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June 7th 2022

The Tide is High

Luck is a thing that is there until it isn’t. And today Boris Johnson’s luck began to evaporate. He won, yes. But he won like you win when the doctor tells you that it’s months...
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April 22nd 2022

Lazy Afternoons

One of Boris Johnson’s secret weapons is his ability to ‘sit it out’. There’s not a lot to this, of course. But it is difficult to pull off nonetheless. Crises have their own magnetic power...
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February 4th 2022

Sad, Sad Situation

The human drama of our politics has seldom been so raw as last night’s events. Munira Mirza is not simply a departing aid. Her utility to Johnson went far beyond her impressive grasp of policy...
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January 24th 2022

Bad choices

It is not just Boris Johnson’s career that is on the line this week, it is the immediate electoral future of the Conservative Party. Many Tory MPs are waiting for Sue Gray to report before...
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December 17th 2021

Last Christmas?

You win some, you lose some. And for governments that have been in office for over a decade, when it comes to midterm by-elections, more often than not; you lose some. Why, then, does the...
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December 16th 2021

That's me in the corner

In politics, one of the benefits of winning - and being in government - is that your successes are there for all to see. The downside, of course, is that so are your failings. Our...
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December 15th 2021

Run to the hills

Prime Ministers always enjoy de jure authority - over their country, over their party. But it is an office that is impossible to maintain if you lose de facto authority. And for any Prime Minister...
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Knned
December 8th 2021

Savoy Truffle

“It’s all baked in.” That’s the line you’ll hear from lots of very clever political observers and commentators when it comes to Boris Johnson’s personal improprieties. The theory runs that the public know that Johnson...
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November 4th 2021

The Man in the Mirror

This morning the Prime Minister is, apparently, asking his aides how they could have put him in the terrible position in which he finds himself. Having twisted dozens of arms in order to spare Owen...
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The House Alaways Wins
September 17th 2021

The House Always Wins

It is easy to mock a Cabinet reshuffle that results in Dominic Raab being appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Nadine Dorries taking the reins at Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. To the interested outsider Boris...
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May 12th 2021

Face Off

In our note last week - centred on the result of the Hartlepool by-election and emerging English local results - we highlighted the structural shift occurring in Labour’s vote and drew a comparison with post-Indyref...
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May 8th 2021

Shape Shifter

There’s no way of dressing up these results - as they continue to trickle in - as anything other than a disaster for Keir Starmer’s Labour Party. Yes, the vaccine programme has given the Government...
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April 16th 2021

Bad Blood

There is a war being fought at the heart of Downing Street and it is being fought on multiple fronts. In some ways the sheer level of mess involved helps the Prime Minister. When a...
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March 3rd 2021

Waiting for my man

In our pre-budget note, we said that Rishi Sunak’s ideological and political interests were pulling in different directions and that - therefore - relative stasis was the likely result. And to a certain extent, the...
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Rishi
February 23rd 2021

Meet me at the crossroads

On Monday, the Prime Minister laid out his plan for unlocking the country. It was not - obviously - the first time that he had made such an announcement. We had one in Spring last...
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