All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
The current Tory breakdown is all the more remarkable given how quickly it has happened. As recently as last September they led comfortably in the polls. Keir Starmer was widely derided as an ineffectual centrist bumbler with no charisma. At the start of this parliament, in early 2020, the Tories looked invincible, holding an 80-seat
China’s President Xi Jinping opened the CCP’s 20th party congress by doubling down on four key issues: no let up on zero-Covid; no renunciation of force when it comes to Taiwan; a promise to build up China’s military strength; and no tolerance of any opposition to his rule. As he enters his third term, the
In the most violent region in the world, the West is realising that it messed up. Protestors in Burkina Faso throw Molotovs at the French, American-trained soldiers overthrow their governments, and Malians wave Russian flags. After a two-decade American deployment in the Sahel in Africa, the Pentagon has finally admitted that the area is getting worse. A paper
The question of ‘why’ Russia invaded Ukraine has been forgotten amid war’s fog. Greed and malice partially explains it. History, geopolitics and culture reveals more. A country which has more land than anyone else on Earth is not grabbing territory for territory’s sake. Logically, Russia should be giving away land to anyone who might manage it better.
The Chicxulub meteor did for the dinosaurs; Netflix saw off Blockbuster. When the time comes to write the history of the Conservative party, the period from 2016 to today might be termed the ‘Whatsappocalypse’. If the Online Safety Bill genuinely wants to make Britain a better place to live, it should start by banning MPs
In the brief time Sajid Javid was chancellor to Boris Johnson, he spelled out to The Spectator his ‘low for long’ theory about rates: a theory which would enable the new prime minister’s ambitious spending agenda. Speaking to Fraser Nelson in December 2019, Javid was confident that the era of ultra-low interest rates and extremely
In the past century, only four British prime ministers have returned to 10 Downing Street after being ejected from office. As Boris Johnson attempts such a second coming only weeks after being ousted by his own MPs, the historical record suggests that if he returns from the political grave the resurrection won’t produce a miracle.
This afternoon Penny Mordaunt became the first candidate to publicly declare themselves for the leadership of the Conservative party. Much of the talk in this contest has been about the ‘death match’ between Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak, both of whom are a known quantity in Westminster circles. Mordaunt’s confirmed entry into the race changes
We have the first declared candidate of this Tory leadership contest. Penny Mordaunt has just taken to Twitter to announce she is running. Given that Mordaunt got more than 100 votes in the final parliamentary round, she has a pretty good chance of making the 100 nominations threshold. Now we wait to see if there
And so the Liz Truss regime ends after a glorious 45 days in power. And, appropriately, in a government where humour and tragedy were so often intwined, the Daily Telegraph is now reporting that Truss intends to draw up her own resignation honours’ list after a mere six weeks in office. Below is a list
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Whilst no candidate has officially declared their candidacy for the Tory leadership race, speculation is rife about a possible Boris Johnson return. Could he get the 100 supporters he needs? Will he extend an olive branch to Rishi Sunak? James Heale speaks to James Forsyth and Katy Balls. Produced by Max Jeffery and Oscar Edmondson.
The chance of a Boris Johnson comeback has risen dramatically since Liz Truss’s resignation. Over 40 MPs have so far come out to publicly back him while today’s papers are filled with briefings about how the former prime minister would be best placed to save the party from electoral doom. Now it’s no great secret
Here’s a little mystery: whatever happened to that nice, sensible foursome whom all week we were led to believe were ready to seize the reins of power from Liz Truss: Rishi Sunak, Jeremy Hunt, Penny Mordaunt and Ben Wallace? If Truss resigned, we were told, the Tory party would behave in the same grown-up fashion
In the aftermath of Trussfall, amid the victory of the lettuce, the Conservative party has today crashed to just 14 per cent in the polls. This is the party’s lowest level of support in British polling history. The previous low, 17 per cent, was recorded during the Brexit meltdown in the spring of 2019, amid
Suddenly, out of the blue, comes a saviour. The Lib Dems have failed to capitalise on the downfall of Liz Truss. As the Tories’ polling hits record lows, all of the gains are going to Labour. This weekend, Ed Davey and his colleagues will be praying for the return of Boris Johnson. Boris was gold
As an erstwhile Brexit-voting academic, I’m used to being at odds with those around me. But in feeling troubled at the news of Liz Truss’s resignation yesterday, it seems I’m now in a minority of one. Truss had to go, of course. Her failings have been so well documented they hardly need repeating. Her lack
Life is pretty good right now for Sir Keir Starmer: his authority is unchallenged, his shadow cabinet is serene and his party is leading by 35 points in the polls. But this morning has seen a (temporary) disruption to all that, following the news that one of his lesser-known backbenches will be quitting parliament after
Tory MPs will likely have three candidates to vote for in Monday’s leadership race: Boris Johnson, Penny Mordaunt and Rishi Sunak. If Johnson runs, gets to the final two and it goes to the Tory membership, then he’s probably be back in No. 10 within days. Polls of Tory members put Boris ahead by a
Boris Johnson was finally thrown out of Downing Street because of his handling of sexual misconduct allegations by a political ally. Dozens of ministers quit his government over his lack of integrity. He remains subject to an investigation that could see him suspended from parliament for dishonesty. Dozens of Conservative MPs believe he is the
Well, that’s that. The disastrous premiership of Liz Truss will come to an end next week after 52 days in office, the shortest tenure in British political history. Who can replace her? Someone with a strong stomach, a glutton for punishment and a taste for sipping from a poisoned chalice. Below Mr S runs his
‘Who’s for the game, the biggest that’s played, the red crashing game of a fight?’ Jessie Pope’s paean to the glories of war might equally be applicable to the internecine slaughter of the Tory party as its MPs gear up for yet another brutal leadership battle. But in war you can only be killed once; in
Thirty two years ago, on a cold November Thursday, Margaret Thatcher resigned as prime minister, pushed out of office following 11 years in government. In 2022, after just 44 days, Liz Truss stood outside Downing Street on another Thursday autumn afternoon, to tender her own resignation to the British public. It had taken a cabal
Next week we will have a new prime minister (again), but the economic problems facing the country will remain the same. This morning’s update from the Office of National Statistics shows public sector net borrowing was £20 billion last month: the second-highest borrowing September record and significantly higher than the Office for Budget Responsibility’s last
As the man who quite literally wrote the book on Churchill, Boris Johnson will be all too keen to encourage talk of a comeback. There’s much excited talk in the corridors of power about whether the former premier really can mount a comeback, just four months after leaving in disgrace. Lists of MPs are being
This week, the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) published its long-awaited final report. It describes in harrowing detail the experiences of more than 7,300 victims and highlights the systemic failings of institutions in protecting children and addressing child sexual abuse (CSA) and child sexual exploitation (CSE). However, as with other similar inquiries that
The question on everyone’s lips tonight is whether Boris Johnson can get 100 MP nominations by Monday. This is the bar that the 1922 committee have set. Johnson’s supporters have been coming out tonight at pace: he is up to 20-odd supporters already. But the question of whether he can get to 100 is difficult given
Here we go again – another leadership contest, another round of intense Westminster blather. Lightweight would-be commentators may feel their energy flagging as they prepare to analyse this next phase of high-level political violence. But alpha bluffers do not fret. We know that there is no such thing as a ‘tired talking point’ – although
Nothing, not even the world’s oldest and most successful political party, lasts forever. So could the current crisis convulsing the Conservative party mean its extinction as a significant force in British life? Only three years ago simply posing this question would have seemed ridiculous. Back in December 2019, it was not the Tories who were
Gone in a flash, Liz Truss becomes the shortest serving prime minister in British history. As it stands, she’s 75 days short of George Canning, who lasted some 119 days in office before dying from tuberculosis. If Truss’s successor wants to avoid joining her and Canning at the lower ends of the Wikipedia, they’ll need
Until Liz Truss, George Canning was the shortest-serving prime minister. He needn’t be forgotten by pub quizzers, general knowledge collectors and historians alike. In 1973, Richard Luckett reviewed a major biography of Canning’s life for The Spectator. Every schoolboy knows about the duel with Castlereagh; students of that neglected subject, abusive language, remember Brougham’s description of
Liz Truss is not quite the shortest-serving prime minister in history. George Cunning has that prize because he died while he was in office. But for somebody who is still alive, at least, this is the shortest running term. If MPs can whittle the number of candidates down to two by, let’s say, Tuesday the
If anyone was expecting markets to be in jubilant mood after Liz Truss’s resignation, they will be feeling a little disappointed. True, the pound has risen and gilt yields have fallen this afternoon – but not by much. They moved far further on Monday when most of Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-Budget was ditched, which
I don’t know who will become the next prime minister, and I’m not going to make a guess here. But I do make this prediction: the next leader is going to face a major internal Tory fight over immigration. That prediction is based on the thing that drove Liz Truss from office: the urgent need