As Starmer walked into No 10 back in July you could hear the collective chest-puffing of left-wing pundits everywhere. Years, if not decades, of stable, adult government awaited them…
93 days later and Downing Street seem to have conducted a speed run of scandal. Ending with the undignified departure of Sue Gray…
Those pundits must be feeling hot under the collar today. Here are their highlights:
It turns out Krishnan doesn’t have to worry about that after all. Soubry struck the same note…
Andrew Marr said: “For the first time in many of our lives, actually Britain looks like a little haven of peace and stability”. The Guardian’s John Crace said: “The grownups are back in Westminster. The Tory psychodramas inside No 10 have been replaced by a serious Labour government focused on delivery. It’s going to take time for all of us to make the adjustment.” Meanwhile unpaid Starmer propagandist Ian Dunt isn’t taking the news so well…
Beth Rigby might have to start reporting on something other than Starmer’s views on football and Angela Rayner’s clothing accessories:
James O’Brien naturally went on about how the “grown ups are back in charge.” It’s a sad day for Labour superfan Marina Purkiss too. No doubt Starmer’s sacking of Gray will soon be hailed as a masterstroke worthy of such a serious and adult politician…
Amid the media’s renewed interest in Starmer’s freebie-taking, ITV’s Political Editor Robert Peston thought he’d have a go. Yesterday’s afternoon exclusive on the ITV website declared: “Starmer gifted use of a hospitality box by Arsenal football club”, revealing that the club is providing an entire “corporate box for him, his family and his protection officers.” Quite the story when it comes to the freebie-mad PM…
By this morning Peston has been forced to put out an update stating that “the club is keen for the world to know there is no formal arrangement with the PM.” The club has shot down the story – Peston pondered that this was “a funny thing”…
Here is a funny thing. I am slightly struck, via Arsenal sources, that the club is keen for the world to know there is no formal arrangement with the PM! Not that I said there was. I did not say Arsenal “gifted” the minister permanent use of a specific box for his exclusive use… https://t.co/Fz2yIeFBLq
— Robert Peston (@Peston) September 19, 2024
Peston goes on to claim that he “did not say Arsenal ‘gifted’ the minister permanent use of a specific box” and there was “no suggestion of that.” The headline itself begs to differ, as does the line that the PM has literally been “given the use of a corporate box by Arsenal football club.” Oh well, never mind…
Yesterday was a tough today for the hardline centrist hacks who rushed to Huw Edwards’ defence after allegations he paid a child for indecent images surfaced. As the Metropolitan Police confirmed BBC presenter Huw Edwards was charged with three accounts of making explicit photos, the lefty pundits look rather silly for slamming The Sun for surfacing the scandal and running to Huw’s defence. Guido has browsed through the archives of these supposed ‘hommes serieux’ who will be more than a little red-faced…
The questions for The Sun just got bigger still.
— Lewis Goodall (@lewis_goodall) July 12, 2023
Former Editor of The Sun, David Yelland rushed to attack the paper, posting this a few hours after Huw’s wife named him as the presenter embroiled in scandal:
I wish @thehuwedwards well. The Sun inflicted terror on Huw despite no evidence of any criminal offence. This is no longer a BBC crisis, it is a crisis for the paper. Huw’s privacy must now be respected. Social media also needs speedy reform.
— David Yelland (@davidyelland) July 12, 2023
Emily Maitlis also blasted the “distasteful” BBC coverage of further allegations coming to light, questioning on The News Agents whether journalism had gone “too far” while “this poor man was in hospital, and that was absolutely appalling, and yet obviously there will be journalists here saying “but that doesn’t stop us doing our work”. Let’s not forget that the child’s mother initially approached the BBC to report the disturbing situation and she was met with silence…
Meanwhile, Jon Sopel was quick to wish Huw well:
This is an awful and shocking episode, where there was no criminality, but perhaps a complicated private life. That doesn’t feel very private now. I hope that will give some cause to reflect. They really need to. I wish @thehuwedwards well. pic.twitter.com/H3rN3bhE1U
— Jon Sopel (@jonsopel) July 12, 2023
Last but not least, Corbynite luvvie Owen Jones posted a moving defence that hasn’t aged well:
The Sun is a disgusting rag and they have to pay for what they’ve done to Huw Edwards.
They tried to destroy someone’s life with false claims of illegality involving a minor.
We know now there was no criminality, and The Sun have driven a vulnerable man into medical care.
— Owen Jones (@OwenJones84) July 12, 2023
They’re not leaping to his aid anymore…
Following weeks of scrutiny over her controversial transgender reform bill and stance on trans rapist prisoners, Nicola Sturgeon resigned this morning. This came as a surprise to Guido – for weeks pundits were warning the government’s decision to block Scotland’s Gender Reform Bill was a victory for Nicola and the independence cause. Instead it’s seen unionism boon and Sturgeon quit. Even Reuters is now reporting that Rishi “outmanoeuvred” the First Minister.
Behind the scenes Sue Gray, the powerful Second Permanent Secretary to Cabinet Office, went out on a limb in Whitehall leading the mandarin’s efforts to block the block. She was hyperactive behind the scenes trying to stop Alister Jack using Section 35, claiming it would be terrible for the union and boost Nicola. Her expertise on the union has been found wanting…
The Guardian’s political editor Pippa Crerar’s judgement was likewise shown up, as her analysis described how the SNP might weaponise a court battle, which could prove a “gift to the independence cause”. Whilst New European columnist James Ball said the government’s invocation of Section 35 was “every one of Sturgeon’s Christmases at once”. He went on to add it was “total idiocy”.
The were plenty of Tories who made the same, demonstrably wrong, argument. Senior Scottish Tory MSP Jamie Greene voted for the bill on those grounds. Penny Mordaunt too warned it could backfire. Theresa May displayed her characteristically statesman-like political acumen as she came out in favour of the bill. A fair number of Tory wets were left high and dry, as they piled on to criticise the government’s decision to block the move. Whilst the Tory Reform Group called UK Government intervention a “deeply concerning development” which “played into the hands of those who seek to break our Union”. A reminder – “Yes” is now 12% behind in the polls.
The CEO of gender-bending PinkNews, Benjamin Cohen, also took to Twitter to decry the government’s Section 35 decision – he claimed it would present an existential threat to the United Kingdom’s government and added unionists were “doing their best to further the cause of Scottish independence“.
Astonishing final campaign of misinformation and fake news ahead of Scotland’s Parliament voting to update the Gender Recognition Act. Also surprising that media & politicians that claim to be unionists are doing their best to further the cause of Scottish independence 🏴🏳️⚧️
— Benjamin Cohen (@benjamincohen) December 22, 2022
Perhaps Ben’s predictions could be improved by breaking free from his happy news safe space…
Hardline centrist pundits who consider themselves to be homme sérieux have wasted no time in rushing to judgement on Liz Truss’s character and prospects:
- Failed stockbroker and former Observer editor Will Hutton set the tone when he lamented that “Truss prepares to form a cabinet populated by misfits, failures, ideologues, third raters and opportunists to manage one of the greatest economic and social emergencies since 1945. A titanic constitutional and democratic failure.”
- Anti-Brexit obssessive Ian Dunt tweeted “Her brain is made of rusty crankshafts and cobwebs and it’s going to doom us all.”
- Part-time amateur psychiatrist and columnist Matthew Parris opined that “Liz Truss is a planet-sized mass of overconfidence and ambition teetering upon a pinhead of a political brain. It must all come crashing down. She’s crackers. It isn’t going to work.”
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Peter Oborne opines “It is hard to think of a national leader less equipped to deal with the traumatic months ahead than shallow, vapid, empty, self-admiring Liz Truss.”
- Edward Luce, the FT’s associate tweeted his character analysis “Liz Truss is a charlatan who has bullshitted her way to Britain’s top job.”
“No vision, no charisma, no real plan: Labour has nothing to fear from Liz Truss” is the headline on Polly Toynbee’s article that will no doubt set the tone for many Guardian stories to come.
As Allister Heath pointed out this morning:
“It is astonishing that pundits with no understanding of economics dismiss the Prime Minister’s ability in this area: she actually worked as an economist for Shell (ideal in the current climate) and as an economic director for Cable and Wireless. The first accountant ever in No 10 – she holds the qualification from the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants – she is more financially literate and comfortable with complex policy matters than almost all of those who patronise her. The fact that she is reflexively written off as lightweight, a dilettante even, is more a reflection of the bizarrely misogynistic and classist minds of some of her more extreme critics than of any objective reality.”
Britain faces challenging economic times, in Liz Truss we have someone far better qualified to address the nation’s troubles than are her opponents. Her enemies are likely to find out, not for the first time, they underestimated her.
The leadership race may now be over, though fortunately for the punditocracy there are still another 24 hours of reshuffle chin-stroking to go before the circus really comes to an end. If media speculation is anything to go by, no one will be busier in Liz Truss’s upcoming Cabinet than her loyal lieutenant Thérèse Coffey. In the past month or so, the current Work and Pensions Secretary has been mooted for a new job every week. The new flavour of the week is Deputy Prime Minister, although since July her name’s cropped up all over Whitehall:
- Chief Whip – The Times
- Health Secretary – The Independent
- Home Secretary – I News
- Cabinet Office – The Guardian
- Deputy Prime Minister – The Sun
Credit to The Sun for reporting that the Deputy PM job will at least be attached to a Departmental post. One of them might be right in the end…
