Live results: Reform takes ten county councils in local elections landslide May 2, 2025 Reform is set to pick up hundreds of council seats around the country both from the Conservatives and Labour, in a significant electoral breakthrough. So far, the party has gained more than 500 seats, with the vast majority still to be counted and formally announced. In a major coup for Reform, it has taken control [...]
Reform picks up new MP and first ever mayoralty May 2, 2025 Reform UK has crystallised months of strong polling data into substantial gains at the local elections, winning a knife-edge by-election and securing its first mayoralty. Nigel Farage’s party won in Runcorn and Helsby by just six votes, with Sarah Pochin elected as its new MP – replacing former Labour MP Mike Amesbury, who was convicted [...]
City AM readers: Join the fight for the centre right March 26, 2025 Simon Clarke is calling on City AM readers to play their part in a once-in-a-lifetime battle for the survival of the centre right. Unless Conservatives can renew their arguments, they will be replaced by populists who only offer anger an no ideas “Strategy is an overworked and thus devalued word, and strategic thinking can be [...]
Reform UK pledge to stand candidates at all council elections in May March 17, 2025 Reform UK has promised to stand candidates in all the council elections in May. Chairman Zia Yusuf has pledged the party will stand candidates in all council seats at the local elections on May 1. Speaking at a press conference in central London, Yusuf said: “Last May, Reform failed to stand in 88 per cent [...]
Is Kemi Badenoch up for the fight? February 27, 2025 What is Kemi Badenoch for? If you’re now asking yourself “who’s Kemi Badenoch?” then she really is in trouble. In the four months since being elected leader of the Conservative Party, she has attempted to make a virtue out of vagueness. She explains, not unreasonably, that her party has to reflect on what went wrong [...]
Next: Lord Wolfson warns Budget will make it ‘harder’ to enter workforce January 17, 2025 The boss of retail giant Next has warned that tax rises announced in the Budget will make it “harder and harder for people to enter the workforce”. Lord Wolfson told the BBC that the government’s move to hike national insurance (NI) would disproportionately hit entry-level jobs. “The axe has fallen particularly hard on those entry-level, [...]
Letting go of the dream of mass membership political parties December 27, 2024 The existing model of political supporter engagement – mass membership – is over. Parties who want to survive must look to the future, says Frances Lasok Less than 140,000 people decided the new leader of the Conservative Party this year. They’re participants in a niche pursuit: across parties, across Europe, membership has plummeted since the [...]
The battle of ideas is more important than ever December 11, 2024 One of the features of modern politics is just how reactionary it is; political leaders jump from issue to issue as the agenda dictates while the media (understandably) follows or leads this trend. For those who keep a close eye on politics it can therefore feel as if life is a series of tactical battles [...]
Kemi Badenoch’s Tories need a corporate overhaul November 7, 2024 Like the Manchester United owner, Kemi Badenoch must get a tarnished brand back on winning form, says John Oxley The “other” election this week may already feel like a distant memory, but for Kemi Badenoch, the work is just beginning. Winning the contest to be Leader of the Opposition may briefly feel like a triumph. [...]
What will be the top issues facing Kemi Badenoch as leader of the Conservatives? November 2, 2024 Badenoch will be at the helm as the party tries to recover in the wake of the July general election result, but what are going to be the immediate issues facing the Tories?