Snippets and gleanings - you win some...

Emily knows
Poor Emily Thornberry, you have to feel sorry for her. She spends eight-and-a-half loyal years in the shadow cabinet -  the past three as shadow Attorney General - only to be pipped to the post by some KC bloke who hadn't even had to go to the bother of getting elected but was parachuted into Starmer's government via the Lords. She tweeted (or Xed) that she was "very sorry and surprised" at having been rejected but wisely didn't do a Braverman and burn her bridges. She's probably seen as a bit of a loose cannon after sneering at folk flying St George's flags and messing up her figures on live TV. Still, she's the only member of Starmer's shadow front bench team I could have imagined wanting to go for a drink with. The offer is open.

Biden their time
Meanwhile, across the pond things are getting really tough for Joe Biden after his disastrous head-to-head with Donald Trump on live TV where a stunned nation saw their 81 year-old incumbent president mumbling incoherently and losing his thread. Democrat donors are now looking to fund candidates to hedge against what they see as the very real danger to US democracy of a re-elected Trump. One such donor told Politico anonymously: "Clearly, Democratic donors are looking at down-ballot candidates to try to salvage the House or Senate.” As the Yanks say, follow the money.

Quelle surprise!
Across the Channel, French politics is once again in turmoil, making our recent travails look like a walk in the Tuileries. An unexpected upset in the second round of parliamentary elections has reduced the far-right National Rally (RN) to third place due to voters turning out in large numbers to stop them. Baby-faced RN prime ministerial candidate, Jordan Bardella (28), protégé of party leader, Marine Le Pen, has been thwarted in his (or her) ambition. Spare your sympathies, though, he's a nasty little fascist. Bon débarras!

What a mother
Dianne Abbott, long-serving left-wing member for Hackney, has been returned to the Commons as a Labour MP despite Keir Starmer's clear intention that she should not be. To rub salt in the wound, she now takes the place of retiring Harriet Harman as Mother of the House, an honorific bestowed on tne longest serving female MP who is not a minister. Starmer can take some comfort from the fact that, while Jeremy Corbyn made it back as an Independent, he just missed out on being declared Father of the House because, when originally elected, he stood behind Sir Edward Leigh as a newbie in the queue to sign the register. The Father of the House plays a prominent role in the State Opening of Parliament so Starmer probably prefers a Tory taking the limelight rather than his renegade predecessor. It's just one big happy family.

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