Out of order

It's hard to judge a political inflection point, but yesterday may have been one - the day the Tories made public their inner fears that Reform UK might beat them into third pace in the total vote share. Grant Shapps coined 'supermajority', to argue that all Tories must vote Tory; the Mail thought it was important too.

It was the lead on the BBC 6pm news on Radio 4, talking about an apparent concession of likely defeat from a senior minister.

However, over on BBC1 at 6pm, the fresh debate around 'supermajority' was the second headline.  A backgrounder on crime from Middlesbrough by newly-appointed UK Editor Ed Thomas took pride of place, apparently driven there by the Turness Outreach Project 'Your Voice, Your Vote.' 

This was a strong piece which should have teed up a four-party discussion about solutions. It was, in tv terms, 'sexy'; we're clearly meant to gasp as one of the masked youths interviewed by Ed produced a large knife. But 'news' is about recency, and it was not a lead. Crime figures were a top story in January when annual figures were totted up. One might have asked what progress has been made since 2020's review.  One didn't.