Conservative party
What I learned from Nigel Lawson
His practical radicalism brought permanent change
The Tories should think again on targeting Netflix
If you want to understand the curious attitude of our government towards media freedom, look at two provisions in the…
Rishi Sunak is right to get tough on begging
When Rishi Sunak presented the latest attempt by a prime minister to get tough on anti-social behaviour, it wasn’t the…
Is it time to ban second jobs for MPs?
There are some genres of newspaper story that never die. Among them are sightings of Lord Lucan, public moralists discovered…
Why Boris Johnson might escape a partygate punishment
After several months of anticipation, two contentious legal submissions from Lord Pannick KC and a bumper 52-page witness statement, Boris…
Rishi risks another asylum outcry
With the likelihood of a deal on the Northern Ireland Protocol fading this week, a new issue has emerged to…
It’s time for ‘reality-based’ politicians to start addressing Brexit
Praise be. A day or two ago, something potentially quite exciting took place in Ditchley Park in Oxfordshire. It was a two-day…
Rishi Sunak is no John Major
As the skies darken over Rishi Sunak’s embattled government, with ministers being fired or placed under investigation, opinion polls dire…
Why won’t the Conservatives stand up for conservatism any more?
Is it supposed to be enough for those of us of a culturally and socially conservative persuasion to know that some Tory…
Five ways the Liz Truss saga could end
How does this end? That’s the question being asked by Tory MPs as Liz Truss’s government finds itself in turmoil…
Removing PMs hardly ever ends well
As Tory MPs appear to descend into a panic of buyers’ remorse over the election of Liz Truss, they would…
Things can always get worse
As I was saying, way back in July, it is hard to love the Conservative party. Every time it tries…
What does Michael Gove want?
Tory conference has long been more stage-managed than other party meetings, but this year the official speeches from ministers have…
Thatcherism is a cult the Tories should not follow
Friedrich Nietzsche may not be the most fashionable member of the conservative canon, but doubtless he wouldn’t care much. He…
Is Liz Truss sowing the seeds of her own downfall?
Liz Truss looks to be winning a decisive victory for cold-eyed conservatism. A victory for I went to the school…
Letters: How Rishi Sunak could beat the odds
Injured party Sir: Prue Leith’s short interlude as a Conservative party member and subsequent resignation underlines a feature of the…
How Rishi Sunak won over the Tories of West Suffolk
How Sunak wowed the Tories of West Suffolk
The high price of failure
I was listening to a rich bastard on the radio explaining why he was feeling disinclined to give any more…
The future of the Tories is at stake
To govern is to choose. So leadership contests for a party in government tend to come down to a key…
My life as a political spouse
When I was a teenage Tory activist in the mid-1990s, I hoped one day I’d be part of a leadership…
The ruthless inefficiency of the Tory party
It is hard to love the Conservative party. But one reason it has at least always commanded a certain amount…
The Conservative party has ceased to be serious
I’m not sure that the Conservative party wants to win elections. Tom Tugendhat was knocked out of the leadership contest…
Labour won the Tory leadership debate
That was quite a debate.I’ve never seen senior Tory ministers and MPs lay into each other so publicly. Rishi Sunak…
Sunday shows round-up: Penny under the spotlight
Penny Mordaunt – I’m being smeared over self-ID claims No Conservative party leadership race is ever without drama. With the…
What the Tory candidates’ logos say about them
There’s a particularly amusing picture from the 1997 Tory leadership contest of Ken Clarke and John Redwood awkwardly paired up…
