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“Everything is Just Fine” said absolutely no-one Despite the imminent arrival of the King of the North, the tendency for politicians of all stripes to insist on their easily disproved “successes” simply increases the palpable sense of disgust with the entire political class the world over. One imagines precipitately dropping approval ratings for King Andy…
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In the course of campaigning for Makersfield Burnham announced that if he displaces Starmer to become PM he would remain bound by Labour’s 2024 manifesto, but his “Manchesterism” has featured a stronger inclination to state intervention than the Starmer-Reeves positioning. Burnham’s platform relies on Manchester’s relative success under his mayoralty (2017-’26.) Supporters argue that the…
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With the PM off on holiday at G7 in Évian-les-Bains, DPMQs featured a new Conservative challenger, Claire Coutinho (East Surrey,Conservative) Shadow EngNZSec, taking on the deeply unenthusiastic David Lammy (Tottenham, Labour) DepPM. Wednesday 17th June Resignations to right of them, resignations to left of them… (with apologies to Alfred, Lord Tennyson.) Mrs Coutinho, perhaps predictably…
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One of the defining characteristics of governments in difficulty is not that they make mistakes. All governments make mistakes. The defining characteristic is panic. Difficult decisions are postponed. Problems accumulate. Then events force action and politicians rush to demonstrate decisiveness. Whether the resulting policies are effective becomes secondary to the need to appear active. This…
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John Healey’s resignation is a seismic moment in the collapse of Keir Starmer’s government. HM Treasury’s “victory” of reducing financial commitment to upgrading the nation’s defence is at the expense of the Prime Minister’s continuing “leadership”, such as it was. Healey’s resignation is terminal for Starmer and must be the most serious ministerial resignation since…
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The Commons has a strange “end of term” feel about it. Strange because not even a month has passed since the King’s Speech marked the shiny new legislative ambitions of a new Parliamentary session and just 23 months in to a Government that was elected with a landslide 174-seat majority. But it definitely feels “over”,…
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This last week has provided several reminders that trust, once lost, is difficult to recover. While President Zelensky launched audacious drone attacks on St Petersburg, HMS Prince of Wales returned to port in Norway for more repairs (Navy Lookout, 30th May 2026.) While the Government insisted that all relevant documents relating to Lord Mandelson’s appointment…
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Having got British History 1930-’97 under the belt, TWOP can turn back to the House of Commons after it returned from its Whitsun break on Monday. PMQs was strangely undramatic in the first week back because of the structural effect of Henry Nowak’s murder and the “two-tier policing” issue which the PM, LotO and even…
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A heatwave, a war in the Gulf driven by bluff and braggadocio and a war in Ukraine seeing the slip of the Russian mask. A local TWOP correspondent visiting Kew Gardens reported temperatures of 35C (95F.) The country was awash in a public conversation about climate change. Welcome to our future. This week was also…
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There have been a number of developments that should have been positive for the Government this week: – immigration numbers fell sharply (thanks Rishi)– inflation fell faster than expected (but it will be back up next month)– the IMF upgraded UK growth forecasts (if only by 0.2%)– fuel duty rises were postponed (a U-Turn, if…
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Parliament returned to work with the ceremonial portrayal of calm and order of the State Opening and the King’s Speech floating, surreally, on top of the turbulent threat to Sir Keir Starmer’s premiership. An (over-)ambitious legislative programme then commenced the traditional five days of debate against a backdrop that provided further copious evidence of Sir…
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There has, technically, been some political news outside the accelerating collapse of Labour authority. Whether anyone noticed is another matter. Ebola, Ukraine, Iran and strategic distractions A fresh Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo briefly reintroduced the possibility of an international public health emergency (James Gallagher, BBC News, 17th May 2026, “How worrying…