(Image of Dominic Cummings by Radical Larry (CC BY-SA 4.0)) Due to whatever virtue (loyalty) or character flaw (obsequiousness), I was never radicalised; my politics are those of my mother, only less so – a big state social democrat with a passion for human rights. My household was intrinsically political; we ate our vegetables because not doing so was an offense to…
(Picture: Nigel Sutton) Labour continues to be at once a party of progress – whether of a Marxist or liberal variety – and a party that cannot escape viewing the world through the prism of its own past. We are constantly drawn towards a circular view of history. For the Old Right, this is a story of electoral defeat, a leftward lurch,…
Boris Johnson is a cheat and a liar; we all know this, it is priced in. Even those who like him know it – they just see it as roguish and charming that he can slide away from the consequences most of us would face if we had his behaviour. To trust him at his word is unwise. In any case, his…
The current debate in the Labour Party about trigger ballots and open selections gives all members the opportunity to discuss not only how we select our candidates, but what kind of MPs we want. The Blairite revolution in the Labour Party promoted the idea that being an MP was a technocratic specialism for professionals with a privileged background. The gulf between the…
I am part of a small group of people that you can only get into based on an accident of birth. Am I a member of the Royal Family? No. Instead, I am one of a small number of people whose parent also happens to be an MP. (Though I’m not a member of the Benn family, pictured above.) How many of…
Britain’s Brexit battle and its associated skirmishes have dominated the news cycle for the last three years, and aside from occasional committee reports and cries of “traitor” from some quarters, this has forced certain issues, such as House of Lords reform, further out of the spotlight. Although the Labour Leadership last year reaffirmed plans to abolish the Lords, these have not been…
As a rule, I really don’t like Sajid Javid. He arguably hasn’t held a strong enough line against Islamophobia in the Conservative Party, denying the lived experience of many of his fellow party members and others in the Muslim community. Although he congratulated Sadiq Khan on his victory, he did not speak up against Zac Goldsmith’s disgraceful Islamophobic campaign against Khan, and…
Parliament is an institution that attracts deep disdain. It is home to a political class hated by its people. It is also a workplace. It is an archaic workplace. Its workers are all points of derision. Protesters crowd outside everyday on Parliament Square to wave placards that read ‘Parliament versus the People’. These protesters will yell at any parliamentarians they identify, who…
