Reeves’s fiscal play-off
In a week where political attention was on espionage and anti-Semitism, the cri de coeur from one Treasury official was…
Why Caerphilly may be good news for Starmer
On the face of it, the Caerphilly by-election result is a disaster, a drubbing and a humiliation for Keir Starmer’s…
Here be dragons: the truth about Chinese espionage
On 3 July a Chinese man, Xu Zewei, was arrested in Milan to face extradition on nine charges relating to…
US politicians: Dropping China spy case undermines Five Eyes
As I revealed in the Spectator cover story this week, the US House of Representatives select committee on the Chinese…
The real war is to come for the Tories
British politics often resembles a golden-age murder mystery, with multiple parties sitting anxiously on the sofas/green benches waiting for the…
Kemi Badenoch: how I plan to save the Tories
Kemi Badenoch is in ebullient form. She promises the Conservative party conference, which begins this weekend in Manchester, will be…
Keir Starmer gave the speech of his life at Labour conference
The consensus before Keir Starmer’s speech to the Labour party conference was that he needed to make ‘the speech of…
Who does Shabana Mahmood have in her sights?
After a fortnight in which Keir Starmer lost both Angela Rayner and Peter Mandelson but also reshaped his cabinet and…
Starmer’s battle against the King of the North
After Keir Starmer’s calamitous fortnight, the No. 10 official was reflective: ‘Some people say: “Your worst day in government is…
What the Tories should learn from Trump
Robert Jenrick has warned that he is ‘absolutely terrified’ Britain is heading for a debt crisis ‘unless Rachel Reeves changes…
Winston, Windsor and ‘private time’: inside Trump’s state visit
The first time Donald Trump was on an official visit to the UK, in July 2018, he was deep in…
Kemi Badenoch has a sliver of hope
I can’t remember when I last wrote anything as reckless, but the last week has been a good one for…
‘He’s like a passive-aggressive Gordon Brown’: inside Keir Starmer’s No.10 reshuffle
Isaac Levido, the Tory election strategist who helped secure Boris Johnson’s landslide victory in 2019 and saved the Tories from…
Robert Jenrick: ‘Asylum seekers should be detained in camps’
On a table in Robert Jenrick’s parliamentary office lies the first part of Ronald Hutton’s biography of Oliver Cromwell, a…
The scale of Nigel Farage’s ambition
When Nigel Farage stands up this afternoon to deliver his speech to Reform UK’s annual conference in Birmingham he will…
Can Reform beat the blob?
Shortly after he was elected as Britain’s youngest council leader last month, 19-year-old George Finch of Reform UK had a…
Motherland: how Farage is winning over women
On the campaign trail in the Midlands ahead of May’s local elections, a journalist asked Nigel Farage: ‘Do you have…
The asylum hotel crisis will cost Labour
Yvette Cooper doesn’t do holidays, which is probably just as well since she is the minister who, this summer, holds…
Can anything stop Reform?
A close associate of Nigel Farage received phone calls from three civil servants in the past week, asking how they…
‘Let Keir be Keir’: inside the cabinet’s away day
Labour ministers face a range of terrible political choices, but when the cabinet met for an away day at Chequers…
The reign of Rayner
Angela Rayner declined an invitation to a hen do last weekend where the entertainment included axe-throwing. ‘She was worried about…
Can Starmer convince the French to finally sign a migrant deal?
Emmanuel Macron, the French president, hits town today. It’s Macron’s first state visit to the UK and the first by…
Norman Tebbit was a proper politician
Norman Tebbit, who has died at the age of 94, was one of the dominant political figures of my youth.…
Can Keir Starmer fend off Labour’s big beasts?
It was the chronicle of a death foretold. Last year Keir Starmer’s chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, drafted a memo…
Revealed: Morgan McSweeney’s memo to the PM on how Labour could fail
In this week’s cover story, I revealed details of a memo written by Morgan McSweeney, the prime minister’s chief of…
