Ben Birchall – PA Images via Getty ImagesCarolyn Harris
Keir Starmer’s parliamentary aide has quit amid claims that she spread groundless rumours about fellow MPs’ private lives.
Carolyn Harris resigned from her post of parliamentary private secretary (PPS) after a formal complaint was made by a senior MP about her conduct, HuffPost UK has been told.
The departure of the Swansea East MP, who is also deputy leader of the Welsh Labour Party, was seen as the latest fallout from a bitter briefing war over Starmer’s shadow cabinet reshuffle and his decision to “sack” deputy leader Angela Rayner as party chair and campaigns chief.
In a statement issued by Starmer’s office, she said: “It has been the proudest moment of my career to co-chair the campaign that saw Keir Starmer elected as Labour leader, and to serve as his PPS for the past year.
“Stepping back from this role is the right thing at this moment, coming as it does after some trying personal times and an ever-increasing workload as deputy leader of Welsh Labour. I have enjoyed every minute, and look forward to supporting Keir the best way I can in the months ahead.”
It is understood that Harris, who has made no secret of her combative approach to the leader’s critics within the party, sparked a backlash with recent briefings about shadow cabinet ministers’ alleged disloyalty and about MPs’ personal lives.
The Times, which first broke the news that she was stepping down, alleged that Harris had spread “salacious rumours” about colleagues.
One frontbencher told HuffPost UK: “She’s been stirring it about shadow cabinet members, among the PLP, for weeks. She’s been spreading it about in the [Commons] tea room, everywhere. And she’s finally been caught red handed this weekend.”
“The job of PPS is to be the ears and eyes of the leader, not the mouth,” one senior MP said. “She was playing too high a profile role, throwing her weight around, interfering rather than feeding back what the PLP felt. Listen, assess, report, that’s the job.”
Another said: “It felt like Keir wasn’t fully aware of what she was up to, or at least I hope he wasn’t. It would be much worse if he sanctioned it.”
Starmer is now on the hunt for a new PPS. “We need to stop thinking of PPSs as some new intaker, and maybe appoint someone who’s been around a bit,” one backbencher said. “Amiable, clubbable, friends with everybody, that’s what you want.”
Relations between the Labour leader and his deputy soured badly on Saturday night when she learned from the Sunday Times of a plan to fire her from her campaigns role.
At one point, Rayner was tempted to go public with her anger at being apparently made a scapegoat for Labour’s poor local elections performance in parts of England.
Starmer used the Queen’s Speech debate in the Commons to joke about his recent showdown with Rayner over her move to a new role, saying a “black belt” in martial arts would be useful for “the next shadow cabinet meeting”.
Boris Johnson jibed that Rayner, whose authority in the party was enhanced by several new roles including shadow first secretary of state, was a “lioness” who was likely to become hungrier “the more titles he feeds her”.
Sitting opposite, she gestured that she had her eyes on the Tory leader, and later wrote on Twitter: “The only title I’m hungry for, Boris Johnson, is Deputy Prime Minister.”
PAA trade union has slammed a train company after it promised employees a bonus in what was actually a cybersecurity test.
A train company has come under fire for emailling 2,500 staff to say they were in line for a bonus – only to reveal later it was actually a cybersecurity test.
West Midlands Trains (WMT) told staff they would receive a financial reward thanks to their “hard work” during the coronavirus pandemic.
Recipients were invited to click on a link for “information of your one-off payment”.
But the company sent a further email to those who opened the link, explaining that “this was a test designed by our IT team”.
The original message was designed to “closely mimic the tactics that, sadly, are being used on a daily basis by expert criminal organisations to try to gain access to company data”, the follow-up message stated.
The Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA) trade union claimed the promise of a bonus was sent to 2,500 members of staff, and condemned the the move as a “cynical and shocking stunt”.
Manuel Cortes, the union’s general secretary, said: “This was a cynical and shocking stunt by West Midlands Trains, designed to trick employees who have been on the front line throughout this terrible pandemic, ensuring essential workers were able to travel.
“The company must now account for their totally crass and reprehensible behaviour.
“They could and should have used any other pretext to test their internet security.
“It’s almost beyond belief that they chose to falsely offer a bonus to workers who have done so much in the fight against this virus.
“Our members have made real sacrifices these past 12 months and more.
“Some WMT staff have caught the disease at work, one has tragically died, and others have placed family members at great risk.
“We need to know who sanctioned this email and we need an apology.
“Moreover, having fraudulently held out the prospect of a payment to staff, WMT must now be as good as their word and stump up a bonus to each and every worker.
“In that way the company can begin to right a wrong which has needlessly caused so much hurt.”
A spokesman for WMT, the parent company of West Midlands Railway and London Northwestern Railway, said: “We take cybersecurity very seriously, providing regular training on the subject and we run exercises to test our resilience.
“Fraud cost the transport industry billions of pounds every year.
“This important test was deliberately designed with the sort of language used by real cyber criminals but without the damaging consequences.”
A minke whale stranded along the River Thames is to be put down after a two-day struggle to save the animal.
Hundreds of people gathered at Richmond Lock and Weir on Sunday after the small animal, thought to be between 10ft (3m) and 13ft (4m) long, became stuck on the lock’s boat rollers.
Videos showed it being hosed down while a vet performed a check-up at the river’s edge, before the Royal National Lifeboat Institute (RNLI) arrived at the scene to the cheers of onlookers at about 9pm.
The whale was found to be in poor health and was put on pontoons to make it more comfortable on Sunday night as it was decided then that it should be put to sleep. But it managed to get free and back into the river.
On Monday, crowds gathered at Teddington Lock in south-west London on Monday to catch a glimpse of the animal as it became trapped once more.
But the whale is now due to be put to sleep as it would not survive on its own in the sea, Julia Cable, national co-ordinator at the British Divers Marine Life Rescue service, said.
“The vets are here from London Zoo. They will give the whale a large anaesthetic dose which will put it to sleep,” Cable said.
“The whale shouldn’t feel anything.”
She added: “It’s always sad, but we now know that putting it back out into the open sea would have been sending it to starve out there.”
Yui Mok – PA Images via Getty ImagesMembers of the RNLI attempt to assist a Minke whale at Teddington Lock.
Cable said the whale was either still “maternally dependent” or recently weaned, based on its size.
“It will be socially dependent, so to be on its own something has happened.
“It has been separated from either its mother or a group,” she added.
“It’s in a nutritionally poor state, it’s also got injuries from stranding.
“We know it was stranded for five or seven hours yesterday, so all the time that happens the organs can get damaged as well.”
Cable said whales tend to appear in the Thames every year, although live strandings were rare.
She said: “We started off with beluga, then there was a humpback and then there was another minke, then a fin whale turned up.
“But this is the first in recent years of a live stranding.
“It’s not common and hopefully we won’t see it again for a while.”
Yui Mok – PA Images via Getty Images
Dan Jarvis, welfare development and field support officer at the British Divers Marine Life Rescue service, said rescuers were working in conjunction with the Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme (CSIP) which carries out post-mortem examinations.
He said they are likely to need help from the Port of London Authority to make arrangements for the removal of the whale.
Jarvis said it would be a long journey for the stranded whale to make it back to the open sea, around 30 miles, and logistically a big task.
He said the whale was put on pontoons to make it more comfortable on Sunday night as it was decided then that it should be put to sleep.
“It actually managed to get free of the pontoons unfortunately and back into the river,” he said.
Reflecting on the likely conclusion, Jarvis said: “This is likely the case with stranded cetaceans.
“It’s for a very good reason they’ve come ashore.
“Sometimes it is by accident, they do get stranded, but usually sadly it is the case that they’re already seriously ill or badly injured.
“And there’s not a great deal we can do in that situation.”
The whale was spotted near Teddington Lock just after 10.20am on Monday, heading downstream towards Chiswick and back towards Richmond Lock and Weir.
Pictures showed passers-by and photographers lining the river on Monday afternoon, with the whale clearly visible in the water.
Minke whales are the smallest of the great whales, growing to about 33ft (10m).
They can usually be found throughout the northern Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
Their range extends from the ice edge in the Arctic during the summer to near the equator during winter.
BBC News was royally mistaken as it attempted to tell viewers about how a small whale became stranded along the River Thames.
On Monday, concern was growing for the Minke whale – which is between 10ft (3m) and 13ft (4m) long – that was trapped at Teddington Lock in south west London.
On the corporation’s 24-hour-rolling news channel, newsreader Martine Croxhall attempted to keep viewers up to date.
She said: “The search continues to locate an injured whale in the River Thames after it escaped a first rescue attempt.”
However, the image shown on screen was the Queen as a teenager in a swimsuit with the caption: “Queen’s swimming memories.”
The journalist caught the mistake and quickly tried to acknowledge the error.
She said: “That was the Queen with her life-saving badge on her swimsuit, but I didn’t have time to tell you. Don’t know why.”
Moving on to the sport, reporter Chetan Pathak noted: “Nicely done, Martine.”
GLYN KIRK via Getty ImagesA juvenile Minke whale swims under a bridge at Teddington in south-west London.
The story involving the Queen was the monarch recollecting becoming the first young person in the Commonwealth to receive a junior lifesaving award from the Royal Life Saving Society.
As a 14-year-old the Queen, then Princess Elizabeth, earned her junior respiration award in February 1941, after completing training at a gentlemen’s club in central London, where she had swimming lessons with her sister Princess Margaret.
Most of the results are now in and the parties are now conducting their post-mortems of the “super Thursday” local elections.
The Tories were the big winners in England, gaining control of 13 councils and adding 240 councillors, at the time of writing when 140 of 143 councils had declared.
Labour meanwhile had a terrible election, losing control of eight councils as the party shed 318 councillors, prompting Keir Starmer to embark on a shadow cabinet reshuffle.
But with elections of metro mayors across England, and for the Scottish and Welsh parliaments also taking place, the full picture is more complex.
With the help of YouGov’s Patrick English and Tory polling expert Lord Hayward, here are the five key things you need to know:
1. Labour turmoil in the ‘red wall’
Owen Humphreys – PA Images via Getty ImagesBoris Johnson in front of a giant inflatable of himself as he meets and newly elected Tory MP Jill Mortimer at Jacksons Wharf in Hartlepool
There were bitter recriminations in Labour after it lost a slew of council seats and the crunch by-election in the so-called “red wall” seat of Hartlepool, which the party had held since the constituency’s inception in the 1970s.
Labour also lost control Durham, the county of the miners’ gala and a previous bastion of support for the party, and endured “staggeringly bad” losses in the likes of Rotherham, according to Hayward.
English says these losses to the Tories in working class Leave-voting areas are a continuation of the realignment of British politics that followed the Brexit vote in 2016.
And they are a stinging indictment of Starmer’s strategy to win back ex-Labour Brexit supporters who deserted the party for the Tories en masse in the 2019 general election and handed Boris Johnson a huge parliamentary majority.
The Labour leader is now facing an internal battle for Labour’s future, as he prepares to embark on a shadow cabinet reshuffle to refresh his top team amid a backlash over the sacking of his deputy Angela Rayner from her party chair job.
Plenty are now also asking whether Labour can ever recover, or whether the party is finished as an electoral force.
2. Glimmers of hope?
Hollie Adams via Getty ImagesStarmer leaves home on Saturday morning
There were small glimmers of hope for Labour, with the party performing well in Wales where it secured an effective majority and “stemmed the tide of Leave voters flooding away to the Conservatives”, according to English.
The party also did well in so-called “blue wall” traditionally Tory seats, but which voted Remain in 2016 and are now beginning to turn to Labour.
Starmer is likely to be pleased with Labour taking the West of England and Cambridgeshire and Peterborough mayoralties.
And there were signs of a “Brighton effect” stretching out across the south coast as Labour took a swathe of seats on Worthing council, according to Hayward.
Starmer’s party even won a county council seat from the Tories in Chipping Norton, in the affluent Cotswold area where former prime minister David Cameron lives.
Labour can at least begin making up ground on the Tories thanks to these types of university-educated, Remain voters, as voters continue to turn British politics on its head.
But “in terms of the mathematics there are not enough blue wall areas to gain a majority in a general election, absolutely not”, English says.
“If Keir Starmer is looking for silver linings, he got beaten 5-2,” the pollster adds.
“Okay, you got hammered, but you scored two goals.”
3. Green surge
💚 We’re seeing huge swings to the Greens all over the country.
🌍 It’s time for new and bold ideas. It’s time for change.
Labour supporters may want to look away now, because they have another problem with the Greens enjoying a good day across England.
The party has 14 seats on Bristol council, with the city still counting remaining areas, helped push Sheffield into no overall control following the long-running tree-felling row, and has done well in the suburban home counties.
Hayward says this is “a problem” for Labour as the Greens are “showing signs of being able to do well in towns and cities as the alternative [to Labour]”.
English meanwhile talks of a “pincer movement” with Labour losing seats to both the Greens and the Liberal Democrats.
But the Greens are also appealing to different kinds of voters, and have taken more seats from the Tories than Labour, according to English.
“They are winning seats off everyone all over the country, including in places where Labour couldn’t even dream of winning,” he says.
“And they are building these coalitions of voters who are very different types.
“It would be really daft to think that they are just young, hippy, liberal voters and old tree huggers who vote for them, it’s not.”
4. High profile Tory mayors dig in
Ian Forsyth via Getty ImagesRe-elected Tees Valley mayor Ben Houchen with health secretary Matt Hancock
While Labour looked set to win 11 of the 13 mayoralties being contested in cities and metropolitan regions across England, the party’s heavy defeats in former strongholds in the West Midlands and Tees Valley provided more evidence of the Brexit alignment.
Andy Street was re-elected in the West Midlands with more than 48% of the vote, embarrassing Labour challenger Liam Byrne, who suggested he could win easily.
And Ben Houchen’s thumping victory in Tees Valley with 73% of the vote inspired Johnson to reportedly leave a voice note for the current toast of the Tory Party saying: “You’re just showing off now with that majority”.
English says: “Is it because the Conservatives are flooding money into these places so the mayors can campaign on it? “Or you could flip it around, and the Conservatives would say that’s just evidence the mayors have done a bloody good job, securing money for their areas.
“There are general incumbency effects as well – once you’ve got a mayor in there and they have done a good job, they are going to get rewarded.”
Perhaps the most significant result of them all was north of the border, where Nicola Sturgeon’s SNP fell just short of the overall majority that would have made her calls for a second independence referendum even more difficult to ignore.
However, there is a majority in Holyrood for another referendum, thanks to the pro-independence Greens picking up eight seats to add to the SNP’s 64.
In response, there are signs that the UK government’s position on a referendum may be softening slightly.
Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove made clear on Sunday that now was not the time for an independence vote, with the UK recovering from coronavirus.
But he pointedly refused to say the Westminster government would go to the Supreme Court to block referendum legislation from Holyrood, and stopped short of an outright rejection of another vote in an interview with ITV Scotland.
Starmer has already removed deputy leader Angela Rayner as party chair and campaigns coordinator, after Labour lost control of a host of councils and the “red wall” parliamentary seat of Hartlepool for the first time since its inception in the 1970s.
The Labour leader has faced a backlash from senior figures for apparently sacking Rayner.
Allies insist she has been offered another job in the shadow cabinet but they could not say what it would be, with Starmer in the process of reshuffling his top team on Sunday.
Reports suggest shadow communities secretary Steve Reed could be in line to replace Rayner.
Ian Murray, the shadow secretary for Scotland, and MP Chris Bryant have also been tipped for promotion.
Shadow chancellor Anneliese Dodds is meanwhile among those reported to be in line for a demotion.
There has also been criticism from some sections of the party of Starmer’s key aide Jenny Chapman, the former MP for Darlington.
Speaking to Times Radio on Sunday, Murray insisted Rayner had not been sacked and that Starmer wants to move her to a “much more prominent role” so Labour can benefit from her “authentic voice”.
But after headlines that Rayner had been sacked sparked outrage from some in the party, Murray admitted: “Communications over the last 24 hours have not been top-quality.”
Pool via Getty ImagesStarmer and Rayner on the campaign trail on Wednesday in Birmingham
Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham, who has signalled he is ready to take over from Starmer if asked, said of Rayner’s sacking: “I can’t support this.
“This is straightforwardly wrong if it’s true.”
Members of former leader Jeremy Corbyn’s team, who come from the left of the party, were among those to criticise the move to “scapegoat” the deputy leader.
Former shadow home secretary Diane Abbott called it “baffling” while John McDonnell labelled it a “huge mistake”.
McDonnell, a former shadow chancellor, told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show: “When the leader of the party on Friday said he takes responsibility for the election result in Hartlepool in particular and then scapegoats Angela Rayner, I think many of us feel that is unfair, particularly as we all know actually that Keir’s style of leadership is that his office controls everything.
“It is very centralised and he controlled the campaign.”
In a further sign of the splits in the party, Labour grandee Lord Peter Mandelson urged Starmer to dilute the influence of party members and “hard left factions” linked to train unions.
He said Starmer was set to embark on a “serious review” of Labour policy.
“I also believe that he needs to to look at how the party is organised, how it represents the genuine grassroots of the party and reflects the genuine views and values of Labour voters across the country in all the nations and the regions of the country,” Mandelson told Times Radio
“The idea that the Labour Party and its policies and its outlook can be driven disproportionately frankly by a mixture of grassroots members in London and the south-east and the sort of hard left factions that are attached to trade unions – that has got to go, we have got to change.
“Party reform therefore I think is an essential part of what Keir has got to take on next.”
As well as undertaking a reshuffle, Starmer has hired Gordon Brown’s former chief pollster Deborah Mattinson – who has written a book about why Labour lost the so-called “red wall” at the 2019 general election – as director of strategy.
The Spandau Ballet star played the dodgy businessman between 1998 and 2002, but it only came about because the Wham! singer pulled some strings with one of the show’s producers.
But there was also a condition that George – who was a huge fan of the BBC soap – insisted upon.
Getty/Rex(L-R) Martin Kemp and George Michael
During an interview on his ITV show Weekend Best, Martin revealed: “George was such an EastEnders fan. He got me the part, in EastEnders, as Steve Owen. Yeah, he pushed me through the door.
“Then he said to me, ‘One thing I want in return… here’s one of my jumpers, sneak it on one day, you have to wear it in one of the scenes!’”
When Weekend Best guest Shane Richie asked if he actually did it, Martin replied: “Yeah I did yeah, I sneaked it on and put it on for him and he loved it!”
Martin added: “He was a beautiful, beautiful man. I can’t speak highly enough of him.”
Martin’s wife Shirlie, who was Wham!’s backing singer, previously revealed their famous friend used to search their home looking for the soap’s scripts.
Shirlie said: “He was obsessed. He would come round and open drawers, snooping about.”
Jacob King – PA Images via Getty ImagesDeputy Leader of the Labour Party Angela Rayner
Angela Rayner has been sacked by Keir Starmer as the Labour Party’s chair and campaigns co-ordinator, Labour sources have confirmed.
Starmer’s shock decision to strip his deputy leader of both strategic roles came after Labour lost a slew of council seats and the key ‘red wall’ seat of Hartlepool.
It is understood Rayner will be offered a different job. The demotion does not affect Rayner’s role as deputy leader, which is elected.
A Labour source said: “Keir said he was taking full responsibility for the result of the elections – and he said we need to change.
“That means change how we run our campaigns in the future. Angela will continue to play a senior role in Keir’s team.”
Reports suggest shadow communities secretary Steve Reed could be in line to replace Rayner.
Ian Murray, the shadow secretary for Scotland, and MP Chris Bryant have also been tipped for promotion.
Stefan Rousseau – PA Images via Getty ImagesLabour leader Sir Keir Starmer leaving his north London home following the result in the Hartlepool parliamentary by-election. Picture date: Friday May 7, 2021. (Photo by Stefan Rousseau/PA Images via Getty Images)
Removing Rayner from her campaign roles has divided opinion among activists and MPs.
One former Labour staffer: “This Angela decision is probably one of the stupidest political decisions a leaders office has made in a very long time.”
Others said Starmer was avoiding blame for defeat, with former shadow chancellor John McDonnell calling the move “a cowardly avoidance of responsibility”.
Keir Starmer said yesterday that he took full responsibility for the election result in Hartlepool & other losses. Instead today he’s scapegoating everyone apart from himself. This isn’t leadership it’s a cowardly avoidance of responsibility. https://t.co/HysX0DQn8D
— John McDonnell MP (@johnmcdonnellMP) May 8, 2021
Another Labour source took aim at Jenny Chapman, Starmer’s political director.
“It’s absolutely crazy,” they said. “This sacking isn’t about Angela. It’s all about Jenny.”
But one Labour MP told HuffPost UK they backed the decision
They said: “I’m delighted Keir’s done this. She needs to take her share of the blame for the campaign she was in charge of. What was the slogan of our campaign? There wasn’t one.
“Her presentations to the Parliamentary Labour Party on the campaign updates were streams of consciousness. She’s also been making life difficult for David Evans [party general secretary]. It had to stop.”
This is a breaking news story and will be updated. Follow HuffPost UK on Twitter here, and on Facebook here.
ANDY BUCHANAN via Getty ImagesScotland’s First Minister and leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP), Nicola Sturgeon reacts after being declared the winner of the Glasgow Southside seat
Nicola Sturgeon hailed the SNP’s “record-breaking” victory in the Holyrood elections as she warned Boris Johnson not to block a second independence referendum.
The first minister said her party had secured an “emphatic” win and Johnson’s continued resistance to a second vote would be “picking a fight with the democratic wishes of the Scottish people”.
It came as the SNP was on course to win a fourth consecutive term in control of the Scottish Parliament. Though an overall majority looked unlikely for Sturgeon, she was set to continue governing with the support of the pro-independence Scottish Greens.
She said: “It looks as though it is beyond any doubt that there will be a pro-independence majority in the Scottish Parliament and by any normal standard of democracy that majority should have the commitments it made to the people of Scotland honoured.
“So to any Westminster politician that tries to stand in the way of that, I say two things: firstly, you are not picking a fight with the SNP you are picking a fight with the democratic wishes of the Scottish people.
“And secondly, you will not succeed. The only people who can decide the future of Scotland are the Scottish people and no Westminster politician can or should stand in the way of that.”
The SNP failed to capture Aberdeenshire West from the Tories and the key target seat of Dunbarton, after Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Bailie hung on.
But the party also made key gains, such as Edinburgh Central, which was captured by former Westminster leader Angus Robertson.
The SNP leader said: “We have won more constituency seats than we did in the last election, we have won a higher share of the vote in the constituency ballot than in 2016, and actually we have won more votes and a higher share of the vote than any party in the history of devolution.
“By any standard this is a historic achievement, a quite extraordinary achievement for the SNP – our vote share is up, the vote share of the other main parties is down.
“So the SNP has won this election emphatically, the message we took to the people has been endorsed, and I now intend to get back to work to deliver on all of what we put to the Scottish people.”
The SNP has pledged to hold a second independence referendum, with Sturgeon having already said she wants this vote to be held before the end of 2023.
The prime minister has however insisted it would be “irresponsible and reckless” to have such a ballot as Britain emerges from the coronavirus crisis.
Dan KitwoodPAPrime Minister Boris Johnson
He told the the Daily Telegraph his impression was that Scottish voters had “moved away from the idea of a referendum”.
And when asked what he would do if Sturgeon attempted to hold one without a Section 30 order from Westminster granting permission, Johnson insisted there was “no case now for such a thing”.
Meanwhile Lorna Slater, the Scottish Greens co-leader, told BBC Scotland: “Certainly we can see that with the Scottish Greens we clearly have a pro-independence majority in the Scottish Parliament, and that is something we are very excited about.
“We think it is a clear mandate to at least go back to the Scottish people and ask the question, to have an actual conversation about what kind of country we want to be.”
Her comments came as the regional list seats started to be declared, with the Scottish Greens picking up a seat in Central Scotland for the first time ever.
Earlier on in the day, the Tories had held the key seats of both Aberdeenshire West and Galloway and West Dumfries.
And while Sturgeon’s party made other gains in the constituency votes at Holyrood on Friday, their success in gaining Ayr and East Lothian, from the Tories and Labour respectively, will see them lose MSPs from the South of Scotland regional list.
The coronavirus pandemic meant traditional overnight counts were abandoned after Thursday’s Scottish Parliament election, with counting instead taking place on Friday and Saturday.
Sturgeon, who comfortably defeated Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar to claim Glasgow Southside, said afterwards her initial focus would be “to get back to work to steer the country through the crisis and into recovery”.
She added: “That remains the case. But once the crisis is over, and if there is a majority in the parliament for an independence referendum, people should have the right to choose our future. Scotland’s future should always be in Scotland’s hands.”
Meanwhile, former first minister Alex Salmond conceded it is unlikely his new Alba Party will take seats in this election.
Gogglebox siblings Sophie and Pete Sandiford got the shock of their lives when they called Boris Johnson’s mobile number on this week’s episode of the Channel 4 show.
Last week it was revealed that the PM’s personal number could be found on the bottom of an old press release dating back to when he was MP for Henley and a shadow minister in 2006.
After watching a news report that revealed callers would now get an automated message saying that the phone was switched off, Sophie tried it out for herself.
But she wasn’t prepared when someone actually answered the call.
Cue Sophie hilariously lobbing the phone at her equally panicked brother.
After hanging up, Sophie blocked the number to prevent being called back – as Pete joked that security service MI5 would soon be knocking on their door.
Twitter was very much amused…
pete and sophie getting through to boris’s phone 😭😭 i’m wheezing #gogglebox
