Nicola Sturgeon
Has the shine come off Saint Jacinda?
For a short time it seemed as if Jacinda Ardern, the popular premier of New Zealand, could do no wrong…
Drowning the sorrows of Scotland’s virulent nationalism
There is a more depressing subject than the lockdown. The evening began with a bottle of 18-year-old Glenmorangie. It was…
Salmond could spark a nationalist war over Europe
There was a Scooby Doo moment in Alex Salmond’s campaign launch on Tuesday. Something that made me think: ‘Ruh-roh’. The…
What we still don’t know about the Salmond affair
The inquiry into the Alex Salmond affair has concluded that Nicola Sturgeon misled parliament and potentially breached the ministerial code.…
The Hamilton report has not vindicated Nicola Sturgeon
Let me first deal with the general confusion. Most Scots think that the Hamilton Report, published today, deals with the…
The shine has finally come off the SNP
This week is still going to be a bad one for Nicola Sturgeon. But it seems probable that we won’t…
The Crown Office, The Spectator and a fight for a free press
The power wielded by Nicola Sturgeon and her Scottish government means it’s hard to hold her to account for basic…
Sturgeon's future now hangs in the balance
At First Minister’s Questions this afternoon Nicola Sturgeon accused Ruth Davidson of peddling baseless conspiracy theories, dredged up from ‘the bottom…
David Davis: Scotland – A deficit of power and accountability
For the past few months, Scotland has been transfixed by the Holyrood inquiry seeking the truth of what went wrong…
Is Sturgeon losing support for Scottish independence?
Every politician likes to say that they don’t pay attention to opinion polls. In my experience, this is almost universally…
Alex Salmond and the trouble with revenge
Ancient Greeks were not slow to express their enthusiasm for taking revenge. Observing the recent proceedings in the Scottish parliament,…
The Sturgeon case exposes the fatal flaw in Scottish devolution
The campaign for a Scottish parliament was rooted in the notion of a ‘democratic deficit’. Scotland kept voting Labour but…
The SNP's transphobia muddle
For a party so devoted to trans rights, it seems strange that the SNP is less than forthcoming over its…
Salmond, Sturgeon and why The Spectator went to court
Did Nicola Sturgeon lie to the Scottish parliament? A Holyrood committee into the now infamous Alex Salmond affair has been…
There is something rotten in Scottish politics
It is now two years since Nicola Sturgeon accepted the need for a parliamentary inquiry into how, and why, her…
Vaccine success is a boost for Boris – and the Union
Imagine for a minute what British politics would be like without a Covid vaccine. The cabinet would be deeply, and…
Sturgeon and the impunity of the SNP
Scottish politics tends to go through long bouts of single-party dominance. In the 19th century, the Liberals were in charge.…
Sturgeon has become the real opposition leader
A few months ago, Tory aides spotted a suspicious pattern. If they agreed on a new Covid policy to be…
The Sturgeon paradox: the worse she does, the more popular she becomes
Despite her record, nothing can stop Nicola Sturgeon
Leaving the Union would harm Scotland more than Brexit
The Spectator recently ran a piece by Andrew Wilson, author of the SNP’s Sustainable Growth Commission, under the headline ‘Scotland…
More devolution in England could save the Union
Tory MPs are already starting to talk about May’s various elections. Boris Johnson’s first post-Covid electoral test will take place…
Why are the devolved nations so ungrateful?
One of the things I hadn’t anticipated about the pandemic is that it would turn me into an English nationalist.…
Wrecking the Brexit talks won’t help our fishermen
‘Every country has a political problem with its fishermen,’ wrote Peter Walker, the Conservative minister who negotiated the first effective…
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…
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.…
