Why is the Bank of England buying gilts?
In a dramatic about-turn, the Bank of England is now intervening in the gilts market to try and calm the…
Will cyberwar be next?
Neither the Danes nor Nato have made a direct attribution for yesterday’s pipeline damage. But the fingers are pointing at…
Labour storm ahead of Tories in latest poll
Tonight’s YouGov poll in the Times is brilliant news for Keir Starmer ahead of his conference speech tomorrow. It has…
Liz Truss’s first big test
Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng are determined to show that Britain’s economy is under new management. They want to indicate…
Truss and Kwarteng's mini-Budget is a big gamble
Kwasi Kwarteng and Liz Truss are a Chancellor and a Prime Minister in a hurry, they know they have only…
Parliament is on pause
Politics is in suspended animation. The only proceedings in parliament are the tens of thousands of mourners moving through Westminster…
Would Putin take an 'off ramp' out of Ukraine?
Over the past few days, the Ukrainians have upended assumptions about the war with Russia. They have shown it was…
Buckle up! The Liz Truss era is here
Can Liz Truss grow the economy?
The Queen was the model constitutional monarch
There are events in politics that everyone knows are coming but no one can quite anticipate what they will mean. The…
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II has died at the age of 96
The Queen has died. Buckingham Palace has just confirmed that Her Majesty passed away at Balmoral this afternoon. It was…
The problems of mid-term PMs
Any Prime Minister who takes over mid-term has to contend with a certain set of problems. Liz Truss will wish…
Liz Truss wins. What next?
Liz Truss’s victory in the Tory leadership race was based on her ability to portray herself as the candidate for both…
After Boris: what will politics look like?
Boris Johnson has so dominated politics for the past few years that it is hard to imagine things without him.…
Is the Boris partygate probe 'flawed'?
The new prime minister has not been announced yet, but Lord Marland – an ally of Boris Johnson – has…
Who will fill the Boris void?
Boris Johnson’s last set piece speech today was typical him. There were references to Ladybird books, attempts to blame the…
Will the lights go off this winter?
Between 1992 and 2002, the UK experienced a period of benign economic growth. Known as the Nice (non-inflationary constant expansion)…
Rationing and blackouts are a possibility this winter
The debate about energy in the UK has largely concentrated on just how high prices will go. This is understandable…
Why the Tories must face the truth about energy bills
One influential figure on the centre-left told me recently that he isn’t bothered about who wins the Tory leadership contest.…
Nancy Pelosi knows how much Taiwan matters
In the coming hours, Nancy Pelosi is expected to arrive in Taiwan. The plane that is thought to be carrying…
What will China do if Nancy Pelosi visits Taiwan?
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the subsequent sanctions, are roiling European energy markets and threatening a continent-wide recession. But we…
The next PM’s growing to-do list
In theory, the Conservative leadership contest could have stretched to the autumn, but the 1922 Committee and CCHQ decided to…
Angela Rayner ally sacked by Starmer
Sam Tarry, who joined today’s picket line at Euston and gave various interviews from there, has been sacked from the…
Is the US thinking straight about Taiwan?
As the Tory leadership candidates tussle over China, it is well worth reading this essay by the US strategist Hal…
The future of the Tories is at stake
To govern is to choose. So leadership contests for a party in government tend to come down to a key…
The Tories abandon fiscal conservatism at their peril
And then there were two. Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss now go to the membership. There’s much talk today about how…
