Edinburgh Fringe Diary: Tuesday
- 30 Jul 2019
I know now that whenever I go on a trip I usually incur a series of mini disasters along the way. Today was no different. I had arranged for my local MP in Norfolk, Keith Simpson, to provide a taxi service and pick me up at 8am to take me to Norwich International Airport - the...
Announcing my new Book: Why Can't We All Just Get Along
- 30 Jul 2019
I'm really excited to tell you that today HarperCollins is announcing they have signed me up to write a new book, for publication in June 2020. It's called WHY CAN'T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG: HOW TO DISAGREE WITHOUT LOSING FRIENDS. It's all about the decline in public discourse, ...
How Boris Really Became Prime Minister - A Counterfactual
- 24 Jul 2019
Duncan Brack and I have published three books of counterfactual essays over the last 15 years or so. Prime Minister Portillo And Other Things That Never Happened was the first, published in 2003. Prime Minister Boris And Other Things That Never Happened followed in 2016, with ...
Keith Simpson's Summer 2019 Reading List
- 10 Jul 2019
By Keith Simpson MP We live in a time without precedent with all the old political certainties challenged and the reputation of politicians at an all time low. Exhausted by Brexit and the failure to deliver MPs are nervous and skittish with the Conservatives electing a new...
A Tribute to Ernie Horth
- 26 Jun 2019
Today I should be attending the funeral of Ernie Horth in Norwich. And I feel incredibly guilty that I won't be there to pay tribute to someone who to everyone involved in Norwich Conservatives in the 1980s and 1990s was an absolute legend. Pic: From left to right - Joa...
CNNTalk Comes to an End - It's Been a Blast
- 23 Jun 2019
Above: The final CNNTalk with the core team 24/6/19 In May 2017 CNN International started a show called CNNTalk. It started out as a once a week panel show with Max Foster presenting, with me, Ayesha Hazarika and Liam Halligan as the panelists. We'd discuss one subject ...
Mark Field & the Greenpeace Protester: What I Really Think
- 21 Jun 2019
I have to say Good Morning Britain didn't exactly do me any favours this morning when they put out a 30 second clip which people have interpreted as defending the actions of Mark Field at the Mansion House dinner last night. Twitter has gone mental saying how dare I say what I...
WATCH: My Nine Interviews with the Tory Leadership Candidates
- 19 Jun 2019
The candidates for the Conservative Party leadership will each go head-to-head with LBC’s Iain Dale and the station’s listeners in a series of one-hour programmes this month. In the race to be Prime Minister, the ...
The Channel 4 Leaders Debate: Who Did Well... Or Not?
- 17 Jun 2019
This is an article I wrote for the Telegraph which went live on their website an hour after the end of the Channel 4 News Tory leadership debate. Michael Gove Every underdog candidate in a leadership election needs a game-changing moment, and Michael Gove needs this more...
More Guests Revealed for 'Iain Dale All Talk' at the Edinburgh Fringe
- 13 Jun 2019
In April I revealed I am doing a 12 day long run at this year's Edinburgh Fringe, with a show called IAIN DALE - ALL TALK. Well today I can announce we've expanded the run to 24 shows, following the opportunity to take over another venue due to a cancellation. So instead o...
Conservative Party Game of Thrones: Episode 3
- 9 Jun 2019
Each weekend for the duration of this leadership contest I'll be charting who's up and who's fortunes are on the decline in the Tory Party's equivalent of the Game of Thrones... - Boris Johnson - Picking up a good range of supporters from across the country. Did wel...
D Day Remembered - A Trip to the Normandy Beaches
- 5 Jun 2019
My Dad was nine when the Second World War broke out. For him, the war defined his whole life. He was 15 when it ended. To the day he died, two years ago he devoured every programme he can watch about it. His TV was permanently tuned to the History Channel or the Discovery Chan...
Conservative Party Games of Thrones: Episode 2
- 1 Jun 2019
Each weekend for the duration of this leadershop contest I'll be charting who's up and who's fortunes are on the decline in the Tory Party's equivalent of the Game of Thrones... - Boris Johnson - Boosted by the ridiculous court case he now faces. +2 Michael Gove ...
The Sophistry of Interpreting the European Election Results & Why a General Election is now More Likely
- 27 May 2019
A lot of spin has gone on to try to present the European elections as some sort of triumph for one side or the other. The truth of the matter is that the result continues to show a country split down the middle. The referendum vote share has barely moved. Can we first of a...
There Must be No Tory Leadership 'Coronation'
- 27 May 2019
This is an unedited version of my Sunday Telegraph column. Just as the last four Tory prime ministers have been defenestrated by the issue of Europe, the next one will almost certainly be defined by it. It will also dominate the imminent leadership campaign, as each cand...
Conservative Party Game of Thrones: Week 1
- 26 May 2019
Each weekend for the duration of this leadershop contest I'll be charting who's up and who's fortunes are on the decline in the Tory Party's equivalent of the Game of Thrones... Boris Johnson - Bookies favourite but will his no deal remarks in Switzerland come back ...
My Personal Memories of Theresa May
- 24 May 2019
I sat at home watching Theresa May's statement in Downing Street willing her to get through it without breaking down. Forget what you think of her record as Prime Minister, this was a deeply human moment. Journalism is the first draft of history, and it may well be the cas...
If You Haven't Decided Who to Vote For Yet...
- 21 May 2019
We are only a few days away from polling day in the European Elections. I thought it might be helpful to pull together all the interviews and debates I've hosted during the campaign in one place. If you haven't made up your mind, watching some of these might help... ...
Let's Not Do God in Our Politics
- 19 May 2019
When I first went to the United States in 1987, I was proud to support the Republican Party of Ronald Reagan. There were a few differences between the Republicans and the UK Conservative Party, but there was little doubt that they were sister parties. Since the mid-1990s, t...