Articles tagged Boris Johnson:
Will Liz Truss Read the Writing on the Wall? And Other Pertinent Questions
- 15 Oct 2022
Friday turned out not to be the end for Liz Truss. But it did mark the beginning of the end. And rightly so. I have no idea why people are surprised. Right from the start of the leadership contest I said she was not fit for the job. She is a terrible communicator and has a tin...
Goodbye Boris, Hello Liz
- 4 Sep 2022
I’ve been of voting age for 42 years. I’m used to having prime ministers who are in office for a long time. For 35 of those 42 years we had prime ministers who served for at least six years. Latterly we’ve had three PMs who’ve only managed only three each. Historically, this i...
Reflections on the Vote of Confidence in Boris Johnson
- 6 Jun 2022
Tonight’s vote is a numbers game. That may seem like a statement of the bleedin’ obvious, but it’s not just about the Prime Minister winning a majority of one. Churchill once said a win is a win and one is enough. In normal circumstances that might be true, but we are not in n...
Can Boris Johnson Survive Breaking the Law?
- 12 Apr 2022
Over the last few months I have been very critical of the Prime Minister and his government, not least over their handling of the Ukrainian refugees, the approach to helping the worst off with the cost of living crisis and then gay conversion therapy. No one ever remem...
Telegraph Column: Ireland & Brexit, Bisexuality & Boris's Holiday
- 13 Oct 2021
This article first appeared in the Daily Telegraph. The Irish Foreign Minister, Simon Coveney, is never short of a few words. And they are words which generally make a situation worse. Given the issues facing Ireland, the UK and the EU over the Northern Ireland Protoco...
My Take on Boris Johnson's Conference Speech
- 6 Oct 2021
It’s a wrap. Or is it rap? The party conference season has closed, and Boris Johnson has walked off stage to the usual standing ovation, even if he didn’t hang around to bask in it. A kiss with Carrie and then off the stage, through the crowds and into the prime ministerial li...
Telegraph Column: Zoom Parliament? Never Again
- 8 Sep 2021
Rachel Johnson once accused her brother of using the Commons Dispatch Box as a “bully pulpit”. It was intended as an insult but this week we will find dozens of MPs doing much the self-same thing, and a very good thing too. For 18 months we have experienced a neutered Parliame...
The Consequences of Matt Hancock's Resignation & Have we Reached 'Peak Johnson'?
- 26 Jun 2021
When I woke up at 5.25am on Friday, I checked my phone and saw the front page of The Sun. I actually exclaimed: “F*****g hell”, as opposed to “F*****g hopeless.” I was due on air on Good Morning Britain an hour later with Jacqui Smith. We were both staying in the same hotel so...
Boris Johnson Needs to Grip the Exam Crisis & Grip it Today
- 17 Aug 2020
When you're in a political hole, the best thing to do is stop digging. You collect your thoughts, then you devise a strategy to climb out of the hole. That's what Gavin Williamson should be doing now. He needs to do it quickly because that hole is about to treble in size when ...
Cummings & (Not) Goings
- 24 May 2020
I write this as the Prime Minister has announced he's standing by Dominic Cummings and a lot of what follows is based on a Twitter thread that I posted last night. I've been in isolation for 67 days in Kent. I could have driven 158 miles to my house in Norfolk, where in the...