UK politics
Ukip has turned itself into a confidence trick
I think I’ve cracked it. If you want to springboard your minor political party into the mainstream and take British…
Beware the eco-comrades
Brighton council’s disastrous experiments should serve as a warning to the whole country against voting Green
Mondeo Man votes Ukip now
An opinion poll to be published next week will reveal that Labour leader Ed Miliband is slightly less popular with…
Wonga lent too easily at shocking rates, but it was often the borrowers who lied
‘Payday Lady is not trading at this time,’ says her website, sounding a little like La Dame aux camélias. Indeed (since…
Why my friends love the idea of a nasty, stupid mansion tax
I see all the flaws with a mansion tax, I really do. And yet some little piece of me, some…
Will Osborne’s tilt against Double Dutch tax dodgers play into Farage’s hands?
George Osborne’s promise to crack down on multinational companies’ avoidance of UK taxes by the use of impenetrable devices such…
Nigel Farage’s class war
I initially thought Nigel Farage had made a mistake in unveiling Mark Reckless on the final day of his party…
Letters
Advice for Cameron Sir: David Cameron once saved my life from a school of Portuguese man o’ war jellyfish, so…
A vote for real politics
Whatever the outcome of the referendum, Scotland will be better for having had the debate
Could you afford to become an MP?
Mark Simmonds has been in politics long enough to know not to expect much sympathy from his constituents. He resigned…
The high price of public service
I feel some sympathy for Mark Simmonds, the Conservative MP who’s resigned as a minister and is stepping down at…
The welfare line
George Osborne proposed an attractive idea this week: that spending on state benefits should be diverted into new infrastructure in…
Boris jumps in
The next Tory leadership battle has just begun
Promises, promises
Choosing the right seat is only half the battle for Boris
We need better MPs, not younger ones
The House of Commons is off for the summer. But few MPs and ministers expect to make it through to…
The Spectator’s notes
Peter Clarke’s powerful report on the Trojan Horse affair in Birmingham schools is confirmation of the weakness of David Cameron…
Swinging right
A lust that dare not speak its name
In search of the Eurosceptic Nick Clegg
In recent weeks British government visitors to Berlin have been confronted with a persistent question: when will David Cameron make…
The betrayal of Wales
Devolution has left my country with catastrophic misgovernment
A bacon bap isn’t Miliband’s problem. We are
That bacon bap earlier this month was not the cause of Ed Miliband’s unpopularity. Ed Miliband’s unpopularity was the cause…
Osborne’s northern ‘super-city’ looks like a cynical vote-grab – but I’m all for it
When John Prescott used to wax garrulous about a ‘superhighway’ from Hull to Liverpool, everyone assumed it was a wheeze…
Ukip needs an ‘-ism’ – and I know just the one
I’m worried about Ukip. It’s possible that my concerns are entirely misplaced but let me give you some examples of…
The radical centre
In almost a decade as Conservative leader, David Cameron has tended to avoid talking about his political philosophy. He has…
Ukip isn’t a national party. It’s a Tory sickness
It can happen that something ought to feel wrong yet somehow doesn’t; and you wonder whether this means that in…
The Spectator’s Notes
‘Twenty-six million people in Europe are looking for work. And whose jobs are they after?’ asks the Ukip poster for…
