Farewell to Theresa May, the most ineffectual Prime Minister in modern history May 28, 2019 When Theresa May departs from Number 10 for the final time, her portrait will be added to the collection which snakes down the main staircase. It is the ritualised ending for all Prime Ministers, good, bad or indifferent. It will be hard for her to walk down those stairs without thinking of her legacy, and [...]
Britain is ready for change, but politics hasn’t quite caught up May 17, 2019 Walk past the Palace of Westminster, and the crowds of protesters blocking the pavement send a clear message: the British are finally becoming politicised. At the same time, the esteem of the UK public for our major political parties is at an all-time low. This is not a peculiarly British phenomenon. In Europe, previously dominant [...]
Ex-Labour minster quits party with astonishing attack on the ‘Corbyn Cult’ May 14, 2019 A former Labour minister has quit the party with a savage attack on the “Corbyn Cult” she claims has taken over the leadership. Bridget Prentice, who served as a junior minister in the Ministry of Justice under Tony Blair, compared the Labour party to North Korea were “disloyalty to the leader is a criminal offence.” Prentice, [...]
Margaret Thatcher voted top Prime Minister on 40th anniversary of her first election win May 3, 2019 Margaret Thatcher has been ranked as the UK’s greatest post-war Prime Minister in a survey marking the 40th anniversary of her first election victory. Read more: CBI expresses 'deep concern' at prospect of Prime Minister Boris Johnson A Yougov poll placed Thatcher top of the pile, with 21 per cent of respondents saying she was [...]
DEBATE: Is Corbyn right that Statutory Assessment Tests (Sats) should be scrapped in primary schools? April 23, 2019 Is Corbyn right that Statutory Assessment Tests (Sats) should be scrapped in primary schools? Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, says YES. In a YouGov survey of primary school leaders last month, 93 per cent agreed that English and maths are prioritised to the detriment of other subjects, such as music, art, [...]
Could Jacob Rees-Mogg soon be off to 11 Downing Street? April 12, 2019 The Conservative party has a shortage of the political equivalent of rock stars. These are the politicians that the public would not merely recognise (already a rather an elite cohort), but actually might cross the road to ask for an autograph – or, more usually these days, a selfie. Boris Johnson has this star quality, of course. [...]
If nothing else, Brexit has taught us how mediocre our politicians are March 28, 2019 Earlier this year, the BBC Parliament channel briefly became more popular than MTV. Perhaps not quite able to believe how on earth this was all going so badly, a few hundred thousand people tuned in to see what was happening on the green benches for themselves. What they witnessed would have clarified things. Posturing, grand-standing, [...]
Britain lost faith in its politicians – and then it voted for Brexit February 27, 2019 What do Bill Clinton, the Beano, and moat cleaning have in common? Answer: they all contributed to Brexit. We are about to reach the tenth anniversary of the MPs’ expenses scandal, the fifteenth anniversary of the launch of the TaxPayers’ Alliance (which I co-founded in 2004), and in 30 days’ time we should be leaving [...]
Sterling rises as traders buy into soft Brexit noises January 23, 2019 Traders banked on the likelihood of a ‘no deal’ Brexit diminishing as sterling leapt to a two month high against the dollar on Wednesday The pound peaked at 1.3079 against the US currency as noises from both Westminster and Davos suggested a softer Brexit was likely. In London, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn held a meeting with [...]
Despite apocalyptic Brexit warnings, the good news keeps on coming January 22, 2019 As the twists and turns of this long drawn-out Brexit drama continue, possibly the most surprising aspect of all is just how resilient the good news about UK business continues to be. I know this is tempting fate, I know many experts keep saying that the economic cycle suggests we should have had a recession [...]