Charles Moore

Charles Moore was editor of The Spectator 1984 - 1990. He continues to write a weekly column, The Spectator's Notes. You can read extracts of his column here.

The Tories are Boris Johnson’s Conservatives now

2 November 2019 9:00 am

How much does Boris Johnson’s move to an early election resemble Mrs May’s disastrous one in 2017? In two important…

Why I’m fed up with David Attenborough

26 October 2019 5:35 pm

The other day, I went to be interviewed in the Savoy hotel. Sitting in what the Savoy now calls the…

Nigel Farage had better hurry up and settle for a peerage

26 October 2019 9:00 am

Last week, an angry Telegraph reader asked me why I had got through a whole column on Brexit without mentioning…

Will John Bercow break his promise to resign?

20 October 2019 4:30 pm

I recently heard the alarming rumour that Mr Speaker Bercow still has it in his power (a power he used…

Donald Trump is key to Boris Johnson’s survival

19 October 2019 9:00 am

There are so many problems confronting our polity this week that it is almost impossible to write about any of…

When Jacob Rees-Mogg met Extinction Rebellion

12 October 2019 5:43 pm

I walked down Villiers Street to Embankment Tube station. In front of me were two Extinction Rebels, a mother and…

We selfish gits must wear the name with pride

12 October 2019 9:00 am

I walked down Villiers Street to Embankment Tube station. In front of me were two Extinction Rebels, a mother and…

What would Margaret Thatcher do about Brexit?

5 October 2019 7:00 pm

‘What would Margaret Thatcher do about Brexit?’ people keep asking me. Why do they think I would know? If I…

If Boris snogged Nick Robinson, would he be forgiven?

5 October 2019 9:00 am

 Manchester It could be caused by desperation, but this Tory conference is very jolly. At last there is something to…

Why Boris Johnson resembles Samwise Gamgee

28 September 2019 4:30 pm

So what should Boris Johnson do now? Obviously the law officers are twitchy. They defer to judges and their later…

The rule of law has become the rule of lawyers

28 September 2019 9:00 am

Is that enormous silver spider that Lady Hale wore her badge of office? If so, it is appropriate. The Supreme…

For millennials, pre-Thatcher Britain must seem another — quite mystifying — country

28 September 2019 9:00 am

Lymeswold; Hi-de-Hi!; nuclear-free zones; Walkmans; the Metro; Red Robbo; the SDP; Michael Foot’s Cenotaph donkey-jacket; Protest and Survive; Steve Davis…

Why didn’t Cameron realise the ‘strength of feeling’ about Brexit?

21 September 2019 9:00 am

In his memoirs, David Cameron admits that he ‘did not fully appreciate the strength of feeling’ in favour of Brexit,…

There’s nothing wrong with Jacob Rees-Mogg lying down in the Commons

7 September 2019 9:00 am

If you are a journalist covering politics this year, every moment is a bad moment to take a holiday. I…

The Amazon fires are as much a political story as an environmental one

31 August 2019 9:00 am

We do not yet know which 100 citizens will make it to the ‘Citizens’ Assembly’ to be chaired by the…

What would George Orwell make of Brexit?

24 August 2019 5:30 pm

In the London Review of Books this month, James Meek wrote a long article about Jacob Rees-Mogg and his ‘curious duality’ in…

The royals should embody virtue – not signal it

24 August 2019 9:00 am

ONE should not be censorious if the Duke and Duchess of Sussex fly in private jets to their holidays, though…

Give Hong Kongers real security: a British passport

17 August 2019 5:34 pm

We seem to be building up to a second Tiananmen Square, 30 years after the first. This time the venue…

Give Hong Kongers real security: a British passport

17 August 2019 9:00 am

We seem to be building up to a second Tiananmen Square, 30 years after the first. This time the venue…

Were the US shootings racially motivated?

10 August 2019 9:00 am

Who wrote ‘Our lifestyle is destroying the environment of our country … creating a massive burden for future generations. Corporations…

The ambiguity of the woke businessman

4 August 2019 4:26 pm

The woke businessman, like the woke prince and princess, is an ambiguous figure. Being woke, after all, involves a contempt…

What would you save, Marmite or the planet?

3 August 2019 9:00 am

In his very long letter to Jeremy Corbyn about why, after all, he will stay out of the Labour party…

Joseph R. McCarthy (Getty)

The conviction of ‘Nick’ shows the evil behind McCarthyism

27 July 2019 9:00 am

‘No great surprise’ headlined the BBC television news on Tuesday lunchtime. The BBC does not admit it now, but it…

What would Jane Austen say about Debrett’s going digital?

20 July 2019 9:00 am

Seventy-five years ago on Saturday, the July plot failed. Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg placed a bomb in a briefcase…

Kim Darroch speaks at the British Embassy in Washington to mark Donald Trump’s inaugura-tion (Getty)

Sir Kim Darroch failed to recognise Trump’s communicative genius

13 July 2019 9:00 am

When I last talked to Sir Kim Darroch, he was a slim young private secretary, so it was a long…