Unrest is close to boiling point...all the gossip from the Westminster Village
Unrest is close to boiling point in the No 10 hothouse after the Supreme Leader's Crewe cut. Grumbles are increasingly heard about the role of Jennifer Moses - living proof that irony isn't dead when a merchant banker with a £10m mansion is hired to advise on, er, social justice. With traditional Labour voters jumping ship, Uncle Gordie's praetorian guard mock her as an expensive adornment. Ire is similarly directed at Stephen Carter, tank-topper and chief strategy adviser, accused of advising anyone who'll listen that he had no role in the Crewe class war. Indeed, his supposed lack of involvement in everything that's gone wrong (which surely means he's twiddling his thumbs - because nothing has gone right) has earned him the nickname "Non-Stick Steve".
The pocket-sized Tory Alan "Dinky" Duncan is evidently a little man with big self-esteem. Word has gone out from Cameron HQ to avoid public triumphalism at this autumn's Conservative knees-up in Brum, to avoid Druggie Dave appearing smug - no easy task, I grant you. Yet a whiff of power is intoxicating for the lobbyists, corporate suits and think-tankers jostling for access to even the smallest of players. Competition is so intense, mumbled a snout, that a policy wonker eager to cajole the shadow cabinet matchbox to speak on the fringe was informed that these days Duncan expects a guaranteed minimum crowd of 400. A tall task, when only those at the front would be able to see him.
An informant whispers that the Work Harder Secretary, James Purnell, was enjoying a break in Los Angeles when the cabinet was ordered on to the airwaves to "Save Gordie" after Crewe. Old Labour hands view his absence as a cunning plan by a minister who fancies his leadership chances. LA is, of course, home of the US movie industry. A former female acquaintance - nudge, nudge - of young James confesses she saw a poster on his bedroom wall of Steve McQueen. Purnell put it there, she giggles, because he thought he resembled the star. Now both have pulled off The Great Escape.
Wandsworth Tories have snubbed Druggie Dave. The Rusty Lady, not the Son of Thatcher, is guest of honour on 11 June to celebrate 30 years of the council being a haven of sarf London right-wingery. Worryingly for Dave, he remains in the shadow of a woman who departed when he was barely out of his Bullingdon Club tailcoat.
Baron Ken of Caracas? I'm told Livingstone is tempted by a peerage but has misgivings. Maybe he should ask that other implacable opponent of the House of Cronies, Lord Kinnock.
Kevin Maguire is associate editor (politics) of the Daily Mirror
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