George Osborne
Lies, damned lies and…
A Ryanair plane in a Stansted hangar was not the best backdrop for George Osborne’s claim that the economic argument…
Have we sacrificed a quarter’s growth to answer the European question?
Has the shadow of Brexit already cost us a slice of GDP — and if so, is it a blip…
Boris needs you!
The former mayor of London makes his case for Brexit
Brexit Tories are feeling disrespected. How awful
There are moments when one wonders whether one is seeing and hearing the same things as others. For me such…
Cut the claptrap
So far the campaign for the EU referendum has resembled a contest as to which side can spin the most…
Cameron’s heading for a hollow victory
‘Nothing except a battle lost can be half as melancholy as a battle won,’ wrote the Duke of Wellington after…
How to save Conservatism
Iain Duncan Smith on the fallout from his shock resignation
The wisdom of pitchfork-wielding crowds
In a way the headline to my fellow columnist Dominic Lawson’s Sunday Times commentary on 12 April said it all.…
Sex, lies and tax returns
The confected scandal around the Panama papers is part of a concerted and sinister attempt to change what counts as private
The Spectator’s notes
However wicked tax evasion is and however distasteful some tax avoidance may be, people should imagine a world without tax…
Power failure
A fortnight ago, the energy minister, Andrea Leadsom, declared grandly that Britain, alone in the world, would commit to a…
Osborne’s on the back foot but his Living Wage deserves praise
It was unfashionable of me to write in praise of George Osborne on Budget day. I did so, you may…
Spectator’s Notes
Why have David Cameron and George Osborne overreached? Why are so many in their own party no longer disposed to…
The Conservative crack-up
Months after a historic election victory, party unity is in pieces. What can Cameron do about it?
Portrait of the week
Home In the Budget, George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, kept talking of the ‘next generation’. He outlined cuts…
Budget brings the focus back to Britain
George Osborne used to tell his aides to prepare every budget as if it were their last: to throw in…
Why Osborne’s Budget bolsters the case for leaving Europe
Give thanks for George Osborne — and I don’t say that because I happen to be writing this column on…
Portrait of the week
Home The Bank of England arranged for banks to be able to borrow as much money as they needed around…
Osborne can still see off Boris
When George Osborne last stood up to deliver a budget, he had reached his post-election apotheosis. His economic (and political)…
This great commodity rally doesn’t mean that spring has arrived
All in all, this is an odd moment for an outburst of high spirits: not from me — I’m as…
The debt monster
All the signs have been pointing to a new recession – and we’re much less equipped to weather it than last time
The Tory dogfight
The Brexit campaign has only just started to demonstrate its strength
Emma Thompson’s wrong, and not just about the EU
At first glance, Emma Thompson’s intervention in the Brexit debate earlier this week didn’t make much sense. Asked at the…
How is it where you live? A tale of two nations and a message for George
Upbeat or downbeat? I asked last month whether the mood where you live is energised by enterprise or demoralised by…
Portrait of the week
Home Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, prepared a paper on the four areas of concern between Britain…
