By: Eliot Wilson

Eliot Wilson is a writer, commentator and contributing editor at Defence On The Brink. He was formerly a clerk in the House of Commons and writes regularly on politics, defence and international security, and Parliament and the constitution, including for The Spectator, The Hill, The i Paper and CapX

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Saudi Arabia’s attempt at a makeover is a global test to stoke liberalisation

August 1, 2022

How would Los Angeles influencers, decked out in their finest, go in the Saudi desert, instead of the usual hotspot of the Coachella Valley? This was one of the questions Edelman looked at when making their pitch to Saudi Arabia that they could help the nation reopen themselves to the world again.
Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak will both lose in the style stakes

July 28, 2022

It was Nadine Dorries who started it. Of course it was. Earlier in the week, the culture secretary, a passionate Liz Truss supporter, tweeted to praise the foreign secretary for wearing earrings from Claire’s Accessories which had cost £4.50. By contrast, Rishi Sunak was sporting £450 Prada loafers and a bespoke suit worth £3,500. No [...]
Truss and Sunak have gone astray as they fight for Thatcher’s legacy

July 25, 2022

Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak will be glad the hottest day of the heatwave is over, because for the Conservative party it will be a long summer of heavy slog. As the final two candidates battle it out to claim the leadership they will criss-cross the UK for hustings in front of party members before [...]
The dizzying tax promises of the Tory campaigns aren’t enough for the City

July 18, 2022

IT WAS more than four years ago now since the outgoing prime minister, Boris Johnson, remarked to the Belgian ambassador to the EU that his approach to the private sector was “f*** business”. For a leading Conservative politician with ambitions towards Downing Street, it was an extraordinary thing to say. Yet it was clearly an [...]
A fresh face in No10 should find some policy rather than campaign slogans

July 11, 2022

IT IS now received wisdom that modern politics is about personality rather than policy. We are, apparently, in a post-ideological phase where the priority is a leader connecting with the electorate and seeming authentic. How else are we to explain the rise to power of Boris Johnson, a P.G. Wodehouse caricature who was always content [...]
These shoes were made for walking: How to beat the heat in style

July 7, 2022

Even veterans of English weather can now agree that it is summertime. The living may not be as easy as we would like, nor the cotton high, but it is time for gentlemen to pay some mind to the climate and, little by little, dress appropriately. But too many men think too little about shoes. [...]
Puttin’ on the Ritz: The business of selling luxury

July 4, 2022

If you are a regular reader of this column, it is a fair bet that you enjoy—or at least have a healthy interest in—what are hoarily known as the finer things in life. I have written about cocktails, tailoring, members’ clubs, cigars, hats and a gallimaufry of luxury-associated subjects, unstinting in my recommendations and preferences. [...]
Scottish independence is Sturgeon’s long game and a useful smokescreen

July 4, 2022

Last week, the first minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, laid out her plans for the latest attempt to separate the United Kingdom. In a statement to the Scottish Parliament which was long on wishful thinking and short on legal technicalities, she announced that the “proposed” date of another referendum on independence would be 19 October [...]
Negotiation has failed: the defence Keir should have made for rail strikes

June 27, 2022

The rail strikes have finished, for the moment, and we can return to normal after the disruption. But we are promised a “summer of discontent”, with teachers and barristers next up to withdraw their labour. Disruption in public-facing services seems to be emerging as 2022’s leitmotif. The government responded to the transport strike by simultaneously [...]
The disarray of Johnson’s government exposes a disdain for Britain’s rules

June 20, 2022

When Christopher Geidt joined the Royal Household in 2002, he could scarcely have imagined that he would, two decades later, be front-page news. Yet that is what happened last week: Lord Geidt’s resignation as independent adviser on ministers’ interests was the political story of the week, and its implications are still emerging. What does it [...]

Kemi Badenoch warns of ‘Burnham premium’ on mortgages

Premier League + and why owning the broadcast isn’t owning the fan

Why now is the perfect time to visit Cyprus

By: Eliot Wilson

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