Jeremy Corbyn is wrong: The system isn’t rigged February 6, 2017 Jeremy Corbyn began the new year embarking on something of a rebrand, with aides describing how the Labour leader would move to emulate Donald Trump. This wasn't about any policy shifts, rather the strategy was to borrow from the US President's playbook of straight-talking, honest-tweeting, anti-establishment positioning. It's an approach that sees Corbyn and his [...]
Editor’s Notes: The PM needs the citizens of nowhere to make London their home February 3, 2017 Theresa May has come a long way since her speech to the Tory party conference in October last year. Having been denied a meaningful leadership contest before entering 10 Downing Street, the new PM’s first few months in office left the more liberal wing of the Tory party pining for the metropolitanism of Cameron and [...]
The City’s importance to Europe helps Prime Minister Theresa May and the Brexit negotiations February 2, 2017 Listen carefully, and you can hear plenty of sensible European voices contributing to the great Brexit debate. Germany’s European affairs minister, Michael Roth, said recently that “Britain’s size, significance and its long membership of the EU” means there “will probably be a special status” for the UK post-Brexit. At the time, he was dismissed as [...]
Tech giants are hitting back against Donald Trump’s immigration ban January 30, 2017 Events have moved fast since Theresa May walked hand-in-hand with President Trump outside the White House. Initial reaction to May’s Washington visit was positive: the PM had charmed Congressional Republicans, banged the drum for increased US-UK trade and held a successful press conference with the new President. Hours later, however, as details emerged of America’s [...]
Editor’s notes: Why did people vote Leave? Clue: It wasn’t because they’re unhappy January 27, 2017 The referendum result left a lot of people stunned and confused. Not just because a Leave vote was contrary to the predictions of pollsters and pundits, but because they couldn’t understand why anybody would want to leave the EU in the first place. In the days and weeks after the vote, the very same people who [...]
Donald Trump has come at just the right time for Theresa May January 26, 2017 Tomorrow, Theresa May will become the first world leader to meet President Donald Trump. It is unlikely to be a meeting of minds, but it will certainly be a meeting of huge significance. Both the President and the PM have spoken in recent weeks about the importance of the special relationship and of their desire [...]
Editor’s notes: Brexit debate has given us some tragic and hilarious voices January 20, 2017 Plenty of column inches are devoted to hard economic and policy analysis of the unfolding Brexit debate – including plenty in this paper. So today I’m going to indulge in a more light-hearted approach to the topic, and will instead take a look at the people who entertain me the most in these bold new times. [...]
May’s plan for Brexit is bold and ambitious January 18, 2017 Critics of the Prime Minister (and of the whole notion of Brexit) had clung for months to the charge that she didn't have a plan and that the government was in chaos. Yesterday, the PM shot their fox. It is, of course, still possible to oppose Brexit, but no longer possible to claim the government doesn't [...]
Philip Hammond offers hard truths to the Germans January 16, 2017 While much of the weekend’s focus has been on what Theresa May could announce in her big Brexit speech tomorrow, it was her chancellor, Phillip Hammond, who made one of the more interesting interventions of the weekend. In an interview with a German newspaper Hammond poured cold water on the idea that the UK might [...]
Editor’s notes: Carney can see what EU officials refuse to: that they need the City January 13, 2017 Mark Carney isn’t the kind of man to lose his temper in public. Perhaps he isn’t even the kind of man to lose his temper at all. Still, if he was ever to come close to doing so it may well have been at this week’s Treasury Select Committee hearing, where he once again came up [...]
