THE GRATE ESCAPE..
KARL Marx enjoyed his grub and grog (particularly when bought by his wealthy mill-owner comrade, Frederick Engels) so the great communist thinker would approve of the cafe and gift shop planned for London’s magnificent Highgate Cemetery, where he’s buried. I have booked to visit Marx’s tomb and nose around next weekend. We have nothing to lose but our bearings.
KEIR Starmer must be having sleepless nights over gifting trembling Boris Johnson a great escape.
In Parliament tomorrow, Labour will vote in three tiers for England and a fleeing Prime Minister will avoid being left dangling on barbed wire by revolting Tories.
Responsible opposition is a long game and Starmer finds himself trapped politically by valuing scientific advice and wanting to do the right thing for the nation.
But you can hear the frustration in the voices of Labour frontbenchers caught between saving lives and missing an opportunity to machine-gun the charlatan Premier. I know plenty of Labour MPs who’d like to join Tory rebels to defeat a retreating, cynical chancer who repeatedly ignores virus experts.
Labour’s danger is the party vaccinates Johnson against reckless rebels and then he takes credit for beating the virus. Starmer’s dilemma shows why being Leader of the Opposition is the hardest job in politics.
DON’T move along, there is something to see here... when the billions of taxpayers’ cash spent on the virus feels like a Tory friends and family operation.
One of the latest is Alex Bourne, the ex-landlord of the Cock Inn in Thurlow, Suffolk, close to Health Secretary Matt Hancock’s constituency home, winning a government contract to provide millions of NHS Covid test vials despite having no previous medical supplies experience.
Bourne initially offered his services by sending a personal WhatsApp message to old mate Hancock.
The Tory chumocracy is turning Britain into a banana republic.