Boris Johnson
Boris's levelling up risks leaving behind London
Boris Johnson’s plan to ‘level up’ Britain sounds long overdue. It implies the creation of a less geographically unequal United…
Can Boris keep his roadmap on track?
Boris Johnson’s favourite phrase since he released his roadmap out of lockdown has been ‘cautious but irreversible’. These are the…
Why the Tories mustn't give in to the Nimbys
A 15-point YouGov poll lead and last week’s election performance suggests that things look good for the Tories in England.…
The problem with 'Devo-max'
A common failing of pro-Union politicians down the years has been the stubborn belief that there exists somewhere a tidy…
Boris faces a painful choice over social care
If social care reform were any deeper in the long grass of political priorities, it’d probably get mistaken for a…
Sadiq Khan’s victory is good news for the Tories
Sadiq Khan is here to stay. London’s mayor has suggested he wants to stay on until 2040. But is this really good…
Starmer is Labour's Iain Duncan Smith
After a gruelling election campaign the most important thing to do is to have a rest and have a think. Everyone…
The 'mandate wars' won't be resolved anytime soon
So what does it all mean? The first thing to bear in mind is that more than one thing may…
Can the UK government navigate the SNP's calls for a second referendum?
The Unionist tactical voting in Scotland makes it tempting to see the country as split down the middle between pro-independence…
Who regulates the regulators?
This isn’t about David Cameron and Greensillgate; it isn’t about Boris Johnson and wallpapergate or Jennifer-Arcurigate. It isn’t about Westferrygate…
Bad news, Boris – childcare has cost me £500,000 (and counting)
Welcome to the cripplingly expensive world of childcare, Boris
In Hartlepool, I’m aiming for a noble defeat
By the time you read this you may know if the Tories triumphed in the Hartlepool by-election — or if,…
Data, not dates: there is no reason to delay a return to normal life
A slogan can come back to haunt you. For Boris Johnson, the words ‘data not dates’ sounded powerful at a…
Boris shouldn't take the red wall vote for granted
There are two popular reactions to the Hartlepool by-election, which one you favour depending largely on your political tribe. The…
Dilyn the dog’s Downing Street diary (as told to Rod Liddle)
I heard them rowing again this morning, look you. I had just completed my first dump of the day in…
The truth about the government and ‘herd immunity’
I spent much of the 1980s and 1990s reporting on company chief executives who didn’t understand the distinction between mine…
How will Carrie cope with the hideousness of Chequers?
Zut alors! The court of King Boris gets more like Versailles each day. With some talcum powder on that ramshackle…
Carrie Symonds and the First Girlfriend problem
One of the least attractive aspects of American politics is epitomised in the ‘Office of the First Lady’. The office…
The difference between private and public conversation
Like almost everyone else writing on the subject, I have no idea whether Boris Johnson told colleagues in October that…
How Tory MPs plan to clip Cummings' wings
On 26 May, Dominic Cummings will give evidence to MPs grouped on the health and science super committee, chaired by…
Why the Cummings row won't harm Boris
It’s hard not to agree with those who believe that Boris Johnson, forced into the second Covid-19 lockdown, did say the…
Joe Biden's skewed climate change priorities
It’s not hard to see why politicians like Joe Biden and Boris Johnson want to talk about climate change. First…
Does anyone doubt Boris's leaked 'bodies' comment?
Of course Boris Johnson raged, King Lear-like, that he was prepared to ‘let the bodies pile high in their thousands’…
Boris's vaccine propaganda film jumps the gun
Westminster’s much anticipated summer blockbuster dropped last night: ‘A Beacon of Hope: The UK Vaccine Story’ was released on 10…
Alan Duncan rants about ‘idiot’ parliamentary colleagues and Britain’s waning influence
As a budding political apparatchik, my first job out of university was as a junior parliamentary assistant to Alan Duncan…
