Conservative party

Boris Johnson’s peculiar conservative conversion

27 June 2023 4:00 pm

In his most recent column for the Mail, Boris Johnson fires a shot at, among other things, ‘the leftie twittersphere’.…

‘We’ve got to hold our nerve’: Rishi Sunak’s BBC interview

25 June 2023 8:52 pm

As mortgage rates surge and a new Opinium poll finds Labour’s lead has jumped to 18 points, Rishi Sunak appeared…

The battle with the Blob

3 June 2023 9:00 am

Most prime ministers fall out with the civil service at some point. David Cameron attacked the ‘enemies of enterprise’; Tony…

Sunak can’t afford to lose Braverman

23 May 2023 12:07 am

Back in the early days of the Blair governments, Alastair Campbell was reputed to have a rule for resignations: once…

Did Suella Braverman break the ministerial code?

21 May 2023 5:12 am

Fresh from claiming the scalp of Dominic Raab, is the civil service now after Suella Braverman? The Sunday Times reports…

The Tories would be lost in opposition

21 May 2023 12:15 am

It is widely observed that many Conservatives are preparing to lose power at the next general election.  The Conservative Democratic…

Tories’ thoughts are turning to defeat

20 May 2023 9:00 am

Ever since Rishi Sunak became Prime Minister, his aides have worried that May would be the month of mutiny. His…

Meet Millennial Millie, the new swing voter

13 May 2023 9:00 am

An election looms and political parties are already talking ‘voter demographics’. Every few years, the wonks of Westminster pick a…

What I learned from Nigel Lawson

8 April 2023 9:00 am

His practical radicalism brought permanent change

The Tories should think again on targeting Netflix

30 March 2023 8:51 pm

If you want to understand the curious attitude of our government towards media freedom, look at two provisions in the…

Rishi Sunak is right to get tough on begging

28 March 2023 5:48 pm

When Rishi Sunak presented the latest attempt by a prime minister to get tough on anti-social behaviour, it wasn’t the…

Is it time to ban second jobs for MPs?

27 March 2023 4:59 pm

There are some genres of newspaper story that never die. Among them are sightings of Lord Lucan, public moralists discovered…

Why Boris Johnson might escape a partygate punishment

24 March 2023 1:10 am

After several months of anticipation, two contentious legal submissions from Lord Pannick KC and a bumper 52-page witness statement, Boris…

Rishi risks another asylum outcry

23 February 2023 8:34 pm

With the likelihood of a deal on the Northern Ireland Protocol fading this week, a new issue has emerged to…

It’s time for ‘reality-based’ politicians to start addressing Brexit

13 February 2023 5:42 pm

Praise be. A day or two ago, something potentially quite exciting took place in Ditchley Park in Oxfordshire. It was a two-day…

Rishi Sunak is no John Major

31 January 2023 12:36 am

As the skies darken over Rishi Sunak’s embattled government, with ministers being fired or placed under investigation, opinion polls dire…

Why won’t the Conservatives stand up for conservatism any more?

30 December 2022 1:59 am

Is it supposed to be enough for those of us of a culturally and socially conservative persuasion to know that some Tory…

Five ways the Liz Truss saga could end

15 October 2022 4:10 am

How does this end? That’s the question being asked by Tory MPs as Liz Truss’s government finds itself in turmoil…

Removing PMs hardly ever ends well

14 October 2022 10:38 pm

As Tory MPs appear to descend into a panic of buyers’ remorse over the election of Liz Truss, they would…

Things can always get worse

8 October 2022 9:00 am

As I was saying, way back in July, it is hard to love the Conservative party. Every time it tries…

What does Michael Gove want?

4 October 2022 7:22 am

Tory conference has long been more stage-managed than other party meetings, but this year the official speeches from ministers have…

Thatcherism is a cult the Tories should not follow

21 August 2022 3:00 pm

Friedrich Nietzsche may not be the most fashionable member of the conservative canon, but doubtless he wouldn’t care much. He…

Is Liz Truss sowing the seeds of her own downfall?

10 August 2022 8:17 pm

Liz Truss looks to be winning a decisive victory for cold-eyed conservatism. A victory for I went to the school…

Letters: How Rishi Sunak could beat the odds

6 August 2022 9:00 am

Injured party Sir: Prue Leith’s short interlude as a Conservative party member and subsequent resignation underlines a feature of the…

How Rishi Sunak won over the Tories of West Suffolk

6 August 2022 9:00 am

How Sunak wowed the Tories of West Suffolk