October 11th 2023
A Working Class Hero Is Something To Be
Keir Starmer made the intent of his leader’s speech explicitly clear at the outset and in the surrounding briefings. His plan for Labour had always had three, distinct stages. First, he wanted to fix the...
October 6th 2023
A New Flower of Scotland
If you find yourself on the Glasgow to Liverpool train today, don’t be surprised if you find a couple of battle-hardened Labour activists popping the M&S prosecco amongst the ubiquitous hen dos and lads weekends...
October 5th 2023
Rogue Trader
Imagine your house needs an extension. You find a builder, you commission plans, you battle your council for permission, and you’re ready to go. Down comes your back wall, the kitchen is stripped out, foundations...
September 22nd 2023
Any Old Iron
How many bins is too many bins? Rishi Sunak believes the answer to that crucial question is ‘7’. And now that he is Prime Minister he is very clear that he will wield his power...
September 4th 2023
Back to School
Another brick in the wall
After the summer season of exam results, today the moment finally came when the shadow front bench were presented with their grades by Head Master Starmer....
July 21st 2023
A Swing and a Miss
By-elections don’t really tell you anything about the likely outcome of a general election, except when they do. There are a range of factors that might make one take the results in Selby, Somerton and...
July 7th 2023
Super-Massive Black Hole
Sometimes, however unfairly, the past cannot be kept in the past. It rears its ugly head in the mirror - often at the moment it is least welcome. This is as true in politics as...
June 23rd 2023
“I’m totally, 100% on it.”
Not, this time, fizzy beverages for our self-declared “total Coke addict” PM. No. This week, Sunak has been reassuring the nation - in the style of a particularly desperate Apprentice contestant - that he is...
June 9th 2023
Lodestone Political Note – Long Road Ahead
Most of us have been there. Sat in the tranquil, a little too quiet living room of the very nice home off to which an elderly relative has been shipped. Trying not to let the...
May 12th 2023
Empire of Dirt
With the dust settled on the local elections, all eyes are fixed on this parliament’s next, final, electoral showdown: we are on the downward slope towards a General Election. How the outcome of the last...
May 5th 2023
Sweet relief
The overwhelming feeling amongst senior Labour strategists and campaigners this morning is neither elation nor excitement. It is relief. The local election results so far – and the best for Labour are likely yet to...
April 21st 2023
Taking care of business
John Major was not really, personally, particularly unpopular. He was way below Blair in the run up to the 1997 General Election, sure. But he wasn’t hated. His party, on the other hand, was widely...
