All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
What will happen if Jeremy Corbyn wins? Will it be a nightmare on Downing Street, as Liam Halligan suggests in this week’s Spectator? Or might Corbyn not be as bad as his critics fear? Helpfully, France provides a useful parallel of what prime minister Jeremy Corbyn might mean for Britain. And it doesn’t make happy
Believe it or not, there was yet another televised election debate tonight, this time on Channel 4, called the ‘Everything But Brexit’ debate. The Tories had refused to take part, and while their decision will have been partly down to their ongoing battle with the broadcaster, which they have accused of being biased, they will
Boris Johnson – I deliver where it matters The Prime Minister showed his face once again this morning, appearing in a pre-recorded interview with Sophy Ridge. With voters heading to the polls this Thursday, Ridge began by asking Johnson whether people could trust him, a theme that has featured throughout the campaign: https://twitter.com/RidgeOnSunday/status/1203595622345035776?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw BJ: If
During his last days as manager of Manchester United it was widely thought that whoever came after Sir Alex Ferguson would have an impossible job. The same might be said of Jeremy Corbyn’s successor as Labour leader. For while Sir Alex won every trophy in club football and Corbyn has won nothing at all there
Climate alarmists and Corbynistas (the former increasingly a front organisation for the latter) often put the word ‘Big’ in front of industries which they dislike — Big Pharma, Big Oil. Those of us who do not share their views should copyright a comparable concept — Big Uni. Universities now compose an absolutely vast interest group,
This time round you were asked to submit Shakespeare’s newly discovered ‘Woeful ballad to his mistress’ eyebrows’, as referred to by Jaques in As You Like It (‘…And then the lover,/ Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad/ Made to his mistress’ eyebrow…’). For the purposes of this challenge, a ballad could be any sort
For at least a generation — something we define loosely up here — Scottish hacks have been trying to interest London newsdesks in Scotland’s role in general elections. Then, in 2015, we had the good fortune of Scotland deciding to up and turn into a one-party state overnight. Then, in 2017, we revised our arrangements
The decline of the Liberal Democrats continues to give Labour a boost and rattle Tory nerves. Middle class Remainers who dislike Jeremy Corbyn are nonetheless deciding that he is their last best chance to thwart Brexit. Electing an anti-Semitic government so you don’t need to show a passport at Paris Charles de Gaulle is quite
The number of parties represented in national election debate multiplies. There are now seven crowding on to television podiums and local hustings. Yet this impression of diversity is, like the current public policy use of that word, misleading. Five of the parties — Labour, Liberal Democrats, Greens, SNP and Plaid Cymru — are essentially the
There are, as I say in the Sun this morning, two possible outcomes to this election: a Tory majority or a hung parliament. The seats where Labour are now concentrating their resources show that they don’t think they can win outright. Instead, their hopes rest on stopping Boris Johnson from getting to 326 seats. Right
Nigel Farage last painted himself into a corner at the end of the 2015 general election. Now he has done it again. And Farage’s only hope is that Brexit voters can save him from himself. In the lead-up to that election, Farage foolishly spiced up a serialisation of his autobiography by declaring it would be
In next week’s election, it feels like voters would elect a Conservative president and a centre-left parliament if they had the choice. Denied those options they are muddling their way to a conclusion. But what will they decide? Firstly, it’s worth remembering that Corbynomics is popular. YouGov generically polled Labour policies and they were popular. But
Stump speeches and battle bus stop-offs are a staple of political campaigning. And while much of the battle for votes now happens online, as Katy Balls points out in this week’s Spectator, the constituency fly-by remains a central element of any party’s election schedule. So what can we learn about the Conservative strategy from Boris Johnson’s tour across
In Friday night’s final TV debate between Jeremy Corbyn and Boris Johnson, neither leader landed a sucker punch on the other. Your verdict, as James Forsyth says in our Coffee House Shots podcast, will depend on what you believe the polls to be saying. If you already believe that the polls suggest a Tory majority,
Here’s a curiosity of the 2019 general election: given that both the big parties agree that austerity is over and Britain wants a more generous state, why is no one doing much to help the poor? And why is no one talking about that failure? These questions start with Labour. Jeremy Corbyn’s fans see him
Though the Tories are consistently and comfortably leading in the polls, nothing can be taken for granted in politics, if recent years are anything to go by. So what would happen if Corbyn really does get into No. 10? In this week’s cover piece, economist and Telegraph columnist Liam Halligan breaks down the consequences of
Oh dear. Channel 4 News is in hot water this morning after posting a video clip of Boris Johnson speaking at a campaign rally. In the clip, the broadcaster added subtitles claiming Boris Johnson said: ‘I’m in favour of having people of colour come to this country, but I think we should have it democratically
Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn clashed in a head-to-head in tonight’s live BBC debate. The two leaders faced off in front of a studio audience for their final clash before election day. Here is all the action as it unfolded:
Boris Johnson has so far refused to take part in an election interview with Andrew Neil. Jeremy Corbyn, Jo Swinson, Nigel Farage and Nicola Sturgeon have all had their turns. But not the Prime Minister. At the end of his interview tonight with Farage, Andrew Neil sent a message to Boris Johnson: ‘We have been
One local in Beaconsfield has thought of a novel way to get back at his prospective MP, Dominic Grieve, who is standing as an independent this election. Ian Caldwell, who runs Timberstore in the area, has decided to launch a giant blimp which now hovers over Grieve’s constituency, calling for the pro-Remain candidate to be
The UK’s relationship with the Chinese telecoms company Huawei has been under intense scrutiny this year, as a fierce debate has waged inside government over whether it should be able to build the UK’s 5G infrastructure. Hawks inside government are said to be wary that the company could pose a security threat. Boris Johnson too
Interviewing Boris Johnson last night on my show, I ended up feeling a bit sorry for Jo Swinson, leader of the Liberal Democrats. Because for him the election is a proxy for another referendum. His whole mantra is ‘get Brexit done, and move on’. Swinson’s position of ‘revoke and move on’ is a wholly rational response
Jeremy Corbyn was caught out yesterday pretending he watches the Queen’s Speech, only to be rumbled when he said he watches it in the morning (it’s actually broadcast at 3pm). But while the Labour leader’s blunder has made the front pages of today’s newspapers, he does still have some loyal defenders. Step forward, Angela Rayner.
This election is a war between disgust and fear: disgust at the miserable inadequates who represent ‘your side’; fear of what your enemies may do to you. It looks as if fear is winning. No country can fight two extremist movements at once. Fear of one side drives voters into the arms of the other,
Could Sir Mark Sedwill’s time as cabinet secretary be coming to an end? There were reports earlier this year that Sedwill might be in line to be replaced if Boris Johnson were to win the Tory leadership election. That proved to be unfounded and in the months since, the Prime Minister and Sedwill appear to
Kamala Harris began her campaign with an impressive display of political might: a gigantic late-January rally in her hometown of Oakland, California, where 22,000 people turned up for her first major speech as a presidential candidate. “We are at an inflection point in the history of our nation,” the senator from California bellowed into the
London Bridge terrorist Usman Khan appears to have spent some of his final months behind bars at HMP Whitemoor, a high-security prison near Peterborough, where some of the country’s most dangerous people are held. The prison’s chequered history could be relevant to the horrific events that unfolded in the capital last week. I last visited Whitemoor
Jo Swinson’s ordeal at the hands of Andrew Neil dramatised (painfully) the anguish of being a liberal in an age of populism. The Liberal Democrats are the ultimate fence-sitters, the men too broadminded to take their own side in a quarrel, per Robert Frost’s aphorism. But in this election they have tried to represent the
Jo Swinson had a terrible session on Question Time earlier in the election campaign, but tonight in her interview with Andrew Neil, she showed that it is possible for a leader who believes what they are saying to survive a very tough grilling with their dignity intact. She faced difficult questions on her party’s Brexit
With just over a week to go till polling day, tis the season for endorsements from publications and public figures. We’ve published our leader in tomorrow’s Spectator setting out why this election is too important to not take sides. There’s been plenty of debate about the New Statesman’s unusual refusal to endorse Labour, arguing that
Donald Trump is on his way back to the US, and—as Katy says —they’ll be breathing a large sigh of relief in CCHQ. The great disruptor has not been that disruptive on this visit. He has, largely, kept out of the election. He hasn’t said anything to add fuel to the fire that Labour is
There will be relief in Conservative Campaign Headquarters as the Nato summit draws to a close with no election gaffe in sight. With the UK hosting the summit of world leaders, there had been concern that the arrival of the US president with less than a fortnight until polling day could have thrown a spanner
Next week, voters will decide the future of the government, of Brexit, and perhaps of the Union. Jeremy Corbyn has been perfectly clear on what he offers: a radical experiment in far-left economics, going after the wealthy to fund the biggest expansion of government ever attempted in this country. Boris Johnson proposes to complete Brexit
Jeremy Corbyn has given up on winning this election and is currently struggling to ensure that on 12 December Boris Johnson will be denied a Commons majority. Last week Labour’s campaign strategy switched from trying to win seats to trying not to lose them, reflecting just how badly things are going. With polling day just