James Heale

Badenoch lays claim to Thatcher’s legacy

18 March 2025 5:32 am

It is a hundred years next month since Margaret Thatcher’s birth – so what Conservative leader would miss the chance…

Can Dale Vince make Labour go even greener?

16 March 2025 8:06 pm

Dale Vince has donated millions of pounds to Labour, but the green energy tycoon is only just getting started in politics. Having helped remove the…

Starmer insists ceasefire coalition has momentum

16 March 2025 12:41 am

Following Thursday’s big speech on public sector reform, Sir Keir Starmer has since turned his attention back to foreign affairs.…

The trouble with Starmer’s plan for change

13 March 2025 11:24 pm

At his speech at a Hull business campus this morning, Keir Starmer was introduced by a man who proudly noted…

Trump escalates his tariff war on Canada

12 March 2025 2:13 am

He has done it again. Donald Trump has announced that, from tomorrow, tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminium imports will…

Mark Carney is Canada’s new PM

10 March 2025 4:57 pm

The race to replace Justin Trudeau has been not so much a contest, as a coronation. Mark Carney, the former…

Reform refer Rupert Lowe to the police

8 March 2025 5:19 am

After months of leading in the polls, Reform UK is now in meltdown. This afternoon, the party chairman, Zia Yusuf,…

Rupert Lowe’s warning shot to Nigel Farage

6 March 2025 10:12 pm

There is a striking interview in today’s Daily Mail between Andrew Pierce and Rupert Lowe. The Reform MP is known for speaking…

The Special Forces scandal is not going away

6 March 2025 3:31 am

What was the most important moment at Prime Minister’s Questions today? It was not the somewhat pedestrian back-and-forth between Keir…

Keir Starmer’s bridge to Trump is crumbling

4 March 2025 9:37 pm

So it turns out he wasn’t bluffing after all. Six weeks after taking office, Donald Trump has made two big…

Priti Patel attacks Nigel Farage over Zelensky comments

4 March 2025 1:09 am

During the early days of the Gaza crisis, there was an unofficial refrain doing the rounds in the Foreign Office:…

Starmer timed his defence announcement to perfection

26 February 2025 1:06 am

Politics is a matter of timing – and Keir Starmer perfected today. Barely two hours after Kemi Badenoch’s big foreign…

Is there any substance to Kemi’s ‘conservative realism’?

25 February 2025 11:25 pm

Kemi Badenoch set out her world view in a speech this morning at Policy Exchange. As protesting tractors blared their…

Reform fancies its chances in Mike Amesbury’s seat

24 February 2025 11:46 pm

This afternoon Mike Amesbury was sentenced to ten weeks in prison. The ex-Labour MP for Runcorn and Helsby was handed…

Germany’s results are a relief for Starmer – for now

24 February 2025 9:27 pm

Over beer, pretzels and sausages, guests gathered last night at the German ambassador’s house in Belgravia to watch the federal…

Starmer’s Scottish headache

22 February 2025 9:00 am

What does a party get after nearly two decades in office, collapsing public services, an internal civil war and a…

What does Kemi Badenoch believe in?

17 February 2025 10:57 pm

Kemi Badenoch likes a good Thatcher comparison. The current Tory leader is presently reading Patrick Cosgrave’s account of the Iron…

Why JD Vance’s Munich speech matters

15 February 2025 11:14 pm

When was the last time a new U.S Vice President gave a truly memorable speech? The post has traditionally been…

Would Margaret Thatcher have joined Reform?

15 February 2025 9:00 am

It is 50 years since Margaret Thatcher was elected Tory leader and at this week’s shadow cabinet meeting, Lord Forsyth…

Have Kemi Badenoch’s first 100 days been a success?

10 February 2025 10:38 pm

Leader of the opposition is regarded by many as the worst job in British politics. Peter Hennessy called the post…

Kemi let Keir off the hook on Chagos

6 February 2025 12:32 am

This is Keir Starmer’s worst week in politics since last week. With the Chagos deal eliciting criticism in cabinet, the…

Will Starmer choose Brussels or Trump?

4 February 2025 11:44 pm

Europe or America – the eternal British dilemma. Keir Starmer made clear he rejects such a binary approach in his…

Angela Rayner to create Islamophobia council

4 February 2025 9:12 pm

Today’s Telegraph splash could have been designed in a laboratory to trigger Tory tempers. After months of deliberation, the paper…

Bridget Phillipson tries to rebrand her education reforms

4 February 2025 12:36 am

Education has been in the spotlight in recent weeks, as the government’s Schools Bill makes it way through parliament. So…

Priti Patel’s migration defence was a serious misstep

1 February 2025 1:24 am

This week looks to be a significant one for polling in British politics. For the first time, every poll released…