Browsed by
Author: TSE

Picking the nation’s leader. Why the Conservatives are running out of options

Picking the nation’s leader. Why the Conservatives are running out of options

Comments 0 Comment

We’ve been here before. For the second time in less than a year, the Conservatives are on the brink of replacing a leader between elections while in power. Yet right now they are in such a tizz, they aren’t considering some of the critical considerations that such a responsibility entails. If the Conservatives replace Theresa May, they are not just choosing a new leader for themselves but the nation’s Prime Minister. They will find it unusually difficult to justify replacing…

Read More Read More

The first leader out betting. (Also known as how much the world has changed in the last ten days)

The first leader out betting. (Also known as how much the world has changed in the last ten days)

Comments 0 Comment

THE SUNDAY TIMES: "Tories tell May: You have 10 days" #tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/8TZEB20YuI — Helena Wilkinson (@BBCHelena) June 17, 2017 Corbyn is set to see off his second Tory Prime Minster in just his first two years as Labour leader. Paddy Power have a market up on who will resign first, Theresa May or Jeremy Corbyn, judging by the reports in today’s papers that 1/12 looks like value, though I’m not backing it, given the other side of the bet is…

Read More Read More

The biggest loser. How Nicola Sturgeon did even worse than TMay

The biggest loser. How Nicola Sturgeon did even worse than TMay

Comments 0 Comment

Alastair Meeks who correctly predicted the SNP tsunami of 2015 and that the SNP would lose their majority at Holyrood in 2016 looks over last week’s Scottish general election results. General elections are like forest fires for party leaders.  Within 24 hours of the 2015 election, Ed Mliband, Nick Clegg and Nigel Farage had all resigned.  Paul Nuttall resigned as promptly after last week’s election, after the disappointing but expected loss of UKIP’s sole MP.  Tim Farron resigned before a…

Read More Read More

Playing it long. When will this Parliament end?

Playing it long. When will this Parliament end?

Comments 0 Comment

This Parliament likely to go full 5 year distance. Only 2 by elections in Tory seats in 2010-2015 Parliament, excluding UKIP defectors. 1/2 — Nick Macpherson (@nickmacpherson2) June 12, 2017 Tories have no incentive to overturn Fixed Term Parliament Act. 2/2 — Nick Macpherson (@nickmacpherson2) June 12, 2017 A look at when the next election might take place Clearly we haven’t had enough elections recently.  In the last three years we’ve been treated to the Scottish independence referendum, the May…

Read More Read More

Don’t laugh at us, Argentina

Don’t laugh at us, Argentina

Comments 0 Comment

The referendum has not harmed growth, investment or confidence. The *possibility* of a Corbyn Government could be a different matter. — Daniel Hannan (@DanielJHannan) June 13, 2017 A lot can happen in a hundred years or so.  On the eve of the First World War, the United Kingdom was a United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, but it didn’t look very united at all.  The nation was on the point of civil war, with the Conservatives openly allied with…

Read More Read More

It’s time for Labour to push back against Tory plastic patriotism

It’s time for Labour to push back against Tory plastic patriotism

Comments 0 Comment

Labour has allowed the Conservative party to question its patriotism and take sole ownership of the Union Jack. That is a mistake, says Joff Wild – particularly in light of what has happened over recent years Theresa May, we are told, has bought herself sometime after appearing in front of the 1922 Committee and taking responsibility for the general election campaign and the result it delivered. “I got us into this mess,” she is reported to have told her backbench…

Read More Read More

A look at the DUP and what supporting the government would mean

A look at the DUP and what supporting the government would mean

Comments 0 Comment

The election in Northern Ireland was an enormously dispiriting one for me. As a Unionist who is a former liberal Tory I threw my hat in with the UUP a number of years ago, before joining them last year. When I first started working with them the new Stormont Opposition (UUP/SDLP) was box fresh and ready to try and land blows on the DUP/SF Executive. It was difficult to get a foothold in a place that isn’t really used to…

Read More Read More

Prime Minister Theresa May Episode II

Prime Minister Theresa May Episode II

Comments 0 Comment

All learning, it is said, is a form of humiliation.  There is no doubt that Theresa May has been humiliated by the events of the last few days.  She has lost her majority, she has lost her authority and she may yet lose her job.  Yet for now she remains in harness and she has the opportunity to learn from what has happened. Just a few weeks ago, the Prime Minister stood confidently above all that she surveyed.  Her popularity…

Read More Read More