election 2019

Portrait of the year: From May to a December election

21 December 2019 9:00 am

January ‘If parliament backs a deal, Britain can turn a corner,’ Theresa May, the Prime Minister, said. The Commons defeated…

Boris Johnson: Perhaps my campaign was ‘clunking’. But sometimes, clunking is what you need

21 December 2019 9:00 am

You may wonder why I am up at 4.45 a.m. writing this diary when I have a country to run, Queen’s…

Boris’s Britain: How the PM intends to deliver for his new friends in the North

21 December 2019 9:00 am

The era of uncertainty has ended. Boris Johnson’s decisive victory has not only broken the Brexit deadlock created by Theresa…

Gay giraffes and dead in ditches: The Spectator 2019 quiz

21 December 2019 9:00 am

They said it  In 2019, who said: 1. ‘You have stolen my dreams and my childhood.’ 2. ‘I didn’t sweat…

Politics has fractured along new fault lines – those elected must repair the cracks

14 December 2019 9:00 am

It’s easy to see why the Labour party tried so hard to avoid this general election. They looked certain to…

How common are volcanic eruptions?

14 December 2019 9:00 am

Volcanic eruptions At least six people were killed when White Island, a volcano off New Zealand’s North Island, erupted. How…

Letters: Why have the Conservatives decided Chesterfield is a lost cause?

14 December 2019 9:00 am

Given up on Chesterfield? Sir: Matthew Parris makes some interesting and accurate points about growing Tory support in the north…

The battle for the soul of the Labour party

14 December 2019 9:00 am

In the days before the election, senior Labour people were already discussing how to replace Jeremy Corbyn should the party…

I’ll take Russian democracy over ours

14 December 2019 9:00 am

Staraya Russa. About two thirds of the way from Moscow to St Petersburg, in the historic Novgorod Oblast, once the…

Changing the script: the shifting character of our political parties

14 December 2019 9:00 am

Elections should be carnivals of democracy. The campaign we have just been through, though, has felt more like amateur dramatics.…

All the world’s a stage: this election has echoes of Shakespeare and Dickens

14 December 2019 9:00 am

The Christmas election has unfolded like a series of mini-dramas from panto, Dickens and other popular classics. Boris has come…

Tories benefit from no-show at chaotic TV debate as election enters final days

9 December 2019 7:49 am

Believe it or not, there was yet another televised election debate tonight, this time on Channel 4, called the ‘Everything…

This is the most important election in modern history – so vote, and vote Tory

7 December 2019 9:00 am

Next week, voters will decide the future of the government, of Brexit, and perhaps of the Union. Jeremy Corbyn has…

Remembering the genius of Clive James

7 December 2019 9:00 am

‘Clive James Stirs.’ That was the standard subject line for the emails I used to get from the great Australian…

Letters: Governments should be promoting marriage, not discouraging it for the sake of equality

7 December 2019 9:00 am

Look closer to home Sir: In your interview with Boris Johnson (‘Austerity was not the way forward’, 30 November) he…

Six weeks is too long for an election campaign

7 December 2019 9:00 am

The number of parties represented in national election debate multiplies. There are now seven crowding on to television podiums and…

The Tories are right to be nervous

7 December 2019 9:00 am

Despite their consistent poll lead, the Tories are anxious. There is only a week to go and in many seats…

The Tories will win – but with no thanks to the North

7 December 2019 9:00 am

It’s time to stick my neck out. What follows is anecdotal and my hunches have often been wrong. But I…

What the Tories don’t understand about Corbyn voters

7 December 2019 9:00 am

Until recently, the Tories seemed pretty confident about next week’s election. Despite spending three and a half years blundering over…

‘Corbyn is led by ideology, I’m led by economics’: Sajid Javid’s spending plan

7 December 2019 9:00 am

If Boris Johnson wins next week, it will be on a manifesto of change. He will not deliver the fourth…

Viral videos, not leaders’ debates, could decide this election

7 December 2019 9:00 am

You might well expect the final election debate, Johnson vs Corbyn head-to-head on primetime BBC, to provide the most watched…

This election will change Britain – and Europe – for good

7 December 2019 9:00 am

This election campaign feels unreal. Commentators focus on spending plans and personal foibles, but what will make next week’s vote…

It’s possible to talk to children about politics without leading them in one direction

7 December 2019 9:00 am

My six-year-old son announced, from the back of the car, that he was backing Boris Johnson. My wife, who’s voting…

Must try harder: Labour wants to reverse a decade of progress in education

7 December 2019 9:00 am

If education rather than Brexit or the NHS was the biggest issue in this election campaign, the Tories would be…

Politics of a certain vintage – and wine to match

7 December 2019 9:00 am

I wonder how they do things now at Tory headquarters. For the ’79 election, the preparations had been completed weeks…