On July 24 1914 the British cabinet met to discuss the diplomatic situation in Europe, which had deteriorated rapidly since the assassination of the Austrian archduke, Franz Ferdinand, a month before…
What might have been? John Smith, Margaret Beckett and Tony Blair.
John Giles/PA Archive
It is 20 years since Tony Blair took over as leader of the Labour Party. There has been much comment about his legacy, a great deal of it uncomplimentary. But it could have been so different… It’s the…
David Cameron: taking a hard line on trade union action.
Andrew Winning/PA Wire
The Tory manifesto pledge to change the law on strike ballots are more radical than any of those introduced by Margaret Thatcher. If the government is re-elected and the proposals become law, industrial…
Have we seen the back of William Hague?
Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire
David Cameron apparently doesn’t like reshuffles; “chillaxing” Dave prefers, so we are told, to leave people to get on with the job. So why such an apparently drastic overhaul of (the Conservative part…
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…
Eunice Goes, Richmond American International University
We are told that being leader of the opposition is the toughest job in British politics. But the gloomy face of the Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg at every prime minister’s questions tells a different…
Iain Duncan Smith: hardship, despair, and destitution.
Anthony Devlin/PA
On July 5, the Daily Mail mounted yet another attack on the pesky human rights folk who have the temerity to question the coalition government’s welfare agenda. The article, headlined “The Brazil Nut strikes…
Show of strength: Boris Johnson prepares to take on David Cameron at tennis.
Sean Dempsey/PA Wire
So, Alan Johnson is too old, at 64, to contemplate a run at the leadership of the Labour Party even if the top job: the prime ministership may be there for the taking just ten months away. Prime ministers…
The more that Labour insists the support for Ed Miliband is rock solid, the less the public are inclined to believe the party. It’s not just the open criticism from John Cruddas, there’s all the reading…
“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…
What political message is Cameron now trying to communicate?
Psycho Delia
In the gardens of No 10 Downing Street today, UK-time, Prime Minister David Cameron will host a reception to celebrate “the best of Britain’s creative industries”. Tory celebrities such as Sir Michael…
I’m Nick Clegg. Will you come away with me?
Barry Batchelor/PA
On June 24, a group of Liberal Democrats gathered in central London to mark the tenth anniversary of the publication of a book that very few voters have probably even heard of – but whose effect on British…
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…
Lest we forget: the 2009 expenses scandal began the push for a recall bill.
Dominic Lipinski/PA
“Meaningless”, “a stitch-up”, “a breathtakingly cynical attempt to convey an impression of democratic reform” – this was how Conservative MP Zac Goldsmith reacted to his own government’s announcement in…
Farage: not loony enough to take on 17,000 Conservative majority.
Lynne Cameron/PA Wire
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…
Spoiler alert: the Tory wins…
British Lion Film Corporation
It will be some time in the early hours of Friday morning until we discover whether Newark will join the list of shock by-election results. But whatever the outcome, we doubt it will be as remarkable as…
As Ukip mount a challenge to the Tories in the Newark by-election, their apparent inability to stop local candidates going embarrassingly off-script has caught up with them again. And once again, the party…
The government’s legislative plan for its final year has been set out in the Queen’s speech. It most notably contains a recall bill that will allow voters to sack MPs who are jailed or who have committed…
What a revolting lot.
Geoff Pugh/Telegraph/PA Wire
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…
Nigel Farage and UKIP are faced with a political dilemma – whether to become ‘insiders’ in Westminster or remain ‘outsiders’, criticising the key political actors.
EPA/Facundo Arrizabalaga
UK Independence Party (UKIP) leader Nigel Farage now has a problem. In the wake of his party’s success in the recent European Parliament election, Farage and his UKIP colleagues need to determine how best…