Monthly Archives: January 2018

‘Party members hold dear their privileges in candidate selection’, Times Red Box, 10 January, 2018.

Sarah Wollaston, chairwoman of the Commons health select committee, is everyone’s favourite Conservative backbencher. Well, maybe not everyone’s. With her forthright, often outrageously non-partisan, views, she’s not always as appreciated by party managers as she is by those of us … Continue reading

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‘New party chairman Brandon Lewis will struggle to revive the shrivelled Tory grassroots’, Telegraph, 8 January 2018.

Wondering whether you were, in fact, first pick for the job might not be the best way to start as Chair of the Conservative Party. But it’s not the biggest worry for Brandon Lewis, who after an embarrassing Twaccidnet has … Continue reading

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‘Normal people don’t join political parties’, CityAM, 5 January 2018.

Am I normal? Are you? Is any of us? And what is “normal” anyway? To be honest, I haven’t a clue. But I do know what is not normal, and that’s being a member of a political party. It’s something … Continue reading

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‘Tories are older, whiter and more authoritarian’, politics.co.uk, 5 January 2018

One of the many paradoxes about British politics right now is the fact that those who belong to the party which formally grants its members least say over policy can plausibly claim to have exercised the most influence on us … Continue reading

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‘Hard Brexit looks inevitable unless there is a large shift in public opinion to stay’, Times Red Box, 5 December 2017

Anyone hoping that the UK can avoid a hard Brexit, let alone avoid Brexit altogether, is probably deluding themselves. The only people with a chance of changing things are MPs representing the two biggest parties in the House of Commons … Continue reading

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