Politics

One of the reasons the Red Wall fell so decisively in favour of the Tories was that Labour failed to understand Brexit voters. That at least is a common theory put forward as to why Boris decisively trounced Corbyn last December. And it certainly seems to tally up with what some current Labour MPs make of Britain's decision to vote to leave the EU – and why, as a result, Brexiteers turned their backs on Corbyn's party. In a now-deleted tweet sent late last night, Labour's Neil Coyle took to Twitter to brand Brexit voters like his parliamentary colleague Jacob Rees-Mogg 'absolute s**tbag racist w***ers'.  Coyle, the MP for Bermondsey, added: 'I have spent years warning local people that these fat old racists won't stop blaming the EU when their s**t hits the fan'.

Some in Westminster have been missing Dominic Cummings. It turns out he had an operation in late July, which he delayed a year ago when Boris Johnson persuaded him to become his chief aide, and has been convalescing in the north of England since. He returns to normal duties at No. 10 on Monday. Whitehall source tells me he has not been working and was not looking at emails or messages. I imagine it has been an unmitigated joy for him to switch it all back on again — especially to read the reported remarks of his father-in-law about the PM’s alleged (and denied) early retirement plans.

Edward Snowden says that he didn’t mean to end up in Russia when he fled after leaking secrets from his job at the United States National Security Agency (NSA). He writes in his autobiography, Permanent Record, that he agonised about where to go. Europe was impossible because of extradition. Africa was a ‘no-go zone’ because the US ‘had a history of acting there with impunity’. Eventually, he went to Hong Kong and after hiding out there for a short time, he made a dash for Ecuador in hope of getting asylum. But the US cancelled his passport and, in what we’re told was an unfortunate coincidence, he got stuck in Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow as he changed planes.

All over the country, large numbers of businessmen are anxious. They do not know when - if ever - trading conditions will return to normal. So there is a squeeze on costs, a clampdown on inefficiency and - to use the euphemism - employees whose performance might have been acceptable in easier times are 'let go.' This is understandable. But there is an exception. In one very important enterprise, an employee who could never have made a worthwhile contribution somehow survives. What does Gavin Williamson have to do before he is replaced? This is a man who can neither think in private nor perform in public. His response to any upcoming difficulty is simple: march straight into it. It would appear that he has never heard of evasive action, let alone subtlety and planning.