Colleagues praised the Prime Minister’s record to the rafters while forcing him from office after less than two years Daily Telegraph 23/06/26 Link It’s the humbug and hypocrisy that is so infuriating. When the Conservatives topple a leader it is a “psycho-drama” that endangers the stability of the country. Labour exploited this for all they were worth at the 2024 general election. On the threshold of No 10 as he took over as Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer promised a “return of politics to public service”, implying that his Conservative predecessors had all been in it for themselves. On Monday, as he endured the same fate as half-a-dozen previous premiers, it was Sir Keir’s turn to wonder what he had done to deserve it . Within hours of his resignation statement, he was being praised to the rafters by the very people who had plunged the knife into his back. Like Caesar, it was a political assassination by his friends, not enemies. Et tu Rachel? A prime minister with a majority ...
History will not be kind to the Chancellor, if anyone will even remember her Daily Telegraph 22/06/26 It could be Wes Streeting, Yvette Cooper , Pat McFadden, or even, if no one has bothered to check the reaction of the bond markets, Ed Miliband. As Andy Burnham contemplates his new cabinet, assuming he becomes prime minister by the end of the summer, there are plenty of candidates for chancellor. One name has been firmly ruled out, however. The incumbent, Rachel Reeves. And it is not hard to understand why. In reality, the first woman at No 11 doomed herself with a catastrophic first Budget. Once that started to unravel, it was impossible for her to recover – and she will depart with a reputation in ruins. Rewind a couple of years, and it all looked very different. With a large Labour majority, Reeves sold herself as a great reforming Chancellor: a brilliant economist, with the enthusiastic support of business and the City, she was ready to implement a bold plan to turn Britain ...