He might resist the framing, but when you strip away the labels and simply ask what the correct answers are to policy issues, you end up with a programme that looks – on most of the biggest subjects – rather conservative. Blair seems to be moving close to Badenoch’s position.
Britain spends vastly more supporting young people onto benefits than helping them into work – and the problem is being failed by Labour policies.
The Conservatives will not be pivotal in Makerfield, but the Tory Party is beginning to wonder about how Makerfield could prove pivotal for them. Over the past week numerous Conservative MPs and CCHQ officials have raised the prospect of an early general election.
Twin by-elections have unleashed a fresh discourse: should there be some sort of electoral pact between the Tories and Reform? The option has been floated by two Conservatives – one current MP, one former MP – as a way of consolidating the right and holding back Burnham, whom they regard as disastrous for the economy.
The Tory Leader’s ratings continue to soar and it seems there is broad contentment with the wider shadow cabinet, but still Westminster talks about a reshuffle of fresh faces.
As rumours swirl around Wes Streeting, the Government’s legislative agenda looks thinner than ever. The Tory leader offered something Westminster has seen little of lately: an argument about governing.
Having cheered the downfall of Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister now confronts the same fate himself. If this is meant to be Starmer fighting for survival, one wonders what surrender would look like.
Even as Badenoch celebrates gains in London, the right-wing vote split is reshaping British politics – and there is a worry Reform will weaponise this to make it look like the Conservative Party doesn’t represent working people.
The Conservatives are hoping that local competence can carry them through this set of elections, but some worry it carries an uncomfortable implication about the national message.
The Tory Party leader’s clarity cuts through – but cannot yet redeem the Conservative name. What will it take to recover in the polls?
I almost want to say thank you to the Green Party, for being the thing that finally pulls my head out from the sand, peels my eyelids open, and forces me to confront what a state British Jews find ourselves in. It is such a deeply sad one that I have desperately not wanted to acknowledge it, and I feel ashamed about that – it doesn’t seem to be an option anymore, and I hope for politicians who could do something about this, they feel similarly.
Labour MPs must now carry not merely a damaged Prime Minister, but a grievously wounded one – and have to explain to their constituents why they thought that vote was a good one, and why they were content to be seen as “complicit in a cover-up”.
The Conservatives may have a procedural route to wound the Prime Minister – but victory is far from straightforward.
Behind the calls for his resignation lies a quieter hope for some Tories that Sir Keir Starmer limps on, dragging Labour down with him.
Sir Keir spoke as though this were all somehow passive, something that only happened to him. Yet he could have asked at any point, particularly after press reports suggested Mandelson had failed vetting. The simpler explanation is that he did not want to know.