| Thank you. Thank you very much, everyone. | Sorry to keep you waiting; complicated business; complicated.
I've just received a call to confirm I have been elected chairman of the parliamentary press gallery. It was a very, very hard-fought campaign, but in the end I was elected unopposed.
I'd like to thank everyone sensible enough not to stand. I mean that very sincerely.
Now it's time to bind the wounds of reporting on Commons divisions. It's time. I pledge to everyone in the press gallery I will be chairman for all reporters, and this is so important to me.
No dream is too big, no challenge is too great, no lunch is too long. Boy oh boy oh boy. You'll be so proud.
Let's make the press gallery great again. And don't delete my emails. | | Matt Chorley | | Red Box Editor | | | Top News |  | | Beware Jeremy Trump | Jeremy Corbyn is like Donald Trump. They are both very unpopular in Britain, although I'm not sure that's what the Labour leadership had in mind.
A brainstorming session at Labour HQ seems to have got out of hand: the obvious thing to do after Trump's victory would have been to condemn outright the appalling language, behaviour and policies of his campaign, but wish him well and hope for better in the future.
Instead the Labour Party is pitching itself on the same side of the anti-establishment insurgent politics that delivered Trump to the White House, and took Britain out of the EU.
Emily Thornberry, the shadow foreign secretary, said: "I think it's right there are hundreds and thousands energised by Jeremy Corbyn being the leader of the Labour Party so there are some similarities."
It followed Corbyn himself saying Trump's victory was an "unmistakable rejection of a political establishment and an economic system that simply isn't working for most people".
It's true there are some similarities: both Corbyn and Trump have a downer on Nato, they are fans of Putin and have had their problems with complaints of racism and antisemitism.
But to suggest that the conclusion to draw from Tuesday is that the current Labour Party is on the same course is, may I say, crackers.
If Trump and Brexit have anything in common it is the appeal to widespread, mainstream concern about immigration.
Trump wants to build a wall, Corbyn wants to open the door. Or as one Labour MP put it to me: "Our policy seems to be the more the merrier."
Trump struck a chord with voters jaded by political correctness and sanitised soundboard, even if this drifted into "locker-room talk". Corbyn has never been in a locker room, unless it was to collect his jute bag after a debate in a sports hall about the economic value of Venezuela's fair trade satsumas.
Trump appealed to patriots with his vague vow to make America great again. Corbyn refused to sing the national anthem or kneel for the Queen. Trump wants to close the door to terrorists. Corbyn invited Gerry Adams for tea, opposed shoot-to-kill and called Hamas "friends".
Trump said dreadful things about women, immigrants, Hispanics and people with disabilities. With No 10 rolling out the red carpet of politeness, many will look to the Labour Party to condemn the racism, sexism and misogyny, unequivocally, from the rooftops.
As Ed Miliband said yesterday: "The idea that we have shared values with a racist, misogynistic self-confessed groper beggars belief."
Labour should not be trying to bathe in the reflective glory of someone on the opposite side of the political spectrum just because they have been better at harnessing the anti-elite mood.
If the only qualification for leading a political movement was elderly men filling halls with adoring fans, Cliff Richard would be prime minister. Trump and Corbyn are very, very different. Most people on the left would consider that to be a good thing. |  | | Today's cartoon from Peter Brookes | | Meet the Apprentice |  | Awkward doesn't even cover it. The guy whose birthplace was questioned met the guy who he said posed an existential threat to the republic.
It is a credit to Barack Obama that he is showing Donald Trump the decency that one suspects the Republican would not have shown his own opponents. The pair met in the Oval Office yesterday for 90 minutes. Obama gave his successor some key advice: if journalists start shouting questions, don't answer them. | Read the full story  | | The relationship is very, very special. Seriously. It is so special. The best ever. You've never seen anything so special. Bigly. | With all eyes on America, British political journalists stuck in Westminster were reduced to needily counting how many calls Donald Trump had made before picking up the phone to Blighty.
After working out the international dialling codes for Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Turkey, India, Mexico, South Korea, Japan, Australia and Ireland, the president-elect got through to Theresa May for what ended up being a pretty positive conversation, with Trump saying the UK is a "very, very special place for me and for our country".
Those on the call said he was straight and very professional.
| | Read the full story | | | | Farage: loathsome creature | Nigel Farage is still doing Donald Trump's dirty work for him, describing Barack Obama as a "creature" and a "loathsome individual".
And because jokes about sexual assault are always funny, he told the president-elect: "Come and schmooze Theresa — don't touch her, for goodness sake." Read the story
The front page of the Telegraph breathlessly reports that Farage is to act as a go-between for Downing Street and the White House, with ministers including Liam Fox "forced" to rely on the Ukip leader as matchmaker.
"Not for the prime minister he isn't," says a senior government source. "Liam is not talking to Farage either. The story is ridiculous." | | |  | | Trouble in store | Republican leaders on Capitol Hill have pledged to move swiftly to undo Obamacare as a Trump presidency sets about erasing the past eight years.
Meanwhile, Ivanka Trump, the president-elect's 35-year-old daughter who has her own lifestyle brand and is said to be worth £150 million in her own right, is tipped to take over her father's business empire when he is inaugurated in January.
Trump's ancestral homeland in the Hebridean hamlet of Tong, on Lewis, is quietly hoping for a visit.
But it is not all going to be plain-sailing for the president-elect.
He faces the prospect of having to testify in one of the 75 legal cases pending against him before he takes office.
There is resistance to his plans to build a wall along the Mexico border.
And Brussels will step up its drive towards an EU army amid fears a Trump-led America cannot be relied upon. | | | | Too many tweets | If you want to know what Theresa May thinks, you look to Nick Timothy, or so the conventional wisdom in Whitehall goes.
And if you want to know what Nick Timothy thinks, you look to his Twitter feed. And Politico has spotted that back in May he wrote: "Urgh. As a Tory, I don't want any 'reaching out' to Trump." | | | | Podcast: How did Trump win and how will he lead? |  | This week on a US election special edition of the Red Box podcast, I was joined by Emma Tucker, deputy editor of The Times, Tim Shipman, political editor of The Sunday Times, Joseph Sternberg from the Wall Street Journal, Catherine Philp, diplomatic correspondent for The Times, and Daniel Finkelstein, the Times columnist.
- Listen and subscribe via iTunes here
- Listen via Acast here
- Or search for "Times Red Box podcast"
|  | | Trump's transition team works to form cabinet | Donald Trump's transition team raced to form his cabinet on Thursday as more names were floated for some of the biggest jobs in the president-elect's administration, including a foe of financial regulation for the powerful position of Treasury secretary. Jeb Hensarling, a Texas Republican known for his sharp criticism of the 2010 financial regulatory overhaul, is among a growing list of potential nominees for the cabinet, including Senator Jeff Sessions (R, Ala), former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani and Michael McCaul (R, Texas), among others. Read the story in full
Make America's election your business with The Wall Street Journal - only £1 for 2 months at subscribe.wsj.com/emea | | | | Win tickets to This House |  | | Last chance to enter this week's competition to win tickets for This House, the political play opening at the Garrick Theatre in London from November 19. >>> Enter the competition | | In other news | - NHS deal: Virgin Care was awarded a £700 million contract last night to run more than 200 NHS services, the first time a business will deliver a council's social care for adults. Read the story
- Abuse inquiry: Detectives investigating the man who made false allegations about a Westminster paedophile ring have been told that he was manipulated by a news website. Read the story
- Head less: A shortage of head teachers could result in thousands of posts going unfilled as large numbers of senior staff leave because of the pressure of the job, a report has warned. Read the story
- Price cuts: Britain's national statistician has urged the authorities to switch to a measure of inflation that includes housing costs and council tax to provide a more comprehensive picture of the way that prices are changing. Read the story
- Rate fixing: Major lenders told Sir Paul Tucker, the former deputy governor of the Bank of England, as early as mid-2007 that they were not submitting accurate Libors, it is alleged in legal documents that form part of a claim by a care home operator over an allegedly mis-sold interest rate hedging product. Read the story
- Council crackdown: SNP ministers are planning a major assault on Scotland's town halls, forcing councils to relinquish power over crucial areas of public life. Read the story
| | | | TMS | | From the diary | | By Kaya Burgess | | Labour's Christmas tree | | News that Keith Vaz will no longer decorate the Labour Christmas tree has prompted readers to suggest festive-sounding replacements. Suzie Marwood says the Labour MP Holly Lynch would be apt, while an olive branch could be extended to the Tory Richard Shepherd or the Lib Dem Norman Lamb. If all else fails, he could turn to the Lords and ask Mervyn, Oona and Tom to step in as the three Kings. | | Read more from the TMS diary | | | | | What the papers said | The Times
"Britain has rightly opposed an integrated Euro army but it should not stand in the way of EU states developing more efficient fighting forces. The security of Europe and the health of the transatlantic relationship depends on it." Read the full article
The Guardian
"His election makes the world a more dangerous place and also a more uncertain place, for it is too early to say precisely how those dangers will materialise – nor how the next US president will face up to them." Read the full article
Financial Times
"Despite the huge uncertainties unleashed by Mr Trump's victory, there is a broad set of measures including tax reform, infrastructure investment and a greater emphasis on fiscal stimulus that could add up to a coherent — if not ideal — economic policy." Read the full article
The Sun
"Trump's greatest challenge, aside from the simple enormity of his new role, is to fulfil the easy promises he made to voters. If he fails, their rage will be terrifying." Read the full article | | Agenda | Today: - Boris Johnson, foreign secretary, meets the Czech foreign minister.
- Lord Price, trade minister, attends a EU council foreign affairs council on trade in Brussels.
- Ballot papers for the Ukip leadership election are sent out.
- Mark Garnier, international trade minister, concludes a visit to Brazil and Colombia.
- 09:30am: Publication of monthly prison population statistics.
- 11:00am: Traditional time of two-minute silence marking Armistice Day.
- 08:00pm: Emily Thornberry, shadow foreign secretary and Sir Nigel Sheinwald, former UK ambassador to Washington, are among guests on BBC Radio 4's Any Questions.
House of Commons - UK youth parliament holds its annual debate in the House of Commons.
House of Lords - Parliament is on recess until Monday 14 November
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