Douglas Carswell, the Conservative MP for Clacton, has dropped a bomb by announcing his defection to UKIP, and will fight a by-election to give his constituents the chance to pass judgement on the decision…
Eunice Goes, Richmond American International University
In the past week, Conservative HQ has been busy in trying to dismiss the significance of the resignation of the Foreign Office minister Sayeeda Warsi. Whereas the Downing Street spin machine has distilled…
Following her resignation from the coalition the former Foreign Office minister, Sayeeda Warsi, has warned the Conservative Party it faces defeat in the 2015 general election unless it does more to attract…
There is a certain section of the Conservative Party – and not necessarily a minority – which has a penchant for self-destruction. This is the same section which takes its leadership cues from Nigel Farage…
So the worst-kept secret in British politics is no longer a secret. Boris Johnson is on the lookout for a constituency willing to select him as their Conservative candidate at the election next May. He…
As Israel’s Operation Protective Edge began to draw more vocal international criticism, the supposedly staunchly pro-Israel Conservative party saw the beginnings of a revolt: a number of David Cameron’s…
As the trade unions embark on another co-ordinated day of action they could soon be embroiled in another battle. The government is adopting a harder line through plans to bolster the law on industrial…
“Brand Miliband” has had a rough few weeks and is looking pretty sad, at a time when the opposition leader should be riding high in the polls against a relatively unpopular prime minister who has just…
Eunice Goes, Richmond American International University
For the past four years or so, Theresa May has cultivated the reputation of being “The Quiet Woman” of Tory politics. She was seen as a pragmatic and unfussy politician who gets things done. But the recent…
The result from the most eagerly awaited by-election of this parliament was something of an anti-climax. While parts of the leafy Nottinghamshire seat succumbed to the Ukip fever gripping the nation…
The Queen’s Speech marks the start of the fourth and final session of the 2010 Parliament. Final sessions are usually relatively uncontroversial. An approaching general election has traditionally calmed…
The “35% strategy” – the idea that a party could win the 2015 general election on 35% of the vote – entered political discourse last year, generally as a Conservative taunt directed at Labour. The 35…
It is clear from the European and local election results that there are some interesting and fairly nuanced things happening. Labour has not done as well as it expected to do – and there are a lot of people…
Nigel Farage, leader of the UK Independence Party, appears to have stolen the show in the run up to the European elections. But while he has been pilloried in the papers, discussion about him on Twitter…
Two countries have synchronised their EU election and local election dates this cycle: Greece and parts of the UK (England and Northern Ireland). On May 25, Greeks vote in run-off elections in all their…
The ticking clocks and “year to go to the election” brain dumps have made the final lap of the coalition government hard to miss: there appears to be universal agreement the general election will be held…
Social work is at a crossroads. As the next election cycle begins, the country’s social workers are caught between two completely different visions of their profession. One is based on the ideal of a democratic…
Maria Miller has resigned as Culture secretary. Until today, she was one of the most powerful women in the Conservative Party; she has been described as “efficient and low-key”, and rapidly climbed the…
Addressing the Israeli Knesset recently, David Cameron proclaimed himself “a British prime minister whose belief in Israel is unbreakable, and whose commitment to Israel’s security will always be rock…
If Cameron is the heir to Blair, Osborne is the heir to Brown. His budgets have always been intensely political. The serious fiscal work now goes on in the spending review and the autumn statement. Budgets…