We need braver man in charge of this mob
The most dangerous driver is Rishi Sunak, not reckless speedster Suella Braverman.
Yes, a Trump-like entitled Home Secretary deserves to be sacked immediately for sneakily plotting to reverse out of a public penalty accepted by mere mortals caught over the limit.
But this car crash is really the fault of a Prime Minister who did a dirty deal with Silly Suella, as many Tory critics brand her, to be gifted the keys to No 10.
Restoring Braverman as Home Secretary, days after Liz Truss sacked her for security breaches, in return for her support to be crowned Premier was short-term gain for long-term pain.
No wonder the most unappealing of Conservative stitch-ups is unravelling.
And we’ve seen this horror movie before so we know how it ends.
Sleaze finished off John Major in 1997 and it’ll do the same to Sunak in 2024.
Losing three Cabinet chums over scandals in seven months screams bad judgement.
Deputy PM Dominic Raab and Gavin Williamson were forced out over bullying, Nadhim Zahawi for his tax (or more accurately non-tax) affairs.
Braverman would be a fourth.
Doing the decent thing and showing her the car door, Sunak gives the opposition another scalp and tacitly admits he boobed.
Keep her and voters will punish harder a Tory elite behaving as if it’s special, privileged, owed special treatment.
It’s not even as if she’s any good at her day job anyway.
Last week treacherous Braverman openly campaigned for Sunak’s job as Tory leader.
This week figures will reveal a record number of folk moved here on the migrant-basher’s watch.
The delicious irony is had Braverman accepted her points or gone on a course, few would’ve blinked.
As Tory former chair Jake Berry observed, nobody thinks less of the Archbishop of Canterbury, King of the North Andy Burham or Security Minister Tom Tugendhat because they were caught and took their punishment.
The poltitical cover-up is more toxic than the crime, as we’ve witnessed in the past.
The other day Michael Gove quipped he couldn’t think of a single Conservative who reminded him of Chris Huhne, a Liberal Democrat Cabinet Minister who infamously – and ruinously – wriggled out of speeding points.
Truth or dare game
The first casualty of war is truth and that includes a Ukraine invaded by Putin.
I want to believe Zelensky that Bakhmut “is not occupied” yet military experts report satellite photographs show Russian flags flying from much of the rubble.
Martial censorship and propaganda are part and parcel of conflicts, Churchill in 1942 threatening to silence the Mirror over a famous Zec cartoon lamenting wasted fuel and profiteering when naval tanker crews were dying.
Lionised Zelensky may be far trustier than slimy Putin but on occasions he’ll put his own gloss on events and we read and hear much about Russian casualties and losses, much less less about Ukrainian.
European and G7 jet diplomacy delivering F-16 warplanes, initially from Holland, may again be presented as tipping the scales in Kyiv’s favour but the one undeniable, verifiable truth is this conflict will result in tens of thousands more dead before it ends. Whenever that will be.
Points of disorder #1
Emerging as the largest force in Northern Ireland local government after winning last year’s Belfast Assembly elections, Sinn Fein is on the march.
Unionists blocking Republican Michelle O’Neill’s installation as First Minister will soon need to be confronted by their former Tory allies to restore power sharing.
And a united Ireland, the UK replaced after a referendum by a GB of England, Wales and Scotland, is possible in our lifetime.
To adapt an Ian Paisley slogan, Ulster says Yes.
Going up
Fiery Leicester Labour frontbencher Liz Kendall’s TV blast at “tetchy” Suella Braverman showed she’s one of Labour’s better street fighters.
Going down
Fined after his dog stampeded deer in London’s Richmond Park, Wiltshire Tory MP Danny Kruger’s rant about families was a stain on one of mam Prue Leith’s sauce pans.
Points of disorder #2
Why are Tories given an easy ride on antisemitism when Labour figures are, quite justifiably, hammered?
Penistone barmpot Miriam Cates ludicrously claimed “Cultural Marxism”, an acknowledged anti Jewish trope originating from Hitler era Rightwing conspiracy theories, is destroying ourchildren’s souls.
I’m prepared to accepts he’s ignorant and merely voicing nutty beliefs, but members of a governing party must be held to account as firmly as those working to replace them.
Tory photo ID gerrymandering
Based on projections from English council contests, come a General Election some 64,000 voters will be disenfranchised by Tory photo ID gerrymandering.
That’s equivalent to a constituency in the House of Commons. Perhaps we could give them their own seat: Banned Central.
Britain will be stuck in the past
We've had our chips when the Government’s plan to support the vital semiconductor industry is a puny £1billion compared with £40billion in the EU and US.
When it comes to tech making everything tick, from mobiles to cars, Britain will be stuck in the past. Snake oil salesman Tories talk a better game than they play.
