Dr Seth Thévoz

The right’s assumption was that Trump would be an electoral asset.

Instead he’s been a gift to the centre left in Canada, Australia and, now, Denmark.

“The Emperor’s coming here?!?”

The oddest part of the by-election coverage was Labour Deputy Leader Lucy Powell, on thankless “defend the government” duty with the broadcasters.

She chose to channel…Jerjerrod in ‘Return of the Jedi’, insisting, “We will redouble our efforts.”

Here are the last few seconds of his gurning and face-pulling.

That will be his political epitaph.

Matt Goodwin looking particularly graceless during the Gorton & Denton by-election winner’s victory speech, eye-rolling and gurning his way through.

Sir Lindsay Hoyle speaks out on the identity of the official who told the Metropolitan Police that they believed Peter Mandelson posed a flight risk.

Slava Ukraini!

🔊 The one with “an interesting response to 'how are you?'” from @jonnelledge.bsky.social ! Apparently “always be closing”, which all raises a hearty laugh 😆

Lots of depth of knowledge nuggets lobbed into the discussions of musical chairs. Fabulous chat, chaps 👏

🇬🇧 #UKPolitics 🗳️ #Podcasts 📻

This was a lot of fun to record.

⚠️ NEW EDITION ⚠️ Is our constitution strong enough to withstand a Trump-style, Project 2025-inspired assault on Britain’s politics from Reform?
⚠️ With @seththevoz.bsky.social @jonnelledge.bsky.social @jasonhazeley.bsky.social & special guest @jamesrball.com
⚠️ Listen linktr.ee/ohgodwhatnow...

Curiously, the way the Equality Act operates, discrimination by one Protected Characteristic is permitted (see Schedule 16). So it allows a society limited to one sex, or one sexuality, or even (in theory) one race.

What’s forbidden is discriminating by more than one Protected Characteristic.

I work on private members’ clubs (whether single-sex or mixed-sex), not Freemasonry.

Clubs are social organisations. They don’t have pseudo-religious ceremonies, or secret handshakes/signals; and the whole Masonic idea of professionally scratching one another’s backs is distinctly frowned upon.

The real scourge of London - Jeffrey Archer’s press spokesperson in the 1990s.

The real scourge of London - Jeffrey Archer’s press spokesperson in the 1990s.

Westminster Power Couples — 2026 edition Westminster Power Couples — 2026 edition The love matches wielding political power in SW1. By BETHANY DAWSONin LONDON Illustration by Natália Delgado/ POLITICOArt by Natália Delgado and Ellen Boone…

At no stage does Politico explicitly make any suggestion that any lazy journalists just regurgitate leaks from their partner/spouse.

Still a very interesting list - much more so than the usual “power lists” peddled.
www.politico.eu/article/brit...

This obviously reflects very poorly on the individual peers nominated.

But the political parties are complicit (and have continued to be, giving these people the whip), and the prime ministers who made (and did not pause or withdraw) the nominations are complicit.

In each case, there was nothing to stop the process from being paused - before they were given an almost irrevocable seat for life in the Lords - while fresh allegations not covered in vetting were looked into.

But in each case we saw an unseemly dash to confirm peerages ASAP. Take the money & run.

This has been a consistent pattern in recent years, affecting peers of multiple parties.

With Shaun Bailey (Con - Partygate photos) and Ann Limb (Lab - false CV qualifications) we’ve seen scandal details emerge AFTER peerage nomination announcement, but BEFORE letters patent confirm their peerages.

Intoxicating Liquors in Clubs: a debate from "The People's Budget", 1909 What MPs thought of drinking in clubs, 117 years ago...

I try to keep the Clubland Substack full of surprises. This looks at when Parliament's concern, amidst the 1909 constitutional crisis, was focused on...the taxation of alcohol in private members' clubs. clubland.substack.com/p/intoxicati...

📳 NEW EDITION 📳 Is US foreign policy really being run on Trump’s whims… or is there a coherent agenda under the chaos? Economist geopolitics editor @dsorennie.bsky.social takes @seththevoz.bsky.social on a journey into America’s new belligerence.
📳 Listen up: linktr.ee/bunker_pod

Decimalisation Britain was one of the last countries to go decimal – and had Margaret Thatcher not abolished the Metrication Board, we might have abandoned miles and pints...

Sunday! Why not listen to Anthony Burgess (voiced by @seththevoz.bsky.social) grumbling about the end of shillings and farthings?

You’ll never feel the same way about Clockwork Orange.

MORE JAM TOMORROW Decimalisation is out

morejamtomorrow.com/episode/deci...

Lost Clubs: The VAD Ladies' Club; later the New Cavendish Club (1920-2014) 44-48 Great Cumberland Place, where the Club was based from 1959 until its demise in 2014.

I can just about remember the New Cavendish Club, which folded 12 years ago, but started life in 1920 as the VAD Ladies’ Club, for nursing veterans of the Voluntary Aid Detachment. This is their story. clubland.substack.com/p/lost-clubs...

He was absolutely superb in the role.

Palin is seriously underestimated as an actor, in my view.

Two of Peter Mandelson’s homes raided by the Metropolitan Police, I see.

It does feel like I was almost the only person working in Westminster in the 2000s and 2010s who wasn’t emailing Jeffrey Epstein every five minutes (or indeed, at all).

Churchill Archives Centre Future Development - Churchill College Churchill College’s Governing Body has voted in favour of plans to build a new Churchill Archives Centre within the Grounds of the College. This vote took place after a period […]

Superb news. The Churchill Archives Centre doesn’t just house Churchill papers, it houses a huge number of other collections of international significance.
www.chu.cam.ac.uk/news-and-eve...

Cynthia Asquith encounters a spider

Never forget: Pam Bondi and Kash said there was nothing in the Epstein files back in March

Your reminder that 15 months ago, Peter Mandelson came 4th out of 38 candidates, in the election for Chancellor of Oxford University, with 13.5% of the vote.

A bullet dodged by Oxford, methinks...