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Downing Street is abuzz with talk of a peerage for Kate Bingham — the biochemist turned venture capitalist who has masterminded Britain’s world-beating Covid-19 vaccination scheme. When she took the unpaid post last spring, Boris gave her a simple instruction: ‘Stop people from dying.’ Bingham seems well on the way to achieving that: the latest … Read more
ANDREW PIERCE: What about Europe values now, Hezza? By Andrew Pierce for the Daily Mail Published: 01:53 GMT, 1 February 2021 | Updated: 02:06 GMT, 1 February 2021 As President of the European Movement UK, the former Tory Deputy Prime Minister Lord Heseltine already seems to be campaigning for Britain to re-enter the EU. In … Read more
Sir Simon Russell Beale was a sight to behold. He rose to his feet, lip trembling, body quivering with indignation. The greatest stage actor of his generation, a much-garlanded stalwart of the Royal Shakespeare Company, had been enraged by a woman in the audience who had noisily asserted that, in the interests of ‘authenticity’, only … Read more
Today was supposed to be the day on which political history would be made — with the debut of the Government’s first ‘West Wing-style’ Press secretary. The appointment of Allegra Stratton, an experienced print and broadcast journalist, as the face and voice of No 10 who would front weeknight TV briefings to a live audience … Read more
When former trade union firebrand Tony Woodley rejected the offer of a peerage in August, it seemed like a fitting act of solidarity with the proletariat by a Left-winger who had once been a Vauxhall Motors shop steward. But within weeks the former General Secretary of Unite had had a change of heart and took … Read more
Like a broken record, Westminster’s SNP leader Ian Blackford launched into one of his tiresome anti-Brexit rants at Prime Minister’s Questions last week. Blackford lambasted Boris Johnson for inflicting ‘economic vandalism’ on Scotland and demanding a ‘detailed economic assessment of the cost to the UK of his extreme Tory Brexit plans’. With Blackford frothing at … Read more
‘He was very protective’ Jumanji child star Bradley Pierce says Robin Williams stood up for him and co-star Kirsten Dunst on ‘draining’ film shoot By Charlotte Dean For Mailonline Published: 12:40 GMT, 17 December 2020 | Updated: 12:40 GMT, 17 December 2020 Jumanji child star Bradley Pierce has told how his co-star Robin Williams defended … Read more
As the Government jumps from one Covid mishap to another, Labour is frothing at the mouth at the Tories’ use of private companies to solve its logistical problems. In particular, Serco has been singled out by Rachel Reeves, the Shadow Cabinet Office Minister, for being one of the biggest private provider of Government services. Certainly … Read more
Following the chaos and conflict of the Dominic Cummings era, the appointment of Dan Rosenfield as Boris Johnson’s chief of staff is a decisive break with the past. The Prime Minister’s most senior aide, shaven-headed Cummings, 49, never wore a suit and tie, was rude to MPs and officials, and revelled in the notoriety of … Read more
Producers of The Crown are under pressure to include disclaimers about accuracy, and there is now a backlash over the way Margaret Thatcher is portrayed in the series. Gillian Anderson plays Britain’s first woman PM with an exaggerated stoop, a face etched with fatigue and a tired basso profundo voice. She also looks 20 years … Read more