James Heale

Lord Hermer’s ‘Nazi jibe’ shows his naivety

30 May 2025 5:47 pm

Amid talk of a summer reshuffle, I recently asked a senior member of the Labour party if he thought the…

Senior Tories plan candidate overhaul

30 May 2025 4:50 am

There are many justifiable criticisms of how the Tories ran candidate selection for the last election. On the day that…

The welfare state is Nigel Farage’s new battleground

28 May 2025 12:52 am

What, if anything, can stop Nigel Farage? That’s the question many in Westminster are asking as they try to reconcile…

Man arrested after Liverpool parade car crash

27 May 2025 6:31 am

A 53-year-old man was arrested on Monday after a car ploughed into a crowd of Liverpool supporters during their Premier League trophy…

Russia seizes on Kemi’s ‘proxy’ comment

26 May 2025 11:47 pm

It has not been an enjoyable bank holiday weekend for Kemi Badenoch. The Sunday Times contained not one, but two,…

Keir Starmer’s intellectual barrenness

24 May 2025 9:00 am

Keir Starmer’s appearance before Labour MPs on Monday was a crowded affair. Such was the level of excitement that organisers…

The Chagos deal will haunt Keir Starmer

23 May 2025 2:37 am

After months of negotiation, the UK has today signed a deal to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. Under the…

Starmer owes Sunak for halving net migration

22 May 2025 8:37 pm

A year ago today, Rishi Sunak called the general election. Watching the rain-drenched prime minister struggling to deliver his speech,…

Could Boris make a comeback?

20 May 2025 8:28 pm

Events have a useful way of illustrating changing fortunes in political stock. Keir Starmer’s EU reset yesterday proved to be…

Starmer’s EU ‘reset’ risks pleasing no one

19 May 2025 11:49 pm

Keir Starmer has just wrapped up his press conference with European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen. The Prime Minister…

Starmer’s EU ‘reset’ will have winners and losers

19 May 2025 7:01 pm

A pragmatic ‘reset’ or a ‘surrender summit’? The spin has already started ahead of today’s big UK-EU jamboree at Lancaster…

Joe Biden diagnosed with prostate cancer

19 May 2025 7:52 am

Joe Biden has been diagnosed with an ‘aggressive form’ of prostate cancer, according to a statement released by his office on…

Kemi Badenoch and the Tinkerbell Tories

17 May 2025 9:00 am

Market choice has long been an article of faith in the Conservative party. But the Tories are less keen on…

Parliament is changing its mind on assisted dying

17 May 2025 1:36 am

There was a markedly different feel to today’s debate on Assisted Dying. The last time the House debated Kim Leadbeater’s…

Inside Zia Yusuf’s Reform masterplan

16 May 2025 8:51 pm

On Monday, I sat down for a lengthy interview on Spectator TV with Zia Yusuf, the chairman of Reform UK.…

Starmer: migration control is a ‘core Labour value’

12 May 2025 7:38 pm

This morning, the Home Office is publishing its long-awaited white paper on legal migration. The Home Secretary has already been…

The changing face of Nigel Farage

10 May 2025 9:00 am

On Monday night, a hundred Reform staff and donors met at a Marylebone pub to toast the local election results.…

Tories slump to 17 per cent in poll

7 May 2025 6:32 pm

A new YouGov poll published this morning makes for grim reading for Kemi Badenoch’s team. It finds that, in the…

Labour vs the unions

3 May 2025 9:00 am

At the start of February, trade union chiefs assembled in No. 10 with their agenda for government. Top of the…

The Labour left turns on Starmer

2 May 2025 9:50 pm

After defeat, comes the recriminations. The bulk of council seats are still yet to declare but already the blame game…

Reform seizes Runcorn in teal tsunami

2 May 2025 3:18 pm

Less than 10 per cent of council seats have declared thus far. But there already looks to be a clear…

Badenoch attacks Starmer over rape gangs

30 April 2025 11:03 pm

All politics is local – and no more so than this week. With various voters set to head to the…

What is Tony Blair up to?

30 April 2025 10:33 pm

‘Just what is Tony up to?’ That was what one Labour MP asked, quizzically, when I bumped into them in…

Mark Carney pulls off exceptional win in Canadian election

29 April 2025 4:43 pm

Results are still flooding in from Canada – but Mark Carney looks to have done the impossible. The Liberal leader…

Will Labour’s migration crackdown work?

28 April 2025 10:31 pm

Who is the most powerful woman in government? For some, it is the Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper. Next month, her…