‘Who governs Britain?’ asked Ted Heath in the February 1974 general election, only to receive an answer he neither liked nor expected. But today, when a Prime Minister with a majority of more than 150 seats is said to be fighting for his political life; when a Cabinet Secretary departs after barely fourteen months; when […]
How times change. It was only last autumn when I outlined here in CapX how an already-sleazy new Government needed an integrity reset to clean up politics and save its own reputation at the same time. Now it is increasingly clear that we are facing a growing integrity crisis in UK politics – and the […]
Here’s something people of all parties and of none ought to agree about. If we could raise public sector productivity we could have better service for less money. Could we also agree that the failure of the public sector to raise its productivity so far this century is something we should be able to change? […]
Britain’s economic debate rests on a dangerous assumption. Debt crises are things that happen elsewhere. Greece, perhaps. Argentina, certainly. But not the United Kingdom – a mature economy with its own currency, deep capital markets and centuries of institutional credibility. History offers little comfort to countries that think this way. Countries rarely enter fiscal crisis […]
Christmas is just around the corner. Brits across the country are preparing their mince pies, filling stockings with gifts for loved ones and stocking up on booze. Yet despite the festive cheer, the Grinch is trying to steal Christmas once again. Not the green, Christmas-hating monster. No, this is a more familiar fun sponge. Our […]
We are all fascinated by the personality aspects of any political row. Who leaked what to who? What are they up to, and why? Was it part of a wider plot? Who will fall? How and when will it all end? Intriguing, certainly, but sometimes it is worth looking at the deeper roots of the […]
The British state is suffering from a crisis of legitimacy. This is not a theatrical claim, but the inevitable conclusion one reaches when examining the foundations of its authority. While its legitimacy is not lost, it is clearly diminished – especially when compared with the confidence of the early 2000s or the 1950s (before Suez). […]
Has a party without power ever been scrutinised as thoroughly as Reform? Kent is Britain’s biggest county council by population, so it should come as little surprise it is being seen as a litmus test for how Reform UK would govern Britain. The answer, so far, is decidedly mixed. This seems to confirm the laziest […]
First some good news for once: there are a surprising number of areas where the UK government has achieved outstanding results, more or less on time and on budget. Here are half a dozen examples: The Thames Tideway Tunnel is the recently-opened 25km ‘super sewer’ for London. Instead of dumping untreated sewage into the river […]
By the 1970s, a few generations of the brightest minds in Britain had been utterly flummoxed by our national decline, and felt that managing it was the best they could do in a situation that was inevitable. It took heroic thinkers from outside the Civil Service to diagnose the problems, and come up with the […]
Calls for a ‘bonfire of the quangos’ have been made since David Cameron’s time as Leader of the Opposition all the way through to Keir Starmer’s premiership. Yet for all the rhetoric, the quangocracy has grown bigger, better staffed and more powerful, as is detailed in the TaxPayers’ Alliance’s new quango database. With over 500,000 […]
Keir Starmer is reportedly becoming more and more frustrated at the sluggish reality of government within the current system. Who can blame him? Government is beset by a sclerotic Civil Service and continuous legal battles, while the minds of ministers are full of the same Westminster-bubble preoccupations that have now led to a cratering in […]
When you think of the jobs most likely to be automated away, which do you think of? Those most at threat are those that are repetitive and rule-based, require minimal social or emotional intelligence – and don’t rely heavily on creativity or complex judgement. Customer service work is often being quoted as at threat, as […]
This article is the latest in a fortnightly series of policy proposals from John Penrose and the Centre for Small State Conservatives. You can read the previous instalments here: Only Thatcher-sized reforms will end Britain’s malaise Britain’s benefits system is unfair for all involved Labour’s change to Ofwat doesn’t hold water . American political strategist […]
Sometimes the body politic needs a shock to the system to return to a healthier rhythm, like a human heart being defibrillated. The Ministry of Defence’s Afghan data loss scandal, and everything that has flowed outwards from it, was a catastrophe and a humiliation in almost every regard – but it is not impossible that […]
A year before the election, if you’d have asked Keir Starmer why government wasn’t working, he would doubtless have replied that it was because the Tories were running it. But a year after the election, he can no longer take solace in such a glib answer; and his actions now suggest he recognises the problem […]
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