{"id":307835,"date":"2025-07-31T23:58:31","date_gmt":"2025-07-31T23:58:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/307835\/"},"modified":"2025-07-31T23:58:31","modified_gmt":"2025-07-31T23:58:31","slug":"brexits-hard-man-steve-baker-reveals-his-softer-side","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/307835\/","title":{"rendered":"Brexit\u2019s hard man Steve Baker reveals his softer side"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brexit\u2019s hard man Steve Baker reveals his softer side <\/p>\n

, The Times\"Steve<\/p>\n

Steve Baker has now come out as a hugger<\/p>\n

GUILHEM BAKER FOR THE TIMES<\/p>\n

Politicians get on a lot better than it might appear. While we remember Brexit as a time of political betrayal and acrimony, the self-declared \u201cBrexit hard man\u201d Steve Baker insists that, behind the scenes, it was cuddles and chocolate. He says that he\u2019d say sorry for rebellions by giving the whips a big box of Heroes or a bottle of whisky. He tells Reflections that he now embraces his former opponents, to which his interviewer Jim Naughtie remarked that it might have been better if they\u2019d hugged each other at the time. \u201cWe often did,\u201d Baker said. We know that Tory hugging persisted after Brexit. In an unrelated story, the former Labour MP Jonathan Ashworth has visited the Department of Health and says that the camera which caught Matt Hancock in flagrante declincho has been removed<\/p>\n

Reformed character<\/p>\n

There have been a number of resignations by Reform councillors<\/a> elected in May, many on the grounds of not actually fancying the job. However, Tony Hewitt, who was on a town council in Co Durham, has rather sweetly stood down so that his wife can enter Ferryhill\u2019s annual flower show. Rita Hewitt is the defending champion in the front garden competition, and was last year\u2019s runner-up for the back garden. However, the town council decides the winners so Mr Hewitt has resigned to avoid a conflict of interest. \u201cI thought I am not really losing anything by giving it up without even getting my feet under the table,\u201d he said. Wise. If he\u2019d stayed, he may have found that the grass isn\u2019t always greener. <\/p>\n

Peter Just\u2019s new book about Margaret Thatcher after Downing Street has shown that she had a mixed view of her successor John Major, but she was harsher on the man who followed him. The book has a story about Lady Palumbo, wife of the Tory peer, asking Thatcher what she thought of Tony Blair. \u201cMy dear,\u201d Thatcher replied, \u201cI do not think of him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mamma mia<\/p>\n

An intriguing advert has emerged in The Stage for the show ABBA Voyage, which renders the Swedish quartet as digitally recreated holograms<\/a>. A technician is required to ensure that the digital stars get on stage but, in a stark contrast with their human equivalents, this job apparently requires someone who is \u201cconfident with hand and power tools\u201d. Back in the day, it can\u2019t be denied that some of the band were partial to a screwdriver, but they never said gimme, gimme, gimme a spanner at midnight.<\/p>\n

Natural selection<\/p>\n

The arrival of a new David Attenborough<\/a> series this weekend will be a cause of joy for many, but for the comedian Simon Evans it may bring a slight shudder. He is haunted by the time he met the great narrator at a BBC party and became the umpteenth person to tell Attenborough he was marvellous. \u201cHe looked suitably grateful,\u201d Evans said, \u201cbut I then decided to articulate my private theory about what makes for great factual programming \u2014 that the host not be an expert themselves but a keen amateur\u201d. Attenborough stiffened and politely but firmly said that he had studied zoology at Cambridge. \u201cI swiftly registered the termination of pleasantries,\u201d Evans said, adding that he then attempted safer hero-worship. \u201cI went to congratulate Ronnie Barker on his jackets.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Labour<\/a><\/p>\n

THE TIMES VIEW<\/p>\n

July 30 2025, 9.40pm<\/p>\n

The Times View<\/p>\n

\"Nigel<\/a><\/p>\n

July 31 2025, 5.15pm<\/p>\n

George Grylls, Washington<\/p>\n

\"Don\u2019t<\/a><\/p>\n

janice turner | notebook<\/p>\n

July 30 2025, 7.54pm<\/p>\n

Janice Turner<\/p>\n

\"Burglars<\/a><\/p>\n

August 01 2025, 12.21am<\/p>\n

Amelia Stout<\/p>\n

\"Oasis<\/a><\/p>\n

August 01 2025, 12.01am<\/p>\n

Andy Silvester, London Editor<\/p>\n

\"Keir<\/a><\/p>\n

July 31 2025, 10.30pm<\/p>\n

Steven Swinford, Political Editor<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brexit\u2019s hard man Steve Baker reveals his softer side , The Times Steve Baker has now come out…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":307836,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5226],"tags":[802,748,2000,299,5187,1699,4884,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-307835","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brexit","8":"tag-brexit","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-eu","11":"tag-europe","12":"tag-european","13":"tag-european-union","14":"tag-great-britain","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114950563915596252","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=307835"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307835\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/307836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=307835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=307835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=307835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}