Sir Keir, who makes Eeyore sound like Ken Dodd, plodded off mid-morning in the direction of London's Oxford Street, there to make a glum speech to the King's Fund, a public-health think-tank. Superior medical types abounded. Sort of people who take one look at you and tell you not to eat so many biscuits. Serious faces, pursed lips, hushed voices. Could have been a convention of snooker commentators. Sir Keir was introduced by a tense woman. She spoke in one of those down-beat, pitying, playschool-presenter voices that drain the fluid from life and make you fret you haven't been to the potty. Turned out she was the fund's chief executive who once worked for lung-disease charities and has a side interest in mental health. Not easily mistaken for a Butlin's redcoat. ...read
Quentin Letts for the Daily Mail's recent articles
QUENTIN LETTS: One Whip tried to gee up Labour's MPs. She'd have had an easier time defrosting coley fillets
Rachel Reeves - wan, almost immobile - could have been a woman in shock. Looked as if she might be sick at any moment. No wonder her neighbour Yvette Cooper was so pinched by worry. Steve Reed, Environment Secretary, stared balefully at the middle distance, violence on a hair-trigger. If you saw a bloke like that on public transport you might sense something was 'not quite right' and feel disposed to telephone the 'See It. Say It. Sorted.' hotline. At the despatch box, Sir Keir was doing his best to parry Rishi Sunak 's criticisms of his winter fuel allowance cut; Lisa Nandy, Culture Secretary , radiated only anxiety. Eyes agog, she chewed one cheek so much that it yanked her entire face to one side. ...read
QUENTIN LETTS: Labour MPs looked wretched, liquid in their guts. They were hating every minute of this...
Topsy-turvy times: a Labour party kneeing old-age pensioners in the soft parts and Conservatives tremulous-voiced, one almost weeping, as they spoke up for oldies. While the Tories made the case for winter fuel payments, explaining how cold weather can kill, you could see Labour's new MPs think, 'Dang, I wish I could say that'. But when it came to the division, most of them supported Rachel Reeves 's cut. They've been blooded now. Smudged at the gralloch with the raw viscera of politics. And every one of their constituents will now be able to see how they voted. Shadow pensions secretary Mel Stride (above right) flew into a prolonged tirade about the 'hypocrisy of a Labour party. ...read
September 2024
August 2024
July 2024
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