When Johnson stood in the Commons, having been unwillingly recalled there by a decision of the Supreme Court, and said things he must have known would rile Labour MPs on a personal level, I wondered what was going in his head. The Jo Cox stuff was beyond the pale, and I refuse to believe he […]
Archives for September 2019
What should the Lib Dem fiscal policy be going into the next general election?
With the Tories becoming a more shrill version of UKIP with less professionalism and a worse leader, and the Labour Party becoming the Socialist Workers Party with greater factionalism, the political opportunity for the Liberal Democrats is vast. Everyone who even casually watches politics knows this. However, this is easy to say and harder for […]
What the hell does Boris Johnson do now? Here are his only real options after the Supreme Court ruling
What was so amazing about the Supreme Court ruling today, the one that declared Johnson’s prorogation of parliament null and void, for me at least, wasn’t the ruling itself but the fact that the decision was unanimous. It was a thumping defeat for the government. Interviewed from New York, the prime minister was bullish in […]
What’s Labour conference this year really like?
All of the reports from the wider media here in Brighton have been focused on two things: one, Labour infighting, centring on the attempt to remove Tom Watson from the Deputy Leader position; two, Labour’s more radical policy ideas like abolishing private schools and the 32-hour week. Neither of them strike me as being electorally […]
There seems to me to be a lot of fantasy talk about Boris Johnson getting a “new deal” from the EU. What is the reality?
In the history of the Brexit debacle, one period really stands out for me. It was December 2017. I remember being confused about the relaxed mode the political media were in given it seemed to me like the Conservative party must be about to explode. Theresa May was on the verge of agreeing the parameters […]
As their conference is about to begin, the Labour Party is at the crossroads
I’m heading to Brighton for Labour conference on Sunday. It is my tenth in a row. Despite having never been a member or even seriously considered becoming one, I always enjoy Labour conference, every year. It is younger and cooler than any of the other conferences – even the if politics and the policy ideas […]
The Lib Dems revoke Article 50 policy has already paid off by causing Caroline Lucas to make an unforced error
Beyond anything else, the Lib Dems switching to a policy to revoke Article 50 if a majority is achieved has meant that the party has been the centre of the political conversation for the past week in a way I can’t remember them being since the 2015 general election came and went. For the Lib […]
Why the Lib Dems need to target Corbyn’s seat, hard – and how best to do it
I got back from Lib Dem conference yesterday – it was my first Lib Dem autumn conference for three years. I enjoyed it. The party was upbeat – mind you, the Lib Dems would be upbeat if parliament could somehow find a way for a party to have negative seats in it, so when there […]
Boris Johnson has made a People’s Vote more likely than ever – is it deliberate?
Several Tory rebels, from those 21 MPs who had the whip removed, have publicly stated that another EU referendum might be a way out of the current Brexit predicament. Behind closed doors, several are privately considering backing a referendum. This is what was always likely to happen when Johnson kicked them out of the Conservative […]
How this one move could finish off Boris Johnson and his party – and it will be self-inflicted
Everyone in Westminster is trying to work out how Boris Johnson wriggles out of the cage he put himself in. He says he won’t ask for an extension, yet will obey the law. This appears to be impossible to achieve. There is one way he can do it, of course: get a withdrawal agreement through […]