Category: Ukraine-Russia War
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To say that there has been a sea-change in the environment in the Chamber is something of an understatement. The Labour benches are taken up with self-positioning for preferment under the Member for Makerfield’s likely new Ministry, while the Tories are obviously saving their most explosive ammunition for the time when the King of 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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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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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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The central political fact of the week is that the Prime Minister now faces not simply criticism, but procedural damage (which is not without irony for the “Process PM”!) Authority that had been trickling away from the PM already is now in full flood. HMS Starmer, which has been sailing around aimlessly for some months,…
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Committee Room 14. Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine visited London today and addressed MPs and Lords in the relatively workmanlike surroundings of Committee Room 14. This visit seemed far more important that Mr Trump’s latest tantrum across the ocean. In an enthusiastic address, Zelenskyy explained what Ukraine’s experience in successfully resisting Russian aggression and…
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REVOLUTIONS, INVASIONS AND POTHOLES It is a salutary experience to sit down to write a review of UK politics at the end of a week in which Donald Trump threatened to intervene in Iran’s brutal protest crackdown, the United States faced domestic outrage over a fatal shooting by an ICE agent and the former President…
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SIZE CERTAINLY COUNTS FOR SOMETHING Donald, but does not necessarily always win. Britain, June 1941: alone, but unbowed. Transcript of Donald Trump interview with Dasha Burns, Washington DC, 8th December 2025
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We cross over to Geneva now for the vote of the European Jury. Here we have it: “WHOLE OF THE SENTIENT WORLD CALLING (VIA JOHANNESBURG): NULL POINTS FOR DONNY’S 28-POINT “PEACE” PROPOSAL.” Geneva became the centre of strategic gravity on Ukraine this week, as Ukrainian, American and European officials picked apart the 28-point peace proposal…
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FOREIGN POLICY.Readers paying close attention may have noted that TWOP has assigned 0minutes to covering the important foreign policy issues of Ukraine and Gaza recently. This is not because they are not important: Ukraine must be enabled to win and Israel must be prevented from liquidating the Palestinians who remain in Gaza. What has seemed…
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In a moment of irritation with current Russian “negotiations” so transparently designed only to delay, while extracting maximum concessions from the Great Dealmaker, I thought that it might be useful to “game” the outcomes of the conflict. You never know… Лучше быть несчастным, зная обо всём, чем счастливым в неведении.It is better to be unhappy…
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During this vacation season it is hard to avoid taking a look at Russia’s Ukrainian War. It really is vicariously embarrassing. Last week Vlad scored an absurdly predictable win. Putin took up DJT’s invitation to rejoin the “normal” world with talks in Alaska. The chess-playing Russian dictator seems to have persuaded the “why stick to…
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No prizes at all for commentators who thought that Russia’s commitment to peace negotiations was only a ruse to keep the Donald talking and delay any real discussions of peace terms. Under huge American pressure, Zelensky called Putin’s bluff and announced that he would be available to meet with Putin in Turkey on 15th May…