Reeves beats Kwarteng to ‘worst chancellor’ in new ranking Politics Just months after her exit from Number 11, Rachel Reeves has been given the dubious honour of being voted “worst chancellor”, in a new survey. According to an AJ Bell survey, Reeves was the least popular of the last five chancellors, and even ranked below Kwasi Kwarteng, who held the role for just over a [...]
Watch out, Burnham watches Looking for an insight into the kind of person Andy Burnham really is? You could do a lot worse than checking his wrist, says Andy Blackmore. If you think it’s been a long time since we had a hip PM, think no longer, for the new inhabitant of No10 wears his credentials on his wrist. [...]
Forget Burnham, what will Starmer do next? Opinion The end of a premiership means finding an epilogue, so what will Keir Starmer’s be, asks John Oxley Around the summer parties of Westminster, the key conversation is “What will Andy actually do?” The presumptive PM has always been something of a political enigma (or weathervane, depending on your perspective). He has been out of [...]
Has The Odyssey made the classics cool now? July 9, 2026 Are they elitist or universal? Either way, they’re Christopher Nolan’s new film The Odyssey shows they’re going viral, says Eliot Wilson Classics – the study of ancient Greece and Rome, their languages, literature, history and art – is perceived not only as elitist, but as irrelevant, abstruse, without concrete value and self-indulgent. That you could [...]
‘Corbyn was spot on’: The radical MP shaping Burnham’s economic agenda June 29, 2026 Miatta Fahnbulleh is one of Andy Burnham’s key confidants, spearheading his agenda on energy, devolution and the cost of living. Policies the MP for Peckham has previously endorsed suggest the country is in for a sharp leftward lurch, writes Ali Lyon. The red wall had been demolished. Boris Johnson, imperious. And Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour movement [...]
What if Andy Burnham had become Labour leader in 2015? June 24, 2026 On his third try, Andy Burnham looks all but certain to become Labour leader. But what if he had taken the reins of the party eleven years earlier? Matt Kenyon imagines an alternative timeline… 2015 It’s a world that looks a lot like our own. There’s just one, seemingly minor, difference: A cluster of well-meaning [...]
A good deal on the London Stadium was never an option May 28, 2026 In securing a future for the London Stadium, the choice was never a great deal versus a bad deal, but between any deal or no deal at all.
Former deputy PM Dominic Raab moves into PR with advisory role at Kreab May 21, 2026 Dominic Raab, the former deputy prime minister, is joining the City arm of communications consultancy Kreab as a senior adviser specialising in defence and intelligence. Raab’s new role will see him advising clients on defence and security challenges, including domestic politics, public policy and international geopolitics. Kreab, a leading global strategic communications and public affairs consultancy, [...]
New HS2 budget to blow £33bn hole in public finances May 21, 2026 The government will need to find as much as £33bn in additional cash from tax and spending measures or from other departments to fund its revamped plans to deliver HS2. According to a City AM analysis, the Department for Transport’s updated proposals for the rail line require between £18bn and £33bn of additional public money [...]
Britain is still paying a heavy price for Covid lockdowns March 31, 2026 Six years on from the first lockdown, Britain hasn’t returned to its pre-Covid path – instead becoming a high-tax, low-growth less free nation, says Alex Pugh A little over six years ago, 27m people watched UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson tell them to “stay home” to tackle the spread of coronavirus. Johnson said you should [...]