Brexit
Dear Leavebugs, it’s time to admit your mistake
‘Brexit,’ says my friend David Aaronovitch, ‘is dying.’ We Remainer irreconcilables certainly hope so. But there’s a slim chance the…
The Spectator’s notes
We went to the first night of the Proms last week. Thinking it was all over, we left the auditorium…
Poor conduct
Last weekend Daniel Barenboim brought the Staatskapelle Berlin to perform at the BBC Proms for a cycle of Elgar’s symphonies.…
The Tories need a ‘what’ as much as a ‘who’
Theresa May has made it to the summer. In the aftermath of the election, Downing Street’s immediate aim was to…
The view from Germany
Frankfurt ‘This is not about punishing Great Britain,’ declared Sigmar Gabriel, Germany’s interim foreign secretary, on his recent visit to…
The turf
Having spent three quarters of my life covering politics and the other quarter following racing, I am often asked what…
The beginning is nigh
Just a few weeks ago, the Conservatives triumphed in the local government elections and Theresa May was hailed as an…
Britain’s winning hand
On the morning after the European Union referendum, Britain looked like a country in crisis. The Prime Minister had resigned,…
The devil they know
You will, by now, be familiar with the argument: that Donald Trump’s triumph in the American presidential election represents a…
The new normal
What was your favourite response from the liberals to Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election? Actress Emma Watson…
London Notebook
The new government seems to be struggling with the logistical intricacies of removing Britain from the European Union. I can…
A democratic future for the 75 per cent
You needed only to look at the headlines to realise things had not gone to plan. They were damning; Time…
Diary
In 1873, when Jules Verne published his Around the World in Eighty Days, it seemed worth betting that a circumnavigation…
The right question at the wrong time
Complaining about the EU referendum campaign has become an integral part of the referendum; even Delia Smith has got in…
Hollande equals Thatcher? Not quite, Monsieur le President, but keep trying
Have you ever tried discussing the merits of gun control with a Texan, or of deregulated labour markets with a…
If only they could vote…
Britain’s animals would be solidly for Leave. Here’s why
Long life
It was a famous American editor and columnist Michael Kinsley who once defined the political ‘gaffe’ as something that occurs…
This referendum has shown us the real Cameron
Westminster has a tendency to get ahead of itself. MPs want to discuss the aftermath of an event long before…
If I were in charge of Leave, here’s what I’d say…
It may be too late. But with only about three weeks before our referendum on EU membership I am itching…
Brexit, and the return of political lying
The Chancellor and PM are using every dirty trick in the Blairite book to win a Remain vote
The power trap
What British ‘influence’ and EU ‘power’ really mean
The only Eurosceptic in the room
I was in Paris last week to take part in an EU referendum debate at Sciences Po, a French university…
Lies, damned lies and…
A Ryanair plane in a Stansted hangar was not the best backdrop for George Osborne’s claim that the economic argument…
Portrait of the week
Home In the Queen’s Speech, the government made provision for bills against extremism and in favour of driverless cars, drones,…
Barometer
Name check 306 business people signed a letter to the Daily Telegraph saying that Britain would be better off outside…
