Author Archives: tpbale

Criticising prime minister Theresa May’s approach to Brexit, Nick Clegg confessed that he’d always assumed May would jump on a plane in the dead of night without telling the press, go to Berlin, have a nice, quiet sauerkraut dinner with Angela Merkel, … Continue reading →

Rishi Sunak is no magician. Only a preternaturally talented politician could persuade voters that, after 13 long and not particularly successful years in office, his party represents the change they’re crying out for. That was the trick the Prime Minister tried to pull … Continue reading →

There will not be a UK general election tomorrow, however much political pollsters prod voters to say how they would vote in one. But if there were, even the most optimistic Conservative would have to concede that Labour would win, … Continue reading →

Special expectations In 2014, on a visit to London, Angela Merkel addressed the Houses of Parliament. The then German Chancellor recognised in her remarks that British political actors seemed to have ‘very special expectations’ regarding her speech. Some people, Merkel said, seemed … Continue reading →

If you’re looking for subtlety and sophistication, Harry Hill and Steve Brown’s Tony! The Tony Blair Rock Opera is probably not for you. It starts – literally – with a bang and careens through a hectic hour and a half of high-energy … Continue reading →

It’s over ten years since American electoral guru Nate Silver reminded us that we need to forget about the stuff that only seems important and focus on what really matters – to distinguish, as the title of his best-selling book put it, between the signal and the … Continue reading →

Liz Truss has been called many things – many of them unprintable. Given what she did to the country’s economy, people’s mortgage repayments and the Tories’ poll ratings, that’s hardly surprising. But it still shouldn’t let her party off the hook. … Continue reading →

Unless the Conservatives pull off the mother of all comebacks between now and next year, it looks increasingly likely that Keir Starmer will be Britain’s next prime minister.  Whether he’ll move into Number Ten with a working majority, however, is … Continue reading →

According to Enoch Powell, “There is one thing you can be sure of with the Conservative Party, before anything else – they have a grand sense of where the votes are.” Given the government’s evident determination to double down on … Continue reading →

Ardent fans of the British monarchy needn’t lose any sleep at the sight of a few republican protesters making their feelings known during the King’s recent progress through the streets of Scotland’s capital city, Edinburgh. Even the fact that the Scottish National Party’s new … Continue reading →