Oh Lord! What happens if PM loses his seat...
IT WOULD be the ultimate nightmare before Christmas for Boris Johnson – to win the Election but lose his Uxbridge constituency. So it comes as no surprise to hear that secret plans are in place to counter this potentially career-ending scenario.
The Prime Minister’s majority slumped to 5,000 in 2017 and the West London seat is now being heavily bombarded by marauding Labour and Momentum activists, praying for the ultimate political decapitation.
Citing the precedent of Alec Douglas-Home, who was Prime Minister without being in the Commons for 20 days in 1963 after renouncing his earldom, No 10 insiders say Johnson would ‘tough it out’ while a new seat was found for him.
I understand the plan would see a Conservative MP with a big majority near London asked to step up to the Lords on a promise of high office, with a by-election being triggered within days of the December 12 vote.
Meanwhile First Secretary of State Dominic Raab would represent Mr Johnson and No 10 in the Commons. Whips believe they could have the whole sordid process wrapped up by early January at the latest – however embarrassing it may look.
Probably best to get canvassing instead, Boris. LABOUR are kitting out canvassers in Scotland in waterproof red jackets to fight the winter Election. Unfortunately, the garish uniforms are identical to those worn by the People’s Postcode Lottery workers when they knock on winners’ doors to give them the good news – and it’s not going down well. One lady voter, opening her opaque glass front door to a canvasser in Edinburgh South, sighed: ‘Och – what a shame. I thought you’d come to tell me I’d won £30,000.’
CABINET rising star Rishi Sunak has barely been off the TV – and not just in the UK. The Treasury Minister was an answer to a 12 million rupee question on India’s Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? – which British MP is the son-inlaw of billionaire Narayana Murthy? It stumped the contestant, who quit with only about £6,000. Mr Sunak’s fortune is considerably larger…
CABINET Office civil servants are scratching their heads at what to do with 540 ‘Get Ready for Brexit on 31 October’ mugs they ordered before the last extension. After signing off a £1,984 invoice, officials have ‘quietly put them in a cupboard’. I suspect they’re destined to become Whitehall folklore – ‘Get Britain Ready for the Euro’ mugs from the 1990s are like gold dust in the Treasury.