It should not come as a surprise that moderate Labour MPs – that is, those MPs who consider themselves centre-left rather than hard left – wish to place 100% of the blame for their general election rout at the feet of Jeremy Corbyn. But there is a staggering degree of deflection activity happening in the […]
There are two prevailing views of UK politics in 2019. One holds that politics is broken – just look at the scenes in the Commons as the last parliament neared its end. MPs sobbing for the benefit of the cameras, holding up signs as if they were hostages in a plane bound for Cuba, applauding, […]
As in comedy, so in politics: it’s all about timing. The weekend’s flurry of media speculation about the prospects of another independence referendum coincided with polling showing that Scots are as divided over Scexit as the rest of the country is over Brexit, while Nicola Sturgeon appeared on the Sunday politics TV shows to set […]
It says a lot about the esteem in which Nicola Sturgeon is held by many London-based journalists that a Tweet from the First Minister on just about any subject can get them swooning all over the place. Take this morning, for instance. Sturgeon tweeted: “Agree with [Tweet from journalist Sonya Sodha]. VONC, opposition unites around […]
Critics of David Cameron will no doubt be disappointed that his autobiography, For The Record, is set to sell a significant number of copies. That’s what prime ministerial memoirs do. Get over it. Given that the vast, overwhelming majority of his critics also voted Remain in the EU referendum in 2016, their disappointment will be […]
Ruth Davidson is the most modern of politicians – a gay, buffalo-riding ex-soldier and, even more unusual in her native Scotland, a Conservative. But in important ways she is also a throw-back to an earlier, more civilised and, arguably, more rational political era. In our highly partisan political culture, where those who support other parties […]
Leaving by the back door is not a new phenomenon in Scottish politics. A few weeks into the job of press officer for Labour in Scotland, I was advised by local police that in order to guarantee the safety of our two successful candidates in the dual Paisley by-elections in November 1990, we should take […]
The title of this Wednesday’s Panorama programme is “Is Labour Anti-Semitic?” The question seems rather pointless, in that the vast majority of its viewers will have given their own answer long before it is broadcast. The whole question of anti-Semitism in the party seems now to have been reduced to whether or not you’re a […]
The Union of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is more at risk today than it was even during the 2014 Scottish independence referendum campaign in 2014, according to Gordon Brown. He may well be right, but his typically tub-thumping speech at an even co-organised by the Fabian Society and Hope Not Hate provided few actual […]
Assuming our new prime minister takes office at the end of a six-week campaign that kicks off on June 10, they will enter Downing Street during the week beginning July 22, most likely the Wednesday of that week. At that point there will be exactly 1016 days left until the next scheduled general election on […]
The parliamentary expenses scandal, which first broke a decade ago, was a key moment in our history. Yes, most people had suspected that their MP was at it, but the absence of proof allowed them to avoid thinking about it too much, to tolerate something that was unquantified and lacking in any detail. Well, from […]
Politics is littered with great men and women who looked at one point to be heading towards the ultimate office, before being brought low by a combination of ill luck and bad judgment. Gavin Williamson can hardly be counted among them, since there are few who considered him to be a contender in the first […]
Modern British politics is now defined by the volume and quality of intra-party shouting matches. This week we have had rage-infused reaction from Conservative MPs to Theresa May’s bombshell invitation to Jeremy Corbyn to help find a consensus over Brexit. And at the same time, Ian Lavery, Labour’s pugnacious party chairman, prolonged a meeting of […]
Although I’m a big fan of J.K. Rowling, I discovered in 2016 that it is not always a pleasure to be quote-tweeted by her. Three days before polling day in the EU referendum, I posted a Tweet that read: “Outside the political classes, there will be very few Remain votes cast with enthusiasm on Thursday.” […]
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a politician in possession of a political party must be in want of a policy. And Jeremy Corbyn’s opportunity lies in the fact that he already has a policy to help guide him through these treacherous Brexit waters. It was agreed at last year’s annual conference, and it […]
That a number of unhappy Labour MPs were planning to shred their party membership cards was Westminster’s worst kept secret. That they chose the beginning of this week to declare their intentions remains a bit of a puzzle. The point at which Britain left the EU – whether the planned day of March 29 or […]
Another day, another clodhopping misstep in the on-going pantomime of the government’s Brexit negotiations. There are many questions that arise from the ITV exclusive last night centred on overheard comments by Theresa May’s chief negotiator, Olly Robbins, in a Brussels hotel. The first and most obvious one is: why on earth was a man in […]
A close friend of mine, when we were both teenagers, was so affected by a sermon from a local Church of Scotland minister, that he made what has proved to be a lifelong commitment to God as a consequence. Most of the details of the sermon are now lost to memory, but the gist was […]
John Bercow is about as even-handed and impartial on the matter of Brexit as Jacob Rees-Mogg. But it shows just how degraded the debate in our national parliament has become that that actually doesn’t matter very much any more. A few weeks ago I made reference in an article to the fact that the Speaker’s […]
To those of us familiar with Labour’s decision-making process, the Rorschach test seems to be the most appropriate simile. Essentially, when delegates to the party’s conference meet to draw up “composite motions” – that is, Frankenstein motions cobbled together from the various parts of other similar motions that have been submitted by different organisations – […]
