allows the “the foul rag” (“The S*n”) to show up, and is calling the decision an act of “moral cowardice and bankruptcy”. Socialist Appeal will always be able to keep up with Labour conference’s goings-on via Guido, who will certainly be attending…
Guido understands from a Daily Mail source that Peter Oborne‘s services as a columnist are no longer required. Oborne has been rampaging around broadcast studios for the last few days railing at the corruption of the Lobby and their “Downing Street sources”. His targets of attack included the political journalists of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday, his now former employers. As yet this is officially unconfirmed. Peter is not answering his phone either. It is of course a Friday…
UPDATE: Alex Bannister, managing editor at the Daily Mail, gets in touch to insist that it is Peter himself who has decided to quit his column and not renew his year-long contract, which has entirely coincidentally come to an end in the same week he launched a tirade against his colleagues on the newspaper. He may still contribute pieces to the paper apparently…
UPDATE: Peter surfaces:
I’ve not been fired. I’m giving up my weekly column on the Daily Mail but look forward to writing for the Mail and other publications in the future.
— Peter Oborne (@OborneTweets) October 25, 2019
After 19 years at the Mail on Sunday Lobby legend Simon Walters is off to their bitterest rival paper, the Daily Mail. The four times Political Journalist of the Year becomes the Assistant Editor (Politics). He will be spending most of his time in Northcliffe House and leaving the Lobby. What does this mean for the Brexit coverage in the paper that has been as staunch as any on the issue? Incoming editor Geordie Grieg might want to move the coverage to a less bombastic tone. If the paper moved to take an anti-Brexit line this would surely create a commercially dangerous cognitive dissonance in the readership…
The Sun, the Daily Mail and the Telegraph look to be losing patience with Theresa May’s weakness on Brexit. In the last few weeks their leader columns and opinion pages have issued increasingly ominous warnings to the Prime Minister to change course. The Sun has repeatedly called on her to prepare for no deal and suggested she should be removed if she doesn’t get a grip. The usually ultra-loyal Mail has blasted her for allowing Brexit to drift. The Telegraph is talking about her leading Britain into a worst of all worlds Brexit. These are all from the last ten days…
The Sun, June 2:
“When will the Prime Minister and her Cabinet stand up for them — and for Brexit in full? Instead, the whiff of panic emanates from Downing Street. The Government has no idea what deal it wants. The latest plan for the Irish border has been trashed overnight. No10 regurgitates clichés to mask its confusion… Mrs May cannot kick the can any further down the road. She must be realistic, assertive and brave. There are talented Tories around her. If this PM can’t bring her party with her and lead us fully out of the EU, with no deal if necessary, she must make way for someone who can.”
The Sun, June 3:
“Even Leave voters fear the Government is botching Brexit… the chaos on the Continent from Spain to Italy is proof that we were absolutely correct to leave the EU… but if the Prime Minister looks like steering us to a bad Brexit, somebody else will need to take the wheel.”
The Sun, June 11:
“We must be in a strong enough position at the negotiating table that we’re willing to walk away. The Prime Minister has shown admirable backbone in the past, taking on the policing unions as Home Secretary and in her robust response to terrorism.”
Daily Mail, June 4:
“On Brexit, though it grieves the Mail to say it, Theresa May has allowed a profoundly worrying sense of drift to develop. Indeed, she has given the impression of a captain of a mutinous crew, sailing a rudderless ship across a turbulent sea, unsure herself where she wants to go… Mrs May has seemed willing to sit back while the bibulous Jean-Claude Juncker and his cronies sneer at our country and accuse her of ‘living in fantasy land’ if she believes we can leave the EU unpunished. The time has surely come for her to go on the attack, slapping down Remoaners, boosting the wilting morale of the pro-Brexit majority and telling Mr Juncker and Co that they are the fantasists if they think they can humiliate the UK with impunity. This is a great country, with great opportunities opening up to us. Mrs May needs to find the language to proclaim this from the rooftops.”
Daily Mail, June 7
“She needs to channel the same strength and resolve she showed in facing down Russia after the Salisbury poison attack and go on the offensive. She must set out her detailed blueprint for our post-Brexit future and start preparing seriously for the prospect of no deal… Mr Barnier is in a far weaker position than he pretends. Mrs May should get tough and call his bluff.”
Juliet Samuel in The Telegraph, June 11:
“Accepting ECJ rule and free movement will be electorally toxic, but agreeing to Irish Sea border checks will cost her much-needed DUP support in Parliament. Because this latter concern is a more immediate threat to her power, she will almost certainly choose to keep Britain inside the single market and customs union. This will be a dreadful result. We’ll give up our MEPs and officials in Brussels, but still be subject to its rules. Any other option, whether it’s staying in the EU, leaving with no deal, or surrendering Northern Ireland, would be a better outcome. Instead, inexorably, our Prime Minister is leading us towards the worst of all possible worlds.”
The message is clear to Number 10. Change course or lose the confidence of the right-leaning press…
