Toon Tuesday returns with two themes - the strategic defence review and a strategic mess brewing within the PLP. Disquiet is reportedly growing within the Cabinet as Red Rachel struggles to balance the books without upsetting frontbench comrades. Meanwhile, backbench revolts are around the corner as she continues to try and slash benefits.
Starmer has been beating the drum of war once again, as if Putin's Russia is going to rock up to our shores when it cannot even successfully invade a neighbouring state. Then again, if they sent their forces by small boat...
Matt Pritchett for The Daily Telegraph
Morten Morland for The Times
Patrick Blower for The Daily Telegraph
Matt Pritchett for The Daily Telegraph
Morten Morland for The Times
Andy Davey for The Daily Telegraph
Stanley McMurtry for The Mail on Sunday
Dave Brown for The Independent
Patrick Blower for The Daily Telegraph
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Emily Thornberry was mentioned as a potential successor to Corbyn on Sky this morning. Yes, seriously. The bookies currently have her between 8/1 (SkyBet) and 12/1 (Ladbrokes), that's around level pegging with Angela Rayner, but behind Wrong-Bailey and the favourite Keir Starmer. It's quite remarkable that she's even considered an option, but then just behind her in the stakes is the woeful Laura Pidcock. Both of them are utterly dreadful and by regarding either as a potential leader shows just how weak the Labour PLP has become. However, if this Sun report is to be believed, Lady Nugee may not even be an MP this Christmas.
Conveniently the Sun fails to publish details of the 'internal poll' and it's hard to see the Lib Dems coming from third place to overturn a 20,000 majority. Certainly the Lib Dems are polling very strongly in Remain voting London, but they're still third behind Labour and the Tories, so perhaps best to take the Sun's article with more than a pinch of salt.
Yesterday Thornberry appeared on Good Morning Britain to take on the might of Morgan and Reid. Predictably it didn't go well. Bleary eyed and quite frankly looking like shit, she stumbled through the interview and at one point said she hoped the public would back Leave in another referendum. "It's a quarter to seven in the morning" bemoaned Thornberry as she corrected herself. Too much late night champers with Diane Abbott and Shami Chakrabarti?
For his part, Piers Morgan repeated what we've said for the past couple of weeks - that Labour's second referendum would be a choice between Remain and... Remain ie. that their renegotiated deal would effectively keep us inside the EU anyway. This is the big Labour con going into this election, pretending that we will get a choice, when in fact there would be no Leave option.
At BTLP we would be over the moon if Thornberry took over from Corbyn, but surely even the Labour membership can see that she wouldn't be fit to lead the Monster Raving Loony Party, let alone Her Majesty's Opposition. Then again, if you'd have asked anybody twenty years ago that one day a balloon head backbencher called Jeremy Corbyn would have led the party you'd be met by laughter. Also, let's not forget that in a Labour government Lady Nugee would be the Foreign Secretary, one of the four Great Offices of State. Diane Abbott would occupy one of the other positions. Let that sink in.
