Politics
The coalition is now an open marriage
Without any fanfare or formal announcement, the government has moved into a new phase. ‘We’re not in a coalition now.…
What the NHS owes the Tories
Pinned to the wall of Jeremy Hunt’s office in the Department of Health is an A1 piece of paper detailing…
Cameron’s mission for 2014: stay out of third place
European elections are normally an afterthought in British politics. As even David Cameron admits, most of us struggle to remember…
Ed Miliband's immigration nightmare
Victor Spirescu came to Britain last week looking for work washing cars, but seems to have landed himself with a…
James Forsyth: The Lib Dems' fight to keep facing both ways
This will be the coalition’s last full year, and it is remarkable how few people are talking about how it…
James Forsyth: Insurgents are remaking British politics
Next year will decide the fate of the United Kingdom. The Scottish independence referendum on the 18th of September could…
Mandarins routinely take Fridays off and sometimes can't spell ministers' names. Why does this go on?
It’s a fact that most ministers are most scared, not of their political rivals but of their civil servants. Ministers…
Filming Bono, fighting Balls - how George Osborne's preparing for his autumn statement
James Forsyth and Isabel Hardman discuss George Osborne’s 2013 Autumn statement: [audioboo url=”https://audioboo.fm/boos/1763353-isabel-hardman-and-james-forsyth-discuss-george-osborne-s-autumn-statement”][/audioboo] Next week’s autumn statement looks at first…
How the Blair-Brown tussle influences the top Tory and Labour partnerships
Listen to James Forsyth discuss the tale of two political partnerships: [audioboo url=”http://audioboo.fm/boos/1746142-james-forsyth-on-david-george-and-ed-ed”/] Six and a half years after Gordon…
John Bercow must rein it in — Parliament can't afford to depose two Speakers in a row
John Bercow could go down as a great reforming Speaker of the House of Commons. It’s thanks to him, in…
Aren't we already losing Scotland?
Westminster has been gripped by talk of a referendum this week. But the excitement hasn’t been about the vote in…
The next election will break all the rules
Ed Miliband’s aides used to scurry around the parliamentary estate, their shoulders hunched. A look in their eyes suggested that…
Growth is not enough — the Tories must show they're not the party of the rich
The mood was grim when David Cameron, George Osborne and their advisers convened for a crunch meeting on 4 February…
What must Cameron give to Clegg for the Lib Dems to stay loyal?
Ten days before polling day in 2010, it was clear that a hung parliament was the most likely result of…
James Forsyth: Why hung parliaments are here to stay
Reshuffles are meant to demonstrate the power of a leader, to show that they are in command of their party.…
James Forsyth: Two men have united the Tories – Ed Miliband and Nigel Farage
Manchester The Tory party has been at peace with itself this week. Eurosceptic backbenchers have given Nigel Farage a verbal…
Nick Clegg's secret reasons to be cheerful
His party may be struggling to reach double digits in the polls, but Nick Clegg is entitled to feel smug…
Syria vote? What Syria vote? David Cameron's strategy is to forget it ever happened
The political conference season may be lacking in party activists nowadays, but it has lost none of its importance to…
The PM is preparing for another coalition. His colleagues have other plans
Conservatives have been returning to their Westminster offices this week to find the wind behind them. Something suddenly seems to…
Conservative landslide in Australia: Tony Abbott will crush Kevin Rudd
Sometimes only a cliché will do, especially when the subject is the Australian Labor party. Labor is holed beneath the…
Ed Miliband may be stumbling - but don't forget his huge headstart
Coming back to the office after a holiday is never a pleasant experience. There’s the clogged inbox, the reminders that…
Is the EU stopping Britain’s shale revolution?
A few months after the last election, Oliver Letwin warned Cabinet colleagues that a chunk of Britain’s income would be…
Does the EU really need 32 diplomats in Mozambique? And 44 in Barbados?
The Prime Minister recently professed himself shocked at waste in the European Union. In particular, he was incensed by an…
Ed Miliband now has his Clause 4 moment - whether he wants it or not
Ed Miliband doesn’t take a risk unless he has to. In his first two and a half years in charge…
Nick and Dave are ready to rumble. Ed, on the other hand …
The coalition parties have governed together for more than three years now, but they remain culturally very different beasts. When…
