Lee Anderson’s Islamophobia 101: how the Conservatives dodge responsibility for the prejudice that is rife in their ranks: Despite the furore, the recent attack on London mayor Sadiq Khan by the now-suspended Conservative MP Lee Anderson should come as no surprise. In much the same way, neither should we be surprised at prime minister Rishi …
Wellingborough and Kingswood byelections: it’s never been this bad for the Conservatives, and it could still get worse: Writing about Conservative byelection calamities has become something of a standard Friday practice for me. But the party’s defeat in Wellingborough in Northamptonshire was particularly brutal. The Tory vote share was a mere 25% and the Conservative …
Why the assumption that British voters switch to the Conservatives as they grow older is wrong: Shutterstock/Olga_Lots If a man is not a socialist by the time he is 20, he has no heart. If he is not a conservative by the time he is 40, he has no brain. At first glance, this quote, …
The Conservatives have seized on cars as a political wedge – it’s a bet on public turning against climate action: “Talking about freedom, sat in Margaret Thatcher’s old Rover” read the UK prime minister’s tweet in July 2023. Earlier that day in an interview with The Telegraph newspaper, Rishi Sunak had declared that the Conservative …
Byelection losses are terrible for the Conservatives – but there are glimmers of hope: It says much of the Conservatives’ current plight that a win of just 495 votes is being hailed with relief inside the party. The Conservatives narrowly avoided a total wipeout in the July 20 trio of byelections, successfully defending Boris Johnson’s former …
Annihilation in the red wall, an exit for a top leadership contender and a parliamentary party stuffed with southerners and Oxbridgers – how losing the next election could shape the Conservatives: The Conservative party is clearly in trouble. Admittedly, opinion polls are snapshots, not predictions, but few pundits would argue Rishi Sunak will find it …
Local elections: what does a good night look like for Keir Starmer’s Labour or Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives?: Thursday May 4 sees one of the biggest English local elections in recent memory. These are huge contests, covering 237 councils, of which 151 are holding all-out elections, with every seat up for grabs. In the other 86, …
70 years of data suggest the Conservatives will suffer a big defeat at the next election — here’s how I worked it out: With the UK’s new prime minister in office, it looks like the political turmoil of the last few months is likely to ease, at least for the time being. Rishi Sunak and …
Rishi Sunak: is it legitimate for the Conservatives to continue in government without an election? A constitutional scholar explains: It is only right to explain why I’m standing here as your new prime minister. These were some of the first words spoken by Rishi Sunak as he made a speech outside Downing Street shortly after …
Liz Truss: are the Conservatives facing an electoral meltdown?: The Conservative party is heading into its annual conference amid the catastrophic fallout from Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-budget. The decision to cut tax without a plan to pay for it caused a sharp fall in the value of the pound on currency markets, which reached an …
Conservatives in crisis: where whipping stops and blackmail begins: Whips are key players in Westminster. They act as a two-way channel of communication between the party leadership and backbench MPs, feeding information from the leadership to MPs and vice versa. If the leadership wants MPs to vote a certain way, it’s the job of the …
US abortion law: supreme court stacked with conservatives bodes ill for women’s rights: The US supreme court’s failure to block a new law entering into force in Texas means that abortions after six weeks are effectively banned in that state, even in cases of rape or incest. In the case – Whole Woman’s Health v. …
Many conservatives have a difficult relationship with science – we wanted to find out why: Shutterstock Many scientific findings continue to be disputed by politicians and parts of the public long after a scholarly consensus has been established. For example, nearly a third of Americans still do not accept that fossil fuel emissions cause climate …
Britain’s changing religious vote: why Catholics are leaving Labour and Conservatives are hoovering up Christian support: The past six years have seen the old rules of British politics torn up. Identities such as “Tory”, “Labour”, “working class” or “middle class” have been replaced by “Remainer” or “Brexiteer” and voters are deserting their traditional parties. The …
How Trump’s America changed political satire – for both liberals and conservatives: Even before Donald Trump was elected in 2016, he had been providing America’s late night TV show hosts with ample fodder for comedy. These late night TV shows are the spearhead of political satire for liberal America, and many take their orientation from …
Ruth Davidson resignation: where does it leave Scottish Conservatives – and the Union?: Few could have foreseen that a young, gay, working-class woman would transform the fortunes of the Conservative party in Scotland when she became leader eight years ago. But that’s exactly what Ruth Davidson did. Almost singlehandedly, she is responsible for her party’s …
Labour’s only hope of beating the Conservatives in Wales is a Plaid Cymru alliance: It’s been more than a fortnight since the story broke of a general election poll for Wales so sensational that even the British press sat up and paid attention – and the buzz has yet to die down. The poll, conducted …
ELECTION 2017: Strong and stable leadership: inside the Conservatives’ election slogan: If you've heard an interview with any Conservative politician during the current election campaign, you've probably heard the phrase “strong and stable leadership”. Theresa May used the phrase three times in seven minutes on the day she announced the vote. : Weird News ‘U’ …