STEAMING MPs, people watching and the Prince Harry of politics were the topics raised by columnists and contributors in the newspapers.
The Daily Mail
Henry Deedes watched MPs vote to delay Freedom Day on Wednesday and said the Conservatives were ‘absolutely steaming.’
“Some grandees were so angry I swear that little wafts of smoke at times appeared to emanate from their flapping ears,” he said. “The vote passed of course but with a Tory rebellion of 49. That’s 49 very cross backbenchers.”
After two hours the debate had transformed into a pitched battle for the soul of the Conservative Party, he said.
“The Government may have won this vote comfortably, but when so many normally genteel members are speaking about them like they did, they really do need to take a long hard look at themselves.”
The Guardian
Author Chibundu Onuzo is enjoying people watching again.
“I’ve missed traditional people-watching during the lockdown. Of course, we all watched people from our windows,” she said. “The pandemic has left its sticky fingerprints on everything. How we work, how we socialise and, sadly, how we people-watch. In the past, people-watching was often driven by curiosity, but now there is an element of policing that has come into global people-watching norms.”
She said strangers on socila media were perfect, photogenic and are always standing in the sunlight.
“Strangers in real life are like you and me: normal people.”
The Daily Express
Leo McKinstry said Dominic Cummings was fast becoming the Prince Harry of politics endlessly moaning about the institution he used to serve but now despises.
“The response of most of the public to this stuff will be, “So what?” They just want this Government to get on with the job of fighting off Covid and restoring our freedoms,” he said. “The use of foul language at a moment of unprecedented tension is hardly a crime, nor are internal disputes unprecedented.
“Cummings’s latest outburst is a damp squib with no political impact. Except for a few commentators on the Left, most of the public are heartily sick of him.”
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