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Double, double toil and trouble: ghouls descend on Downing St

Evening Standard

|

October 31, 2023

IT’S Fright Night at Downing Street as the trick or treaters come to call

- Melanie McDonagh

Double, double toil and trouble: ghouls descend on Downing St

The selection box of sweets at the door is absent, ditto the apples for the bobbin’ and the occupant is anything but welcoming. The thing is, poor old Rishi Sunak, aka Gomez Addams, has already been through the Chainsaw Massacre. That was barely a couple of weeks ago, when his lot got slaughtered at two by-elections, with the only consolation for the carnage being that it involved seeing off the scary-even without-costume Nadine Dorries. But inside No10 there is a sweet treat for welcome callers. That’ll be the celebration cake from this time last week for his first anniversary as PM. There’s quite a lot of it left.

The Chief Trick or Treater, Sir Keir Starmer, may be dressed as the Grim Reaper/Dementor, but he’s more scared than scary, isn’t he? The other figure who’s frightening even without dressing up is Ginger Spice, Angela Rayner. Her Union flag dress is all the rage in Labour just now. She’s got a smile that bodes ill for the boss. Unchained, she can be terrifying.

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