The pandemic is posing challenges to any number of industries. But there are surely few facing such an existential crisis as the nightlife sector. Bars and especially clubs depend on models which are the least adaptable to social distancing, rely on high footfall and operate on narrow margins. They therefore face being forced to remain […]
The Covid-19 epidemic is one of the greatest, and certainly one of the most high-profile, public health crises of the past hundred years. Yet the reputations of some of the highest-profile organisations dedicated to this topic must be counted amongst its victims. At home, Public Health England’s ham-fisted approach to testing has been partly blamed […]
The Covid-19 crisis is a long way from over, but already fierce debates are breaking out over whether and how it will transform British politics. So far these have focused on economic and social policy. But what if the fallout has a constitutional dimension? Over the past couple of weeks MPs, ministers, and voters have […]
History may not repeat itself, as the saying goes, but it does rhyme. One wonders if any of the longer-serving Tory MPs felt a sense of déjà vu these past weeks as they watched global events overtake the Government’s ambitions to pivot to a more spendthrift sort of Toryism. There are key differences, of course. […]
It was inevitable that the Government’s recent defeat at the Court of Appeal would end up getting dragged into the wider debate about the role of the judiciary in public life. Commentators sympathetic to the Government’s concerns about judicial overreach have been quick to accuse the courts of once again sticking their oar into what […]
Yesterday’s court ruling against the plan to expand Heathrow Airport has elicited much wailing and gnashing of teeth about ‘judicial activism’ amongst sections of the right. Yet such complaints are legitimate only up to a point. Whilst it is perfectly reasonable to oppose a system whereby major infrastructure decisions are so vulnerable to lawfare, in […]
Boris Johnson continues to be extraordinarily lucky in his opponents. Just when they might have capitalised on the furore over Andrew Sabisky, Labour’s leadership contenders – who until now have presided over a basically functional contest – have decided to shift the spotlight onto trans rights and the monarchy. Whatever your thoughts on either topic, […]
Boris Johnson has a reputation as a politician with an enthusiasm and flair for grands projets. He’s the dreamer behind the Garden Bridge and ‘Boris Island’, by far the boldest mooted solution to London’s airport capacity problem. Now he’s going to “level up” the UK with major infrastructure projects, possibly including a bridge to Northern […]
One would think that this Government, of all governments, would be wary of chasing headlines with glib and ill-conceived constitutional innovations. After all, has the Prime Minister not bent himself to the task of correcting what he sees as the over-mighty judicial culture fostered by Tony Blair’s decision to transform the Law Lords, which even […]
Boris Johnson has his majority. The spectre of 2017 is banished, and for the first time since 1987 the Conservatives are able to form a strong, single-party government. I said during the campaign that activists and commentators alike are both prone to fighting the last war, and I think that held out. Tories I spoke […]
When assessing the Conservative manifesto, the amount of space it affords a department or policy area seem a fair basis for making a rough judgement about how important the leadership thinks it is. It is therefore slightly concerning that education, which was once at the very centre of David Cameron’s reforming project, gets but a […]
It cannot have been easy for Nigel Farage to decide to pull his candidates out of hundreds of Conservative-held seats. But it must have been even harder to resist doing so. The prospect of splitting the Leave vote was fracturing his coalition. Arron Banks, the man who bankrolled the ‘Purple Revolution’, is launching a ‘tactical […]
Politicians, like generals, are prone to fighting the last war. For all the speculation in certain quarters about a big Conservative win next month, many of the politicians and activists I have spoken to are talking about a majority on the scale of that won by David Cameron, if that. Until recently it would be […]
What sort of Conservative is Boris Johnson? Is he a liberal, metropolitan optimist, capable of carrying the Tory standard into parts of London increasingly turned off by the Party? Or is he the keeper of the Brexit flame, forging a new Conservative coalition with working-class Leave voters in the North and Midlands? Or is he […]
It has not yet been a week since the Conservative Party Conference and yet the ongoing debate over the backstop has already seen two potentially crucial inflection points. First, the Democratic Unionists caved on their previously steadfast refusal to countenance any regulatory border between Ulster and the mainland when they backed Downing Street’s ‘final offer’, […]
The verdict handed down by the Supreme Court is as disastrous for the Government as it could possibly have been. Not only was prorogation ruled justiciable by the courts, but even the limited tactical win of the Prime Minister’s advice being ruled lawful was unanimously rejected by the 11 justices. More remarkably still, Lady Hale […]
Last Monday, the Government capitulated to the Opposition’s attempt to bind its hands on Brexit via Hilary Benn’s bill (now the European Union (Withdrawal) (No.2) Act 2019) mandating it to seek and agree an extension of Article 50. Having lost in the Commons there was an attempt to stage a filibuster in the Lords, but […]
Just as the Westminster bubble was winding down in preparation for a few weeks’ respite from the Brexit drama, a Scottish court has thrown a live grenade into the ongoing constitutional controversy. In a ruling which has stunned many observers, three judges have ruled that Boris Johnson’s advice to the Queen to prorogue Parliament was […]
Last night’s decision to withdraw the whip from over 20 Conservative MPs who refused to support the Government against the latest attempt to wrest control of the legislative timetable away from it is being widely viewed as a watershed moment for the Party. At a stroke, Boris Johnson has placed himself in the position of […]
When the possibility of the Government proroguing Parliament has been debated in the last year or so, it was envisioned that it would be simply leaving the Palace of Westminster vacant to carry Brexit over the line. This has generated a lot of fascinating and, if you’re a constitutional geek, very engaging discussion. But it […]
