Westminster
The National have bungled their Rishi Sunak satire
The Estate begins with a typical NHS story. An elderly Sikh arrives in A&E after a six-hour wait for an…
Remainers should be honest about the costs of Brexit
Those opposed to leaving the European Union repeatedly accuse Brexit of being based on ignorance fed by lies. The ‘lie’…
Sunday shows round-up: Penny under the spotlight
Penny Mordaunt – I’m being smeared over self-ID claims No Conservative party leadership race is ever without drama. With the…
Press gang
The dangers of televising lobby briefings
My run-in with Westminster’s TV news circus
Leaving an evening meeting in Westminster on Monday night, I walked to Charing Cross. Approaching the public path which runs across…
Britain is following in the footsteps of Africa’s former failed states
Kenya ‘In the past months the people of Uganda have been following with sorrow the alarming economic crisis befalling…
The unbearable pointlessness of Parliament
Christmas books pages usually invite columnists to nominate their publishing event of the year. Well, here’s a corker: The Ties…
Corbyn dares to be different – why don’t other MPs?
One of the better plays at the National Theatre in recent weeks has been about a 21st-century banker, Judy, who…
The Westminster sex scandal is what psychologists call ‘displacement activity’
There are three reasons why Britain’s political and media world finds itself in the present ludicrous uproar over sexual misbehaviour…
Sorry for touching your knee Michael Fallon – I exploited you to get ahead
This one goes out to all the male MPs I’ve taken to lunch. I want to apologise to each and…
Private fears
Prep schools are a soul-sapping waste of money
Fear and loathing
Strange as it may seem, there are still people around David Cameron who regard the Scottish referendum campaign as a…
Power failure
A fortnight ago, the energy minister, Andrea Leadsom, declared grandly that Britain, alone in the world, would commit to a…
Of course there’s no morality in top-level sport
Why do transgendered people need separate toilets? I thought, according to the prevalent orthodoxy, that the new gender they had…
The clock towers bigger than Big Ben
Bigger Bens Big Ben will have a £29m refurbishment. Who has the biggest clock tower? Kremlin Clock: Installed on the…
Can the Great British public be made to care passionately about the EU referendum?
It’s early days, I know, but the Outers have convinced me. Britain will not collapse into chaos and penury if…
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?
The right answer
David Cameron might not be remembered as the best prime minister in modern British history but he will probably be…
Peer review
Something needs to be done about the overstuffed House of Lords
House in order
The shaming of Lord Sewel was a classic tabloid exposé. The fact that a peer of the realm (albeit one…
The moment of Ruth
Scotland’s top Tory is a moderniser’s dream
Miliband vs Millwall
I’ve been trying to think of a good football analogy to describe the battle between the two main parties as…
What Ukip wants
Inside the party’s Mayfair headquarters
Crash course
Britain is now run by Oxford PPE graduates. The consequences have been disastrous
Nobs and numbskulls
Suppose Charles were to reign as a meddlesome, self-pitying, indecisive plonker. It’s a thought. It’s now a play, too, by…
