Howard

[Anthony Costello @globalhlthtwit]

It’s the economy stupid. There is one obvious way to take down Reform. Have a second referendum on EU membership, ten years after the last vote which was manipulated by malign actors. We have seen four or five PMs fall from the huge economic decline as a result of Brexit.

[Will Hutton @williamnhutton]

Changing Prime Minister in mid-parliament only works if there is a decisive break with what went before and the bravery to pursue big ideas. Rejoining the EU always made economic and strategic sense. Now it makes political sense.

[Liz Webster @LizWebsterSBF]

🚨 @PickardJE of @FT gets to the heart of Starmer’s Brexit deceit:

“Are you ruling out single market or customs union membership at the next election? Because without either, our economy is very much not at the heart of Europe.”

Starmer’s answer: more vague waffle about a “big leap forward” at the summit, turning our back on past arguments, and “looking forward together.”

You can’t be meaningfully “at the heart of Europe” while refusing the economic structures that define that relationship.

[Howard @12345Howard]

@jessicaelgot Well that's what we've got.

[Donald Tusk @donaldtusk]

Unia Europejska jest niedoskonała, irytująca, nudna, ale niczego lepszego w naszej historii nie wymyśliliśmy. Czas pokoju, dobrobytu, wolności, demokracji i solidarności między narodami przez wieki walczącymi ze sobą to cud. Niech trwa jak najdłużej.

[Fraser Nelson @FraserNelson]

Farage may struggle to close this down, especially when so many questions remain. Who else in Reform has received a 'personal gift' from crypto kings?

My column on the link: https://t.co/maRks88jMO

[Fraser Nelson @FraserNelson]

"Are there any other multi-million pound gifts to Nigel Farage that we don't know about?"

Reform's refusal to report what Farage calls "personal gifts" means journalistic inquiry is the only method of transparency on funding....

[Howard @12345Howard]

@jessicaelgot 16 out of 40, but can't play all day

[Alex Taylor @AlexTaylorNews]

In what The Times calls a "highly unusual intervention" 🤡Philip Rycroft, the former Permanent Sec at the Dep for Exiting the European Union* says life outside the EU has "failed to live up to the expectations" (𝑛𝑜 𝑘𝑖𝑑𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 !) and that the UK should now "think about rejoining"

You couldn't make these people up🤡

*aka the man who oversaw 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒅𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑩𝒓𝒆𝒙𝒊𝒕 𝒏𝒆𝒈𝒐𝒕𝒊𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 - no less !

[Howard @12345Howard]

https://t.co/v7LQdU5ibf

[Howard @12345Howard]

Stuck at Doncaster because of signal failure after Grantham.

[The Secret Barrister 🦋 @BarristerSecret]

If this is truly “ideological”, and Labour would always have proposed abolishing juries *irrespective* of the court backlog because it’s a fabulous, modern way of doing justice, then I have just one question…

Why wasn’t it in your manifesto?

[Jessica Elgot @jessicaelgot]

Keir Starmer’s No10 is cancelling afternoon briefings for journalists and instead replacing them with occasional press conferences.

At those, instead of us being able to ask any question on any topic, including technical ones, it will be limited hand picked questions

[Pippa Crerar @PippaCrerar]

🚨Keir Starmer's No 10 is cancelling the afternoon lobby briefing, when journalists can ask the PM's spox as many questions they like, for as long as they like.

They'll also sometimes cancel morning lobby, replacing it with press conferences with ministers, meaning many orgs will have opportunity for questions restricted.

The lobby may be an imperfect system, but these briefings give journalists from every outlet, regardless of editorial line, the chance to ask whatever they want.

This move is bad for transparency, bad for accountability, and a bad look for a government that already struggles with its communications.

[Gerry Hassan @GerryHassan]

How the BBC & ITV give disproportionate coverage to Farage & Reform: hard evidence from a serious study. BBC & ITV now give Reform more coverage than the Conservatives, more than the Lib Dems & nine times the Greens. Superb research from @Stephen_Cushion.
https://t.co/d07avkMSUw

[Joanna Hardy-Susskind @Joanna__Hardy]

Morning David Lammy!

Could we please open and pay for these 63 closed courtrooms and hold rape trials in them? Instead of restricting jury trial for thousands of people?

If not, why not?

[The Secret Barrister 🦋 @BarristerSecret]

The only people who support removing serious criminal trials from juries and handing them to volunteer magistrates are people entirely unaware of the reality of magistrates’ court justice.

[Guy Verhofstadt @guyverhofstadt]

Spot on ! There’s an obvious way to challenge Nigel Farage. But Keir Starmer won’t do it | Rafael Behr | The Guardian https://t.co/P4giB8yVtK

[David Storey @DavidStorey60]

"You don’t fight Reform UK by making its strongest issue the national priority. Nor, as countless political-science research projects have illustrated, do you effectively combat the radical right by accommodating them"
@anandMenon1 https://t.co/K5wfmien1b

[Howard @12345Howard]

This was absolutely exceptional. Exciting and exhilarating.

[The Observer New Review @ObsNewReview]

Ahead of the opening night of Hamlet Hail to the Thief, @msmirandasawyer meets the key creatives, including Radiohead’s Thom Yorke.

Read more: https://t.co/5mqilCQ32B