The tax-and-spend Tories
When you ask a government minister why something hasn’t happened, you get a one-word answer: ‘Covid’. It has become the…
How do the Tories stop the rise of an ever-bigger state?
When Gordon Brown raised National Insurance in 2002 to put more money into the health service, it was seen as…
Can Boris crack the unwhippables?
‘Nothing except a battle lost can be half so melancholy as a battle won,’ wrote the Duke of Wellington after…
Whitty's lockdown warning will trouble Boris
In a Science Museum webinar yesterday, Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer, warned about the increasing number of people in…
The rise of the unwhippable Tories
When the government announced a Commons vote on its decision to cut the foreign aid budget from 0.7 per cent…
Sajid Javid says restrictions could return after ‘freedom day’
In another sign of the government’s more cautious approach to the July 19 unlocking, Sajid Javid has just told the…
The long list of problems waiting for the Tories after 19 July
The long-awaited easing of restrictions will not be the triumphant moment that many expected back in May. The Delta variant…
Boris Johnson's survival rests on reforming Whitehall
More than 40 years after it was written there are still lines in Yes Minister that are painfully accurate about how…
Freedom day will usher in new problems for the Tories
The next few weeks in politics will be dominated by the 19 July reopening, and whether hospitals can cope with the…
The cold reality facing Sajid Javid
The most difficult time for a new secretary of state is normally the first three months in the job. An…
Boris bids to reset Anglo-German relations
Boris Johnson and Angela Merkel have just held a joint press conference following their meeting at Chequers. The usual contrast…
Labour hold Batley and Spen
Labour have held on to Batley and Spen. In a result that will win some breathing space for Keir Starmer’s…
How Boris Johnson plans to reopen the country
Next week, the government will set out what the reopening will look like. I understand that the current plan is…
The sausage war ceasefire is a good sign for UK-EU relations
The sausage dispute between the UK and the EU may sound like something out of Yes Minister but it is…
Life is about to get harder for Boris Johnson
Covid restrictions are meant to end on 19 July. But parliament will not return to normal until September. The Commons…
The new leviathan: the big state is back
Boris and Biden have placed their faith in the power of big government
Does ‘Johnson’s law’ explain why people won’t work from home?
Even after the one metre rule and the limits on numbers are removed on July 19th, we will not be…
The lockdown delay has triggered a constitutional crisis
It is not the Battle of Marston Moor, but it strikes me that we are now in something of a…
Boris Johnson's Northern Ireland problem
In an at times grouchy press conference, Boris Johnson tried to calm the row over the Northern Ireland protocol. The…
Why this G7 summit matters more than most
It’s risky planning a trip to the British seaside at any time of year. But if the weather forecast is…
Macron is wrong. Nato must stand up to China
Joe Biden wants to use his visit to Europe for the G7 summit and the Nato meeting to rally democracies…
Have we hit peak graduate?
The Tory party has turned sharply against the idea of ever larger numbers going to university. The reasons for this…
China is not as strong as it appears
The theory that the pandemic began with a leak from a research laboratory in Wuhan is rapidly gaining currency. Since…
Prepare for China's nationalist turn
In recent days, it has been striking how many people in Westminster and Whitehall now think the lab leak theory…
Keir Starmer’s interview gamble pays off
One of the biggest challenges for any leader of the opposition is getting noticed. Doing that requires taking some risks…
