Fury over Natalie Elphicke’s defection inc in shadow cabinet. One MP asks: ‘Are we welcoming Farage next week?’ Another: “Many of us didn’t fight Momentum only to see our leader welcome Reform in the front door.”

Story by Eleni Courea, Pippa Crerar & me

theguardian.com/politics/artic…

Latest podcast- Do the Right Know What They Want? podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/roc…

Latest podcast- Do the Right Know What They Want? podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/roc…

The leader is hilarious. It would be better for Labour in longer term if the right wing Times and Sun do not endorse it at the election. The endorsements would soon become a trap. Blair/Brown never broke free from Sun backing and it then became a big story when the Sun turned.

The abject lack of filter or critical intelligence in the way that some Westminster correspondents treated unverified and unverifiable rumour about the London result was bad enough. But this compounds the offence.

No 10 sources probably know they are talking rubbish but they’re given cover by bad analysis.

Here's what's gone wrong for the Conservative party.

They didn't adopt austerity in 2010 because the economy needed it. They adopted it because it allowed them to do an ideological shrinkage of the state, while blaming Labour. Austerity wasn't economics, it was pure politics.

Clickbait. Boosting bullshit. Reward for extremism. It made Farage. It is making her. Minority voices given way too much airtime. Have they looked at viewing figures recently? If the smaller progressive parties got the same attention as the right wing extremists this would be a…

I’m sure Sir Robbie Gibb will be looking into this …

It's not even close: Sky's coverage of this dramatic moment is excellent; BBC seem lost on air. Why?

Paul and I don’t agree on much but Sky News and @timesradio have absolutely spanked the BBC News Channel

It’s very hard for a right wing media accustomed to framing the national debate through a Tory prism to come to terms with how detested the Tory party now is - exposed in these election results. It is detached from the electorate and has forfeited the right to govern. Period.

When I heard Lord ‘Frosty’ Frost was involved in the planned coup against Sunak I knew Sunak would be safe until the election …Everything this unelected Johnson courtier touches…:

“it is clear tonight..”

Off to do live #weekinwestminster discussion on the local elections with Sonia Sodha and Iain Martin and the great steve richards in the chair - 11am BBC Radio 4

Why has it taken voters so long to turn? Cameron applied outdated Thatcherism in response to a global financial crash..and accidentally lost a referendum..May was submerged by Brexit civil war..Johnson was least suited for complexities and scrutiny of leadership of any Tory PM in…

Live at 5:

Exclusive: former prime minister Gordon Brown has written to the Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley calling for a second criminal phone-hacking investigation into News Group Newspapers, namely into the alleged “destruction of evidence by the organisation and the cover up that…

How does this government’s collapse compare with the death throes of previous administrations, asks steve richards theneweuropean.co.uk/when-things-fa…

Quick.. sign on to patreon version of Rock n Roll Politics for live session at 5pm tomorrow..the co-operative will need to delve deep :

patreon.com/posts/join-roc…