David Cameron
We need better MPs, not younger ones
The House of Commons is off for the summer. But few MPs and ministers expect to make it through to…
The Spectator’s notes
Peter Clarke’s powerful report on the Trojan Horse affair in Birmingham schools is confirmation of the weakness of David Cameron…
If the Tories win the election, the Gove gamble will have paid off
‘There’s no shame in a cabinet to win the next election,’ declared an exasperated senior No. 10 figure on Tuesday…
The Spectator’s Notes
This must be the worst reshuffle since Mrs Thatcher demoted Geoffrey Howe in 1989. Unlike that one, its errors are…
Cameron was right to move Gove
I tried to reach Michael Gove on Tuesday shortly after the news broke that he’d been moved to the Whips’…
In search of the Eurosceptic Nick Clegg
In recent weeks British government visitors to Berlin have been confronted with a persistent question: when will David Cameron make…
Accept it, embrace it: Conservatives aren’t cool
The Times headline on Tuesday was rather cruel: ‘Stars turn down No. 10 invitation.’ This was a reference to the…
Rebekah Brooks takes her place in a perfect picture of modern Britain
What image comes to mind when we think of Britain today? I was moved to contemplate this question after reading…
Dinner with the paparazzi
Here then is Gatsby’s house, after an invasion by the Daily Mail. It is called the Chiltern Firehouse. It is…
Portrait of the week
Home The government scrabbled together material for the Queen’s Speech, which promised measures to allow money to be put into…
Farage the moderniser
There are many words that you might associate with Nigel Farage, but moderniser probably isn’t one. Yet the Ukip leader…
The Spectator’s Notes
David Cameron is surely right to think that Jean-Claude Juncker is not the man to relieve the European Union’s woes,…
Ukip needs an ‘-ism’ – and I know just the one
I’m worried about Ukip. It’s possible that my concerns are entirely misplaced but let me give you some examples of…
The pitfalls and privileges of being a politician’s child
It was a Friday morning in 1992, Britain had just had an election, and I was on an ice rink.…
The Spectator’s notes
I write this before the results of the European elections, making the not very original guess that Ukip will do…
Doing God
‘We don’t do God,’ was Alastair Campbell’s put-down when his charge, Tony Blair, was tempted to raise the issue of…
Portrait of the week
Home David Cameron, the Prime Minister, said on television that he was ‘bullish’ about negotiating change for Britain in the…
A reminder for my Westminster colleagues: Scotland is bigger than David Cameron
‘It is never difficult to distinguish between a Scotsman with a grievance and a ray of sunshine.’ So wrote P.G.…
The Spectator’s Notes
David Cameron is said to want a woman to be chairman of the BBC Trust, now that Chris Patten has…
The radical centre
In almost a decade as Conservative leader, David Cameron has tended to avoid talking about his political philosophy. He has…
Diary
I feel an intense antipathy for Vladimir Putin. No one on the international scene has aroused in me such dislike…
Portrait of the week
Home The British economy grew by 0.8 per cent in the first quarter of 2014, disappointing hotheads who’d expected 1 per cent. It…
Portrait of the week
Home David Cameron, the Prime Minister, appeared in public with George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer — the first…
For God’s sake
A Protestant country is a free country
Damascus Notebook
As I looked out of the window of my hotel bedroom, studying the view of central Damascus, the mobile phone…
