On Second Thoughts

Having been on Tramadol, I am at a loss as to which doctor in this country would prescribe that much of it. Free Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. Free Ahad Tamimi. As you would react if either of those were being held in Russia, so you must react in each and both of these cases. One Struggle. But, at the very least, reserve judgement on Laura Plummer. I regret that I did not.

I have also been thinking again about the apparent irrelevance of Michael Heseltine. With, only arguably, the only partial exception of Gordon Brown, then you have to go back to 1976 for the last time that anyone became Prime Minister without Heseltine's endorsement.

He knows perfectly well that Theresa May is not even pursuing Brexit, having all but sacked David Davis in favour of a civil servant; what the City wants of the Conservative Party, the City gets. He knows perfectly well that Jeremy Corbyn would pursue Brexit very actively indeed, since his economic programme depends on withdrawal from the Single Market and the Customs Union.

But, like the Royal Family and increasingly even the BBC, he also knows that Corbyn is going to become Prime Minister. And, like the Royal Family and the BBC, he has never been wrong yet.