All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
Trump and Boris; Boris and Trump – the two men have a lot more in common than funny hair, an appetite for women, and a magical ability to offend left-liberal sensibilities. But the hot question in Westminster at the moment is whether these two big beasts will meet when the American President visits London next
Rarely can the saying that a week is a long time in politics have been more true than in the case of Boris Johnson. The timetable for the election of the next Conservative leader, which was announced last week, clearly favoured him, given the large lead he has over his closest rivals. But the decision
Anthropologists have speculated that one of the roles of the shaman in hunter-gatherer societies was to preserve group unity. When members of the tribe were about to set out on a hunt, they would consult the shaman who would tell them where to go by ‘consulting the ancestors’ or reading runes or whatever. The crucial
Change UK has been holding post-mortem meetings about its failure to win any seats in last week’s European elections, I understand. Members of the newly-formed party met up this week to discuss what to do next after it only secured 3 per cent of the vote overall. Critics have suggested that it’s already all over
A full baker’s dozen is in the running to become the next Tory leader, with even more expected to declare before the deadline of June 10th. But the party will whittle them down to just two, who will then be put to the members. So who will the final two be, and what will the
The fact that the Confederation of British Industry is directly intervening in the Conservative Party leadership contest – to warn against a no-deal Brexit – should be remarkable, not least for what it says about how some business leaders now doubt the Conservative party’s instincts and sympathies. The fact that this isn’t bigger news says
Last night, there was shock across Westminster as a new poll by YouGov asking people how they would vote in the next general election showed that the Lib Dems were the most popular party in the UK. Of those asked, 24 per cent said they would vote for the Remain party, followed by 22 per
For a long time now, there’s been a Stop Boris campaign in operation in Westminster. With the Parliamentary party a lot less keen on the former foreign secretary than the eurosceptic membership, MPs have plotted ways to keep Johnson off the final two in a Tory leadership contest. MPs vote to knock out contenders in
I suppose it was always going to happen eventually given my trenchant opinions on pretty much everything, but this week I have at long last joined the ranks of the ‘no-platformed’ – by no less an august body than the Royal College of General Practitioners. My crime? ‘Some of the opinions expressed on [my] social
Throughout 2002 and 2003 I travelled the country, and further afield, interviewing wartime veterans of the Special Air Service for my book about the history of the regiment’s early years. This adventure coincided with Britain’s march to war against Iraq and, more often than not during my discussions with these old warriors, the question of
In 2015, the problem of marine litter climbed to the very top of the list of global environmental problems after a landmark study suggested that there are 100 million tonnes of plastic in the oceans. Regrettably, the study overlooked the share of the blame that can be put on the recycling industry, which has exported
That Martin Luther King was unfaithful to his wife has long been public knowledge. But new revelations from King’s biographer David Garrow in the Times suggest that King’s sexual behaviour towards women is far more compromising than previously thought. According to Garrow, the FBI bugged King’s Washington hotel room and recorded him boasting about his sexual
On Wednesday night, as observant Jews continued to count the Omer, the 49 days between the festivals of Passover and Shavout, observers of the rituals of Israeli politics began counting the days until the next Israeli election. Six weeks’ ago, Benjamin Netanyahu won his biggest electoral victory yet after a characteristically close and unscrupulous campaign.
Inevitably, the Tory leadership contest is developing a row about process and possible stitch-ups. Party grandees have been suggesting limiting the number of candidates to prevent ‘chaos’ (which suggests an interesting reading of the current political turmoil as not being chaotic). Iain Duncan Smith thinks there should be a higher threshold for nominations and more
Dominic Raab is not a feminist. That is the confession the Tory leadership hopeful makes in an interview in this week’s Spectator. Screams, gasps and 240 character rants have swept the internet since. Who in their right mind would reject the notion of treating men and women equally? Of course, Raab didn’t do that. He describes himself
Reforms to the funding of higher education over the past decade, although not perfect, have been broadly successful. There’s now record levels of individuals and investment in English universities. Theresa May, though, thought differently. Immediately after the last election, in response to a staggering number of young people turning their back on the Tories, she
I’ve been the victim of a robbery. In broad daylight. As an average Brit, more than 40 per cent of everything I produce is taken by the government for whatever they want to spend it on. In theory they ask my opinion on what that should be. But they ask me only every five years, and even then,
Whenever I see pictures of Donald Trump and Shinzo Abe together I hear the theme music from the Neil Simon comedy The Odd Couple. For Trump and Abe are indeed the Felix and Oscar of global politics, a gently comic double act with starkly different but oddly complimentary personalities and all the appearance of a
In the analysis of last week’s European Parliament elections, a number of claims which should be categorised as ‘myths’ have emerged. Here, I’ve singled out five of them that should be challenged: 1. The ‘major development’ that the centre-right EPP and centre-left S&D lost their majority isn’t a major development For the first time
I like Tan Dhesi, the Labour MP for Slough. I’ve known him since we were both fresh-faced university students. We last met at this year’s Vaisakhi reception at Downing street and he was as cordial as ever. It was a proud moment for us all, when he was elected as the first turban wearing Sikh
Will Boris Johnson being told to answer to allegations of misconduct in a public office derail his leadership campaign? The former foreign secretary has been told he must appear in court to answer the claims, brought in a private prosecution by campaigner Marcus Ball, who objects to his claim during the referendum that the UK
As the race to replace Theresa May heats up, Operation Stop Boris is now in full swing. Boris Johnson remains the clear frontrunner to win the Tory leadership contest and his critics are determined to prevent him doing so at any cost. But his detractors should learn an important lesson from the referendum campaign: going
The Tory leadership contest has been dominated by Brexit so far. To a large extent, this is inevitable: Brexit is the biggest issue facing the country and the Tory party. But dealing with Brexit is a necessary but not sufficient condition for a Tory recovery. If the Tories are to win a fourth term in
Will anything end Nigel Farage’s winning streak? The Brexiteer famously walked into a Ladbrokes in June 2016 and placed a £1,000 bet on Leave winning the EU referendum campaign – a decision that pocketed him a tidy £2,500 sum. In April, ahead of the European parliament elections, the Brexit party leader decided to chance his
If it was in a playground in one of the rougher parts of town, which increasingly it resembles, this could easily escalate. One candidate remarks that he thinks the party should ‘f**k business’ so another one wades in to argue ‘f**k ‘f**k business’’. And perhaps by lunchtime some other candidate you have never really heard
With twelve candidates so far declared for the Tory leadership contest, more MPs are expected to announce in the coming days. Those rumoured to be planning on throwing their hat into the ring include Mark Harper, Steve Baker and 1922 chairman Graham Brady. On Friday, Brady recused himself from a Conservative Party statement on the
I have often wondered what would happen if politicians were bound by the same rules as advertisers, or if manifestos were brought within the scope of the trading standards laws. What if we could take legal action against a government for failing to provide the extra NHS beds or school places they had promised? Given
One of the issues that should crop up in this Tory leadership contest is local government funding. True, it’s not a particularly enticing matter, but Conservative MPs are generally very worried about the state of their local councils. Today’s BBC story on 11 authorities which could exhaust their reserves within four years underlines this worry.
As Tory leadership contender Rory Stewart roamed the districts of outer London yesterday, talking to unsuspecting members of the public about his bid to be Prime Minister, it’s probably fair to say that he had a number of unusual conversations along the way. But it seems that the oddest encounter he had wasn’t with an
Rising prosperity. Plenty of innovation. Tons of stuff in the shops, loads of jobs, and a openness to fresh talent and ideas. There are lots of things to like about free-market capitalism. But every system has its counter-example. And in the UK, it comes with two letters and a single word, usually in white and
If there’s one politician in Europe as triumphant as Nigel Farage right now it’s Emmanuel Macron. The European election results were not, as many outside France have declared, a humiliation for the French president. On the contrary, they were a success. Publicly the Elysée described the result as “honourable”, but in private the president was
The European parliament election campaign in Sweden was unlike any other in its history, characterised by several scandals and conflicts amongst individual candidates – both within and between the major parties. The elections in Sweden – as elsewhere – were also an ideological struggle between parties calling for more or less EU integration. But perhaps
I’m an Oxbridge graduate in my twenties and a native speaker of a Romance language. I’m a citizen of nowhere rather than somewhere, and two years ago I moved to the United States. I could be the illustrated dictionary’s definition of a Remoaner. And I am. So why is it that, whenever I have a
On the sidelines of the 2015 Paris climate summit, then-UK prime minister David Cameron and 19 other world leaders made a promise to double green energy research and development by 2020. The United Kingdom is on course to break that promise. As a percentage of GDP, spending on low-carbon energy R&D has stayed sluggishly around
