Conservative party
The Tory drift goes on – but replacing May is impossible
‘We take the view that while things are bloody awful, we don’t want to risk making things worse.’ That is…
The Cabinet reshuffle highlighted Theresa May’s three great weaknesses
‘They are not as strong as they thought they were,’ one Whitehall source remarked to me on Monday night as…
If Damian Green lied about looking at porn, I don’t blame him one bit
I first viewed pornography at the age of 12, when a school friend showed me a magazine called, I think,…
The Tories urgently need a boost from Philip Hammond’s Budget
The Budget this Wednesday represents this government’s best, and perhaps its last, chance to regain the political initiative. Ever since…
Does Theresa May’s zombie government even want to survive?
Dealing with a hung parliament was never going to be easy, but no one quite foresaw the decay which now…
Sexual misconduct claims leave government in crisis
Home An air of crisis hung over the government. Priti Patel, the International Development Secretary, was told to fly back…
Gordon Brown’s memoirs show he is good at blowing his own trumpet – but nothing else
Gordon Brown has pitched his memoirs as the honest confessions of a decent man. He failed to win the one…
The plots thicken
‘Worst week ever’ is one of those phrases that journalists are, perhaps, too quick to use. Alastair Campbell once quipped…
May’s exit strategy
Nearly all Tory MPs now agree Theresa May should stay on as Prime Minister. She must get the party through…
May’s opponents are the mad and the bad
I first met Theresa May, or met her properly, way back in the last century. I’d been invited to speak…
The phoney Tory leadership war
When a new MP is offered a job as a parliamentary private secretary for a cabinet member, it’s often a…
No true Tory can support this gender idiocy
I’ve had it with the Conservatives. For me, and I know I’m not the only one, the final straw was…
Let May govern
It used to be said that loyalty was the Conservatives’ secret weapon. While other parties might descend into internecine warfare,…
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…
Corbyn can be beaten – here’s how
The Tory party is suffering from an intellectual crisis of confidence. Before 8 June, its collective view was that Jeremy…
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…
A toe-curling tragedy
Zac Goldsmith’s London campaign was an embarrassment
A right mess
Conservatism is having a nervous breakdown
Cameron’s plan for a graceful exit all hinges on the referendum
The year 2019 seems a long way away. Whether or not David Cameron can stay in office until then is…
Want to leave the EU? You must be an oik like me
If you need to know how properly posh you are there’s a very simple test: are you pro- or anti-Brexit?…
Out on the farm
How would British farming change without EU subsidies?
The Spectator’s notes
Here is a thought for all those Tory MPs calculating their personal advantage in the forthcoming EU referendum: unless the…
The centre-right is failing world-wide – so what’s the secret of Cameron’s success?
There are times when Westminster’s obsession with US politics is embarrassing for even the strongest believer in the Anglo-American relationship.…
Cameron’s great escape
An interview with the Prime Minister
Strange young things
Why are so many Conservative activists so noxious?
