Westminster is abuzz with talk of a general election taking place sometime later this year. The theory goes, Johnson can’t get no deal passed (or doesn’t really want it passed, deep down) before October 31st because parliament stands in his way. He has no choice but to go to the polls. Or, there is a […]
Why Theresa May’s last speech as prime minister was so bad
Yesterday saw May’s swan song as PM – a full length speech at Chatham House. As with most of her premiership, even if you kept your expectations low you would have still walked away disappointed. She took her last chance to make an impression – to in any way affect the national conversation – and […]
Here’s the problem with Unite to Remain
Heidi Allen, the ex-Tory MP for South Cambridgeshire, has launched a new campaign called Unite to Remain. The essence of it is to create a Remain alliance, one in which certain parties step aside in seats to allow Remain parties who have a better chance of winning a clear run. Allen herself pointed to the […]
A short summary of Labour’s latest Brexit position
I have, I admit, been cynical regarding Labour’s positioning on Brexit in the past. I said before the 2017 general election that they had landed on a policy regarding leaving the EU that would satisfy no one. Lo and behold, they ended up with 40% of the vote. So, who knows, perhaps this latest move […]
The magic Brexit myth goes on and on and on
I’ll know we’ve turned a corner at long last in this confusing political era we are unfortunately experiencing when political pundits of all stripes stop buying into the magic Brexit myth. By this I mean the idea that all it will take is one move, whatever that might be, and then Brexit will be “resolved” […]
A vision of what the Liberal Democrats could be
Over the past four years, I have occasionally been scathing towards the Lib Dems. Some have interpreted this as a hostility in regard to the party’s lurch to the left post-2015 – this only a small part of it. Mostly, I have felt angered by the fact that in the midst of Brexit and Corbyn, […]
Within the Remain side of politics, there is still too much complacency
This isn’t an article about who would win a second EU referendum and why (or why not) I believe that to be the case. That in itself is a prime example of Remainer complacency. No, this runs much deeper than that. Remainers have started in what looks like their millions to turn away from Corbyn […]
Why Boris Johnson could end up being prime minister for five minutes
How Johnson’s campaign to become the next leader of the Conservative party and thus prime minister is going depends on who you speak to. Plenty of right of centre pundits are now making a living telling you a lot about how even though he seems to be bumbling a lot and setting himself up for […]
If the Lib Dems really want to be “the natural party of business” they are going to have to do a lot better
The meltdown of the two major British parties has foist upon the Liberal Democrats a huge number of opportunities. One of them has been claiming the mantle of the business party away from the Tories as they now seem likely to elect the man known for chucking an expletive in the direction of the business […]
Jeremy Hunt’s surprisingly punchy start to the Tory leadership final two and what that might mean
I have been very cynical about Jeremy Hunt’s push to be Tory leader. I think he’s been mostly absent in the debates, looking like he’s marking time, and I figured he would mostly be BoJo’s wingman in the final two. It almost seemed partially set up for this, with rumours of Johnson’s whips amongst the […]