Patience Wheatcroft
03 June 2026
Getting rid of Starmer might be good for Labour, but is it good for the country?
The PM has made some dreadful mistakes, has governed with a tin ear for current affairs and his explanations about why he’s struggled don’t add up. But Britain needs stability – getting rid of him would provide the opposite
Read the full article27 May 2026
We regret to announce that your train has been delayed by 10 years
HS2 has been a decades-long, multi-party disaster that encapsulates everything that’s wrong about UK government decision-making.
Read the full article20 May 2026
Economic growth? So what?
In the first part of this year the UK economy grew and no one felt a thing. That’s very bad news for government – and for everyone
Read the full article13 May 2026
Why one-nation Tories can’t vote for compassionless Kemi Badenoch
She comes across as nasty and rejects compromise – that’s no recipe for a leader
Read the full article06 May 2026
British politics will only get worse
Defence, welfare, policing – all of these require money that the UK doesn’t have. And when inflation starts to bite, the problems will only intensify, especially for the most disadvantaged
Read the full article24 April 2026
Keir Starmer: his fatal character flaws
The reason Starmer has been such a terrible prime minister is that he’s the wrong type of person for the role. To be PM, there are two character traits that you need – and he doesn’t have either of them
Read the full article22 April 2026
It’s time for Parliament to become a museum
It’s a dreadful building and no amount of money will fix that. Britain needs to wake up, modernise, get rid of all the ridiculous pomp and spend the money on defence instead
Read the full article10 April 2026
Dear progressives, stop being wimpish on Trump
Feeling you are right and assuming the public agree is not enough. If you feel strongly, shout very loudly
Read the full article01 April 2026
The nurse who runs the Church of England
There is a new archbishop of Canterbury, who now heads a huge international church. But here, in the UK, can she achieve what successive governments have failed to do?
Read the full article25 March 2026
Neither Farage or Polanski are the prime minister Britain needs
The leaders of Reform and the Greens both want to turn Britain into a huge political experiment. That’s the last thing we need
Read the full article18 March 2026
Replacing Churchill with a badger – who cares?
The argument over the design of Britain’s banknotes is absurd, and misses a much more important financial decision taken in Westminster that most politicians seem to have missed or ignored
Read the full article11 March 2026
Badenoch, Harrogate and the Ayatollahs
The Tory party gathered for its spring conference this weekend – the party is now so extreme that it is on the verge of becoming sinister
Read the full article04 March 2026
I fell in the street – then this happened
The government doesn’t need to legislate for every possible crime. Why? Because most people know the difference between right and wrong – as I discovered
Read the full article25 February 2026
Starmer risks falling to a new Lowe
The PM’s constant u-turns and lack of any apparent plan are a gift for the extremists, who feed off the sense of chaos and drift
Read the full article11 February 2026
Generations of politicians have ignored the young. Big mistake
While older Britons have their final salary pensions and the triple lock, young people today can’t even afford to start a family. That could be pushing the country towards political disaster
Read the full article04 February 2026
A visit to the Tory wet room
A new group of centrist Conservative politicians launched their fightback against Badenoch in a cellar near Charing Cross station. They don’t stand a chance
Read the full article28 January 2026
Polanski’s nuclear misfire
Now’s not the time for Britain to give up nuclear arms. The leader of the Greens made a bad mis-step by suggesting otherwise
Read the full article21 January 2026
Why bankers hate the reset
The Brexit project was dreamed up, funded and led by City boys. No wonder they fear Starmer moving closer to the EU
Read the full article14 January 2026
First you think, then you make policies – not the other way round
The winter fuel mess, the farm inheritance tax u-turn and now the debacle over pubs: why can’t this government plan in advance?
Read the full article07 January 2026
This sounds crazy, but our politicians need a pay rise
The current system attracts incompetent chancers. The answer is a Westminster that’s smaller and better rewarded
Read the full article31 December 2025
A new year’s resolution to keep: get rid of Brexit
If 2026 is to improve on 2025, the UK must start behaving like a serious country at long last
Read the full article15 December 2025
Tommy Robinson’s gospel of hate
His motives for calling on religion look less like a personal awakening and more a cynical marketing ploy
Read the full article10 December 2025
The empty theatre of Keminism
Badenoch may suddenly have a spring in her step, but her snark and stunts reveal a lack of serious ideas
Read the full article02 December 2025
Assisted dying dirty tricks could kill the Lords
The machinations of a few opponents means the upper house is in danger of being seen to flout the will of MPs
Read the full article26 November 2025
The Telegraph falls into the wrong hands
The Daily Mail group backs authoritarian views. The idea that they’re better buyers than an overseas investor is nonsensical
Read the full article12 November 2025
Why Britain’s public services are so bad
We have never paid so much tax and received so little in return. Worst of all, no one in Whitehall or Downing Street will ever take the blame
Read the full article31 October 2025
Snobbery and deference have broken Britain – and created Andrew
Crises in Windsor and Westminster have at their root our willingness to kow-tow to the upper class
Read the full article21 October 2025
Nathan Gill: a scandal with no outrage
Russia bought themselves a senior member of the Reform party to do their bidding. He’s been found guilty – why does no one seem to care?
Read the full article15 October 2025
London, the city that scares Trump
Populists have some very strange ideas about London. The best way to get over their irrational fears is to pay the capital a visit
Read the full article03 October 2025
Michelle Mone: the embodiment of British corruption
She was appointed to the Lords by Cameron and used that position to profiteer during the Covid pandemic. How could this have happened?
Read the full article30 September 2025
A Reform merger would be extinction for the Tories
Farage is only interested in a reverse takeover. Kemi Badenoch must resist – and find a way to rouse her rabble
Read the full article20 September 2025
Andy Burnham eyes No 10
It would be difficult, though not impossible - but would he leave behind his political success in Manchester for the much choppier waters of Westminster?
Read the full article