No. Labour aren’t going to privatise the NHS. I have seen multiple claims on social media that Labour will expand privatisation of the NHS if elected. Mostly these claims come from the Green Party, or from the anti-Labour left. The leader of the Greens made the same claim in the debate last night. This makes … Read more
With Trump now a convicted felon it is hard to see a path for him back to the White House. Even before this Trump’s campaign was doing badly. The majority of the money raised goes into paying his legal fees rather than campaigning, and money talks in US politics. Trump doesn’t have enough of it … Read more
Rishi Sunak called a snap General Election to try and catch Labour on the wrong foot. All he managed to do was wrong foot his own party, leaving them totally unprepared for a campaign which Labour were well up for. By any standards this has been a terrible start to a campaign. Sunak was caught … Read more
A small wet man has called a General Election, and lots of people are looking forward to multiple Portillo moments. For those too young to remember the 1997 General Election Michael Portillo was an unpopular cabinet minister who lost his seat to a young Labour candidate. It came to symbolise the crushing defeat the Tories … Read more
Conservatives are in deep trouble. The British Conservatives were wiped out in the latest local elections, and face a similar fate in at the coming General Election. In the US the entire conservative movement is a hostage to the fortunes of Donald Trump, slumped in a court room hearing his most sordid actions read … Read more
In amongst all of the elections going on the North East is electing 2 new Mayors in May. On Teesside Ben “Porkbarrel” Houchen, the Conservative incumbent has a fight on with Labour’s Chris “honest and sensible” McKewan. No guessing how I would be voting for, if I still lived down there. The rest of the … Read more
This week Rachel Reeves delivered the Mais lecture, setting out Labour’s economic policy. For those who don’t follow such things the Mais lecture takes place at the Bayes business school in London, and for a future Chancellor of the Exchequer this is a big thing. This is where Nigel Lawson explained Thatcherism, Gordon Brown … Read more
One of the lesser known parts of a UK General Election are the meetings between the main opposition party and the civil service. In the months approaching a potential change in Government the main opposition party presents it’s programme for government to the civil service. Sometimes, like 1997, this is a detailed programme … Read more
Last week I published a very slightly tongue in cheek blog about how the Conservatives might change the outcome of the next election. I hope you don’t mind another one before we get back to serious stuff. On Easter Sunday 2024 The Sunday Telegraph front page has a scoop. Boris Johnson is the new leader of … Read more
I am not a conspiracy theorist, although I love conspiracy theories. Ever since the X Files I have been fascinated by them. I don’t, however, feel the need to believe in them. Except maybe for one political conspiracy theory, about how someone might rig a UK General Election. In 1985 the Representation of the People Act was … Read more