UK politics
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…
Imposter syndrome
Andy Burnham is the Labour establishment’s choice as the next party leader. So why does he feel like an outsider?
A lot to ask
David Cameron is now facing the biggest challenge of his leadership: how to renegotiate Britain’s membership of the EU without…
Cameron’s dark evening of the soul
At 6.30 p.m. on 7 May, the Camerons invited guests at their home in Oxfordshire into the garden for a…
Pedant’s revolt
Jonathan Portes, master of the political correction
How the polls got it so wrong
Jim Messina, Cameron’s data supremo, explains all
Making Labour work
A new leader will have to focus on winning, not sniping
Scotland’s nasty party
If the SNP isn't about Scottish purity and hating the English, why do so many of its supporters behave as if it is?
Is satire a dying art?
I appeared on Radio 4 a couple of weeks ago to discuss the age-old question of whether political satire is…
The other kingmaker
In a Tory-leaning hung parliament, the DUP’s Nigel Dodds may command the balance of power. So what does he want?
Mob rules
Would-be leaders of the left are harnessing the mood of angry populism
Passion
‘I long for spontaneous passion but I will never get it with my husband because I think he has Asperger…
Grand National Notebook
‘How’s your shoulder?’ someone asked recently, and it was only then I realised, for the first time in a while,…
Is that Green or red?
Few people know this, but hidden within the FedEx logo, between the E and the x, there is a small…
Inequality, not socialism, is now the greatest threat to conservatism
Had the public been asked, before Monday morning, to identify two MPs who stood for honesty and decency, the names…
Just in time, Osborne answers Labour’s 50p tax trick with a bumper monthly surplus
Last week’s public borrowing and tax-receipt figures, headlined ‘Chancellor hails biggest monthly surplus in seven years’, received considerably less attention…
My dad saved the pound
If you’re grateful not to be in the euro, it’s James Goldsmith and his ‘rebel army’ you should thank
£67,000 is not enough for the brightest and the best
Last year, I had an exchange with Hugo Rifkind on Twitter in which I bet him dinner at Clarke’s that…
The Lib Dems aren’t scared of this election. But they should be
One of the most remarkable features of this parliament has been the sangfroid of the Liberal Democrats. Nothing seems to…
Escape to victory
Will politics take second place the day after the election?
Dodgy
‘I hate Jammie Dodgers,’ said my husband staring disdainfully at a biscuit kindly tucked into his coffee saucer at an…
Laying down our arms
Britain is forfeiting its position on the world stage. With no national debate, we are surrendering our claim to be…
Green must answer for HSBC’s faults — but he’s another victim of big banking’s perils
Stephen Green — the former trade minister Lord Green of Hurstpier-point, who became this week’s political punchbag— was always a…
Thatcher’s soap
How EastEnders became a positive reflection of Tory values
How Labour lost Scotland (and could lose the Union)
Just four months ago Scotland was the scene of great cross-party co-operation — unprecedented in peace-time politics. Gordon Brown was…
