Norman Tebbit was a giant among Conservative politicians of the late twentieth century. His image on Spitting Image as the ‘Chingford Skinhead’ belied the reality that he was an immensely kind, softly ...

On Saturday Keir Starmer will celebrate his first anniversary as prime minister. Well, when I say ‘celebrate’, that’s perhaps overdoing it. Perhaps ‘mark it’ is more accurate, because he hasn’t got a ...

By Adrian Smith It’s Margaret Thatcher’s centenary this year. For anyone middle-aged or older it seems impossible – is it really 100 years since she was born, and 35 years since she left office? For ...

This article by Mary Beard was written for The Observer. couple of decades is a very long time in politics. Twenty years ago, I seethed with rage at the “crimes” of George W Bush. These days, compared ...

A few observations about the local election results… For those who have always though Reform UK would be a ‘here today, gone tomorrow’ political party, think again. The only way that will happen is if ...

In opposition, Rachel Reeves used to do a monthly phone-in with me. She even did one on the evening of Jeremy Hunt’s last budget a year ago. Ever since she has been Chancellor I’ve been trying to ...

Dear all, Last week Tessa Dunlop and I recorded the first two episodes of our brand new WHERE POLITICS MEETS HISTORY podcast. We were pleased with the first but knew we hadn’t got it quite right. We ...

It’s very rare that I agree with Donald Trump about anything, but in his first term I applauded him for pointing out most European countries weren’t paying their way on defence. Many of them bucked up ...

Assuming you don’t live there, think about the last time you thought about Northern Ireland. Events there are routinely ignored in the UK media, despite it being an integral component of the United ...

This article first appeared in the Daily Telegraph. Show up at a Conservative Party function and it’s a fair bet that someone will engage you in a discussion about what to do about Reform UK. It’s ...

Fifty years ago today Margaret Thatcher was elected leader of the Conservative party by her fellow MPs. This week Kemi Badenoch celebrated 100 days as the tenth person to hold that position since ...

Feeling sorry for politicians is about the worst thing that can happen to them, but – and call me old-fashioned – even I have started to feel sorry for the flailing Keir Starmer. The poor chap has ...