Matthew Parris
Petronella Wyatt: The time I saw Boris cry
Boris Johnson is nothing like Churchill, a view with which my friend Andrew Roberts concurs. But in the 20-odd years…
General de Gaulle’s advice to the young Queen Elizabeth
There were so many ear-catching moments in Peter Hennessy’s series for Radio 4, Winds of Change, adapted from his new…
What ancient Roman Remainiacs can teach Matthew Parris
Matthew Parris feels that he has become a genuine Remainiac, and kindly readers, fearing for his mental health, have been…
Labour, lizards and the problem of anti-Semitism
There’s a very funny moment in Jon Ronson’s book Them: Adventures with Extremists, part of which follows the New Age…
Max Hastings’ Diary: Historian Sir Michael Howard and a tale of E.M. Forster and sardines
Lunch with the great Sir Michael Howard, 95 last week. During a conversation about BBC1’s Howards End, he said: ‘I…
At last! The subversion of Brexit has begun
The Brexit crowd are right to smell a rat. In any great national debate a columnist may feel tempted to…
If Brexit is dying, what about democracy?
Never meet your enemies — you might like them, and that ruins stuff. I had dinner with the former Archbishop…
Voting Remain is an act of heartless snobbery
One of the interesting features of the Brexit debate is that it has laid bare a schism in British society…
Why I feel compelled to defend Boris
I got Boris Johnson into trouble once, without meaning to. The two of us had been driven hither and thither…
Spectator letters: England’s defining myth, and another forgotten genocide
Enemies within Sir: I thought Matthew Parris was typically incisive in his last column, but perhaps not quite as much…
What will it take to live up to my father’s Great Life?
I received a phone call the other day that I wasn’t expecting. It was a BBC producer calling about a…
How oneupmanship wrecks things for everyone
‘There’s a little bit of a fascist in all of us. For some, the tragedy of human want may provoke…
Spectator letters: On the Pope, Jesus and Mandy Rice-Davies
Papal blessing Sir: In his excellent article on Pope Francis (‘Pope idol’, 11 January), Luke Coppen mentions the satirical rumour…
