The prime minister has come out all guns a-blazin’ on Europe today, specifically on the topic of what he expects his cabinet ministers to do. He unequivocally expects them to back his position. “The government isn’t neutral in this. We have a clear view: renegotiate, get a deal that’s in Britain’s interest and then recommend […]
Given what we saw post-Indy referendum in Scotland, what could the EU referendum do to British politics?
Andy Burnham wants there to be a separate EU Labour Yes campaign, one very much walled off from any possible connection with the Tories. The reason for this is simple. Better Together was seen as a disaster for Labour, particularly given what happened several months later (the whole losing every seat in Scotland bar one, […]
Jeremy Corbyn has no chance of becoming Labour leader. Here’s why that’s actually key to Labour’s core problem
Owen Jones wrote a piece in the Guardian late last week, the title of which made me laugh out loud the moment I read it. “Jeremy Corbyn is in the Labour leadership race. The real debate starts here.” To be fair to Owen, I get what he was trying to say; it was only so […]
John Wittingdale’s bit on the BBC licence fee hitting the poor the hardest is a tick for the Tories
The Conservative Party, under the guise of new Culture Secretary John Whittingdale, has described the BBC licence fee as “unsustainable” and that the current set up is “worse than poll tax”. He said all that in the last parliament actually, when he was not Culture Secretary. Nevertheless, Chris Bryant, the shadow Culture Secretary, decided to […]
If Scotland gets dragged out of the EU unwillingly, a second independence referendum is fair enough
As many long time readers will know, I am not a fan of either the Scottish National Party or indeed, of nationalism altogether. But I had sympathy reading Nicola Sturgeon’s words about a Brexit leading to a second Indy ref yesterday. “Bluntly, I believe the groundswell of anger among ordinary people in Scotland in these […]
I’ve given Burnham a hard time before. But Yvette Cooper would be almost as bad as Labour leader
Yvette Cooper was on the BBC over the weekend, talking about what she’d do if she was elected by the party faithful to steer the Labour ship forwards. Actually, thinking back on it, it was more like she spent a lot of time telling us about all the wrong things the other candidates would do […]
A Eulogy for Charles Kennedy
I’ll start by saying I’m not the best placed person to be writing this piece. I know several people who worked for Charles, some for a very long time, and they’d have more of substance to say about the man. Me, I only met the Rt Hon Kennedy a handful of times; usually at Westminster […]
Don’t like the Rose-Smith Tory-UKIP collusion? Get used to it
An article from the Guardian yesterday revealed that the Hampshire police are investigating a possible intelligence sharing operation run between Royston Smith, the Conservative candidate for Southampton Itchen who is now that constituency’s MP, and Kim Rose, the UKIP candidate in the same seat. The Tory MP has admitted to giving the UKIP candidate advice […]
The race to be the Labour’s London mayoral candidate and why it demonstrates Labour’s current dilemma perfectly
Gareth Thomas, shadow Europe minister and chair of the Co-op Party, has now thrown his hat into the ring to be London’s next mayor. In doing so, he talked up London as almost a quasi-nation, essentially saying that it should have as much devolved power as Scotland. The race to be the Labour candidate for […]
I’m worried the entire genuine political dialogue of the nation is going to take place within the Conservative Party for the foreseeable future
In the run up to the Queen’s Speech, we saw what amounted to an extraordinary political discussion. Politicians came out of the woodwork on the subject of the Human Rights Act, both for and against the government’s stated aim of repealing the piece of legislation, some with wonderful arguments. A few of them have surprised […]