Ukraine has recently stepped up its campaign of long-range missile and drone attacks against Russian critical infrastructure. Last week, after confirmation that some of the drones used in these operations were British-made, the Kremlin attempted to intimidate the new Prime Minister away from continued support for Ukraine by warning of ‘consequences’. Russia accused the United […]
There is a long-standing maxim in broadcasting: always assume the mic is hot. In other words, if you are within range of a microphone, work on the basis that you are being recorded and exercise the appropriate level of discretion and confidentiality. Over the past 10 or 15 years, it has become clear that this […]
For those of us old enough to remember Andy Burnham as a not-especially-effective member of Gordon Brown’s Cabinet in the late 2000s, it is sometimes difficult to see what qualities have made some sections of the Parliamentary Labour Party speak of him as if he were a Merseyside Aragorn. To them, after a self-imposed exile, […]
When John Healey resigned as Defence Secretary last week, there was widespread praise for his principled stand. The financial settlement contained in the final draft of the Defence Investment Plan, believed to offer the Ministry of Defence an additional £10 billion or so over the next four years, was not even close to the resources […]
The longer he is in office, the more I realise what an odd and atypical politician Keir Starmer is. With his tenancy of 10 Downing Street under genuine threat after last week’s disastrous local and devolved election results, the Prime Minister is pursuing his own internal form of the madman theory: respond to criticism in […]
If the title Baron Walker of Broxton leaves you blank, let me help: Richard Walker is executive chairman of the frozen food retailer Iceland, succeeding his father Sir Malcolm Walker, the company’s founder, in 2023. He was on the Conservative Party’s approved list of parliamentary candidates, then resigned in October 2023 because the party had […]
The Government’s approach to the UK’s steel industry has always looked like a cross between inveterate, unshakeable optimism and the panicked thrashings of a drowning man clutching for a flotation aid. An extremely charitable observer would argue that the Government had always had a very clear aim: to preserve Britain’s steel industry in order to […]
‘How good is our military?’ Donald Trump asked rhetorically when he addressed a group of Republican members of Congress recently. The answer – judging from the first 10 days of Operation Epic Fury – is, in many ways, exceptionally good. The joint American and Israeli air and missile strikes which began on 28 February have […]
The Northern Ireland Troubles Bill is the Labour Government’s attempt to deal with the long history of violence in the province, which began in the late 1960s in response to the campaign for civil rights by members of the then-minority Roman Catholic and Nationalist population. Most Westminster politicians regard Northern Ireland as an invariable source […]
Keir Starmer will be packing his suitcases and selecting his travel outfit for his visit to Beijing later this week, the first for a British premier since Theresa May in January/February 2018. Like his predecessor, the Prime Minister will be accompanied by a substantial delegation of business and trade leaders, as well as the Chancellor […]
Donald Trump is very nearly a year into his second term as President, with the anniversary of his inauguration on January 20. He began with a blizzard of executive orders – 26 signed that first day back in the White House – and left his opponents breathless and wrong-footed. But it is in 2026 that […]
In his own undemonstrative and soporific way, Keir Starmer is just as obsessive about Europe as the most zealous Leave voter. So much of his conception of good governance has been shaped by the idea of being the opposite of the previous Conservative administration; accordingly, he regards a close and cordial relationship with EU member […]
The Jobs Foundation recently commissioned a poll of 1,150 family firms. The results are grim reading for Keir Starmer. Asked which political party they trusted most to support their business, 43% of respondents said none. Far behind in second place was the Conservative Party on 20%, while 16% named Reform UK. Labour tied with the […]
It has been a long time coming. It is five months since Zarah Sultana, the Rosa Luxemburg of Coventry South, announced that she was resigning her membership of the Labour Party and forming a new left-wing political group with Jeremy Corbyn. The pair would co-lead a party supported by the other independents elected in 2024 […]
This week, the public inquiry into the UK’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic and its impact, chaired by Baroness Hallett, published its second report on ‘core decision-making and political governance’. The investigation was established in 2021 under the Inquiries Act 2005 and Hallett, a former judge of the Court of Appeal, appointed as its chair […]
The pace has been far too leisurely, but European nations have finally grasped that they need to increase their defence spending and rearm their militaries. In May, the European Council approved a proposal from the Commission to establish the Security Action for Europe (SAFE) instrument, a €150 billion fund which will provide ‘competitively priced long-maturity […]
A wealth tax is a hugely attractive concept for many, as it sounds simple and fair: the wealthy, of course, are those whom we ought to be taxing, since they have, as Labour politicians forever remind us, the ‘broadest shoulders’. It is certainly popular with the voters, and a YouGov poll last week found that […]
Technological progress exposes us to new vulnerabilities as surely as it opens up new opportunities: the two are inseparable. When Jaguar Land Rover was hit by a major cyber-attack on August 31, the effects were of a magnitude which would have been incomprehensible to Jaguar founder William Lyons, or to veterans of the dark days […]
Like many of this Government’s major policy statements, it was behind schedule, but on September 8, the Defence Industrial Strategy was finally published. Subtitled ‘Making Defence an Engine for Growth’, it was unveiled at Defence and Security Equipment International 2025, the biennial defence industry conference in London, where an array of ministers and senior military […]
We all know that nostalgia sells. It is worrying, however, when it becomes a mainstay of a political party’s offering. While Reform UK are often criticised – with reason – for selling a semi-mythical Britain with a whiff of the 1950s, Labour seem to be muscling in too. Alarmingly, their current touchstone of times past […]
