Conservative party
How has the Conservative party’s ‘Dr No’ escaped everyone’s notice for so long?
This malevolent figure has been at the centre of the party for more than 40 years, says Nadine Dorries. But nothing in The Plot bears much relation to reality
Hope might be the only strategy Sunak has left
The first King’s Speech for more than 70 years was a festival of the expected: the royal reading of a…
The conversion therapy bill is a thoroughly bad idea
I was disappointed to learn that Rishi Sunak has reconsidered his opposition to a bill banning conversion therapy. Not because…
The Tory vote squeeze
When the cabinet gathered on Tuesday morning, the meeting started as a sombre affair. Just days before, the Conservatives had…
It’s time to take Italian wine seriously
Tuscany: earth has not anything to show more fair. The landscape is charming. The gentle hills seem to smile down…
Britain is not a technocracy
The term ‘technocracy’, or more often ‘technocrat’, is found everywhere. Both Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer are referred to as…
Party spirit
I feel old, and feelings are not always wrong, This eheu fugaces mood came on me at the Conservative party…
Radical Rishi
The Conservatives gather in Manchester this weekend for what may well be their last hurrah as a governing party. Bookmakers…
‘The zealots are turning people off’
The new Energy Secretary on net zero and her bond with the PM
At least Britain isn’t that corrupt
Long-time readers may recall that I take a special interest in the art of corruption. And this week America has…
The Minister for Hard Truths
The last time Tory activists and MPs gathered for their annual party conference, it didn’t end well. Liz Truss had…
Raac and ruin
Who broke Britain?
Britain has an entitlement problem
An Institute for Fiscal Studies paper, published at the end of last month, makes grim reading. Through the prism of…
Risk management
When prime ministers sense the end is near, they tend to follow a similar pattern. They change senior civil servants…
Rishi’s Indian summer
The PM’s visit to New Delhi could be a defining moment
Hot air
Next Tuesday, London’s Ulez scheme will be expanded. A new network of cameras filming the traffic movements of millions of…
Charge of the right brigade
You know the Conservative party is in trouble when it does not dare use its name on leaflets. Instead, it…
Bad sports
The renewed war on rural pursuits
