All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
In three days, the British people will choose who they want to lead this country through the next five years. Five years that will define the future of our country for generations to come. I called this election because, as we face the start of the crucial Brexit negotiations in just a few short days,
Not since the days of William Hogarth has Mother’s Ruin featured so prominently in the national consciousness. In the 21st century, gin is seriously big business as evidenced by the slew of pop-up bars and festivals devoted to this elixir of the gods as well as the number of bottles weighing down supermarket shelves. Just
It seems to be a British tradition that Steve Hilton, David Cameron’s close friend and former director of strategy, intervenes in a general election. During the EU referendum, he came out for Brexit. Now, it’s Theresa May’s turn to have Hilton turn on her. The former No 10 aide, who now lives in California, has once more made
Jeremy Corbyn says that if he was Prime Minister, he would authorise the police to use ‘whatever force is necessary’ against terrorists. Is that true? Is he really ready to go back on decades of suspicion of the police, of hostility to the security forces of an imperialist British state? How can this be reconciled
Theresa May is under pressure over cuts to armed police in the wake of the London attack. This morning, Culture Secretary Karen Bradley popped up on Good Morning Britain to try and defend the Prime Minister. The only problem? Bradley refused to answer any questions. Here’s her awkward exchange with Piers Morgan: Piers Morgan: Do
This dismal, unnecessary election, conducted between the scream of police sirens and the murders of civilians, will be remembered for one thing only: the dementia tax. In years to come, political pros will shake their heads at the naivety of Theresa May. She appeared invincible, they will say. All she had to do was to
Campaigning starts again tomorrow, but in his speech in Carlisle today Jeremy Corbyn made what is – for any Labour leader – a fairly obvious point: ‘You cannot protect the public on the cheap. The police and security services must get the resources they need not 20,000 police cuts. Theresa May was warned by the Police
After the 9/11 attacks, Tony Blair traced the jihadi menace to the problem of ungoverned spaces, like Afghanistan. In her speech after the London Bridge attacks today, Theresa May used similar language to describe cyberspace. “We cannot allow this ideology the safe space it needs to breed,” she said. “Yet that is precisely what the
For the second time in this election, political campaigning is suspended because of a terrorist attack. Given the volume of terrorist attacks—three in the last three months and five other plots disrupted—you might think that the issue would have dominated the campaign. But it hasn’t. Until Theresa May’s statement today talking about how there has
Until last night, I always felt uncomfortable seeing police with guns on the UK’s streets. It’s just not very British, I used to think. But after I had the misfortune to be on London Bridge in the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attack, I’ve changed my mind. I was in an Uber with my wife heading
Are we all standing united, then? Not letting anything divide us? Not giving way to bigotry or intolerance or hate? And we’re all going to be terrifically brave and go out to vote on Thursday, because that’s what the terrorists don’t want us to do… do they? When I heard the news about the London
Theresa May has said ‘enough is enough’ in a robust statement following last night’s terror attack, which left seven people dead and 48 injured. Acknowledging that this is the third terror attack Britain has experienced in three months, the Prime Minister said that while the three attacks were not connected in their planning, they are bound together
Last night seven people were killed and at least 48 injured in terror attacks in London Bridge and Borough. This is the country’s second terrorist attack in less than two weeks, following the Manchester Arena attack last month. On Friday, Douglas Murray wrote for Coffee House about the need to change our approach to Islamic extremism. Last Sunday,
Seven people were killed and at least 48 injured after a van and knife attack in the London Bridge area. The police have declared the incidents as terrorist attacks. The Conservatives, Labour and the SNP have suspended their national election campaigns for the day. Officers from the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command have arrested 12 people in
Just after 10pm on Saturday night, I was in an Uber minicab with my wife, heading south over London Bridge. We’d been out for a tapas dinner and were on our way home. It had been a lovely evening. Suddenly I noticed something odd on the pavement on our side of the road. It looked
When the Conservatives were rebranded “Theresa May’s team” and the party’s name purged from its literature, there were two explanations. One, that the UK system of Cabinet government doesn’t suit the Prime Minister, so wants an election where she’d campaign by diktat in order to govern by diktat. She’d go fetch a three-figure majority, then her Cabinet
Labour have been up-in-arms this weekend about a viral Conservative campaign video, which used some dubious editing to suggest that Corbyn said ‘No’ when asked whether he would condemn the IRA. In fact, he said ‘No, I think what you have to say is all bombing has to be condemned and you have to bring about
The Tories want to make their closing argument in this campaign about Brexit and how Labour would raise taxes, I write in The Sun this morning. I understand that Lynton Crosby held a meeting with senior Cabinet Ministers on Tuesday which set out this strategy. I’m told that the meeting made clear that Crosby is
Theresa May’s ‘strong and stable’ strapline has apparently been withdrawn after the electorate started to sway with nausea. Yet the words remain emblazoned on the ‘battle bus’, still crop up in interviews, and continue to litter campaign material across the country. To little effect. The phrase was soon found to be a blunt weapon, not cutting through to
Enough of all these vital, apocalyptic, existential elections. They don’t half wear you out. The Scottish referendum was vital and apocalyptic, so they said, because the wrong decision would have seen Britain crack like a plate, and Scotland spiral off into insane debt, and residual Britain fade in geopolitical importance. Or, on other side, Tory
‘The news that Harry Perkins was to become prime minister went down very badly in the Athenaeum.’ Thus begins my novel A Very British Coup, written 35 years ago and, with the narrowing gap in the opinion polls, suddenly topical again. Since Jeremy Corbyn became Labour leader it has been reprinted twice and, earlier this
Theresa May turned in what, I think, was her best TV performance of the election tonight. May engaged with the questions more than she has in previous TV events, and was more confident and fluent than she had been on Monday night. After a prolonged Tory wobble, her performance will have steadied jangling Tory nerves.
Tonight Jeremy Corbyn faced his toughest media appearance of the campaign as he took questions from a live studio audience in the Question Time Leaders Special. Although the audience appeared more favourable to him than Theresa May at first (with the Labour leader receiving a loud whoop as he entered the stage), the format actually
We’ve just had our pre-election meeting at The Spectator, and agreed the usual drill for the big night. Election day itself is dead: we relax and steel ourselves for the evening. There’ll be the normal 8.30pm curry as we wait for the exit poll and we’ll lay on some wine (and desk space) for contributors who’ll
Yesterday’s announcement by Donald Trump that the United States is withdrawing from the Paris Agreement is truly historic. The Paris accord was the closest the Europeans had come to getting the US to accepting timetabled emissions cuts in the now quarter century saga of UN climate change talks. The first was in the 1992 UN climate change
At the outset of this general election campaign one thing seemed clear: Labour would get everything they deserved but, alas, the Tories would not. That is, Jeremy Corbyn would lead Labour to a thoroughly-merited disaster and Theresa May would gain an ill-deserved, but whopping, victory. Well that was then and this is now as it
Only a few weeks ago, the polls brought nothing but joy for the Tories. With just six days to go until election day, that’s no longer the case. An Ipsos MORI survey out today cuts the Conservative lead down to just five points. Labour’s support has burst through the 40 per cent mark – rising
Last Sunday, I appeared on the BBC’s Sunday Politics to discuss the aftermath of the Manchester attack. I said what I thought, and various Muslim groups promptly went bananas. This was not caused by my suggestion that this country should finally crack-down on British officials who spend their retirements working as shills for the House
When you’ve been writing about money for a while, a few key phrases crop up again and again. But of all the useful words employed in the world of consumer finance, ‘shop around’ is by far the most popular. ‘Make sure to shop around’ never goes out of fashion, and for good reason. It applies to
This week’s Best Buys, provided by Moneyfacts, are Easy Access Accounts without a bonus.
Craig Mackinlay, the former Tory MP and the party’s candidate in South Thanet, has been charged with election offences. The decision by the CPS – which comes less than a week ahead of the snap election – was made following an investigation by police into Conservative Party expenses during the 2015 General Election. In that election campaign, Mackinlay
Given that Theresa May hasn’t performed one of her customary ‘strong and steady’ U-turns for over a week, it was about time she changed her mind on something. So, Mr S was relieved to read her interview with City AM editor Christian May. While the Prime Minister promises to defend the City in EU negotiations, it was the
Theresa May’s warnings about a ‘coalition of chaos’ used to sound like empty threats. Not any longer. Since the publication of this week’s YouGov poll which suggested we could be heading for a hung Parliament, the prospect of Jeremy Corbyn making it to No.10 suddenly seems less unbelievable than before. But if May does lose
Well, that didn’t last long: in April, I rejoined the Labour Party. Last Sunday, I cancelled my subscription and cut up my membership card. Being part of the official opposition to a Tory Government, my conscience can live with; being the official opposition to the unborn, it cannot. I’ve always leaned towards backing Labour. And while
