Tom Watson
A hard act to follow
Having retired from parliament in 2010, Mullin has less insider knowledge than before, but the political one-liners in his latest diaries are still highly entertaining
There’s no business like show business
Fifteen minutes into the first episode of I Hate Suzie, main character Suzie Pickles was doing a photoshoot in her…
Labour deputy leader Tom Watson quits parliament
In the past few minutes, Tom Watson has announced that he is stepping down at this election. In a surprise…
Excessive gambling is dangerous – a flutter on the horses is not
Sorry is allegedly the hardest word to say — so Carolyn Harris, chair of the all-party parliamentary group studying gambling-related…
Why Tom Watson is battling to change Labour’s Brexit policy
Why has Tom Watson given a speech about what his party leadership should do on Brexit? The party’s deputy leader…
The conviction of ‘Nick’ shows the evil behind McCarthyism
‘No great surprise’ headlined the BBC television news on Tuesday lunchtime. The BBC does not admit it now, but it…
Society cannot be run by Twitter mobs
Two considerable injustices were undone this week. The first was the reinstatement of Sir Roger Scruton to the government’s ‘Building…
How Tom Watson reinvented himself to become the new challenger to Corbyn
Tom Watson has had more reinventions than Kylie Minogue has had mid-performance outfit changes. His performances over the years have…
Cutting out Corbyn: could Tom Watson’s centrist ‘Momentum’ save Labour?
Ever since Jeremy Corbyn was elected as leader of the Labour party, many of his MPs have dreamed of deposing…
Sex, lies and tax returns
The confected scandal around the Panama papers is part of a concerted and sinister attempt to change what counts as private
Corbynglish as a second language: a political dictionary of terms
Corbynterpretation [n]: The inevitable process of debate, after Jeremy Corbyn is interviewed, over what he actually meant. Does the Labour…
Corbyn is untouchable now
There have been few more pathetic displays of political impotence than the tweets sent by shadow cabinet members paying tribute…
The Met have found no evidence for an abuse network linked to No10. It’s time they admitted it
Why won’t the police say that they have found no evidence whatsoever of a paedophile network linked to Parliament?
Barometer
Available for parties Labour deputy leader Tom Watson said that leaving his party to join the Liberal Democrats would be…
Corbyn’s democracy
The virtuous Mr Corbyn is insisting that New Old Labour should return to its traditional republican ways and take decisions…
Portrait of the week
Home In the shadow cabinet chosen by the new Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, the Exchequer went to John McDonnell, a…
How Gordon Brown’s hit man became Labour’s peacemaker
Last week I was talking to a member of the shadow cabinet about Jeremy Corbyn’s impending victory as Labour leader.…
The Spectator’s Notes
As someone who has rarely written a sentence in praise of the late Sir Edward Heath, I hope I can…
High life
To Newport, Rhode Island, the smallest state in the Union but one of the most beautiful. Driving north-east from the…
Terminal news for bookies
Hands up: who knows what a FOBT is? It stands for fixed odds betting terminal. No? Well, you should, because…
