Labour
John McDonnell might soon regret handing out copies of Cicero
Shadow chancellor John McDonnell has given all his cabinet a copy of Cicero’s advice on how to win arguments. This…
Marxism didn’t die. It’s alive and well and living among us
I remember the autumn day in 1990 when they came to cart away the large hammer and sickle outside my…
We need to stop buying into this ‘divided Britain’ narrative
Amid all the argument in Westminster, everyone can agree on one thing: the country is bitterly divided. The 52:48 divisions…
What will it take for Labour MPs to act against Corbyn?
One of the mistakes Theresa May made in calling an early election was not anticipating the effect it would have…
This crash is just a return to normality
It is easy to mock the most strident critics of capitalism, like Bernie Sanders and Jeremy Corbyn. It’s harder to…
Perishable goods
Labour of Love is the new play by James Graham, the poet laureate of politics. We’re in a derelict…
Can anyone unite the Tory tribes?
One of the reasons that coalition governments are so unusual in Britain is that both main parties are coalitions themselves.…
Labour’s middle-class problem
Be fair. Theresa May’s plan actually half-worked. No, there was a plan. I know the consensus now seems to be…
Labour’s England problem
My party needs to stop being scared of patriotism
Spectator’s Notes
Why have David Cameron and George Osborne overreached? Why are so many in their own party no longer disposed to…
Emma Thompson’s wrong, and not just about the EU
At first glance, Emma Thompson’s intervention in the Brexit debate earlier this week didn’t make much sense. Asked at the…
What I got right
And what the Labour party is now getting wrong
This is the Tories’ golden chance to seize the centre ground
Political party conferences have, in recent years, felt like an empty ritual. They used to be convened in seaside towns,…
The right answer
David Cameron might not be remembered as the best prime minister in modern British history but he will probably be…
Why I left
I cannot be part of a movement run by half-educated fanatics
Bad winners
Victory hasn’t stopped the vitriol among the lefties of north London
The Spectator’s notes
Watching the very pleasant Liz Kendall on television this week, I was struck by how extraordinary it is that more…
Peer review
Something needs to be done about the overstuffed House of Lords
Does Labour still not get it?
You wait ages for a Labour leadership contest, then five come along at once. In the past few days, nominations…
Diary
For the first time since the terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team six years ago, a Test match side…
Can the new Northern Powerhouse supremo make Leeds and Manchester work together?
A doff of my flat cap to Jim O’Neill, the former Goldman Sachs economist who has been made a peer,…
Portrait of the week
Home David Cameron, the Prime Minister, soon got used to the surprise of the Conservatives being returned in the general…
Labour must estrange its awful voters
And so now we have to suffer the epic delusions, temper tantrums and hissy fits of the metro-left. They simply…
Making Labour work
A new leader will have to focus on winning, not sniping
Goulash and whiplash
Ed is a plank. He was always a plank — and now he is in Ibiza being a plank. Plankety–plankety-plank:…
