Columns
Who will lead the Tories next?
Rishi Sunak performed a mea culpa when his shadow cabinet convened on Monday, taking full responsibility for the election loss.…
Why was Jeremy Hunt SHOUTING AT ME?
Robert Jenrick, once immigration minister and still, just, MP for Newark, said on Sunday that the Tories lost not because…
Biden is as big a narcissist as Trump
The dullest assertion you can make about Donald Trump is that he’s a narcissist who has no interest in the…
The Tories have only themselves to blame
I was amused the other week to read George Osborne’s Diary in this magazine. In it the man now in…
History will judge Rishi Sunak kindly
Memorably sweeping statements tripping easily from the tongue have a habit of worming their way into assumptions we make and…
‘I have to forge my own path’: Rachel Reeves on her plans for the economy
Outside a café on the outskirts of Reading, Rachel Reeves is listening to the concerns of small-business owners. ‘Something that…
Calm down, it’s a joke
I have never been a contributor to Twitter, partly because my comments would not be subjected to the intensive hygiene…
David Tennant’s pride and prejudice
As all non-bigoted readers will know, this is the holy and most ancient month of Pride. The time of year…
What’s the worst that can happen for the Tories?
When Rishi Sunak stunned his cabinet colleagues by calling a snap election, they feared the worst. Fast forward a month…
Tory men! Terfs need you
Some of my good male friends, Tories, are sick of terfs. I can see it in their shifty eyes, in…
Milkshake me!
Nine days of campaigning to go and I haven’t been milkshaked yet. I’ve hung out near McDonald’s in the hope…
Cowards vs culture
For some while I have marvelled at the way in which artworks seem to have become the focus of hatred…
Tory voters want to punish their party – and themselves
For progressive onlookers abroad, the Labour landslide now projected next month will seem a cheerful counterweight to the EU parliamentary…
How to lose voters
During the 1983 general election, I campaigned every single day with great zeal and avidity. I knocked on quite literally…
Meet Surrey’s ‘M&S movers’
On a street in Camberley, Surrey, a pensioner stands in the doorway, rollers in her hair, staring with some bemusement…
Would you want Nigel Farage to marry your daughter?
The opposite of attraction is repulsion. Political commentary gives too little attention to a party’s (or leader’s) capacity to repel.…
There’s something very wrong with children’s history books
The first editor I worked for was Charles Moore and, like many of his old and ageing former staff, I…
The return of Douglas Alexander
It’s a sunny Friday afternoon in Gullane, an affluent seaside town on the Firth of Forth. For political campaigners, golden…
Why Britain isn’t following Europe rightwards
My father was fond of telling anyone who would listen that Britain would never entertain fascism because we all had…
The trouble with calling everyone ‘far right’
There is a favourite Fleet Street story about the legendary Sun editor Kelvin MacKenzie. While editing the paper, he discovered…
The moment Starmer lost control of the Labour left
‘Tony Blair walks on water.’ Decades ago this statement led a Times photographer and me to the front door of…
Another election boost for Trump
Last Thursday evening a companionable London dinner party was just wrapping up when our hostess returned to the table brandishing…
Reform wants the Tories destroyed
There was a very excitable young man on Sky News last week, talking about the Sky/YouGov MRP poll which suggested…
Vote Rod!
It suddenly occurred to me that I need to stop dressing like a radical lesbian bag lady if I am…
