Boris Johnson
Prime ministers can’t pick the crises that define them
In a non-Covid world, next week would be the Tory party conference. Boris Johnson would march on to the stage…
Portrait of the week: Curfew street parties, Trump’s taxes and a bone-eating vulture
Home More than a quarter of the population of the United Kingdom (three-fifths of the Welsh, a third of the…
Petronella Wyatt: My food fights with Boris
I have been in Istanbul, partly to research a French-born collateral ancestor of mine, Aimée Dubucq, who, according to legend,…
Letters: Lessons for Boris from the classroom
Lessons for the government Sir: James Forsyth suggests that the Prime Minister wishes to avoid sounding as if he is…
The memo Dominic Cummings never sent
There’s something about Dominic Cummings I will always like, and perhaps partly it’s the danger. I hardly know him well…
Paul Dacre and Boris Johnson: 'the Boston strangler' and the 'alley cat'
Paul Dacre, the former editor of the Daily Mail, has reportedly been asked by the Prime Minister to chair the…
Letters: It’s too late for Boris
Disastrous decisions Sir: In his otherwise excellent analysis of Boris Johnson’s premiership (‘The missing leader’, 19 September), Fraser Nelson suggests…
Blonde with a bombshell: Sasha Swire’s revelations about the Cameroons
Ten years ago, reviewing Alastair Campbell’s diaries for The Spectator, I concluded as follows: Who will be the chroniclers of…
Time for me to be more assertive
In the light of recent articles in The Spectator, I think it is vital I should point out here and…
It’s time for Boris to channel Churchill
How Boris can get Britain’s Covid fight back on track
The Special Relationship was never very special
I have a book of essays from 1986 by a group of British and American scholars called The Special Relationship.…
I admit it: I was wrong to back Boris
A friend emailed me earlier this week in despair about the Prime Minister. ‘Boris reminds me of a hereditary king…
Is Britain a nation in fear of safetyism?
It should come as no surprise that Britain’s city centres remain, in the words of CBI chief Carolyn Fairbairn, ‘ghost…
Can Simon Case restore stability to the heart of government?
Boris Johnson does not get everything wrong. The appointment of Simon Case to be head of the civil service at…
My run-in with the New York Times
It’s never a good sign when you’re watching a scene of street terror in yet another gut-churning YouTube video and…
How Boris can get Britain back to work
This week was built up by the Prime Minister to be the moment that would mark the return of economic…
To save the Union, negotiate Scotland’s independence
The first cabinet meeting of the new term and Boris Johnson’s summer holiday were both dominated by one concern: how…
The best leader we never had
I spent Monday afternoon with The Wake Up Call, a new book by John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge that lambasts…
Boris's U-turn defence
Is Boris Johnson’s government jumping from one crisis to the next or is No. 10’s agenda progressing roughly as planned? It…
Portrait of the week: BBC drops songs, museum drops Sloane, and KFC and John Lewis drop slogans
Home Nicola Sturgeon, the First Minister of Scotland, made pupils wear face-coverings in school corridors. It didn’t take long for…
Leaked letter: Boris Johnson rejects Trump on Iran sanctions
A leaked letter to the UN Security Council shows that the British government has rejected the US position on Iran’s…
How No. 10 outsmarted Alastair Campbell
LBC broadcaster Iain Dale has moved his Edinburgh Festival ‘All Talk’ series to Zoom, and yesterday he spoke to Alastair…
Justin Trudeau’s prorogation memory loss
A prime minister better known for his charisma than his policy achievements proroguing parliament to ride out a political storm.…
Here’s Nicola: can Boris Johnson stop Scottish independence?
How can Boris deal with the looming question of IndyRef2?
Economies run on confidence – the government mustn’t undermine it
Throughout the past few months the government has appeared to face an unenviable choice between saving lives and saving livelihoods.…
