We British: The Poetry of a People

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So, for Starmer, this might appear a slam-dunk. His relations with the Liberal Democrats are good enough. How good? A first test will be the three by-elections coming up this summer as a result of Johnson’s departure from parliamentary politics. Speaking on LBC's Tonight with Andrew Marr, the presenter analysed how Mr Johnson continues to maintain his ability to dominate the headlines - despite Nicola Sturgeon being arrested and the death of ex-Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi. Rishi Sunak, who seemed such a favourite as a future prime minister before the disaster of the Spring Statement and the controversy over the tax status of his wife, has the resilience of the seriously wealthy. There are not many people in the higher echelons of Westminster whom you could imagine walking away, perfectly happily, into an entirely different life. But he is one of them.

Rather like that unexpected gesture, this is a pleasant surprise: a genuinely unusual, bold and important book. You can’t say that of many political memoirs. It took me a long time to read this book, because I was often tempted to follow up or explore further poets or poetry extracts featured in it. I would say that it opened windows for me. In the concluding paragraphs Andrew Marr calls it, “a book about poets for lovers of poetry” and I did find, throughout the book, that poems I had skimmed through before came to life for me when I learned more about the poet and the contemporary relevance of the work.

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Andrew Marr has said "I am so bored of Boris Johnson I could scream" in a dramatic poem in which he describes the former prime minister as a "selfish narcissist". Rishi Sunak nervously waits to see if more Boris Johnson allies will quit as MPsMPs from both sides of the warring Conservative Party have been writing in the Sunday papers about Boris Johnson's next moves. Everywhere, good people and bad people. May is not the world’s most eloquent talker, but she’s an attentive listener: it was remarks by Lenny Henry at a Stephen Lawrence commemoration service that first brought home to her the bureaucratic nightmare being faced by the Windrush families. For their treatment generally, she now says: “I am profoundly sorry.”

A new executive for the 1922 Committee could change the rules and, if submerged by a sea of new letters, hold a leadership contest almost immediately. “We could do the whole thing in a matter of days,” one anti-Johnson Tory told me. Labour have had their own teams flat out in Uxbridge (where Boris Johnson was MP) and Mid Beds – and in Selby and Ainsty, whose Conservative MP Nigel Adams has also stood down. Selby looks almost as safe as any Tory seat could be, and Adams had a 60 per cent share of the vote at the last election. But his seat is being redistributed in a way that helps Labour and it has become one of its less obvious targets: the party will fight very hard here.

Andrew Marr’s triumphant We British: The Poetry of a People is not just an anthology, but a history of Great Britain seen through the lens of poetry. Boris Johnson strikes againRishi Sunak wants to present Britain’s Conservative Party as competent. Boris Johnson’s departure, and three attendant messy by-elections, revive the sense of shambles We are in a big hole as a country, we have very, very hard choices to come and frankly if Keir Starmer takes over, he has a bit of a nightmare on his hands." Meanwhile, on the other side of the Brexit argument, Brexiteers such as Jacob Rees-Mogg were approaching May in early 2019 to ask her to get the Queen to prorogue parliament or, if the Remainers won key votes, to refuse royal assent.

The Forward Book of Poetry 2024 brings together the best poetry from 2023, including great work shortlisted and Highly Commended in the 2023 Forward Prizes. Purchasing a book may earn the NS a commission from Bookshop.org, who support independent bookshopsI spent the first 20 years of my career in newspapers, because I was sure that somebody with my looks would never get to broadcast. I’ve got many vices, but vanity isn’t one of them – I’ve always looked weird, huge ears, not enough hair. When I first became political editor of the BBC I was followed around Waitrose in East Sheen; the man eventually caught up with me and said, “’Ere, ’ere! You look just like that Andrew Marr, you poor bugger.” Again, all this might seem obvious and easy for Starmer. He certainly has the ruthlessness necessary to make a move as big as publicly converting to PR. It would be hugely popular in the party and would answer the question about how radical, given the fiscal restraints, he can be.