“She said: ‘Of course, we were both affected by it. You see friends who now have grown-up children, but you accept the hand that life deals you. Sometimes things you wish had happened don’t or there are things you wish you’d been able to do, but can’t. There are other couples in a similar position.’ Mrs May said she and Philip drew comfort from their happy marriage and all the other things they were ‘blessed with’.” – Mail on Sunday
“Senior Tories united to halt attempts to install Theresa May as prime minister by “coronation” yesterday, with rivals claiming she does not have the “moral authority” to do the job. The home secretary’s two most dangerous rivals went on the attack amid claims from MPs that allies of David Cameron want her rivals to give up — denying Tory members a vote.” – Sunday Times (£)
> Today: ToryDiary – May believes that Britain needs a choice – not a coronation. We agree. Now let’s have a Brexiteer in the final.
“Mrs Leadsom, who is also rapidly winning support from Conservative MPs, says she aspires to emulate Lady Thatcher’s leadership abilities, combining toughness with “personal warmth”. “As a person, she was always kind and courteous and as a leader she was steely and determined,” Mrs Leadsom says. “I think that’s an ideal combination – and I do like to think that’s where I am.”…With two leading Brexit campaigners suffering from their bitter personal clash, Mrs Leadsom is quickly emerging as the preferred candidate among Tory grandees and Eurosceptics.” – Sunday Telegraph
> Yesterday: ToryDiary – It was May’s week. But it could be Leadsom’s weekend.
“I think one thing that people could say after this week is whatever else you say about Michael Gove, he is a man who is prepared to stand up for what he believes in and take the consequences and he is a man who is prepared to act on what he thinks is the national interest,” he said. “You’ve got to take a particular step, not to flinch, so I think Vladimir Putin, if we had the option to meet — which I’m sure we will if I am elected as prime minister — will know that whatever else I am, I am not a soft touch.” – Sunday Times (£)
> Today: ToryDiary – Exclusive. The conspiracy to destroy Johnson. Sensational Gove plot transcript.
“Michael Gove is the man who has said many times that he is prepared to put his principles before his friends, that he will sacrifice anything and anyone on the high altar of his ideology. But he must see, after what he has done, that he is now cast in the public mind not as a heroic man of conviction, but as a sort of Westminster suicide bomber, whose deadly belt of explosives has been detonated not by his own hand, but by his own wife.” – Mail on Sunday
“Both have got to the top the hard way. Both were bullied at school: Crabb for his ‘English accent’ when his mother took her sons to Scotland to flee her husband; Javid was called a ‘P***’. Crabb jokes: ‘I hope you sorted him out!’ Sajid: ‘I did actually.’ By coincidence, long before they knew each other, both worked in Newport, South Wales. Nine-year-old Javid helped his dad run a market stall there, Crabb lived in a tent when he worked on a building site at Newport docks as a student. Despite their working-class backgrounds, both were fans of Margaret Thatcher when they were in short trousers.” – Mail on Sunday
“Taxpayers’ money should not go to governments with poor human rights records, particularly those without religious tolerance, the former cabinet minister said. And defence spending must rise to protect our borders outside the EU. “You cannot provide the level of security we need in things like reinforcing our border control unless you have a bigger navy,” the former defence secretary said. Fox also called for an end to the “chronic indecision” that has bedevilled everything from the renewal of the UK’s nuclear deterrent and airport expansion at Heathrow to the construction of Hinkley Point C power station and the HS2 railway.” – Sunday Times (£)
> Yesterday: Garry Heath on Comment – Party members need to have their say in this leadership election
“As Jeremy Corbyn returned to his Westminster office last Wednesday lunchtime he was a “broken man”, according to Labour insiders. The hard-left leader had endured about 90 minutes of excruciating silence from mutinous Labour MPs during a front-bench appearance that saw David Cameron use prime minister’s questions to call on him to resign in the national interest…On reaching the L-shaped suite of offices that is home to his team, Corbyn turned to his most senior aide, Seumas Milne, and said: “That’s it, Seumas, I’ve had enough.” – Sunday Times (£)
“Jeremy Corbyn wants to cling on as Labour leader until after the Chilcot report on the Iraq war is published on Wednesday — so he can “crucify” Tony Blair for taking Britain into the conflict. The Labour leader is determined to accuse the former prime minister of war crimes, according to sources who have discussed the issue with officials in Corbyn’s office. They say he is prepared to join a cross-party effort, co-ordinated by the SNP’s Alex Salmond, to make Blair stand trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague.” – Sunday Times (£)
“Un-Fuck My Future”, “No Brex Please, We’re British”, they read. Pictures of Whitney Houston with “I Will Always Love EU”, “Europe Innit” and “I wanna be deep inside EU”. “All EU Need Is Love”, “Fromage not Farage”, “Eton Mess” and, more seriously, “Science Needs EU”. “Hell no, we won’t go!” they shouted, rounding Piccadilly Circus. At the end of the march, in Parliament Square, protesters listened to speakers including Bob Geldof and Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker as well as politicians such as the Labour MP David Lammy, and Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron.” – Observer
> Today: Luke de Pulford on Comment: Farage, and a terrible truth for Tory leavers. We may loathe him – but we needed him