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James HealeThe Spectator |
Keir Starmer’s speech this morning served as a neat microcosm of his six-month premiership. There he was, all primed to explain his plans for...
The next 48 hours could well spell the end of Justin Trudeau. The Canadian Prime Minister – the last major western leader of the pre-Trump era –...
He was the peanut farmer from Georgia who rose to become the leader of the free world. Jimmy Carter, who has died at the age of 100, served as...
Peter Mandelson is expected to shortly be named the next UK ambassador to Washington. The announcement – broken by the Times – comes ahead of...
This afternoon Angela Rayner will unveil potentially the biggest shake-up of local government since the 1970s. The Housing Secretary will speak at...
The changing nature of political power was neatly demonstrated in Westminster yesterday. In the House of Lords, members debated Labour’s plans to...
There has been much focus in recent weeks on Reform’s potential impact on British politics. But a rival quintet of insurgents has been quietly...
Andrew RT Davies has quit this lunchtime as the leader of the Conservative group in the Welsh parliament. It follows a confidence vote among the 16...
After 14 years in opposition, you might have expected Labour to come into government bursting with plans for Britain. Yet the first four months of...
Keir Starmer has today resolved one of his longstanding headaches: who to appoint to lead the civil service. The man chosen to replace Simon Case...
Anyone else want to do a Westminster press conference? Keir Starmer made it a hat-trick this afternoon when he gave his reply to the new...
There was a business-like manner in Nigel Farage’s response to the news that net migration was more than 900,000 in 2023. Speaking this morning at...
A spectre is haunting Wales. Fresh from Reform’s election victories in Westminster, Nigel Farage is turning his attention westwards, to Cardiff...
David Cameron has today become the first former prime minister to come out in support of assisted dying, having previously voted against it in...
Congratulations to William Hague, who has today triumphed in the race to succeed Chris Patten and become the 168th Chancellor of Oxford. Hague,...
The UK isn’t working. That’s the official view of the government as Keir Starmer launches his latest effort to get Britons back into work. A...
John Prescott, Britain’s longest serving Deputy Prime Minister, has died at the age of 86. For 40 years he variously enlivened, enraged and...
It is just over a fortnight since the Tory leadership result and Kemi Badenoch is now putting the final touches to her first front bench team. With...
Is Westminster ready for farmageddon? Tomorrow will see the greatest political demonstration for a rural cause since the repeal of the Hunting Act...
Joe Biden has 64 days left in the White House – and clearly he intends to make the most of them. The President has tonight allowed Ukraine to use...
How do you solve a problem like Elon? That is the dilemma facing Keir Starmer. Musk seems particularly exercised about the state of the UK and is...
It was a strong start for Kemi Badenoch in her debut performance at Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs). After the obligatory pledge to be a ‘...
With a week to go until Rachel Reeves’s first Budget, Andrew Bailey has today sounded a note of gloomy caution. Speaking at a Bloomberg event in...
What do we mean these days when we talk about the British ‘establishment’? When Henry Fairlie coined the term in 1955 – in The Spectator, of...
The Queen is dead: long live the King. This week brought an end to Downing Street’s unhappy experiment in dyarchy. Out goes Sue Gray, banished to...
It’s official: the Tories believe in JC. Following last week’s party conference in Birmingham, James Cleverly has this afternoon topped the...
Tory MPs are today preparing to cast their votes in the next round of the party’s leadership contest. The final four will become three, ahead of...
The Prime Minister is in Liverpool today, outlining plans for green investment. Nearly £22billion is pledged for projects to capture and store...
The United Kingdom will shortly be ceding sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. Under the terms of a new treaty, there will be a 99-year-...
The Tory front runner was third up in Birmingham. Throughout this race, Robert Jenrick has sought to position himself as someone with the polish of...
It has been a busy Conservative conference for Kemi Badenoch, whose comments on Sunday about maternity pay have dominated the last few days. Each...
There are noticeably less people here at Tory conference in Birmingham this week. But one former MP can still reliably pack in the punters. Despite...
It was a curious farewell for Rishi Sunak this afternoon. The Tory leader has just finished his final speech to the party faithful before handing...
Labour conference has been and gone and still Lord Alli remains in the headlines. The latest claims regarding the multimillionaire peer surround his...
As a peer who hates publicity, Lord Alli might have been expected to dodge the Labour conference – given the near-constant coverage of...
Keir Starmer’s first conference speech as Prime Minister neatly embodied the past three days in Liverpool: patchy, uninspiring, with a strong...
Sir Ed Davey has just finished his conference speech in Brighton. No party is likely to hold a more upbeat political jamboree this year than the...
On paper, the result was a success for Labour. Despite excited reports, government whips managed to keep their party’s great winter fuel revolt...
It’s not just the Tories facing a big vote next week. Across the House of Commons, MPs will be choosing which of their number should chair the 26...
Few people had heard of Zia Yusuf before he spoke at Reform’s final campaign rally in Birmingham. But after a stirring speech to 4,000 supporters,...
This evening Tory MPs have filed into Committee Room 14 of parliament to hear from each of the six hopefuls aspiring to lead their party. Each...
Tom Tugendhat finally launched his leadership campaign today with a big speech in Whitehall – the third he has made in as many weeks. After...