It is the nutrition-free, Friday-afternoon-in-peak-silly-season news story we deserve. A portrait of Margaret Thatcher will remain on display in 10 Downing Street, despite reports that Keir Starmer had asked for it to be moved because he found it "unsettling".
There are so many moving pieces to this I don't even know where to begin. The fact that the portrait was commissioned by Gordon Brown (out of pure cynicism, not because he didn't quite obviously despise Thatcher's politics). Or the fact that Esther McVey, former minister for common sense and fresh off comparing the proposed outdoor smoking ban to the Holocaust, accused the prime minister of being “a pathetic, petty minded little man”.
But perhaps my favourite part was the response from the Conservative Party's official Twitter/X account, which posted "Tell me you’ve got a problem with women without telling me you’ve got a problem with women." Where to even begin? First, no one thinks Starmer has a problem with women. Second, are the Tories doing identity politics (badly) now? And third, just imagine Thatcher’s reaction to her party weaponising her as primarily a woman.
The better – or at least more coherent if still beyond ridiculous – critique came from John Redwood, who told the Daily Mail: “I’m not at all surprised he’s done this. He wouldn’t want to be embarrassed by comparison with a far better prime minister.” If your political comms department is being shown up by the same man who did this on television, then I'm sorry, you really do need a period in opposition.
As for the rest of us, that is more than enough for now. Go outside. Call your mother. Get the document that's been sat on your desk for eight-and-a-half months legalised. And sleep in this weekend. It might just save your life.
