The new leviathan: the big state is back
Boris and Biden have placed their faith in the power of big government
The lockdown delay has triggered a constitutional crisis
It is not the Battle of Marston Moor, but it strikes me that we are now in something of a…
Boris Johnson's Northern Ireland problem
In an at times grouchy press conference, Boris Johnson tried to calm the row over the Northern Ireland protocol. The…
Why this G7 summit matters more than most
It’s risky planning a trip to the British seaside at any time of year. But if the weather forecast is…
Macron is wrong. Nato must stand up to China
Joe Biden wants to use his visit to Europe for the G7 summit and the Nato meeting to rally democracies…
Have we hit peak graduate?
The Tory party has turned sharply against the idea of ever larger numbers going to university. The reasons for this…
China is not as strong as it appears
The theory that the pandemic began with a leak from a research laboratory in Wuhan is rapidly gaining currency. Since…
Prepare for China's nationalist turn
In recent days, it has been striking how many people in Westminster and Whitehall now think the lab leak theory…
Keir Starmer’s interview gamble pays off
One of the biggest challenges for any leader of the opposition is getting noticed. Doing that requires taking some risks…
How much damage to the government has Dom’s bomb done?
The more anticipated a parliamentary appearance, the less it tends to live up to its billing. But Dominic Cummings’s testimony…
Will Cummings’s accusations damage Boris Johnson?
One of Dominic Cummings’s strengths as a campaigner was his genius for a clear message – think ‘Take Back Control’…
Bloc buster: David Frost on Brexit, Barnier and the backstop
David Frost on Brexit, Barnier and the backstop
The future looks bleak for Tory free-marketeers
The free-market Tory right’s victory on the Australia trade deal obscures the fact that the economic direction of the party…
The Australian trade deal is about more than just trade
What happens with an Australia trade deal won’t just reveal how serious this country is about free trade but also…
Keir Starmer isn’t Labour’s biggest problem
Keir Starmer has turned a drama into a crisis. The local elections were always going to be difficult for Labour.…
Why the Tories mustn't give in to the Nimbys
A 15-point YouGov poll lead and last week’s election performance suggests that things look good for the Tories in England.…
Can Labour survive the next election?
Keir Starmer is having a torrid time. Today brings another poll showing his personal approval rating falling. The Labour leader…
Could the Tories lose the South?
The coming Batley and Spen by-election — triggered by the incumbent MP’s election as the first mayor of West Yorkshire — is currently attracting a…
Westminster must avoid the Sturgeon trap
The challenge for the UK government in the coming months is to make Nicola Sturgeon look like a constitutional obsessive.…
Andy Street's success is part of the English political realignment
Andy Street won the West Midlands mayoralty in 2017 by the slimmest of margins, with 50.4 percent of the vote…
Can the UK government navigate the SNP's calls for a second referendum?
The Unionist tactical voting in Scotland makes it tempting to see the country as split down the middle between pro-independence…
What’s next for the Union?
The Union faces two simultaneous challenges in Northern Ireland and Scotland that both look set to worsen in the coming…
The nightmare: Boris’s battles are just beginning
While Johnson and Cummings attack each other, a bigger problem is looming
Putin’s on manoeuvres – are we ready?
‘What follows plague?’ I asked a medieval historian at the start of the pandemic. ‘War,’ he replied. In recent days,…
How the Tories can tackle generational inequality
Covid is far more fatal for the old than the young. But it is the young who have borne the…
