Starmer’s premiership is over. As commentators scramble to instruct his replacement, ‘King of the North’ Burnham, on how he ought to govern, we shall withdraw from these largely Armageddonist prophets. I want to answer a different question: how is Starmer set to be remembered? It is so easy, and in a way, natural, to focus on the newcomer entering Downing Street, with the person going out the backdoor waved off without much of a thought. The executive wheels keep turning, aft

In the last week Andy Burnham, who stands at the precipice of becoming Britain’s next Prime Minister, seemingly ruled out an early general election. Whilst politicians ruling things out certainly doesn’t mean that they are ruled out, it does mean it is not ruled in. A general election is not part of Burnham’s short-term plan. The question remains however, is it part of Burnham’s plan in the medium-term, and should it be. Whilst the answer to the former is one that only Burnha

Political satire is not hard to come by. A recent example of it, however, on the Green Party’s official Facebook Page, may have cheapened this already-common currency. It’s form was simple and standard enough as memes goes. An animated character is shown faced with a choice between two buttons, the look on their face betraying the difficulty they feel in deciding – the joke being that the choice is meant to be painfully obvious. The subject of the Green Party’s ire in this

In violation of the constitutional conventions that Britain usually holds dear, Britain will endure a long, directionless interval following Keir Starmer's resignation on 22nd June. The election of a new leader, Andy Burnham, who was sworn in as MP also on the 22nd June after winning the Makerfield by-election, is the likely replacement. If Burnham’s leadership bid faces no contest, he is likely to take over in the 17-20th July period, rather than in September, as some have s

It's time to stop thinking about the climate crisis as a problem for the future. If the past week of stifling temperatures in the United Kingdom has shown us anything, it is that global warming is a visceral, present reality. Yet at this very moment, when the effects of climate change are so tangible year on year, political discussion skirts around the issue. Squabbles over North Sea oil have dominated the conversation recently, despite experts having made it clear that arou

It is somewhat rare for an election to proffer signs that are simultaneously encouraging yet brutal for a party in British politics, but the Makerfield by-election proved just that for Reform UK. The result, while confirming that the party has decisively supplanted the Conservatives as the premier force on the British right, nevertheless exposed the possibility that Reform’s rise has itself birthed a coalition capable of stopping it. The encouragement is obvious; Reform amass

The inevitable has happened. On 22nd June, Sir Keir Starmer stepped up to the podium outside No.10 and delivered a speech much of the country had been anticipating for months. Once again, the familiar image of a crestfallen prime minister appeared before the assembled press corps and television cameras. Starmer accepted “with good grace” that Labour MPs no longer wanted him to lead the party into the next general election, continuing Britain's recent revolving door of prime m

Last month, former Prime Minister Tony Blair provoked a media storm by penning a 5,000 word essay titled: “The Labour Party Is Playing With Fire Over Its Future and the Future of the Country”, in which he bemoaned the current government’s lack of understanding of the seismic changes that will shape the UK and the world over the coming years. This set off a wave of essay responses from then potential challengers for the Labour leadership, Andy Burnham and Wes Streeting, along

On the surface Andy Burnham’s victory in Makerfield is unremarkable, if anything the 20% gap over second-placed Reform is a shining example of how Labour has lost significant swathes of support in the constituencies where historically the Labour vote had to be weighed rather than counted. Makerfield, an ex-mining, working class seat that has voted Labour since 1906 saw 35% of its electorate vote for a right-wing party. The result seemingly represents the phenomenon that has b

When four ex-cabinet ministers split from the Labour Party in 1981 to form the SDP, they did so with the intention of ‘breaking the mould’ of British politics. This Gang of Four believed the Labour Party was on an irrecoverable journey down the Hard Left flank of British Politics. Veteran left-winger Michael Foot had just been elected leader, the Trotskyite Militant Tendency had successfully infiltrated the party, and Tony Benn was circling, waiting to steal the Deputy Leader

I have tended to support left wing parties, gravitating towards their ideas as regional and national politics played a growing part in my teen life. Seeking equality, eliminating poverty, helping the downtrodden and the marginalised, and defeating a self-interested elite have remained leftist constants, but the vehicle of these ideas for me has changed over time. Anarcho-communism was appealing in my early teens, then was Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party. While Jeremy was never g

If one thing is a cardinal sin in British politics, perhaps it’s being boring. Plain, unassuming, uninspiring - all words that have been used to describe our current Prime Minister. Keir Starmer is just the latest to suffer from these epithets, which had also been levelled at predecessors such as Theresa May and Gordon Brown. As much as politicians aspire to situate themselves above the masses, relatability and likeability have undeniably become election winners. In attemptin

The parliamentary theatre that played out on the stage of Westminster last week, the kind this country has become so used to in recent years, has resulted in a strange and uniquely British political situation. The future direction of the government, the Prime Minister, the Labour Party and the country will depend on the votes of some 80,000 people in the suburbs of Wigan and its neighbouring towns. A by-election in the constituency of Makerfield should be a shoe in for the L

This month’s reset speech from the “boring” “managerial” “supine” “genocidaire” who hates irregular migrants and refugees while “bending over backwards for them” should have been cathartic. Here was our chance to make the maniacally boring Starmer beg for mercy. I just felt uncomfortable. Starmer looked like a man at his wit’s end. He seems ordinary, likeable, and emotionally stable. He says kind things like we should be nicer to Jewish folk, or that we needed to watch Adoles

It is becoming increasingly apparent that Keir Starmer’s dismal time in office is coming to an end. Following historic losses in this month’s local elections, more than 90 Labour MPs have publicly called for his resignation and four ministers have resigned thus far. Wes Streeting has resigned as Health Secretary. Andy Burnham is getting ready. As Greater Manchester Mayor, the longtime favourite to replace Starmer still needs to get approval to stand in Josh Simons’ Makerfield

Reform UK has been bolstered over the past few years by a media sullied by millionaires selling easy answers to the less politically focused populace. This malaise has been growing in the background for many years, however, with reports of Elon Musk considering funding Reform UK, it could be a saga reaching its climax. My gripe is not just with Reform over this campaign, but also with the left-wing parties of Your Party (Jeremy Corbyn’s new home), and The Green Party. Through

Much noise has rightly been made about the free Breakfast Club programme being rolled out across primary schools in England. The ‘30-minute sessions before school where children get a free breakfast so they to start every day ready to learn’ (sic), have had plenty of positives touted about them; with the benefits listed by the Government including children not needing to be hungry at the start of the school day, as well as providing social time and activities for the kids. In

Last month I summarised how the Prime Minister’s lack of understanding of, and downright disinterest in, politics was leading him to continuously break its first golden rule: don’t make an enemy when you don’t have to. The Prime Minister has made a habit of making mountains out of a molehills, consistently overplaying his hand when disciplining his MPs, withdrawing the whip left right and center, and pushing droves of MPs out of the tent. But all that pushing achieves is an a

A terrible event took place on the 30th of April in Golders’ Green, London. A man tried to murder two people with a knife. The Metropolitan Police publicly stated the man had been charged with terrorism and attempted murder. Thankfully, all victims survived, and the culprit was taken into custody and also to hospital. The two victims were Jewish, although the man did not seem to have been charged with an aggravating factor (religious or racial). His case is not simple – he h

As of the 1st July 2026, we will see a reduction in the amount of steel that can be imported before tariffs are applied, additional quotas being introduced on imported steel products that are also manufactured domestically (where they previously have not been in place), and an increase in tariff rates for those imports in-excess of quotas. These new steel trade measures, inter alia increasing the tariff rate to 50% on products that go beyond our import quota, might sound lik