To think Prince Andrew reckoned Boris Johnson was in a pickle: HARRY COLE reveals the embattled Duke of York criticised the PM just last month
Boris Johnson sparked uproar by avoiding direct criticism of Prince Andrew when asked about the scandal engulfing him last week, but the troubled Duke has not always been similarly generous to the Prime Minister.
I hear the Prince is not averse to privately passing comment on matters political – usually considered a major no-no in The Firm.
Courtiers were left stunned last month when Andrew declared Boris was ‘making an arse of things’ during a particularly turbulent week in Parliament.
Boris Johnson sparked uproar by avoiding direct criticism of Prince Andrew when asked about the scandal engulfing him last week
According to a Royal source, the disgraced Duke went on to ponder to aides ‘why anyone would want to get involved in politics at the moment’ given the mess. Words that must jar now, given the turmoil he is embroiled in.
Last week was not even the first time Johnson has gone out of his way to back Andrew. When the Epstein claims first broke in 2015, the then Mayor of London hit out: ‘Prince Andrew, let’s be very clear, is a guy who does a huge amount of unsung, unheralded work for this country.
‘So if you are asking me whether I have sympathy for him, of course I do.’
A ruddy risky move
Petulant former Justice Secretary David Gauke cut a lonely figure as he launched his independent bid to remain MP for South West Hertfordshire after being deselected by the Tories.
But there was a familiar face among the sparse group of supporters at the devout Europhile’s campaign launch – fellow former Cabinet Minister Amber Rudd.
Petulant former Justice Secretary David Gauke cut a lonely figure as he launched his independent bid to remain MP for South West Hertfordshire after being deselected by the Tories, writes Harry Cole
Given that she boasts she is ‘not finished with politics’, was her appearance the wisest move?
Tory Party rules state anyone who campaigns directly against a Conservative candidate has their membership card torn up. I hope no one sees this photo…
Labour insist their big red manifesto is ‘fully costed’ – but there is at least one gaping hole in the sums. The total cost to the taxpayer of the 2016 EU referendum was £134.4 million.
And with Jeremy Corbyn vowing a rerun next year – with a much bigger electorate – there is no mention of where the money to pay for this is coming from.
Even with no rise in cost, the new vote would pay a year’s salary for 6,000 new bobbies.
Hungry staff manning the Conservative Party’s vast Westminster Election HQ have been sent a stream of home-made stews, pies and casseroles by donors and Tory supporters all wanting to do their part to defeat socialism.
But hats off to the well-heeled local resident who used a black cab to send round a cake baked by their nanny.
Friction in the TV world after control-freak Tory spin doctors banned Ministers from appearing on Kay Burley’s new Sky News breakfast show after the sharp-toothed presenter ’empty chaired’ party chairman James Cleverly.
Instead, I hear, lily-livered politicians are turning up ten minutes after Burley goes off-air – to the delight of fellow Sky veteran Adam Boulton whose mid-morning show has never been so popular.
All parties harvest Election data with increasingly spurious attempts to get voters to sign petitions or take part in surveys. But it seems the Liberal Democrats are a little stuck in the past with their tactics.
Thousands of leaflets posted through doors point people to an online questionnaire that opens with: ‘How well do you think Theresa May is doing at negotiating Brexit?’
Gove unmasked: as Corbyn’s clever twin
Despite their bitter falling- out in 2016, wily Michael Gove has pulled off a stunning comeback to sit right at the heart of Boris Johnson’s operation, alongside the PM’s Cabinet favourites Dominic Raab and Priti Patel.
The trio were the only Ministers invited to watch Johnson’s TV head-to-head against Jeremy Corbyn with his closest aides and girlfriend Carrie Symonds on Tuesday night, after Gove put on a ‘chilling performance’ earlier in the day playing the hapless lefty in rehearsals for the debate.
‘Gove was better at playing Corbyn than Corbyn was at being Corbyn,’ smirked a Tory source after the sterile showdown.
Pity poor Michael Howard, who cannot shake the ‘something of the night about him’ jibe from his time as Home Secretary in the 1990s.
When the former Tory leader was speaking at King’s College London on Monday, the audience could barely contain their laughter as spine-chilling screams, shouts and howls drowned out his speech.
Baffled attendees only discovered afterwards that a student production of Frankenstein was being performed in the next room.
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