Who will win the battle of the bean counters? In the pessimistic, fiscally conscientious corner we have Rishi Sunak, former chancellor and prime minister. His opponent, desperate to assume the mantle of economic credibility, is Labour’s Sir Keir Starmer. Both refuse to concede ground on Britain’s finances as they extol, » Read More
Tumbleweeds roll through Portcullis House. Crickets chirp in an empty commons chamber. Downing Street is a dustbowl of ideas as ministers twiddle their thumbs around the cabinet table. And where’s Rishi Sunak? Not at the despatch box for prime minister’s questions, that’s for sure. On Tuesday, the House of Commons adjourned at 5.46 pm, » Read
Ronald Reagan once joked that the most terrifying words in the English language are: “I’m from the government and I’m here to help”. Yesterday Britain’s premier, faced with figures pointing to a deepening economic malaise, promised: “I am totally, 100%, on it and it’s going to be okay”. Reagan, like our PM a California-dweller, » Read
Labour announced its green energy spending plan two years ago at the party’s annual conference to an atmosphere of part shock, part fanfare. “I will be Britain’s first green chancellor”, Rachel Reeves declared as she unveiled proposals for a colossal investment in greener technology. She committed to “an additional £28bn of capital investment in our
In 2011, one year after winning office, David Cameron doubled down on his pledge to cut migration numbers to the tens of thousands: “Our borders will be under control and immigration will be at levels our country can manage. No ifs. No buts”. It was classic Cameron speak: the firm commitment to an intractable problem
Not all of what was said at the National Conservatism Conference this week can or should be subjected to detailed textual analysis — I’m thinking of Conservative MP Miriam Cates’ case against “cultural Marxism” and or Danny Kruger’s exaltation of the “normative family”. But the discussion billed as a cosy “fireside chat” with Michael Gove
The illegal migration bill cleared its final commons stage by 289 votes to 230 on Wednesday as an inter-Conservative party battle over amendments and the role of the European Court of Human Rights failed to materialise. The relative quiet of Wednesday’s vote reflects, in part, the number and breadth of concessions No 10 had made
“Professionalism, integrity and accountability”. How quickly a catchphrase becomes a curse. This tyrannical tricolon has hung spectre-like over the first six months of Rishi Sunak’s administration, driving important figures from government on an almost routine basis. The latest to be sacrificed at the altar of accountability is of course Dominic Raab, » Read More
Expectations were high ahead of the prime minister’s “Green Day” blitz on Friday — much too high for the government, it seems, as officials undertook an eleventh-hour hype management exercise. References to the 1990s California rock band were dropped from ministerial diaries as the government transitioned to the more cautious “Energy Security Day” tagline, » Read
Over recent years and months, British politics has grown accustomed to aberrance. But when the Grimond Room doors were closed for the final time on Wednesday afternoon, the lucky witnesses were in no doubt: something remarkable had just happened. A former prime minister — felled only months ago by his party — was asked to
