Following Labour’s November budget, much of the commentariat mourned the supposed death of New Labour. The Times’s Danny Finkelstein, for instance, suggested the fiscal event marked the end of the ‘New Labour dream’ , while The Independent’s John Rentoul suggested the faction laid buried beneath the budget . Much of the country will, however, have, even if quietly, been uttering the following sentiment subsequent to reading of its passing: ‘phew’. Seen as a necessary evil by

Economic woes, largely originating in our productivity problem , underscore much British political discourse today. The productivity problem boils down to the notion that the amount of additional value generated per average UK work hour underwhelms compared to our economic peers and superiors, like France, Germany, the USA , and perhaps soon Poland . The UK has recently seen record work absence due to sickness , is consistently low on comparative worker engagement scores

Ahead of the 2026 Scottish Parliamentary elections, Frederick Graham examines eighteen years of Scottish Nationalist rule and the state of Scottish politics. In Westminster and Europe, recent election cycles have revealed an increasingly consistent pattern: governing parties have become exposed to sharp electoral punishment. This trend has cut across ideologies. After four years the centre-left “traffic-light” German coalition was decisively punished at the ballot box. Acros

The Starmer project was supposed to last a decade, it might not make it to the spring. Despite having one of the largest majorities in parliamentary history, the political project Starmer leads is so brittle it could snap at any moment . How on earth did a man with a majority of 172 seats lead this political project towards near certain disaster in just over a year? The answer, or at least one of them, lies at the very heart of the Starmer project and how it was constructed.

Over the summer, Britain’s shocking disparity in education was laid bare, as circa 40% of students failed their maths and English GCSEs, the worst-performing region being the West Midlands. Despite being the third-largest spending area ( behind only welfare and the NHS ), the UK’s education system is another public service in crisis. Following years of austerity, the lasting effects of COVID-19, and the punishing cost of living crisis, students across all years face the burd

One of the newest episodes of the revived TV show Spitting Image , a stalwart of 1990s political commentary, made a parody of Home Alone . Instead of Kevin, it was Keir being left in Downing Street all by himself. The goons were replaced by Nigel Farage trying to break in. To be fair, he might have been coming to take a look at his next gaff. The episode asked a powerful question. How is it that a Prime Minister, elected with a landslide, is now a mockery, polling as the mo

Since Labour reclaimed power last summer, the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has borne the brunt of much of the criticism directed towards the government. The decisions to scrap winter fuel payments and inheritance tax exemptions on farms struck deep; this was an electorate unprepared for such change and a media that underestimated the UK’s first female occupant of the role being so combative right from the onset. This front-footedness prompted a swift response. Hacks bayed

Never has time felt more like a construct than in the jurors waiting room at Wolverhampton Crown Court – once inside, you’d be hard pushed to guess the decade let alone how long you’d be kept waiting. There are three clocks dotted along the pale blue walls and no television; the Wi-Fi works (just about). Fifties-style dinner ladies are arbitrarily summoned by a bell to dish out fish fingers, chips, and beans whilst queues spring up at the vending machines for hot drinks that

Macron’s France offers a political mirror which Starmer’s Labour ignores at its peril. After years of cautious positioning, Labour has stumbled through the opening phase of government, seemingly unaware of a public exhausted by decline and impatient for visible change. Macron began his project with similar ambitions – technocratic renewal through post-tribal politics – but it has collapsed under a failure to deliver significant structural reform, fracturing the political land

Labour is the party of social justice and compassion, says the party’s website . A title it seems the party will have to unceremoniously drop after its latest populist stunt regarding immigration policy. When the Labour party took power, albeit with little excitement, the reasonable public breathed a sigh of relief. No more hare-brained schemes to transport migrants to Rwanda , no more squabbling about ‘economic migrants’ , and finally a government filled with capable ministe

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood’s proposed asylum reforms received high praise from Reform leader Nigel Farage and notorious far-right activist Tommy Robinson. Inspired by Denmark’s asylum model , Mahmood’s reforms include refugees having to reclaim asylum every two and a half years, refugees needing to be in the UK for twenty years before they can apply for permanent residency, harsher interpretations of the ECHR frameworks regarding family reunion, and the seizing of high-v

As Zohran Mamdani seizes New York City, what does this 34-year-old’s feat say about politicians further afield? On November 4 th , Zohran Kwame Mamdani became the first Muslim to be elected to the New York City mayoralty, and the youngest since 1892. He brings a disconcerting contrast to the front door of his adversaries, which include the President himself, whilst raising the crucial question of how the Democrats will use this new method of politics to restore orthodoxy. Mam

It was meant to be different. When Labour rode to a massive 174 seat majority in July 2024, despite a palpable lack of excitement about the Keir Starmer project, a feeling that at least the adults were back in the room prevailed. Even if Starmer’s Labour lacked ideas and energy, they would at least provide a period of stability for a country in desperate need of calm leadership. Ministers such as Rachel Reeves, David Lammy, Ed Miliband and Bridget Phillipson had spent signi

The sudden announcement of a new left-wing party led by Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana shook UK politics. The new movement has already achieved a record breaking membership, reaching over half a million people . Yet, almost imminently, the party faced inner party divisions, causing the co-founders to face mass criticism across the media and on the left. Understandably, the potential of “Your Party’ is now somewhat marred. Could it fragment the left vote, creating opportuniti

Some time ago, on the Ides of March, an article of mine was published on historical thresholds. In it I observed that there are interregnums which, once crossed, see us like Dorothy in Oz - standing in a different world. Following Angela Rayner’s resignation, the Labour Party have reached a new threshold. A Cabinet and Ministerial re-shuffle, and the election of a new Deputy Leader, could each amount to more than a historical footnote. Some hope is proffered by these chang

Keir Starmer has always reminded me of one of those schoolteachers – the perfectly decent, dithering kind whom good kids pity, and bad...

Before he became the UK’s most famous metro mayor, Andy Burnham was just a regular politician, an MP. This Andy Burnham was a rather...

It’s been a brutal few weeks for the Labour Party. Starmer’s post-summer “relaunch” lasted all of 48 hours before the wheels fell off....

Most politicians try, desperately, to be normal - and most politicians fail at being normal. Our leaders and elected representatives...

Edmund Burke is synonymous with conservatism. The namesake of a foundation that serves the right on both sides of the Atlantic, Burke...