Secrets of No 10 revealed

Dear Reader,
Over the last three days, The Telegraph has serialised the new biography of Sir Jeremy Heywood, a man who rarely came to the attention of the public, but as a senior civil servant played a critical role in a quarter-century of British public life. (Read each part here.) Yet the author of the biography, Sir Jeremy's widow, Suzanne, has her own fascinating story. Charles Moore spoke to Suzanne to hear of her remarkable rise and why she doesn’t regret breaking convention to write the book.
Few in British politics believed there would never be any flare-ups over the Northern Ireland border deal, but perhaps nobody saw that such a significant flashpoint would come as early as last week. Ursula von der Leyen and the European Commission quickly backtracked from their decision to impose vaccine export restrictions on Ulster, yet the whole debacle was a spectacular implosion by a senior politician. James Crisp and Christopher Hope tell the full story of how the EU’s all-out vaccine assault backfired so dramatically.
It’s only a few months since the pandemic-delayed 2020 Six Nations ended, but the 2021 edition kicks off this weekend. Ahead of England’s opening clash with Scotland, Sir Ian McGeechan interviewed Owen Farrell, England’s fly-half, captain, and arguably most important player, about his team’s controversial style of play, their hopes of a third straight title and his personal ambitions for the coming Lions tour. It’s a fascinating read.
Finally, Gardeners’ Question Time is, by any measure, a stalwart of the BBC’s radio output, having been first broadcast in 1947. Even on such a timescale, Bunny Guinness’s two-decade tenure on the programme is worth remarking on. In a lovely piece, she writes about how she first joined the programme and the joys that even something only proximate to gardening can bring. ( You can sign up for our excellent, free, gardening newsletter here. )
Chris

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