Chris Wilkins

Gorton & Denton shows there’s no safe seats left for Keir Starmer The Greens’ by-election victory changes the whole psychological climate of progressive politics at the worst possible time for Labour

All the analysis you need on the Gorton & Denton by-election from @patrickmaguire.bsky.social The opening two lines are spot on

www.thetimes.com/article/4ac8...

Survival for Keir Starmer means a new set of captors In a post-Morgan McSweeney No 10, the prime minister may claim he’s displaying his authentic self but the party now belongs to the soft left

Great column this:

www.thetimes.com/article/5cba...

BBC World Service faces funding cliff edge in seven weeks, says Tim Davie As trust in Russia and China’s state broadcasters grows, director general warns of the dangers of cutting back the service

Seems we’ve still not got our heads round the fundamental role information plays in today’s security and geopolitics
www.theguardian.com/media/2026/f...

just billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe throwing out some serious made-up numbers on TV

This is Kemi Badenoch's moment of truth With Jenrick's departure, she should grasp the chance to return the Tories to the centre right

This is right. There’s a real opportunity for Kemi here. Will she take it? inews.co.uk/opinion/this...

We have an ageing population, struggling public services, and climate change. People might want low taxes, no migrants and cheaper energy, but they also don't want to lie in a hospital corridor for hours or have their house flooded. You can win elections with magic thinking but can't govern with it.

I detest the "open borders experiment" line so much.

It ignores obvious pressures brought on from Covid, but also neglects the thousands of Ukrainian, Hongkongers, Afghan refugees who we welcomed at that time.

Leans into terms like 'Boriswave' which was pushed by far-right conspracists online.

Ishould begin with an apology. Last month, I described Robert Jenrick as “the most shameless man in parliament”. His office complained at the time, but I was stubborn and refused to back down. Well, it’s never too late to say you were wrong. Robert Jenrick is not simply the most shameless man in parliament. He is the most shameless man in Britain, the most shameless man on Earth. Quite possibly the most shameless man in history. It is not simply that Jenrick has no shame. He is like a black hole for shame, sucking in the embarrassment of people around him. Which will be quite handy in his new party, Reform. Nothing became Jenrick’s time in the Conservative Party so much as the leaving of it. For years he had eased his way up the greasy pole, switching positions when necessary, a heating-seeking missile for whichever pose could help him advance, poster boy for the importance of self-belief over ability or integrity. And finally he was undone because he forgot to pick something up off a

Robert Jenrick: an apology. thecritic.co.uk/fran...

Robert Jenrick Becomes Latest Big-Name Tory To Defect To Reform UK The former cabinet minister jumped ship after being sacked by Kemi Badenoch.

A senior Tory says: "I’m sure Bob Generic will enjoy sharing a parliamentary office with 30p Lee."

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/robert...

"And this is what Keir Starmer’s press secretary has said about Robert Jenrick at the lobby briefing this morning. [Highlighted] Robert Jenrick was the immigration minister in a government that presided over an open borders experiment [Highlighted], a health minister who left people stuck on waiting lists, and a Treasury minister during the worst decline in living standards on record.” While Reform continues to welcome failed Tory retreads, this Labor government is putting the country back on track."

Starmer keeps using this line, & it's bonkers.

Most importantly, it's untrue: the party that ended Free Movement, ran the "hostile environment" & made Suella Braverman Home Sec did not run "an experiment in open borders".

It's also politically mad. Voters who believe this will not vote for Starmer

This is true. It reveals such a reductionist view of the world.

Think this is genuinely revealing and says more about Jenrick than anything. So there is hope for the Tory party yet.

The Reform pitch is increasingly “the last government was terrible, so we’ve hired everyone who was in it”.

there’s always a tweet

Where Kemi Badenoch’s sacking of Robert Jenrick leaves the Tories www.economist.com/britain/2026...

This "open borders" line is *infuriating* - these people came here to study or work, because they had a uni place or a job to come to. They paid visa fees, student fees, NHS surcharge - and many of them are doing challenging and important work - staffing our care homes, for example, including Mum's.

About 18 months ago I sent this letter, along with a copy of my book, to a number of MPs and peers, including Wes Streeting. I never got a response (which to be fair was my baseline expectation), but it’s still disheartening to see today’s news about Haidt’s invitation to speak to policymakers.

Great piece that does a lot to explain one of the most curious characters of the MAGA world…

The First Couple of the New Right Candace Owens, George Farmer, and the London church where old-world grandeur meets Digital Age grievance.

So many eyebrow raising bits in this piece about some of the quite mad but apparently leading figures on the so-called ‘new right’: airmail.news/issues/2025-...

The full Weiss memo is dogshit
-who cares if administration figures “regret” sending people to CECOT
-who cares about the criminal histories of the people we sent to CECOT, we sent them to a torture prison
—who cares about the “debate” over the legality of sending people to a torture prison

“Windmills interfere with radar” is even dumber than “solar power only works during the daytime.”

Democracy dies in darkness.
Journalism dies in 60 minutes.

This is a really good piece about the status of our immigration debate. Hits the nail on the head.

🤣

As I’ve said before, the omertà may finally be broken but the UK’s main parties are way, way behind the electorate on the disaster of Brexit. Given it is the single “achievement” of Farage’s career, it also represents the best line of attack against Reform.

A bit weird that FT tags this piece, repeating the lame excuses Brexiters make for the abject failure of their project, as being by the “chair of Marshall Wace”. Surely it would be more accurate to say “by the owner of the Spectator, Unherd and v right wing GB News channel”?

Suspect some female Tory MPs are quietly dying inside at this. When you’re so desperate to get in a bit of gratuitous foreigner-bashing that you find yourself arguing *against* preventative strategies that try to prevent sexual violence, ffs, what have you become?

Really hate this move to Downing Street press conferences. We don’t live in a presidential system. It’s inappropriate. It was wrong when the Tories did it and wrong now. Broadcasters should refuse to cover them or guarantee the opposition an equal right to reply.