October 2nd 2019
This Ole House
The overwhelming impression of many onlookers, left as an imprint after both main party conferences, is one of unreality. The holding pattern on Brexit is responsible for this strange dislocation. You instinctively feel that something...
September 27th 2019
Gangsta's Paradise
“Nice constitutional democracy you’ve got there... shame if anything happened to it.” Not a direct quote from the Prime Minister, obviously. But a flavour of the sentiment, if you listen to the anger and...
July 25th 2019
We’re The Kids In America
What if you don’t want to be a ‘Prime Minister for all the country’? What if you’ve worked out that you don’t need to be? What if you’ve looked across the Atlantic and observed that...
July 23rd 2019
King of Pain
Are you feeling ‘energetic’? Are you a ‘dude’? Are you ready to let sunshine rule the day? In a surprise to no-one, Boris Johnson has won the leadership of the Conservative Party and, with it...
July 22nd 2019
We All Live In A Yellow Submarine
So there we are, there is now only one major British political party to have never been led by a woman. Jo Swinson has won her party’s top prize and will lead the Lib Dems...
June 26th 2019
I Believe in Miracles
There are two separate major doubts niggling the Johnson campaign. They are linked but they are not the same. The first concerns Mr. Johnson’s private life. Or his ‘character’ as his colleagues have decided to...
June 21st 2019
Wacky Races
One of Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt will be installed as our next Prime Minister at the end of July. Conservative MPs have had their say - whittling ten candidates down to two - and...
June 20th 2019
Oh What A Circus, Oh What A Show
The show is over, the big top is emptying, and the would-be lion tamer is back off to his caravan to lick his wounds. Rory Stewart has had an incredible leadership run. He only joined...
June 18th 2019
Inside the leadership race
Written by Lodestone Associate Andrew Gimson, Contributing Editor to ConservativeHome, and author of Boris: The Adventures of Boris Johnson Boris Johnson’s critics within the parliamentary Conservative party, who are numerous, have made such a hash...
June 7th 2019
Flushed Away
You know that an event has not gone well for a politician if they spend it hiding in a toilet to avoid the press. It’s an old trick and effective, in its way - but...
June 4th 2019
Time is running out to find a viable Stop Boris candidate
Written by Andrew Gimson, a Lodestone Associate, biographer of Boris Johnson and contributing editor to ConservativeHome There comes a point in most selection battles when voters stampede towards the winning side, and thereby convert a...
May 28th 2019
War, War, What Is It Good For?
In the old days we would just have had a civil war and been done with it. The truth is that the polarisation of the British demos is getting worse, not better, as time since...
May 24th 2019
Something Better Change
Nigel Farage has felled another Tory Prime Minister. This time before the results of the vote were even announced. The erstwhile UKIP Leader has been the tail that wagged the Tory dog for years now...
May 14th 2019
Animal Farm
All elections are equal but some elections are more equal than others. Take the round of locals earlier this month. Does it matter that both the Tories and Labour were punished at the polls? Of...
April 18th 2019
Will the Circle be Unbroken?
This was not supposed to happen. Theresa May’s timeline for Brexit was constructed backwards from the upcoming European elections - with the express intention of avoiding them. Article 50 provides a two year window for...