World Politics
The coalition is now an open marriage
Without any fanfare or formal announcement, the government has moved into a new phase. ‘We’re not in a coalition now.…
Transparency is the Tories’ greatest legacy to the NHS
Pinned to the wall of Jeremy Hunt’s office in the Department of Health is an A1 piece of paper detailing…
Cameron’s mission for 2014: stay out of third place
European elections are normally an afterthought in British politics. As even David Cameron admits, most of us struggle to remember…
Labour’s immigration nightmares
Victor Spirescu came to Britain last week looking for work washing cars, but seems to have landed himself with a…
The Lib Dems’ fight to keep facing both ways
This will be the coalition’s last full year, and it is remarkable how few people are talking about how it…
If no one makes the case for the Union, how can we win?
Next year will decide the fate of the United Kingdom. The Scottish independence referendum on the 18th of September could…
All-out war in Whitehall
It’s a fact that most ministers are most scared, not of their political rivals but of their civil servants. Ministers…
Osborne on a tightrope
James Forsyth and Isabel Hardman discuss George Osborne’s 2013 Autumn statement: [audioboo url=”https://audioboo.fm/boos/1763353-isabel-hardman-and-james-forsyth-discuss-george-osborne-s-autumn-statement”][/audioboo] Next week’s autumn statement looks at first…
How long can the Eds keep it together?
Listen to James Forsyth discuss the tale of two political partnerships: [audioboo url=”http://audioboo.fm/boos/1746142-james-forsyth-on-david-george-and-ed-ed”/] Six and a half years after Gordon…
The Speaker could soon be silenced
John Bercow could go down as a great reforming Speaker of the House of Commons. It’s thanks to him, in…
Even if the ‘No’ campaign wins in Scotland, the Union will lose
Westminster has been gripped by talk of a referendum this week. But the excitement hasn’t been about the vote in…
The next election will break all the rules
Ed Miliband’s aides used to scurry around the parliamentary estate, their shoulders hunched. A look in their eyes suggested that…
How the Tories can win the next election
The mood was grim when David Cameron, George Osborne and their advisers convened for a crunch meeting on 4 February…
Cameron must soften if he wants to keep the Lib Dems loyal
Ten days before polling day in 2010, it was clear that a hung parliament was the most likely result of…
What the reshuffles showed us: none of these parties are ready to win
Reshuffles are meant to demonstrate the power of a leader, to show that they are in command of their party.…
Two men have united the Tories: Ed Miliband and Nigel Farage
Manchester The Tory party has been at peace with itself this week. Eurosceptic backbenchers have given Nigel Farage a verbal…
The centre can be held
His party may be struggling to reach double digits in the polls, but Nick Clegg is entitled to feel smug…
After his Syria defeat, Cameron faces a battle to win over his MPs
The political conference season may be lacking in party activists nowadays, but it has lost none of its importance to…
The PM is preparing for another coalition. His colleagues have other plans
Conservatives have been returning to their Westminster offices this week to find the wind behind them. Something suddenly seems to…
Election time in Australia: Tony Abbott looks set to oust Labor’s Kevin Rudd
Sometimes only a cliché will do, especially when the subject is the Australian Labor party. Labor is holed beneath the…
Ed Miliband’s hidden head start
Coming back to the office after a holiday is never a pleasant experience. There’s the clogged inbox, the reminders that…
Is the EU stopping Britain’s shale revolution?
A few months after the last election, Oliver Letwin warned Cabinet colleagues that a chunk of Britain’s income would be…
The EU’s new army of diplomats
The Prime Minister recently professed himself shocked at waste in the European Union. In particular, he was incensed by an…
Ed never wanted a Clause 4 moment. But he’s stuck with one now
Ed Miliband doesn’t take a risk unless he has to. In his first two and a half years in charge…
Nick and Dave are ready to rumble. Ed, on the other hand …
The coalition parties have governed together for more than three years now, but they remain culturally very different beasts. When…
