George Osborne
The fog of law
Not even Jeremy Corbyn lamented the death of Reyaad Khan, who was killed by an RAF drone in Syria after…
Portrait of the week
Home The Government decided after all to retain the rules preventing ministers and their departments from publishing campaign material, ‘with…
The Corbyn enigma
How do you solve a problem like Jezza?
Gamblin’ man
When George Osborne visited Sweden, Finland and Denmark the stock markets of each country promptly fell by about 5 per…
Cameron’s new army of Tory loyalists
Time was when the Conservatives believed that a small majority — which puts a government at the mercy of backbench…
Boris’s waiting game
While the Labour party rakes over its past in an effort to find a policy for its future, the commentators…
The Libor trader’s long stretch is a big message to the banking world
Fourteen years is a long stretch. The punishment imposed on former UBS and Citigroup trader Tom Hayes for his role…
Osborne rules
The Chancellor has Westminster in his grip
Stop moaning, start building
The trouble with housing associations
Jeremy Corbyn’s extraordinary success is a coup for the Tories
It wasn’t meant to work out this way. A month ago, Westminster watched to see if Jeremy Corbyn could get…
One-nation economics
In his hastily scripted victory speech, David Cameron hit upon a mission that he wanted to define his remaining years…
Portrait of the week
Home In his Budget, George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, slowed the planned rate of bringing in £12 billion…
Osborne’s mission: erase every trace of Brown
To understand George Osborne, it is important to realise that he cut his political teeth at the height of the…
Caught offside
It’s not surprising that politicians have such an on-off relationship with the broadcast media. One slip. One casual comment. One…
The wrong man
Why Jim O’Neill isn’t fit to run the Northern Powerhouse
Late news: what was really served at the Mansion House banquet
Last week’s deadline did not allow me to report from ringside at the Mansion House dinner, but there was so…
Ed’s campaign was fine. The problem is his party
Patrick Wintour is one of the best political editors around. For the Guardian he’s been for decades a cool and…
The northern powerhouses of ancient Turkey
Government claims that it will ‘free’ northern cities to turn themselves into ‘powerhouses’. Since most of them are held by…
Portrait of the week
Home David Cameron, the Prime Minister, soon got used to the surprise of the Conservatives being returned in the general…
Full employment, Prime Minister? What exactly do you mean by that?
‘Two million jobs have been created since 2010 — but there will not be a moment of rest until we…
Bond villains
After working for Bill Clinton, the political strategist James Carville said he had changed his mind about where power really…
Diary
I have escaped this rather depressing election campaign by retreating to my home in la France profonde — to be…
Only the Tories can meet the aspirations of Ikea’s hard-working families
If Ikea were a constituency, it would be a three-way marginal. That was my thought one morning last week as…
Diary
So far, what an infuriating election campaign. We have the most extraordinary array of digital, paper and broadcasting media at…
Lefty myths about inequality
As a Tory, I’ve been thinking a lot about inequality recently. Has it really increased in the past five years?…
