Today marks the 75th anniversary of the founding of the NHS. It means 75 years ago today in 1948, Britain’s first majority Labour government, led by Clement Attlee, created a national health service as the cornerstone of its plans for a comprehensive welfare state. The National Health Service Act, » Read More
“The Blob”, that perennial spectre of Conservative party governance, takes its name from a 1950s B-Movie about an unstoppable amoeba-like mass which devours everything in its path. “There is no stopping The Blob as it spreads from town to town”, the trailer for the forgotten flick explains. Leading man Steve McQueen — in his first
After a rendition of God Save the King by Andrea Jenkyns — the opera-singing MP adorned with a Union flag-print fascinator, delegates to the inaugural conference of the Conservative Democratic Organisation were welcomed to Bournemouth on Saturday with a rousing if curious curtain-raiser: “Good morning real Conservatives!”. This greeting, » Read More
Six months ago to the day, Rishi Sunak entered No 10 Downing Street as prime minister for the first time. Preceded by six weeks of exile following his bruising campaign defeat in the summer to Liz Truss, it is difficult to overstate how significant a political comeback this was. But as pensions funds teetered and
Rishi Sunak claimed in a speech yesterday that the UK economy suffers from an “anti-maths mindset” that costs the economy “tens of billions per year”. It was the latest pronouncement on what has been a core if questionable theme of his premiership: his desire to convert the masses to the cult of calculus. » Read More
Like dominoes, Scottish giants tumble. First fell Nicola Sturgeon, who declared her shock abdication at Bute House just over one month ago. Then deputy first minister John Swinney, who has swivelled around the apex of Scottish politics for decades, followed suit. Now Sturgeon’s husband Peter Murrell, who held his role as Party CEO for 24
