Hello and welcome to The Midge, the e-bulletin that takes a bite out of politics in Scotland and elsewhere.
Front pages
In The Herald, UK political correspondent Kate Devlin reports on a poll showing support for Trident waning. A new poll for the paper shows 44.6% back renewal, compared to 54% in another poll in January.
The National leads on the NEC decision to allow Jeremy Corbyn to automatically qualify for a leadership election, picturing him as a motorcycle-riding Steve McQueen in The Great Escape.
The Mail says Scots Tory leader Ruth Davidson warned at Westminster yesterday that the Brexit vote was “testing the country’s sense of unity.”
Crime correspondent Stacey Mullen reports in the Evening Times on a shooting in Govan.
The Guardian, Times and the i predict more women in Theresa May’s first Cabinet amid speculation George Osborne will leave the Treasury. The Guardian pictures Jeremy Corbyn arriving at the NEC meeting which later ruled he could stand again as leader without MPs’ support.
The FT pictures Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, together in endorsement at last. See Afore Ye Go, below.
Camley’s cartoon
Camley knows where there is a party happening tonight ...
Five in five seconds: May's first words
1. What’s the story? It is the most famous front door in the world on one of the most widely known streets (apart from Corry’s), so naturally new Prime Ministers in the multimedia age like to make use it as the backdrop to their first few words to the nation.
2. Always outside? No. Prime Ministers once thought it impressive enough to speak from inside Downing Street on the new fangled telly. Sitting in front of chintzy curtains in 1957, Harold Macmillan struck what he thought was the right, optimistic, note: "Every now and again since the war I've heard people say 'Isn't Britain only a second or third class power now? Isn't she on the way out?' What nonsense. This is a great country so don't let us be ashamed to say so.”
3. Famous first words? Margaret Thatcher’s words on arriving in 1979 were carefully chosen to soften her image. Asked how she was feeling, Mrs T went on to say: “I would just like to remember some words of St. Francis of Assisi which I think are really just particularly apt at the moment. ‘Where there is discord, may we bring harmony. Where there is error, may we bring truth. Where there is doubt, may we bring faith. And where there is despair, may we bring hope’ … And to all the British people, howsoever they voted, may I say this. Now that the election is over, may we get together and strive to serve and strengthen the country of which we're so proud to be a part.” Tony Blair was out to signal that he was his own man and that this Labour government would not be like those in the past. “I know well what this country has voted for today,” he said. “It is a mandate for New Labour and I say to the people of this country - we ran for office as New Labour, we will govern as New Labour.”
4. Patterns? They all start the same way - “I have just accepted the invitation of Her Majesty the Queen to form a Government” - and the pay-off lines are similar too, all signalling a determination to get on with things. Blair went with: “Today, enough of talking — it is time now to do”, while Thatcher had opted for: “In the words of Airey Neave whom we had hoped to bring here with us, ‘There is now work to be done’.” Gordon Brown chose: “And now let the work of change begin”, and Cameron in 2015 finished with: “Together we can make Great Britain greater still.”
5. What did Mrs May say? She staked her claim as a One Nation Tory who would govern for everyone. On Scotland, she said: "Not everybody knows this, but the full title of my party is the Conservative and Unionist Party, and that word unionist is very important to me. It means we believe in the union, the precious, precious bond between England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.”
Afore Ye Go
“I'm here to say we must reject such despair. I'm here to insist that we are not as divided as we seem.”
President Obama at a memorial service in Dallas for the five officers killed at a protest over police shootings of black men in Louisiana and Minnesota. Above, the president with Dallas police chief David O Brown.
“Are you going to be a teacher or a farmer?”
One of the questions posed by pupils at a London school when David Cameron made his last official visit as PM before stepping down today.
I spent yesterday evening remixing David Cameron. I'm very proud... #cameron #humming pic.twitter.com/WIMDU4zyjx
— Graeme Coleman (@graemecoleman) July 12, 2016
“She will no doubt introduce a cap for migrants. Probably an orange cone with an ‘M’ on the front that gives out an electric shock if they stray too close to a golf course.”
Frankie Boyle welcomes Theresa May to Number 10. The Guardian
"The bins are collected on Wednesday, you need to put them out by 7.30am. I think that covers everything." #Cameron pic.twitter.com/3SHhibTSMw
— Neil Saunders (@NeilRetail) July 12, 2016
"Labour is still fumbling with its flies while the Tories are enjoying their post-coital cigarette.”
Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson, speaking at a Westminster press lunch yesterday, contrasts the speed of the Tory and Labour leadership contests. Carl Court/Getty Images
"In Scotland, the audiences' general impression of the BBC has remained lower than the UK overall since the referendum, and dipped further during the UK general election.”
BBC Trust assessment for 2015/16, delivered yesterday. Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images
“Why is the UK Government so unpopular and why is Scotland so popular in Europe?”
Alex Salmond teases Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond about a YouGov poll. Jack Taylor/Getty Images
“I’d have thought if there was one lesson to take from the events of the last three weeks it was don't read polls.”
The minister responds. Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
"It is bullying, it has absolutely no place in politics in the UK and it needs to end.”
Labour leadership challenger Angela Eagle after a brick was thrown through the window of her constituency party office in Liverpool.
"As someone who has also received death threats this week and previously, I am calling on all Labour Party members and supporters to act with calm and treat each other with respect and dignity, even where there is disagreement.”
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. Ian Forsyth/Getty Images
What a day for a Corbyn lookalike to work in the same building as Labour HQ!!! pic.twitter.com/TaXEUkH6F5
— Ben Green (@BenGreenLabour) July 12, 2016
"There are some people in the party, especially in the Parliamentary Labour Party, that are acting like the UDM - the ones that lined up with Thatcher against the NUM.”
Labour MP Dennis Skinner as the NEC met to consider whether Mr Corbyn should be allowed automatically on to the ballot.
Just witnessed two Scotland football victories in one afternoon! Well done to men & women's teams #homelessworldcup pic.twitter.com/F048005G3A
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) July 12, 2016
Maybe don't get too used to it, First Minister ...
"Far and away the best candidate”.
Former rival Bernie Sanders at last endorses Hillary Clinton at a rally in New Hampshire
Bernie Sanders endorsing Crooked Hillary Clinton is like Occupy Wall Street endorsing Goldman Sachs.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 12, 2016
"I'm hoping having a female prime minister is really going to inspire women.”
Jacqueline Gold, chief executive of lingerie firm Ann Summers on Theresa May. Ms Gold collected her CBE from the Princess Royal at Windsor Castle.
"I'm glad to be alive.”
Chelsea Manning, the transgender soldier who was imprisoned for sending classified information to the whistleblowing website WikiLeaks, posts on Twitter after her suicide attempt last week. She is sentenced to 35 years in jail. TJ Kirkpatrick/Getty Images
Signal failure at Brixton so big delays on the #victoria line and trains stopping st Victoria #tfl pic.twitter.com/TaSlsJelHF
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) July 12, 2016
Here for no other reason than to cheer up those now sitting on the Scotrail Glasgow-Edinburgh service ...
Thank you for reading. See you tomorrow
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