With Boris Johnson, the lines to comedy are so blurred that it was unbearable. Now the Tories are electing a new prime minister. Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak? One thing is certain: the two are also funny, but rather involuntarily.
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Michael Neudecker, Leeds
It’s not far from Billy Bremner to the men who are now standing in line across the street, some in double-breasted suits and ties, dress code Tory cliché. Every city has its football heroes, in England anyway, and Leeds has Billy Bremner, midfield hero and skipper, as they call the captain in England. Bremner was a Scotsman, an affable man who often spoke merrily. He died in 1997 at the age of just 54. After that they built him a statue in Leeds, Bremner in a jubilant pose, he cheers all to himself, in that paradoxically rousing stillness that well-made statues can exude. It is more of a coincidence that these two worlds meet on this evening, the funny footballer Bremner and the suit-wearing Tories. But coincidences often provide the most beautiful pictures.