Playing with a stacked Dec…

While we’re on the subject of presenters, is Holly Willoughby the right choice to partner Dec in Ant’s continued absence for the next series of I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!?

The Kelly family are longstanding viewers of the series and therefore rather proprietorial about it. And our considered view is that Willoughby is the safe choice rather than the best one. There will be chemistry between the two but no danger to the valuable duo’s brand of any comparisons being drawn between her and Ant. We think Stephen Mulhern, inset – who has appeared with the duo on Britain’s Got Talent and hosts shows including ITV’s Big Star’s Little Star and Catchphrase – would be the perfect waspish-witted foil for Dec. And that’s why he hasn’t been chosen. It’s not just Leavers but plenty of Remainers too who agree with Boris Johnson’s contention this week that “in adopting the Chequers proposals we have gone into battle with the white flag fluttering over our leading tank”.

And you can write the script now for the outcome. The negotiating teams will emerge bleary-eyed from yet another of those summits beloved by the EU which always have to conclude in the early hours, to create the impression of how diligent and selfless they all are. A deal will have been reached with much talk of give and take, and the EU side will be content to provide Theresa May with the fig-leaf of saying what a hard bargain she drove.

And then it will shortly emerge that thanks to yet further concessions we are so signed up to and closely aligned with EU rules as still to be in it. And with the bill for pretending to leave even higher.