Tim Bale’s Blog- Electoral reform for the UK? Don’t bet on it, Financial Times, 3 June 2026.
- ‘Britain’s “ungovernable” decade’, Anadolu Ajansı, 21 May 2026.
- ‘Dumping Starmer won’t reverse Labour’s fortunes [unless….]’, New Statesman, 12 May 2026
- ‘Will Nigel Farage overtake the prime minister as the U-turn leader?’, Independent, 2 April 2026
- ‘Polarised and Powerful: Party Members in British Politics’, Political Insight, 18 March 2026.
- ‘Political treachery is a dangerous art. Streeting must perfect it if he wants to wear the crown’, Daily Telegraph, 16 February 2026.
- ‘The two bloc polarisation of Britain’s voters and Party members’, LSE British Politics Blog, 2 February 2026.
- ‘Ahead of seismic local elections, what we know about Reform’s ability to put boots on the ground for the campaign’, The Conversation, 20 January 2026
- ‘Churchill’s defection didn’t kill the Tories. Robert Jenrick’s certainly won’t’, Daily Telegraph, 19 January 2026.
- ‘The ten most surprising facts from the 2024 election revealed’, The Conversation, 15 December 2025.
Author Archives: tpbale
‘The Tory party is more useless than nasty’, Prospect, 20 June 2017.
A recently published review seems to sum the Conservative Party’s general election pretty well, no? In fact, the portrait of the … campaign that emerges from these pages is that of a Titanic-like disaster: an epic fail made up of … Continue reading
‘DEBATE: Does Theresa May’s failure to win a majority lay the path for another election before the end of the year? YES’, CityAM, 12 June 2017
Unless Theresa May surprises us all and makes the DUP “a big, open, and comprehensive offer” (copyright D. Cameron, 2010) of a full-blown coalition, then we’re going to see the Conservatives try to run a minority government dependent on Ulster Unionist support … Continue reading
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Tagged 2017 General Election, Conservative Party, DUP, Minority Government, Theresa May
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‘Forget culture wars, the election was about power, cash and opportunity’, Observer, 11 June 2017
Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive,” wrote Wordsworth, “but to be young was very heaven!” OK, maybe that’s going a little too far, especially if you didn’t get a wink of sleep on Thursday night. But still. If … Continue reading
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Tagged 2017 General Election, Conservative Party, Jeremy Corbyn, Labour Party, Theresa May
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‘The Conservatives have a leadership decision to make’, Financial Times, 9 June 2017
The Conservative party is, infamously, an autocracy tempered by assassination. If they win elections, or look like winning them, Tory leaders can do pretty much what they want. If they lose them, they are toast. If we were living in … Continue reading
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Tagged 2017 General Election, Conservative Party, DUP, Minority Government, Theresa May
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‘Forward Together: What the Tory manifesto says about Europe’, UK in a Changing Europe, 21 May 2017
Ah, Hear’Say! Not ‘hearsay’, as in stuff that you can’t really substantiate, but Hear’Say – the reality-TV band who went up like a rocket and down like a stick at the beginning of the noughties. Even if you can’t remember … Continue reading
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Tagged 2017 General Election, Conservative Party, EU, Europe, Manifesto, Theresa May
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‘Greens can thrive as a party on the margins’, Times, 31 May 2017
The Greens are clearly the most left-leaning of all the parties that won significant support in 2015. Whether they can repeat their performance then (3.8 per cent and one million votes) is a moot point but even if they end … Continue reading
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Tagged #GE2017, 2017 General Election, Caroline Lucas, Green Party, Greens
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‘Four reasons why the Lib Dem fightback may fall flat’, Times, 30 May 2017
Tim Farron’s party had high hopes for this election, based on its claim to represent the fabled 48 per cent who voted to remain in the EU last summer and on the impressive increase in membership it has seen since … Continue reading
‘Ukip seems to be facing a pretty bleak future’, Times, 1 June 2017
Theresa May isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but she has been extraordinarily successful in winning over the support of many of the nearly four million people (12.6 per cent of the electorate) who voted for the populist radical right United … Continue reading
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‘After an enormous victory in local elections, should the Tories fear voter complacency in the General? No’, CityAM, 8 May 2017
If your team is 3-0 up at half-time, then you can be fairly confident that you’re going to pull off an easy win. But even so, you need to guard against complacency. Remember the 2005 Champions League final, when the … Continue reading
‘Britain’s Labour Party is seeing a flood of new members. That’s why it’s in such trouble.’, Washington Post, 10 May 2017
Whether you look at the opinion polls or at the beating it’s just taken in a slew of local elections, Britain’s Labour Party is in a lot of trouble. Theresa May, the country’s Conservative prime minister, called for an early general election next month. … Continue reading
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Tagged Jeremy Corbyn, Labour leadership, Labour Party, Labour Party members
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