Go for it, PM
TWELVE months ago the Tory party conference was held in the midst of the bitter chaos surrounding Liz Truss’s disastrous Premiership.
It is to Rishi Sunak’s great credit that since then the ship has been steadied.
The Prime Minister has proved himself a highly capable chief executive of UK plc and a master of detail.
He has defied the doom-mongers and kept the economy growing while protecting the poorest from one of the worst cost of living crises in memory.
Now he has another year to show he can be a vote-winner, too.
Narrowing polls this weekend appear to show Sunak reaping the benefits of backing The Sun in putting the brakes on net zero.
In doing so he was prepared to face the inevitable flak from the eco-lobby and their BBC cheerleaders.
Now he has to be similarly brave by finding cuts to the unprecedented tax burden crippling families.
And he must seriously consider quitting the ECHR so he can legally stop the small boats.
Both would be vote-winners and would show a Prime Minister prepared to overturn orthodoxy and truly lead.
You have nothing to lose, Prime Minister.
Be bold.
Let them speak
THE pain suffered by the parents of murdered tot James Bulger has been deep and long.
It is impossible not to be moved by the words of his dad Ralph today as he describes the effect the last 30 years has had on him.
Since James was abducted and murdered by Jon Venables and Robert Thompson in 1993 the family has had to endure a series of horrific setbacks.
The latest is the decision by the Parole Board to deny entry to Ralph and James’s mother Denise Fergus for Venables’ latest bid for freedom
Justice Secretary Alex Chalk must intervene to allow them to give evidence in person.
And monster Venables — already freed twice only to be caught again viewing online child porn images — should never be released.
It is not just for his own son that Ralph has kept fighting.
He’s campaigning for every other family let down by our broken parole system.
Gravy train
IT’S astonishing that HS2 has 167 spin doctors working on it — not least because it’s been one of the biggest Government PR disasters ever.
The £8million cost — including a Diversity and Inclusion team — is horribly symptomatic of everything that is wrong with this disgraceful gravy train.
The sooner the woke white elephant is ditched the better.
