Liz Truss
Why the Tories should oppose regime change
As a minister I lived by mantras: simple principles that summed up how I believed you got things done. Faced…
The punishing life of a chief whip
Simon Hart describes his frustrations as he grapples with the rivalries and petty jealousies of colleagues lobbying for peerages and knighthoods as the Tory party implodes
The Trump resistance is dead
The special relationship is dead, long live the special relationship. On Friday, at a ‘Stars and Stripes & Union Jack…
Brutal and brilliant portrait of Bette Davis and Joan Crawford
The Last Days of Liz Truss? is a one-woman show about the brief interregnum between Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak.…
Was Graham Brady really the awesome power-broker he imagines?
His kiss-and-tell memoir implies that the past five Tory prime ministers all feared him. But the longtime Chair of the 1922 Committee was in reality no ‘kingmaker’
A post-Brexit entertainment: The Proof of My Innocence, by Jonathan Coe, reviewed
A satire on radical economic libertarianism combines with a cosy Cotswold murder mystery in an ingenious series of stories within stories
This Edinburgh Fringe comedian is headed for stardom
Dr Phil Hammond is a hilarious and wildly successful comedian whose career is built on the ruins of the NHS.…
Can politicians really pivot?
‘That’ll be the old pivot again,’ said Amol Rajan on Today last week. He was interviewing Pat McFadden, who is…
Who will survive to lead the Tories?
In spite of his conviction for falsifying business records, Donald Trump is still expected by many to make a remarkable…
Sack Andrew Bailey? Let’s look at the case against him
The Governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, is a loyal and well-intentioned public servant in a role that,…
How has the Conservative party’s ‘Dr No’ escaped everyone’s notice for so long?
This malevolent figure has been at the centre of the party for more than 40 years, says Nadine Dorries. But nothing in The Plot bears much relation to reality
The Minister for Hard Truths
The last time Tory activists and MPs gathered for their annual party conference, it didn’t end well. Liz Truss had…
Dominic Cummings understands Singapore. The Tories still don’t
I’ve read Kwasi Kwarteng’s surprisingly positive review of my book, Crack-Up Capitalism. Although it was unexpected to see someone from the…
Liz Truss, Brexit and the petulant anger at reality
The time it takes to mount a political comeback gets shorter and shorter, doesn’t it? The last prime minister but…
Trussonomics is slowly winning the argument
It was self-indulgent, whinging. Dull in places while completely batty in others. All the usual insults will be hurled at…
Was Liz Truss denied a ‘realistic chance’ to succeed?
‘I assumed upon entering Downing Street that my mandate would be respected and accepted. How wrong I was.’ This is…
The real cause of all the chaos
Theresa May’s premiership is now a memory. Boris Johnson’s time in office assumes the status of a rather brief, if…
Liz Truss: my part in her downfall
Her former economic adviser on what went wrong
The Liz Truss survival plan
At the first stage of the Conservative leadership race, when Liz Truss was trying to win MPs’ support, her message…
The Spectator’s Notes
In the House of Commons on Monday, someone accused Liz Truss’s government of being ‘in office but not in power’.…
Portrait of the week
Home Liz Truss said in a BBC interview as Prime Minister that she wanted to ‘say sorry for the mistakes…
Truss and the art of rhetoric
Liz Truss was spot-on in arguing that the only way in which a state can flourish is by combining low…
Blown away
The Truss agenda is dead
After Trussonomics
What will the Halloween Budget bring?
If only Britain knew how it was viewed abroad
22 June 2024 9:00 am
If the country were a person, it would need its friends to sit it down and deliver it a few home truths about its damaging behaviour to itself and others, says Michael Peel