Nicola Sturgeon
Wrecking final Brexit talks won’t help our fishermen
‘Every country has a political problem with its fishermen,’ wrote Peter Walker, the Conservative minister who negotiated the first effective…
To save the Union, negotiate independence
The first cabinet meeting of the new term and Boris Johnson’s summer holiday were both dominated by one concern: how…
Justin Trudeau’s prorogation memory loss
A prime minister better known for his charisma than his policy achievements proroguing parliament to ride out a political storm.…
Scottish horror
How can Boris deal with the looming question of IndyRef2?
Better together
The new Scottish Tory leader – and his familiar sidekick
The continued existence of the United Kingdom is now at stake
When they come to write the history of the Union’s demise, there will be three guilty men. Tony Blair was…
The state of the Union
The greatest single danger to this government is the state of the Union. Prime ministers can survive many things, but…
Our politicians are only trying to do their best
This is a time for generosity and kindness; a moment for the cutting of slack and the making of allowances.…
The Spectator’s Notes
Regardless of one’s views on climate change, one should welcome the fact that Boris Johnson removed Claire Perry O’Neill from…
Indyref2 could be the biggest headache of Boris’s premiership
Nicola Sturgeon is the only opposition leader who survived the general election. She has emerged far stronger. The Tories had…
Nicola Sturgeon’s threat of Indyref2 could save the Scottish Tories
In the village of Waterfoot on the outskirts of Glasgow, a lady in her thirties is explaining to her local…
The real reason Nicola Sturgeon is campaigning against Brexit
Nicola Sturgeon, who claimed this week that ‘Scotland is rich enough, strong enough and big enough’ to take its place…
Brexit can strengthen the Union
There will be no chance of the United Kingdom making a success of Brexit if Scotland votes to break up…
Fear and loathing
Strange as it may seem, there are still people around David Cameron who regard the Scottish referendum campaign as a…
Portrait of the week
Home Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, prepared a paper on the four areas of concern between Britain…
The painful truth for Ruth
Scots love their Tory leader. But they won’t vote for her
Centralising, illiberal, catastrophic: the SNP’s one-party state
Nicola Sturgeon’s government is an illiberal, centralising disaster. Time for a revolution
What Scottish professors have to fear from Nicola Sturgeon’s power grab
What Scotland’s professors have to fear from the SNP’s latest bright idea
Diary
During our annual odyssey around the Scottish Highlands, I read Tears of the Rajas, Ferdinand Mount’s eloquent indictment of imperial…
Portrait of the week
Home The Government decided after all to retain the rules preventing ministers and their departments from publishing campaign material, ‘with…
Diary
There are many good reasons for being in Edinburgh in August, when the population doubles and nobody looks twice if…
If Corbyn becomes PM, I’m blaming you lot
Imagine, for a moment, the following scenario. In 2016 Britain votes narrowly to remain within the European Union, despite 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…
Portrait of the week
Home A Bill to enable a referendum on whether voters wanted Britain to ‘remain’ in the European Union figured in…
Sturgeon doth protest too much, me thinks
I couldn’t believe it when Nicola Sturgeon called for the resignation of Alistair Carmichael, the former Scottish Secretary, over his…
