Labour Party
A Lib-Lab coalition would be hilarious
Talk of a new Labour-Lib Dem coalition is in the air. This is piquantly nostalgic to those of us whose…
After 50 years: where next for VAT?
What is the appropriate act to mark the fiftieth anniversary of Value Added Tax in the UK? Are we celebrating?…
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…
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…
I feel sorry for Kwasi Kwarteng
In Singapore last week, I was asked: do ministers just come in, reach for the dumbest available policy and go…
Rupa Huq and the politics of prejudice
The Labour party’s contribution to the national debate this week has included the idea that someone can be ‘superficially’ black.…
Portrait of the week: Chancellor unveils his unBudget, Hilary Mantel dies and corgi prices soar
Home Kwasi Kwarteng, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, presented a far-reaching ‘fiscal event’ (ineligible to be called a Budget), said…
‘We’re so close’: there’s a cautious optimism at Labour conference
Cautious optimism at the Labour party conference
After Boris: what will politics look like?
Boris Johnson has so dominated politics for the past few years that it is hard to imagine things without him.…
British politics is stuck
One of the favourite phrases of British political commentators is ‘oppositions don’t win elections, governments lose them’. As with all…
After Starmer: what’s next for Labour?
What’s next for Labour – and the Tories?
Has Putin saved Boris?
It was with some relief that I heard that Labour’s Diane Abbott was opposed to the Russian invasion of Croatia,…
No one has done more to save Boris than Keir Starmer
Boris Johnson has a lot of people to thank for his survival in 10 Downing Street, but Keir Starmer should…
Boris will never recover from partygate
When a political party is hit by a crisis, the tendency these days is for both the politicians and their…
Why scrapping business rates is a bright idea
A worthwhile policy proposal amid the Labour conference dogfight? Now there’s a surprise. But shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves’s scheme to…
Portrait of the week: Petrol panic, Labour’s meltdown and China’s crypto crackdown
Home The crisis of the week was a shortage of fuel at garages. ‘There is no need for people to…
Its own opposition: Labour’s conference was all about in-fighting
Labour’s conference was all about in-fighting
Labour has gone back to 1983
One day quite soon someone at a petrol pump is going to get a tyre iron wrapped around their head.…
The tactics of victimhood
Late last week the Labour deputy leader was the subject of a glowing profile in the Times. The piece described…
Starmer secures a narrow victory against the left
Keir Starmer this evening managed to scrape through his reforms to how Labour elects its leader. The victory follows a…
Will this be Keir Starmer’s Kinnock moment?
Next week, when Keir Starmer appears on stage at Labour conference in Brighton, it will be the first time he…
Rosie Duffield’s treatment brings shame on the Labour party
News that Rosie Duffield will be missing the Labour Party conference over threats to her personal security brings to a…
The political power of Roy ‘Chubby’ Brown
There is a rather sweet moment in the middle of each Roy ‘Chubby’ Brown show where, after some magnificently obscene…
Portrait of the week: Masks to be dropped, John Lewis builds houses and Russia lays claim to champagne
Home Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, said that if a review of coronavirus restrictions on 12 July allowed, then on…
Keir Starmer’s days are numbered
I think Keir’s had it. This may not discomfort you terribly, I know. Still less the fact that Labour will…
