Conservative party
In defence of levelling up
Modern pragmatist political leaders are generally keen to reassure us that there is a unifying philosophy to be found running…
There’s trouble brewing for Boris
Covid restrictions are meant to end on 19 July. But parliament will not return to normal until September. The Commons…
The Tories, Islam, and the importance of pluralism
The Conservatives will be relieved that an independent investigation has not found the party to be institutionally racist, though relief…
Boris’s Tory enemies don’t know how lucky they are
It is often said that most Conservative MPs have a highly ‘transactional’ relationship with Boris Johnson. The inference is that…
Keir Starmer isn’t Labour’s biggest problem
Keir Starmer has turned a drama into a crisis. The local elections were always going to be difficult for Labour.…
Real life
Being told by the Tories not to put a local election poster in my window because it will only remind…
Inside the Tory party’s China split
Back in 2005, Boris Johnson wrote that among geopolitical gloomsters, China was becoming the ‘fashionable new dread’. They were obsessed…
Where is the Conservatives’ post-Brexit agenda?
What’s the point of Brexit? We are told it is to take back control, but that is a means to…
Letters
Left vs left Sir: Your leading article (‘Comfort spending’, 28 November) makes the classic mistake about modern politics which prevents…
Blowing in the wind
With Cummings gone, which way will the PM turn now?
Boris’s eco-optimism will get the better of him
Vote blue for green jobs in the red wall. That’s the message we’re supposed to take from Boris Johnson’s ten…
Does Boris have a supporters’ club left in Parliament?
Boris Johnson needs to use the departure of Dominic Cummings and Lee Cain to repair relations with his Parliamentary party.…
Why I’m ducking the Rashford debate
Moments arrive when it becomes clear you’re losing the zeitgeist. Whatever might be the spirit of the era, you don’t…
The morality of free school meals
The main problem with the government giving in over free school meals during the holidays — other than that it…
What will post-pandemic politics look like?
A few days ago, I came across a group of Tory MPs in a House of Commons corridor looking rather…
Disunited Kingdom
The Covid divide is triggering political tensions
‘Cabin crew can make good nurses’
Thérèse Coffey on stemming the unemployment tide
Why Boris has his hopes pinned on spring
In a non-Covid world, next week would be the Tory party conference. Boris Johnson would march on to the stage…
Conservative comeback
Will the Moore and Dacre appointments be a turning point?
Hats off to Laurence Fox
From the moment I started criticising the government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis people have been urging me to start…
The looming planning battle
The government will pass the test it has set itself: schools in England will return next week. Pupils may well…
The difficult balance of public vs political agony
Fear is the politician’s friend. When terror grips the public, an opportunity arises for those in power to step forward…
The communitarian Conservatives
Politics is full of events that are meant to change everything but actually do little. Yet the coronavirus crisis will…
What will the Tories fight about now?
Now that Britain is out of the European Union, it will be very hard to go back in. In the…
Boris Johnson: Perhaps my campaign was ‘clunking’. But sometimes, clunking is what you need
You may wonder why I am up at 4.45 a.m. writing this diary when I have a country to run, Queen’s…
