House of Commons
Who chooses assisted suicide in Canada?
Sign of the times A petition for an immediate general election gathered 2.7 million signatures in five days. What are…
The Spectator’s Notes
I wrote recently elsewhere about Jeremy Hunt’s good new book examining unnecessary deaths in the NHS. Someone should write a…
Always entertaining
It is often said that the best political diaries are written by those who dwell in the foothills of power.…
The lockdown delay has triggered a constitutional crisis
It is not the Battle of Marston Moor, but it strikes me that we are now in something of a…
Hops and dreams
It is enough to drive a man to drink. The most glorious weather, so suitable for white Burgundy on a…
There’s nothing wrong with Jacob Rees-Mogg lying down in the Commons
If you are a journalist covering politics this year, every moment is a bad moment to take a holiday. I…
Could the vote on the Brexit deal set a record for a government defeat in the Commons?
Big defeats Could the vote on the Brexit deal set a record for a government defeat in the Commons? Aside…
Is ‘woman’ now an offensive word?
I do not know whether the Speaker of the House of Commons called the present Leader of the House a…
Order, order! In the Commons, you are where you sit
Diet nannies will spend Christmas telling us ‘you are what you eat’ but in the House of Commons ‘you are…
Cameron and Mugabe: spot the difference
It is not what Robert Mugabe would do. Calm down. These are ‘spiv Robert Mugabe antics’, said the Tory backbencher…
Diary
One of my constituents has been in an Indonesian prison since May. Journalist Rebecca Prosser was arrested with her colleague…
Cameron’s Syrian stew
David Cameron doesn’t do regret. It is not in his nature to sit and fret about decisions that he has…
Surviving the purge
Labour’s centrist forces could take years to recover. Or forever
Letters
Trimming the ermine Sir: I am a new boy in the House of Lords compared with Viscount Astor — though…
Barometer
Steam privatisation Cunard celebrated its 175th birthday by sailing three liners down the Mersey. The formation of the Cunard Line…
Hyperides vs Jack Straw
In responding as they did to the Daily Telegraph ‘sting’, Jack Straw and Sir Malcolm Rifkind may well have done…
Inequality, not socialism, is now the greatest threat to conservatism
Had the public been asked, before Monday morning, to identify two MPs who stood for honesty and decency, the names…
Barometer
Golden league Some MPs who earn Sir Malcolm Rifkind’s rate of £5,000 a day: — Sir Tony Baldry (Banbury): £3,333…
£67,000 is not enough for the brightest and the best
Last year, I had an exchange with Hugo Rifkind on Twitter in which I bet him dinner at Clarke’s that…
Could you afford to become an MP?
Mark Simmonds has been in politics long enough to know not to expect much sympathy from his constituents. He resigned…
Boris jumps in
The next Tory leadership battle has just begun
Promises, promises
Choosing the right seat is only half the battle for Boris
We need better MPs, not younger ones
The House of Commons is off for the summer. But few MPs and ministers expect to make it through to…
Toe-rag
‘I am glad to say that I have never seen a toe-rag,’ said my husband, assuming, as unconvincingly as one…
The corpse in the cupboard
The single most terrifying moment of my adult life occurred at 8.55 a.m. on the morning of Tuesday 5 August…
