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Author: David Herdson

Outsiders have rarely become PM – but that doesn’t mean they couldn’t have done

Outsiders have rarely become PM – but that doesn’t mean they couldn’t have done

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By Photo: Sergeant Tom Robinson Besides, the ‘rules’ might be changing TSE wrote last week that “on all seven occasions since World War II when parties have changed PM mid-term, the new PM has always been an incumbent of a great office of state”. He might have gone further. Other than in war-time, with two exceptions, every prime minister between Palmerston and May who succeeded a member of their own party or coalition, had either been Chancellor or Foreign Secretary…

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The road to No Deal: Brexit’s Rubik’s Cube may simply be too difficult

The road to No Deal: Brexit’s Rubik’s Cube may simply be too difficult

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There are too many conflicting interests to simultaneously satisfy Rubik’s cubes were very much a craze when I was at primary school in the early 1980s. I had one, my friends had one and millions of people across the world had them. No-one I know ever solved one though. Sure, you could solve one side easily enough but to solve all six? Certainly it was possible – you saw people on television doing it – but we simply didn’t understand…

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If there is a Tory leadership election, it could go turbo

If there is a Tory leadership election, it could go turbo

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We shouldn’t assume that the next one will follow the path of the previous Theresa May has had a surprisingly good week. For one thing, she’s still prime minister. This is, admittedly, setting the bar quite low but it was nothing like a foregone conclusion that she’d still be safe in post today, this time last week. Instead, she’s being praised for handling Trump’s visit with tact and dignity despite his provocations. That comes on top of the government having…

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Three Lions: just maybe

Three Lions: just maybe

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HwBqf7f294 The perfect football song to capture the national mood I should start by apologising to Scots, Welsh and Northern Irish. This is a thread about England. It is also a thread about the continual disappointment and thwarted dreams that England’s national football team has visited on its fans so on that basis, perhaps fans from elsewhere will forgive me. On one level, England’s record in major football finals tournaments is quite impressive. Today’s match is the seventeenth time that…

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May’s Straw Man

May’s Straw Man

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The Chequers Brexit Plan is about winning the blame game Works away days invariably disappoint their participants and for all the beauty of the surroundings, the cabinet’s day out at Chequers won’t have been much different. Twelve hours of intensive discussions in literal hot-house conditions, to hammer out a Brexit policy that they could all stick to is surely no-one’s idea of fun. Even those politicians who have long dreamt of Britain leaving the European Union, the agreement of a…

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Trump’s big deal: the Supreme Court

Trump’s big deal: the Supreme Court

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Wikimedia Commons November permitting, buying off evangelicals with nominations could change the future of America Donald Trump regards himself as the great deal-maker. As president, there’s not an awful lot of evidence to support his contention but then he’s never much been one for being overly worried about the evidence. Nearly a year and a half into his term, there’s no wall, nor any realistic prospect of one, his immigration reforms have resulted in concentration camps for children separated from…

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If you can’t join them, beat them: Denmark, football, Maastricht and Brexit’s genesis

If you can’t join them, beat them: Denmark, football, Maastricht and Brexit’s genesis

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David Herdson looks back to 1992 They shouldn’t even have been there, and had it not been for the disintegration of Yugoslavia, they wouldn’t have been. However, they didn’t let their second chance go to waste and as the leaders of the twelve EC members met in Lisbon, the plucky Danes overturned the natural order of things and defeated Germany’s assumed unstoppable progress. As metaphors went, the football team’s 2-0 victory was perfect. 24 days earlier, the Danish electorate had…

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Britain’s brittle stalemate

Britain’s brittle stalemate

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Lewisham East reveals the essential weakness of all three national parties Interpreting by-election results is very much in the eye of the beholder. Some, it’s true, are unambiguous in their outcome for one party or another. Lewisham East is not one such. Labour can happily chalk up that they got the job done without fuss. They won the seat and no clear challenger arose. However, it was nothing like a ringing endorsement. The turnout was dire (only the 16th occasion…

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