Conservatives
The vaccine cheer is gone
I am 45, which means I’ve now had my third Covid vaccine. The experience of getting that injection crystallises a…
The sleaze row isn't finished yet
Number 10 will have been relieved that the weekend did not bring new stories about Conservative MPs raking in lots…
Gove gets into gear
‘This government ends if the red wall reverts back to type and we lose 45 seats then end up in…
Will the Tories cut taxes before the next election?
The Tory party has reached a fork in the road, I say in the Times today. One path involves sticking…
Andrew Mitchell relives the agony of Plebgate
Andrew Mitchell, as he readily admits, was born into the British Establishment. Almost from birth, his path was marked out:…
Rishi Sunak's low tax pitch to MPs
Is Rishi Sunak a low tax chancellor? He certainly likes to tell anyone who will listen that he is. Yet…
Why did we decide that Covid was over?
Look, I don’t know much epidemiology. Can’t pretend to. So what follows is, necessarily, a personal finger to the wind.…
Why Covid means the big state is back
History suggests that when the state expands in a crisis, it doesn’t go back to its pre-crisis level once the…
David Frost's protocol diplomacy
As a general rule in post-Brexit politics, when David Frost makes a public intervention on the Northern Ireland protocol, it…
The Tories will pay a price for Boris's housing strategy
One of the themes of Conservative conference was that the government has dropped plans for a radical reform of the…
Build Back Boris!
As a clarion call, a sounding of hosannas, a piece of fiery rhetoric to hold puissance over the soul of…
Levelling up is Johnsonian cakeism
Until this morning, few people in Britain will have heard of the works of Wilfredo Pareto (1848-1923). Now, thanks to…
Sunak faces the free-marketeers
Rishi Sunak didn’t give too much away tonight when he spoke at the ThinkTent Conservative Party Conference. The Chancellor is…
Priti Patel strikes a bullish tone
The theme of Priti Patel’s party conference speech this afternoon was very much ‘large and in charge’. She devoted much…
WhatsApp collapse throws Tory plots into chaos
The world’s oldest democratic party has had a few problems with technology in recent years. Famously it was the 2018…
Boris's tetchy Marr interview showed the risks he is taking
Boris Johnson’s rather testy interview with Andrew Marr this morning revealed the political gamble that he is taking. Johnson is calculating…
We're living through eerie reminders of the 1970s
There are eerie parallels with 1970s at the moment, I say in the Times today. The inflation of that decade was…
Javid avoids Tory Covid powers fightback – for now
Tory MPs were not happy when Sajid Javid unveiled the Covid winter plan in the Commons this afternoon. They’re dissatisfied…
Why didn't Tory MPs oppose Boris's tax hike?
Boris Johnson has just announced his plans to increase National Insurance by 1.25 per cent for both workers and employers…
The failure of the right
Sometimes things that don’t happen are as important as those that do. In the Sherlock Holmes story Silver Blaze, about…
The rise of the unwhippable Tories
When the government announced a Commons vote on its decision to cut the foreign aid budget from 0.7 per cent…
The Tories should ignore the Amersham by-election
Chesham and Amersham has fallen. The once uber-Tory Chilterns citadel has been snatched by the Lib Dems, with local campaigners…
Rishi Sunak: I'm a fiscal Conservative (unlike Boris)
When Rishi Sunak told Andrew Neil this evening that he had his eyes on the future, he was ostensibly talking…
Could the Tories lose the South?
The coming Batley and Spen by-election — triggered by the incumbent MP’s election as the first mayor of West Yorkshire — is currently attracting a…
The return of Tory sleaze?
‘It’s the return of Tory sleaze’: so said Keir Starmer at Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday. His was an assertion…
