There can be no doubt that Ed Miliband’s leadership is in trouble. After a squeaker of a by-election in Heywood and Middleton, which in turn followed a near-disastrous turn at the party’s Manchester conference…
“Something big is happening here.” Those were the words of Nigel Farage following the news that Douglas Carswell had become UKIP’s first member of parliament by attracting 21,113 votes in the Clacton by-election…
The Conservative party is shortly to face a high-profile by-election this week in the wake of the defection of Clacton MP, Douglas Carswell. Senior figures in the party are understood to be deeply concerned…
In his speech at the Conservative party conference David Cameron claimed that a vote for UKIP is a vote for Labour, an argument likely to be heard with greater frequency as the general election approaches…
So no rabbit then. But plenty of friends. Probably too many, if truth be told; and maybe too many promises, too. The six-part plan unveiled by Ed Miliband in his Labour conference speech is at least one…
Ed Miliband is trying to wrestle back the political initiative in Manchester. The leader of the opposition must avoid becoming mired in deeply complex constitutional questions of devolution at his party’s…
Ed Balls has kicked off the annual Labour conference in Manchester with an ill-judged announcement that his party would increase child benefits by just 1% a year until 2017 if elected to government next…
When Ed Miliband rises to address the Labour conference for the last time before the 2015 General Election, he will have to deliver the speech of his life. Amid persistent doubts about his ability to lead…
The collective sigh of relief will be almost audible in Manchester this week as the Labour party gathers for its annual conference. The minds of the party leadership have been thoroughly distracted in…
Britain faces an economic divide between North and South and the government and opposition are at loggerheads over how to address it. George Osborne wants to build a high-speed rail link and the Labour…
Seventy years on from its passage into law, the Education Act of 1944 is often remembered as a monument to political consensus – the art of the possible, in the words of its chief architect, R A “Rab…
Eunice Goes, Richmond American International University
Ed Miliband’s recent proposal to hold regular Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) with members of the public was met with derision from some commentators. In typical critical fashion, Telegraph blogger Dan…
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…
“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…
Few academics can aspire to transcend university boundaries, reach deep into a mainstream audience and find Westminster’s doors opening, inviting conversation with politicians. Thomas Piketty is now one…
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 “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…
The knives are out for Ed Miliband and he only has himself to blame. In the wake of the elections, despite doing well in London in the council elections and gaining seven seats in the European parliamentary…
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…