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...Rishi Sunak told to show some vision as local polls leave Tories in a hole...
...“I’m not sure that colleagues are going to be putting the letters [of no confidence] in so we’re working with what we’ve got,” Jenkyns told the BBC....
...Now try this I’m off to see Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry at the cinema tonight, and I am very excited about it. However you spend it, have a wonderful weekend....
...“People know round here that I’m a Conservative, but thankfully what we’ve seen today is they also know that I’m a Teessider, and I’ll put Teesside first,” Houchen said...
...Rishi Sunak’s attempt to boost Tory morale hit after two ministers resign...
...I think journalists have become so used to Tory politicians “winging it” that they are totally unprepared for some serious politics....
...She added that she condemned his behaviour towards other women as well as herself, and was “sorry for the comments that I made about his victims”....
...“In a sense, I can have done no more than that,” he added. Despite Labour’s win, one element of the West Midlands result will fuel jitters among the party’s strategists and MPs....
...Asked if there would be a mutiny, one long-standing Tory critic of Sunak said: “I doubt it.” It was a grim Saturday for Sunak....
...Their sole contribution is the politics of “I told you so”; their focus on establishing a narrative of sellout that helps capture the party after defeat. The cheek is something to behold....
...Another Labour MP said: “I’m concerned. It’s a question of values. Are we trying to get the Tories out, or get the Tories in?”...
...“I don’t think we have broken out of the long period of sluggishness,” he warned....
...“I think the Conservative party today is in a very different place.”...
...So it shows, I think, that they fear that the Tory brand is quite toxic. Jim, any red wall seat that you’d like to flag?...
...“Because of the damage the Tories have done, I had to change my plan,” he told BBC Breakfast on Friday. “I took [the decision] because I’m not prepared to make a promise I can’t keep.”...
...It still looks terrible for the Tory party: it is down to 155 seats and Labour has more than 400....
...“I think those people who think another leadership campaign — as truncated as it might be — between now and the election is anything other than a catastrophic idea . . . I don’t get it,” he added....
...I gave them some numbers, not all of them. I told him to stop. He’s manipulated me and now I’ve hurt other people,” he said. “I got chatting to a guy on an app and we exchanged pictures....
...As there is an investigation ongoing I will not be commenting further.” Starmer demanded on Thursday that the police have a role in the investigation launched by the Tory party....
...Labour defends decision to admit ex-Tory MP Natalie Elphicke...
...Now try this This week, I mostly listened to Nikolai Kapustin’s Blueprint while writing my column....
...I don’t think Sunak will choose a midsummer election. But we cannot rule out the possibility that some crisis or panic in the Tory party will mean a date is chosen for him....
...Flower says: “I was asked by an MP what help he could give us and I said: ‘Stay away — that’s the best thing. You’ve got no added value. It’s local elections. I want to keep it local’.”...
...“I think a lot of MPs will take the bank holiday weekend to consider what these results mean in their own communities and for them personally,” she said....
...Now try this This week, I mostly listened to Andre Previn and the LSO’s version of Swan Lake while writing my column....
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