Six politicians who shaped modern Britain
The members of Vernon Bogdanor’s select gathering may not always have succeeded in their aims, but by sticking their heads above the parapet they made the political weather
One damned thing after another: Britain’s crisis-ridden century so far
The Iraq war, the financial crisis, Brexit and Covid have seen many prime ministers blown off course. Will Keir Starmer be any luckier than his predecessors?
The travails of Britain’s first Labour government
Attacked in the press, by the right and even by its own supporters, Ramsay MacDonald’s short-lived government still managed to achieve a surprising amount
Fish out of water
As a one-nation Tory, Rory Stewart was not a good fit in the party’s new incarnation. We discover how his desire to make the world a better place was always going to work against him
British politics has become a nasty game of Gotcha
As Tony Blair once remarked, British politics has become a game of Gotcha. I am, to put it mildly, no…
A naturally conservative country
Their winning formula has been to present themselves as the party of patriotism and economic competence, while stealing the opposition’s clothes whenever it suited them
We let Hong Kong down: Chris Patten on the end of colonial rule
After 13 years in parliament, rising star Chris Patten had the bad luck to be one of the few Tory…
Andrew Mitchell relives the agony of Plebgate
Andrew Mitchell, as he readily admits, was born into the British Establishment. Almost from birth, his path was marked out:…
Chips Channon’s judgment was abysmal, but the diaries are a great work of literature
It is often said that the best political diaries are written by those who dwell in the foothills of power.…
One of the lucky ones: Hella Pick escapes Nazi Germany
Hella Pick is one of that vanishing generation of Jewish refugees who arrived in Britain on the eve of the…
Blonde with a bombshell: Sasha Swire’s revelations about the Cameroons
Ten years ago, reviewing Alastair Campbell’s diaries for The Spectator, I concluded as follows: Who will be the chroniclers of…
Reshuffling ministers annually is no way to govern
‘Annual reshuffles are crazy,’ remarked one of the prime minister’s most trusted advisers in July 1999 as I hovered outside…
Alan Johnson: the rock and roll years
We’ve had Alan Johnson the lad from the slums of north Kensington, Alan Johnson the postman and Alan Johnson Member…
Alastair Campbell’s mix of football and terrorism makes for an accomplished thriller
Alastair Campbell is a man of many parts. Journalist, spin doctor extraordinaire, diarist and now novelist. For this, his third…
Welcome to the age of media feeding frenzies
Tony Blair once remarked, during one of the periodic feeding frenzies that engulf British politics, that public life was becoming…
Diary
To the Business School at the University of Edinburgh to be interviewed on the theme of ‘Great Political Disasters’. Main…
What’s next for Comrade Corbyn?
‘Ah, Jeremy,’ remarked Tony Blair at a smart dinner party in Islington not long before he became prime minister, ‘he…
Chris Mullin’s diary: The unexpected wisdom of Donald Trump
While browsing in Barter Books, the wonderful secondhand bookshop in Alnwick that is fast becoming a national institution, I came…
Chris Mullin’s diary: Murdoch’s men couldn’t face even a fictional Corbyn victory
With four days to go until the result of Labour’s leadership election, a call from the Sunday Times. Would I…
