Ican’t remember when I last wrote anything as reckless, but the last week has been a good one for Kemi Badenoch and the Conservatives, perhaps the best since she won the leadership last November.

After months of ineffectual performances (not least the week before when Badenoch missed an open goal on Angela Rayner’s stamp duty shemozzle) the leader of Her Majesty’s Opposition landed a bullseye by going after Peter Mandelson on Wednesday. Keir Starmer was notably uncomfortable defending his Washington ambassador.

To reinforce the pain, Neil O’Brien, near-universally welcomed as the new Tory head of policy in Badenoch’s reshuffle, showed how smart he was by tabling an Urgent Question to try to force Starmer’s hand. It is clear that this was one of the proximate causes of the timing of Mande

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