Nick

[Nick @Nick169239]

@rianmbfc Not Spence’s fault - centre halves all over the place

[Nick @Nick169239]

@rianmbfc Rubbish. Both sides happy with this.

[Nick @Nick169239]

@donhutch4 No they won’t because their terribly run club will ensure any transfer funds are wasted while Fernandes will continue his upward trajectory. Daft post.

[Nick @Nick169239]

@ceefaux A real ffaux-pa

[Nick @Nick169239]

@TVKev Stick to uninspiring radio shows and obvious TV reviews

[Nick @Nick169239]

@MichaelLCrick I don’t blame him. Today’s media are only interested in themselves and wouldn’t even listen to any answers they got. I don’t want to hear the thoughts of Chris Mason et al - I’d like to hear the speech and make my own mind up.

[Nick @Nick169239]

@KevinASchofield It’s not alarming when you look at the conduct of Mason, Rigby, Peston etc and their inflated egos and inherent bias

[Nick @Nick169239]

@DuncanBarkes I don’t blame him. Today’s media are only interested in themselves and wouldn’t even listen to any answers they got. I don’t want to hear the thoughts of Chris Mason et al - I’d like to hear the speech and make my own mind up.

[Nick @Nick169239]

@newswatchbbc @ChrisMasonBBC @SamiraAhmedUK @BBCBreakfast @BBCiPlayer Of course they did and that snivelling weasel Mason led from the front; a disgrace to the once proud values of BBC News.

[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

[Viviane: Members need a say @LaindonFEMINIST]

This is why most Labour Members are beyond livid. Jennifer speaks for me 100%

[Nick @Nick169239]

@MichelleDewbs Things that haven’t happened

[Nick @Nick169239]

@RupaHuq It’s not routine when a bunch of treacherous backstabber pose for a photo on the day they brought the PM down.

[Sanny Rudravajhala @Sanny_Rudra]

“Everybody who loves football will be pleased that he’s scored this.” - Lee Dixon with a colossal misunderstanding of how the average football fan sees Cristiano Ronaldo scoring against Uzbekistan.

[Nick @Nick169239]

@elliereeves @AndyBurnhamGM Shocking way to behave - insensitive (and no guarantee the messiah will give you a job despite your fawning)

[Nick @Nick169239]

@TheNewsAgents @KarlTurnerMP @maitlis @jonsopel He (Turner) is a nasty piece of work and shame on you for giving him airtime.

[Nick @Nick169239]

@nicholaswatt What a load of bollocks.

[Nick @Nick169239]

@markgoldbridge As usual, garbage from Goldbridge

[Nick @Nick169239]

@TottenhamLoyal Zzzzzz

[Nick @Nick169239]

@FredThomasUK @AndyBurnhamGM Yuk. Just yuk.