Why John Healey was right about repossessions
When it comes to an Englishman’s home it seems there are certain things you can’t say. John Healey, housing minister, found this out to his cost yesterday when he explained that – for some people – repossession was not the worst option available to them.
Cue outrage in The Sun. And more outrage in The Express. Even the Mirror, which is rarely the first to attack the government, joined in with more than a hint of outrage. Read more
Piers Morgan to Brown: “You didn’t join the mile-high club did you?”
I’ve seen a transcript of the Piers Morgan-Gordon Brown interview, which will be on ITV1 at 10.15pm on Sunday. There are genuinely touching moments about the death of Brown’s daughter and his son’s cystic fibrosis. On balance, however, it proves what we already know; that the PM does not emote particularly well. Here are some of the less serious highlights.
Brown: Sarah and I, we’re, we’re a modern love story….
Morgan: Tell me about this plane journey that Sarah was on about where you first move in.
Brown: You, you might say love at first flight. I don’t know. I don’t know.
Morgan: You didn’t join the mile high club did you?
Brown: No.
(re the proposal)
Morgan: Are you on bended knee?
Brown: No.
Proof that politics is “showbusiness for ugly people”?
Sky has revealed a list of Westminster’s most fanciable 100 MPs. Good to see Julie Kirkbride – we mentioned here on this blog yesterday – coming in at number 3.
Boyish Nick Clegg, the Lib Dem leader, is at number 5, sweeping most of Parliament before him. Read more
| About this blog | Blog guide |
Jim Pickard is the FT's chief political correspondent, having joined the lobby team in January 2008. He has been at the FT since 1999 as a regional correspondent, assistant UK news editor and property correspondent.
Kiran Stacey is an FT political correspondent, having joined the lobby in 2011. He started at the FT as a graduate trainee in 2008, working on desks including UK companies and US equity markets before taking over the FT's Energy Source blog.
FT's latest UK politics & policy news