Norman Tebbit was a giant among Conservative politicians of the late twentieth century. His image on Spitting Image as the ‘Chingford Skinhead’ belied the reality that he was an immensely kind, softly ...

On Saturday Keir Starmer will celebrate his first anniversary as prime minister. Well, when I say ‘celebrate’, that’s perhaps overdoing it. Perhaps ‘mark it’ is more accurate, because he hasn’t got a ...

By Adrian Smith It’s Margaret Thatcher’s centenary this year. For anyone middle-aged or older it seems impossible – is it really 100 years since she was born, and 35 years since she left office? For ...

This article first appeared in the i Newspaper It takes a rare political talent to offend and upset so many voters in such a short period of time, but sometimes it’s necessary if you’re going to ...

Dear all, Last week Tessa Dunlop and I recorded the first two episodes of our brand new WHERE POLITICS MEETS HISTORY podcast. We were pleased with the first but knew we hadn’t got it quite right. We ...

Anyway, this weekend was the weekend so on Friday morning Dan picked me up from home to go to Stansted airport to fly to Frankfurt-Hahn on Ryanair. I’d never flown Ryanair before and wasn’t looking ...

This article first appeared in the Daily Telegraph. Show up at a Conservative Party function and it’s a fair bet that someone will engage you in a discussion about what to do about Reform UK. It’s ...

Here were my predictions for 2024.... 1. The general election will take place in November or early December WRONG 2. Labour will win a majority of between 30 and 60 seats WRONG 3. The LibDems more ...

This is the essay David Owen wrote for THE PRESIDENTS in 2021. I thought it should have a wider audience after his death was announced at the age of 100. On 3 November 1976 Jimmy Carter beat President ...

This arrticle first appeared in the i Newspaper. To survive and thrive as a political party and ultimately to achieve power, you need four things: charismatic politicians, a professional party ...

iNews column Take two world wars out of the equation and Britain and Germany have always been relatively close allies. The two countries have a shared history, not least the fact that the Germans gave ...

Watching Phillip Schofield baring his soul on the Channel 5 show ‘Cast Away’ is something I watched so you don’t have to. For the uninitiated he was sent to a desert island off Madgascar, alone, with ...