If last week was about first-day-at-school selfies, and for some, red boxes, then this week is about the hard yards of change. The thrill of a new government is fleeting, and soon people want to see what difference their votes will make. Making a difference is hard. The Tories may
The Labour election broadcast in election week has a simple message: if you voted for Boris in 2019, it’s safe to come over to Labour. This was supported by the beautifully stage-managed defection of Dr Dan Poulter, a former Conservative health minister, to Labour last weekend. It was greeted by
Public trust in the police is crumbling. The YouGov monthly tracker shows that people believing the ‘police are doing a good job’ has declined from 77% in December 2019 to 50% in January 2024. Those who think the ‘police are doing a bad job’ have increased from 17% to 40%
Once upon a time, Labour’s leaders could scatter spending commitments around like confetti. This fiscal incontinence peaked a few days before the 2019 general election when the shadow chancellor conjured a £58 billion spending commitment from thin air. This magic number, targeted at around three million women who had missed
It is hard to start 2024 without a spring in the step. Labour is roughly 20 points ahead of the Conservatives, with healthy leads on the economy, crime, and the NHS. The received wisdom is that there will be a change of government this year, even if Rishi Sunak pushes
One of the politicians I worked for said that a distinct advantage of being in the Cabinet was never again having to appear live on Newsnight. A junior minister could be dispatched to Broadcasting House for ritual disembowelment by Paxman or Wark, and the Cabinet Minister could be safely home
Peter Kyle MP, the man who masterminded Labour’s breathtaking win in Mid-Beds, has called the result ‘a political earthquake’. But he’s wrong. It’s much bigger than that. An earthquake may shake the walls, knock over a few vases, and take down some buildings. The results from Mid-Bedfordshire and Tamworth are
As the Tories implode into a farrago of populist nastiness and broken promises, with Liz Truss as their spirit guide, attention turns to whether Labour is ready to govern. Labour’s conference in Liverpool is the last one before the voters make up their minds about whether they trust us or
If you’ve bumped into a Labour member of the House of Lords recently, they have a somewhat haggard look. The reason is not end-of-term revelry but successive late nights holding the Government to account over its Illegal Migration Bill. Since June, when the House of Lords stayed up until 4.16am
The organisers of the Glastonbury festival join a lengthening list of conspirators, including the CIA, World Bank, Bilderberg Group, MI5, the Board of Deputies of British Jews, the Parliamentary Labour Party, and Paul Mason, in preventing the British people from hearing the TRUTH. The ‘truth’ is that Jeremy Corbyn was
