Robert Hutton
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roberthutton.co.uk
Robert Hutton
@roberthutton.co.uk
41K followers 420 following 3.6K posts
RobDotHutton from the broken site. Parliamentary sketches and film columnist for The Critic, co-host of classic cinema love-in War Movie Theatre. New spy book "The Illusionist" is out now.
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roberthutton.co.uk
Robert Hutton @roberthutton.co.uk · Apr 26
The Illusionist is now out in paperback! It's the "enthralling", "superbly entertaining", "delightful", and "satisfying" true story of an eccentric genius who made magic into a weapon of war.
roberthutton.co.uk
Is this the end, or the beginning of the end, or the end of the beginning of the end? My SKETCH of Keir Starmer clinging on. thecritic.co.uk/et-t...
The people of Aberdeen haven’t seen the sun for a month, and Keir Starmer knows how they feel. After losing his chief of staff on Sunday, he lost the latest in a series of directors of communications on Monday morning. Still, at least no one in Labour was publicly calling for him to resign. That would come just after lunch. Starmer is now in a position familiar to those who remember Theresa May: no one can see how this goes on, but no one can quite work out how to end it. In her case, it was a set of terrible elections where Nigel Farage was triumphant. For Starmer … hang on, I’m just hearing something about what’s coming in three months.
February 9, 2026 at 7:51 PM
Reposted by Robert Hutton
stephenkb.bsky.social
Have decided to believe that the regular correspondent who writes to complain that I am not giving Badenoch enough credit for the Mandelson affair is in fact, Kemi's alt, because the idea of *two* people in the world thinking that way is too much to bear.
roberthutton.co.uk Robert Hutton @roberthutton.co.uk · 16h
Something magnificent about Kemi Badenoch's self-confidence, and her claim that the Mandelson affair is entirely down to her asking questions at PMQs. Like a toddler who thinks their plastic steering wheel is controlling the car.
February 9, 2026 at 9:57 AM
Reposted by Robert Hutton
jim.londoncentric.media
Re-upping this for the Monday crowd... I think my favourite, most revealing detail is that the guy seems to not realise he's in trouble because London Centric's reporting didn't hit anything like his view counts, so therefore it can't really matter.
jim.londoncentric.media Jim Waterson @jim.londoncentric.media · 1d
Hate-filled fake videos about London are everywhere. We've obtained a recording of a TikToker confessing to secretly filming Londoners in their homes for clicks.

He says it's not political. He just wants to make money from far-right anger.

Read what he says: www.londoncentric.media/p/london-tik...
February 9, 2026 at 9:42 AM
roberthutton.co.uk
Something magnificent about Kemi Badenoch's self-confidence, and her claim that the Mandelson affair is entirely down to her asking questions at PMQs. Like a toddler who thinks their plastic steering wheel is controlling the car.
February 9, 2026 at 8:07 AM
roberthutton.co.uk
My baseline for a successful campaign to be prime minister is that political journalists have taken the time to learn to spell your five-letter surname.
February 8, 2026 at 8:47 PM
Reposted by Robert Hutton
youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com
mashallah he is gone, to celebrate I've made the piece I wrote last year about arguably the most embarrassing project I've ever worked on free to read: youngvulgarian.substack.com/p/so-about-t...
February 8, 2026 at 3:59 PM
roberthutton.co.uk
A route to Conservative electoral victory? Now there's a phrase I haven't heard since every Saturday politics long read from October 2022 to July 2024.
February 8, 2026 at 6:28 PM
roberthutton.co.uk
Rate bit of good news here for Labour.
February 8, 2026 at 1:26 PM
Reposted by Robert Hutton
warmovietheatre.com
Nuremberg, a film made on the basis that if "show, don't tell" is good, maybe "show AND tell" would be better. champ.ly/1li6Z85W
February 8, 2026 at 10:10 AM
roberthutton.co.uk
Classic Dom, he's got all the Sunday newspaper profiles just where he wants them.
February 8, 2026 at 9:30 AM
roberthutton.co.uk
Well, it's one analysis of 1745:
duncanweldon.bsky.social Duncan Weldon @duncanweldon.bsky.social · 2d
It’s not working. But I think Scotland are right to just try and slog some boundaries here.
February 7, 2026 at 1:08 PM
roberthutton.co.uk
Nuremberg! This week's episode of War Movie Theatre sees Russell Crowe as Herman Goering, trying to pull off one last trick. Terrible cinematic mistake, or a glaring omission from the Oscars? You may have views, and so do we.
War Movie Theatre: Nuremberg - with Henry Dyer
Russell Crowe makes another pitch for an Oscar as he plays Herman Goering, on trial for his life. But is he let down by a film that is determined to both show and tell? Does he have the silliest la...
pod.fo
February 7, 2026 at 10:12 AM
Reposted by Robert Hutton
gabrielmilland.bsky.social
Said it before and I'll say it again. Dem-led jurisdictions need to start naming their sewage plants, waste dumps and sex offender units after Donald Trump.
February 6, 2026 at 4:34 PM
roberthutton.co.uk
"Rob, you once spent a day following Peter Mandelson round Blackpool. Did you take any pictures that, even at the time, you thought might one day come in handy?"
February 6, 2026 at 2:02 PM
roberthutton.co.uk
The Global Counsel "Our People" page is like a relic of Stalin's purges.
Going... Going... Gone!
February 6, 2026 at 1:27 PM
Reposted by Robert Hutton
stephenkb.bsky.social
Absolutely brilliant column by @patrickmaguire.bsky.social: every word of it true:
Keir Starmer’s hollowness is clear for all to see
The PM’s distaste for politics means he has outsourced every significant decision and now finds he’s left to pay the bill
www.thetimes.com
February 5, 2026 at 9:31 PM
Reposted by Robert Hutton
warmovietheatre.com
Russell Crowe! Playing a charming Nazi! We're watching the confused, subtext-is-for-coward show-AND-tell fest that is Nuremberg.
champ.ly/1li6Z85W
War Movie Theatre: Nuremberg - with Henry Dyer
Russell Crowe makes another pitch for an Oscar as he plays Herman Goering, on trial for his life. But is he let down by a film that is determined to both show and tell? Does he have the silliest la...
pod.fo
February 5, 2026 at 6:05 PM
Reposted by Robert Hutton
direthoughts.com
this movie is so bad but somehow could have been worse - more in the podcast with @roberthutton.co.uk and @duncanweldon.bsky.social
podfollow.com/war-movie-th...
February 5, 2026 at 12:16 PM
Reposted by Robert Hutton
warmovietheatre.com
Abracadabra! We're watching "Nuremberg", a film about war crimes that may well constitute some sort of crime itself. With @direthoughts.com, who is so obsessed that he went and checked the screenplay, which is apparently even worse. champ.ly/1li6Z85W
February 5, 2026 at 12:00 PM
Reposted by Robert Hutton
hindchristopher.bsky.social
"Hello, my name is ... Retep Noseldnam, yes that'll do..."
Peter Mandleson with 'tache
February 5, 2026 at 10:54 AM
Reposted by Robert Hutton
roberthutton.co.uk
There was a "process", there was "due diligence", and yet somehow Peter Mandelson slipped through the net. As it turns out, the notoriously unreliable man simply couldn't be trusted! My SKETCH.
thecritic.co.uk/mand...
At this point we learned that Number 10 had wargamed only one good answer to the Mandelson questions. Amazingly, this would turn out not to be enough. “We went through a process,” Starmer replied, offering what might be the most Starmer answer in the history of Starmer answers. “There was a due diligence exercise.” When the prime minister passes on to the great court of appeal in the sky, we will find these words written on his heart. There had, he said, been “vetting by the security services”. Unfortunately, he went on, “Mandelson lied”. Curses! Foiled again! The one thing we weren’t expecting! This is how Kim Philby got away with it for so long: whenever they asked him if he was working for the Russians, he simply denied it. It must be very frustrating working for MI5, with all these people letting you down by lying to you.
February 4, 2026 at 6:55 PM
Reposted by Robert Hutton
maxberger.bsky.social
Democracy dies in oligarchy.
February 4, 2026 at 7:07 PM
roberthutton.co.uk
There was a "process", there was "due diligence", and yet somehow Peter Mandelson slipped through the net. As it turns out, the notoriously unreliable man simply couldn't be trusted! My SKETCH.
thecritic.co.uk/mand...
At this point we learned that Number 10 had wargamed only one good answer to the Mandelson questions. Amazingly, this would turn out not to be enough. “We went through a process,” Starmer replied, offering what might be the most Starmer answer in the history of Starmer answers. “There was a due diligence exercise.” When the prime minister passes on to the great court of appeal in the sky, we will find these words written on his heart. There had, he said, been “vetting by the security services”. Unfortunately, he went on, “Mandelson lied”. Curses! Foiled again! The one thing we weren’t expecting! This is how Kim Philby got away with it for so long: whenever they asked him if he was working for the Russians, he simply denied it. It must be very frustrating working for MI5, with all these people letting you down by lying to you.
February 4, 2026 at 6:55 PM
roberthutton.co.uk
True fact: Emily Thornberry was the *ONLY* MP to comment in parliament on Mandelson's appointment in the nine months before the scandal broke.

(She called it "inspired", but let's glide past that.)
jamesdaustin.bsky.social James Austin @jamesdaustin.bsky.social · 5d
One thing about this debate is that it's a slew of Labour MP's who Starmer has spurned for one reason or another, almost all women, going in studs first.

Thornberry showing how good she is here.
February 4, 2026 at 4:22 PM
Reposted by Robert Hutton
duncanweldon.bsky.social
Classic.
Email from a reading club, saying they were reading Blood & Treasure. Would I like to join a session?
Wondered if it was a scam. Couldn’t see how. Replied saying I’d be happy to join a zoom.
Spoiler: the follow-up arrived. A scam.
February 4, 2026 at 1:11 PM