Maria Ann Mole 💙

[Maria Ann Mole 💙 @MariaAnnMole1]

@DreyfusJames Saw this last week. Thought it was excellent! Thank you for a great evening!

[Gordon Fielden @GordonFielden]

Chris, there are rare occasions when an author dismantles his own argument before the reader has progressed beyond the opening paragraphs. This is one of them.

You readily concede that much of your reporting over recent months rested upon anonymous briefings, unnamed sources, private conversations and opinions offered only on condition that they could never be subjected to public scrutiny. You then ask your audience to accept that such material provides an accurate account of events. With respect, that is not evidence in any meaningful sense. It is an interpretation of events, constructed from assertions that the reader has no means of testing, verifying or challenging.

No serious observer disputes that confidential sources have a legitimate place in political journalism. They always have, and they always will. But there is a profound distinction between using anonymous sources to illuminate established facts and using them to construct an entire political narrative over many months. The former is responsible journalism; the latter risks becoming an exercise in reinforcing assumptions until they acquire the appearance of fact simply through constant repetition.

Indeed, your own article inadvertently exposes that very process. It repeatedly invites readers to accept what unnamed MPs supposedly believed, what unidentified advisers were allegedly saying, and what anonymous insiders privately thought. Such accounts may well have reflected genuine conversations, but they remain assertions rather than verifiable facts. There is an important distinction, and one that ought never to be blurred.

More striking still is the omission at the heart of your analysis. You devote thousands of words to explaining how Westminster concluded that Sir Keir Starmer's premiership had become untenable, yet you devote scarcely a sentence to examining whether the relentless stream of anonymous briefings and speculative commentary from sections of the political media played any part in creating that very outcome. That question surely deserves examination.

Nor do you grapple with the constitutional consequence of what follows. The British people elected a Government led by Sir Keir Starmer. Should he be replaced by another individual through internal parliamentary manoeuvring alone, the process may be constitutionally lawful, but that does not automatically confer political legitimacy in the eyes of the electorate. Those are two entirely different questions.

Many of those now defending such a transition were previously among the most vocal critics of Rishi Sunak for assuming office without seeking his own mandate from the country. Constitutional principles cannot be invoked when politically convenient and quietly abandoned when they become inconvenient.

History has a habit of punishing such inconsistency. If Andy Burnham were to become Prime Minister in these circumstances, I believe the pressure upon him to seek his own mandate from the British people would become irresistible. In my view, he would have little practical choice but to call a General Election within six to eight months. Whether Labour would survive such a contest is, of course, for the electorate to determine. My own judgement is that they would face a severe electoral reckoning, with the country returning either a Reform UK-led government or a hung Parliament.

Journalism should chronicle events, not become so intertwined with Westminster's internal conversations that it begins to mistake the mood of the political class for the settled will of the British people. That, in my view, is the fundamental weakness running through your analysis.

https://t.co/8vSBlsVlze

[Deborah Meaden 🇺🇦 @DeborahMeaden]

Mine too… it seems we no longer want decent, thoughtful effective Politicians… we want showmen…

[Clare Hepworth OBE @Hepworthclare]

Leaving aside the ungracious comments from Trump - the tributes pouring in for Keir Starmer from International leaders are phenomenal.
They make the behaviour of some Labour MPs appear very shabby.
#justsaying

[Maria Ann Mole 💙 @MariaAnnMole1]

@Keir_Starmer You are a man of integrity. It’s a shame some members of the party put themselves before the country.

[John Slinger MP @JohnSlinger]

A man of dignity in an age of indignity.

Thank you @Keir_Starmer for your service to our country.

You didn’t deserve this.

[Anna Soubry 🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇺🇦🇪🇺🖤🤍 @Anna_Soubry]

That is my experience of him too.
A thoroughly decent and honest man driven by public service.
@Keir_Starmer #Starmer

[Maria Ann Mole 💙 @MariaAnnMole1]

@Beno10_MFC Playing chess

[Maria Ann Mole 💙 @MariaAnnMole1]

@MartinKnight_ It is true. I was told to drink it on the ward after my baby was born

[Maria Ann Mole 💙 @MariaAnnMole1]

@tombennett71 And the lesson observations where you had to try and include all the ‘sorcery’ or get marked down!

[Maria Ann Mole 💙 @MariaAnnMole1]

@LairdOfTheManor 042

[Anna Soubry 🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇺🇦🇪🇺🖤🤍 @Anna_Soubry]

.@CPhilpOfficial just told a whopper of a lie. He claimed the Cons Rwandan scheme would have cleared all the asylum hotels in a year.
The Rawandan scheme would have removed 200 people a year.
There are currently 33K asylum seekers in hotels.

[Maria Ann Mole 💙 @MariaAnnMole1]

@kelvmackenzie Before INSET children and teachers were in school 190 days. With INSET children are still in school 190 days while Teachers are in 195 days.

[Maria Ann Mole 💙 @MariaAnnMole1]

@TheVikingDane Always had it toasted one side as a kid

[Maria Ann Mole 💙 @MariaAnnMole1]

@darrengrimes She admitted guilt and so was sentenced. He pleaded not guilty which was upheld by a jury at crown court. That has nothing to do with the government. That is the judicial system.

[Maria Ann Mole 💙 @MariaAnnMole1]

@Anna_Soubry @CPhilpOfficial They use him because they know he will say anything to attract the far right

[Maria Ann Mole 💙 @MariaAnnMole1]

@CPhilpOfficial Do you understand the legal system? It was a jury in a crown court. I worry that somebody with such little knowledge was once a minister and indeed seems to be aiming for the leadership of his failed party.

[Maria Ann Mole 💙 @MariaAnnMole1]

@KemiBadenoch @CPhilpOfficial Did you not visit when you were in power then? 14 years to achieve nothing and then blame a new government after one year in power?

[Maria Ann Mole 💙 @MariaAnnMole1]

@NoContextBrits The Shite Whisperer

[Maria Ann Mole 💙 @MariaAnnMole1]

@NoContextBrits The Magnificent Shite