Jack Blanchard Profile picture
UK Editor, POLITICO // Founder, London Playbook email // Co-host, Westminster Insider podcast // Sign up here: https://t.co/ktbFDvUfaH…
Jun 2, 2023 4 tweets 2 min read
NEW from Politico:

Extraordinary inside-the-room reporting on the final stages of the UK-Australia trade deal.

Over an epic dinner of Welsh lamb & fine wine, Boris Johnson gave away huge concessions which will hammer UK farmers

Scoop via @g_lanktree 👇

politico.eu/article/boris-… Johnson was tasked by officials to hold the UK line on beef quotas in final head-to-head talks with Aussie counterpart Scott Morrison.

But instead Johnson gave the Aussies exactly what they wanted, saying he hoped the deal "made up" for Britain joining the EU 48 years before
Dec 10, 2021 9 tweets 4 min read
🎙️WEEKEND LISTENING🎙️

Sunday marks the second anniversary of the 2019 election.

Academics have had time to crunch all the numbers; campaign insiders are ready to talk.

So this week Westminster Insider asks...what the hell actually happened?

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Tory campaign chief Isaac Levido lifts the lid on Boris Johnson's killer slogan.

"It came from a focus group, in Bury. People were venting their frustration. Michael (Brooks) wrote down ‘Get Brexit Done’ and said - see what they think... It was a bit of a light bulb moment.”
Jun 20, 2021 12 tweets 5 min read
🎙️SUNDAY LISTENING🎙️

Q: Could a different 'Remain' campaign have won the EU referendum?

As the five-year anniversary looms, 'Vote Leave' & 'Stronger In' comms chiefs Paul Stephenson & Craig Oliver look back on the vote that changed everything

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Vote Leave's Paul Stephenson says 'Remain' would have won if someone other than Jeremy Corbyn had been leader of the Labour Party.

"There wasn't really a Labour campaign until it was almost too late... His silence allowed us to move into a space that shouldn't have existed."
Jun 18, 2021 11 tweets 5 min read
🎙️NEW PODCAST🎙️

‘How to spin a referendum’

In a special episode to mark the fifth anniversary of the Brexit vote, I hear from the two men behind the infamous spin campaigns for Leave & Remain.

Two voices; two sides; one big moment in history

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In the red corner: A rare interview with Vote Leave's director of comms Paul Stephenson.

He says Vote Leave would not have won without Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader.

"If any other of the leadership contenders had been leader of the Labour Party, then we would have lost."
May 21, 2021 8 tweets 5 min read
🎙️FRIDAY AFTERNOON LISTENING🎙️

With pubs and bars and restaurants finally back open this weekend, it seemed a good moment to take a closer look at one of Westminster's more enduring traditions:

🍷The art of political drinking🍷

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BBC journo Ben Wright (@BBCBenWright) takes us through 300 years of political drinking, from Pitt the Younger's three bottles of port a day (!) to Churchill's "gargantuan" boozing

"He really did often have a glass or two of wine for breakfast as a sort of opener to the day"
Dec 20, 2020 8 tweets 3 min read
Preparing to do the @TimesRadio paper review at 10.30am, and working my way through Boris Johnson's back catalogue of over-promises on coronavirus. It's crazy. The PM is pathologically addicted to making big stupid promises he can't keep. March 2020 - We can "turn the tide" in 12 weeks. Well, it's Christmas, we're in lockdown, and there are hundreds of people dying every day news.sky.com/story/coronavi…