The Prime Minister almost succeeded in breaking PMQs on 18th March. Backbencher Andrew Snowden (Fylde, Conservative) summed up the problem towards the end of the pointless session, saying : “Every week the Prime Minister comes here and reads out this pre-scripted nonsense that bears no resemblance to the questions he is actually asked. The Leader…
Implosion as “Governance.” Last week ended with Morgan McSweeney gone. This week has been about what that departure did not fix. The McSweeney Non-Solution McSweeney’s resignation was supposed to draw a line under the “judgement” critique that had begun to stalk Keir Starmer. It has not. The problem was never merely personnel. It was pattern.…
The End is Nigh. Peter Mandelson’s Washington appointment was always a high wire act. It was sold as hard nosed realpolitik: a seasoned operator, a serious network, a Labour government signalling competence to the White House and Wall Street. However, the appointment contained a basic miscalculation of the post-2020 political climate: voters tolerate many things,…
ERASMUS RETURN, NHS STRIKES, UNION TENSIONS. The government agreed a deal for the UK to rejoin the EU’s Erasmus+ student exchange programme from the 2027/28 academic year. The UK’s will pay £570 million for that first year or involvement, almost double its pre-Brexit annual payments. A 30% “discount” was agreed for the first year. The…