Lives Less Ordinary José Mujica: Guerilla, president and occasional romantic
Presenter: Andrea Kennedy
Producer: Louise Morris
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Daily Mail
10 hours ago
- Daily Mail
JASON GROVES analysis: Will Cleverly's return help Kemi take the fight to Labour?
James Cleverly 's return to the Tory frontbench is designed to send out a reassuring signal to the dwindling party faithful that all is well, despite appearances to the contrary. The former home and foreign secretary is seen at Westminster as a genuine 'big beast', who has been licking his wounds on the backbenches for months after missing out on the Tory leadership in chaotic circumstances last year. The decision to deploy him shadowing Angela Rayner gives the Tories another high-profile communicator, in return for effectively making him Kemi Badenoch 's deputy. One source close to the leadership said his return 'shows the party is united and has our best players on the pitch'. Mr Cleverly has been told to take the fight to Labour over council tax, which is seen as a key vulnerability. He will also return to being a frequent Tory voice on the airwaves, where he has long been seen as one of the party's most effective operators. But his return also risks reopening debates on whether to take a tougher line on immigration and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) which had appeared close to being settled. Reform UK is already said to be working up an attack dossier bringing together his past comments on immigration, including claims he once described the Rwanda deportation scheme as 'bats***'. Former Reform UK chairman Zia Yusuf said Mr Cleverly's return was a sign that 'the Tory wets are reasserting themselves', adding: 'He doesn't even want to leave the ECHR.' It did not go unnoticed that there was no promotion for the hyperactive shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick, who has garnered more headlines than anyone else, but whose sharp-elbowed approach has infuriated shadow cabinet colleagues along the way. Mr Jenrick's supporters had been angling for one of the top three jobs, with a particular eye on the role of shadow Chancellor. In the end Sir Mel Stride stayed put, as did shadow home secretary Chris Philp and shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel. One Tory malcontent described the reshuffle as 'wholly defensive', saying: 'They have been talking about bringing back Cleverly as Kemi's deputy since January – it's the card they've kept in their back pocket for if things got difficult.' The source added: 'The whole reshuffle is totally uninspiring and wholly defensive. This is the team who took us to 17 per cent in the polls signalling that they are intent on holding on to our status as the fourth party in British politics.' There is also anger in some quarters about the decision to persist with Sir Mel in the critical role shadowing Rachel Reeves and setting the Tories' economic direction. Supporters point to the Tories' success in forcing Ms Reeves into a U-turn over winter fuel. But critics argue that Labour's economic woes have been largely self-inflicted – and that the Tories' own offerings on the economy have been 'uninspired'. Some accuse him of trying to limit the media appearances of the Thatcherite shadow business secretary Andrew Griffith, who has adopted a more aggressive tone. Others whisper he has only kept his job because of his close friendship with Michael Gove. Sir Mel spent years hosting dinners for Mr Gove as he wined and dined prospective supporters for his doomed leadership bids. Although Mr Gove is now in the Lords, Mrs Badenoch was once his protégé and several of his former aides hold positions at the very top of her team. One senior Tory said: 'The things that matter are the economy and crime, and on the economy in particular we are not making nearly enough impact. 'Mel has been underwhelming and it does look like he is keeping his job because of all those dinners he cooked for Gove.' There were some smart appointments yesterday, such as bringing in the cerebral former No 10 adviser Neil O'Brien to beef up the party's threadbare policy offering. But there was no movement for the party's rising stars who might have helped give Mrs Badenoch's team a fresher look. Tory aides insist the reshuffle was forced upon her by the wish of shadow health secretary Ed Argar to quit following a medical scare. Mrs Badenoch herself last night said her new top team 'reflects the rich experience' within the party. But, with the Tories still sinking in the polls after a desperately difficult year, many would have liked to see something much more radical.
Times
11 hours ago
- Times
Hunt looks a big figure now he's out of office
A surprise hit at the Buxton International Festival this year has been Jeremy Hunt. I was among a huge audience for an interview not only about the former chancellor's new book (Can We Be Great Again? — dubbed by one wag Can We Be a Bit Better Again?) but also about his life in politics. Modest, experienced, obviously capable, gently funny and courteous even about Liz Truss, whose economic mess he rescued us from, we may forget that though still quite young, Hunt has been culture secretary and health secretary, as well as foreign secretary and chancellor. When (he told us) he was on holiday abroad as a backbencher, and Downing Street telephoned to say the embattled Truss wanted to speak urgently to him, he assumed it was a hoax call and hung up. Literally everyone I've spoken to at Buxton who heard him was singing his praises. It made me think. Hunt, Hague, Balls, Osborne, Cameron, Milburn, Sunak, Blair, Major … these seem like big figures now that (as it were) they've gone. Were they really big — or did politics just get small? Being 75 and no Jeremy Clarkson I was bemused to be invited to drive a Polestar 2 for a fortnight — especially when they said I didn't need to write about it. But what the heck. So, for the record, it was fun. With a range of more than 300 miles I've been driving it all over the place; we already have an EV Fiat 500 which we love; and this latest experience convinces me that EVs are here to stay: solid, quiet, easy to drive, giddying acceleration … having now tried both a small electric runabout and a serene electric family saloon, there's no way now I'll ever go back to petrol engines. But (and it's a big but) please, please, Polestar, Tesla, all of you EV designers, stop asking us to use a tablet screen for our controls. If we want to play computer games we can do that in a lay-by, not at 70mph in the fast lane. It took both of us about 20 minutes to work out the in-car climate controls. Away with screens! Buttons, levers, knobs, things you push, pull, slide or twist while keeping your eyes on the road are so much more intuitive. Using smartphones when driving was criminalised for a reason. My favourite musical experience so far at Buxton has been the 'Shorts' evening: first performances of four 20-minute operas from young composers. And of these my favourite was the last, from Thanda Gumede: Tears Are Not Meant to Stay Inside, sung mostly in Zulu. I could even understand bits of the libretto without the surtitles. This was brilliant: African-influenced classical music, beautifully sung. A young black woman, isolated and lonely in the city, seeks help from what we once called a witchdoctor but now more accurately call a traditional healer who, helped by a bag of bones and relics, connects her with the world of spirits and ancestors. Connecting out, she also connects within, and is liberated. Moved as I was, I disagreed with the moral of the story. I believe that in tribal African cultures the chain of authority, the links between authority and the supernatural, the hierarchy mediating any individual's relations with the supernatural, and the fear, the cursing as well as the blessing that glues the system together, crushes the individual and incubates a collective cringe that goes with the grain of the Big Man politics poisoning Africa. But that's just my opinion; Gumede's opera, and the wonderful voices of Roberta Philip, Danielle Mahailet and Themba Mvula made me think — and, perhaps more important — made us feel. At Buxton I enjoyed too a work by a young Leonard Bernstein, Trouble in Tahiti, set around 1950. I all but detected an early draft of There's a Place for Us from West Side Story. But a thought on the visual scene. Formica table; two-piece grey suit and tie, short-back-and-sides for the husband; colourful frock for the wife. You could time-travel that scene to 2025 and the dislocation would be noticeable only at the margins. Over what other leap in our history (1875 to 1950? 1815 to 1890?) could you, with so little adjustment, update a scene by three quarters of a century?
Daily Mail
12 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Transgender actress Laverne Cox under fire from her woke fans after revealing 'MAGA cop' boyfriend
Transgender actress Laverne Cox is under fire from her own fans after admitting that she secretly dated a Trump-supporting police officer for four years. The star, 53, who is known for her extremely progressive politics, enraged her woke fanbase after dropping the bombshell about her love life in a video to promote her upcoming one-woman show. She also admitted that her cop lover was 22 years younger than her. 'He was 26, I was 48,' she explained. 'He is a blonde hair, blue-eyed MAGA Republican voter who is a New York City police officer.' While they're no longer dating, Cox admitted that they were 'madly in love' during their time together. She also gushed about how 'hot' he was, but insisted that she never adopted any of his conservative political views. The post was met with extreme backlash from fans of the Orange Is the New Black star, with many expressing complete shock and disbelief that she could date a Republican while publicly preaching her progressive politics. 'You should've taken this to the grave babe,' wrote, while another commented, 'So you recorded this, edited, and STILL pressed upload? A third commented, 'It's the smiling with pride, that's bothering me. As if it were a badge of honor.' Another said, 'Sooooo the morals are dismissed when he's hot. Got it.' After feeling the fury from her fanbase, Cox attempted to fix the situation by releasing a 53-minute video diving into her own politics as well as the reality of the relationship. She also said that some of her fans were 'dehumanizing people with different political beliefs', which she said was 'not consistent with my values'. On top of that, the star insisted that she wasn't MAGA and had 'never' voted for Trump. 'What was beautiful about the relationship I had with my ex is that for three and a half of the four years we dated it was amazing and we would agree to disagree, and managed to still have fun, managed to still see each other's humanity and love each other across these differences,' she said. Despite her clarification, Cox still received backlash from her progressive followers. 'Respectfully, why are you navigating a relationship with a blonde, blue-eyed, MAGA, Republican?' asked one. A second commented, 'He voted against YOU! He voted against who you are and what you stand for, your basic rights! He voted against who you advocate for, your trans community. You may have 'loved' him, but he most certainly did NOT love you.' 'Respectfully.....I think you need to love yourself more. Because you SIGNIFICANTLY lowered yourself to be with a man who did not deserve you,' wrote a third. Last November, Cox publicly stated that she and her transgender friends were considering moving out of the country due to Donald Trump's presidency. 'We're doing research on different cities in Europe and in the Caribbean,' she told Variety. Cox went as far as comparing the Trump administration's anti-LGBTQ rhetoric to the German Reich of the early 1900s. 'There was this a thriving community of queer people in Berlin pre the rise of Nazism. They attacked Jewish folks. They attacked immigrants, they attacked queer and trans people,' she said. 'I don't want to be in too much fear, but I'm scared. As a public figure, with all my privilege, I'm scared, and I'm particularly scared because I'm a public figure,' she continued. 'I feel like I could be targeted. I think they spent close to $100 million on anti-trans ads. It's deeply concerning.'
