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Reform needs a reality check I can’t imagine being Keir Starmer at the moment. You’d imagine, with 403 MPs, that it was easier than ever to be Prime Minister: with that many backbenchers, bills amount to decrees. Reality begs to differ. Having promised not to raise taxes on working people, the nearest available method to filling the “black hole” — cutting spending — has been scuppered too. A revolt by Labour backbenchers has gutted his ministry’s attempt to reform welfare spending. In the most recent edition of Prime Ministers’ Questions, following this U-turn, he failed to confirm that Rachel Reeves would keep her job, leaving the Chancellor in tears. Ordinarily, a series of Labour faults of this sort would put the ball firmly in the Tory court. In the 70s, “Labour isn’t working” meant “Vote Conservative” — the implication was obvious. However, the trends of the past twelve months suggest that Reform has been best positioned to capitalise on Labour failures. National popular vote poll...
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Is Reform Inevitable?

Everyone, even centrist-in-chief Rory Stewart, agrees that Britain needs reform. Crime, violent and petty, goes unpunished. Economic growth has flatlined since the Great Financial Crisis. Britons, especially young ones, are ashamed of their country. There lies the fundamental appeal of the Reform campaign: the current way, however articulated, isn't working and so the country needs something radically different. The party catapulted itself to the third most popular in Britain at the summer's General Election with a bold promise to break the two-party duopoly, reduce net migration to zero from its sky-high startpoint, and simultaneously cut taxes for everyone while reducing the budget. First Past the Post's tendency to protect established players prevented Reform from winning more than five seats outright. Nonetheless, the party's millions of votes nationwide made it a kingmaker in numerous constituencies and inaugurated a new era in British politics. The Labour Party...
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What does MAGA mean?

Emboldened by electoral victory last November, Trump is governing unrestrained. He straddles the Western hemisphere as Punch's Rhodes did Africa, spanning everything from the Panama Canal to Greenland and the Great White North with the threat of mass deportations, import tariffs, and outright annexations. That he is discussing the futures of sovereign countries with democratically elected, internationally recognised leaders is all but a footnote to his one-page memorandum to see America win again. He wields his baton of choice, tarriff by executive order, with all the confidence of a Victorian policeman. It is increasingly clear, where it was not before, what Trump's priorities will be in his second term. Confusion abounded between November and January as to what Trump 2.0 would look like. His executive branch nominees included both union fanatics and business leaders, both loyalist lawyers and venture capitalists. A rift appeared in the MAGA coalition following the appointment...
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It's Not Too Late to Choose Jenrick

Starmergeddon has reminded us that being in opposition is much easier than running the country. While good governance requires making the "tough choices" to which Starmer and Reeves have alluded, opposition consists of identifying the Government's failures and presenting one's party as the common sense replacement. The Conservatives have played to this natural advantage, organising opposition to the Government's plans to de-universalise the Winter Fuel Allowance for over-65s and introduce inheritance tax on agricultural estates. The Tories batted well to defend their target voters, painting the Labour Party as incalculably cruel by comparison. The 'Family Farm Tax', as it was soon monikered, was even more fertile ground politically. Britain's farmers, stewards of our green and pleasant land, were heroes in conflict with a cabal of metropolitan left-wingers who sought to undermine their  way of life . While reliable polling of public opinion is not yet ...
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On English Identity

After Kemi Badenoch's McFarce earlier this week, Conservative leadership hopeful Robert Jenrick is emerging as the champion of the party's right-wing, and the outright frontrunner in the four-way contest. In an opinion piece for the Daily Mail, that megaphone of Middle England, Jenrick claimed that left-liberal policies on immigration and the culture had "put the very idea of England at risk." Without detailing the minutiae of what constitutes Englishness, Jenrick awoke the dormant conversation surrounding the identity of the largest nation in the Union. What was once the preserve of irrelevant, eschewed political parties, such as the English Democrats, is now contested on Sky News, and in that sense, Jenrick has already won the day by bringing the issue to the attention of the public. In addition to his predictable commitments to having Britain leave the ECHR, the Tory candidate has reminded us that England matters too, advertising himself as the man to revive the C...
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Obstructions to Freedom in Britain

Britain finally took sentencing seriously this summer. Despite previous announcements that prisons were incapable of absorbing more convicts, courts stood firmly on the side of order. The use of televised sentencing only heightened perceptions that the crimes committed in the aftermath of the Southport stabbing were particularly egregious. The decision to broadcast sentencing statements to every TV screen in the country was not a ploy to fill up TV programming schedules, but evidence that even TV executives were fully devoted to the mission of His Majesty's Government.  While most Britons supported the crackdown on violent conduct, efforts to police speech surrounding the riots spurred on debate regarding appropriate limits to speech in general. That "grossly offensive" speech is criminalised under the 2003 Communications Act drew the derision of many international observers, including Elon Musk. Whether motivated by genuine support for our speech laws or merely a reflexi...
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The Conservatives Have A Rhetoric Problem

Suella Braverman came under fire for her criticism of the Progress Flag There are few gulfs greater than that between the rhetoric and the policy accomplishments of the Conservative and Unionist Party. The eight years since the Brexit referendum have seen numerous Conservative politicians style themselves as committed traditionalists, supposedly determined to reverse the constitutional and cultural change initiated by New Labour. Nevertheless, despite a General Election victory to the tune of a majority of 80 in 2019, the Conservative Party has brought about an anti-work marginal tax schedule , given up on border control, and presided over a soft-sentencing approach to law and order. Have we had a Conservative Party at all? A perusal of The Telegraph's opinion section at any point between the dampened Downing Street election announcement and polling day itself makes the size of the gulf ghastly. Every week saw a new plea by a Tory parliamentarian or one of their Fleet Street allies...
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