Blog
10 Reasons Why Andy Burnham May Call a 10 December General Election
- 25 Oct 2026
Hear me out. I think I am more or less alone in thinking that Andy Burnham may still call a general election this year. If he does, it will almost certainly be held on Thursday 10 December. “You’ve lost your marbles, Iain”, I can hear many of you thinking. I can’t in all hones...
A Day with the 'Provisional Wing' of the SNP
- 19 Oct 2026
Watch a heavily edited down 12 minutes from the session HERE On Saturday I spent a day in Dunfermline at a conference organised by the Scottish Sovereignty Research Group. To be honest I hadn’t ever heard of it, but its director, David Henry, approached me after on...
Five Years On: Remembering Sir David Amess
- 15 Oct 2026
Today is the fifth anniversary of the brutal terrorist murder of my friend, Sir David Amess MP. What follows is what I wrote for the Telegraph the day after that terrible event. Back in May 2021, I interviewed David for an hour for my All Talk podcast. You can download ...
Twenty Years On: The Story of 18 Doughty Street Talk TV
- 11 Oct 2026
Twenty years ago this week, I was part of the launch of a new internet TV station. It only lasted a year, but it was a decade ahead of its time. In the summer of 2006, I was approached by Tim Montgomerie and Stephan Shakespeare who wanted to set up a right of centre interne...
What Kemi Did Next
- 4 Oct 2026
This time last year, as the Conservative conference began in Manchester, many commentators predicted it was only a matter of time before Kemi Badenoch was ousted and Robert Jenrick would be installed as her replacement. Oh what a difference twelve months can make. Robert who? ...
Grow Up, Ireland
- 27 Sep 2026
Regular readers will know I’ve become very interested in the history and culture of Ireland. I listen to the Irish Times brilliant INSIDE POLITICS each week and am fascinated by the machinations of the country’s politics. For a supposedly neutral country, it’s taken an inte...
The Tourist Tax is Beyond Stupid
- 20 Sep 2026
Even though I’ve been in and around politics for more than 40 years now, the stupidity and ideological idiocy of some politicians still never ceases to amaze me. Across the political spectrum, everyone agrees that the hospitality sector is on its knees, with huge numbers of...
The Quandary of How Political Parties Should be Funded
- 13 Sep 2026
I always find political donation stories somewhat amusing. They’re as predictable as night follows day. Party X receives a large donation and parties y and z say how outrageous it is and call for legislation to cap donations. Admittedly, it’s unprecedented that a party is offe...
They Never Fell: 25 Septembers Later by Daniel Forrester
- 10 Sep 2026
25 Years After 9/11 Twenty-five years ago today, we recall that my country shook violently but never broke. On the morning of September 11, 2001, I was sitting at my desk in Cambridge, Massachusetts, working on a proposal with my colleague, John Devanney, when the news a...
The Autumn Political Season Begins - Let's do a Sitrep!
- 6 Sep 2026
The autumn political season has well and truly begun, with Andy Burnham facing his first parliamentary tests and the Reform UK conference having just happened. I’ll come to Reform’s travails in a moment, but let’s first have a word about Andy Burnham. No one could accuse th...
Fortunes Always Hiding
- 30 Aug 2026
Now if Ann Widdecombe were still with us, I could expect an email missive from her later on tonight, which would go along the lines of… “I enjoy your Sunday Newsletter but I do NOT want to read about football. Honestly. Spare us!”. Anyway, here goes. Now admittedly, I was o...
Another Edinburgh Fringe Run Comes to an End
- 27 Aug 2026
I’m writing this on the train back to London from Edinburgh. I always feel rather melancholy at the end of a Fringe run in the city I have grown to love. Appearing at the Fringe is something I never though I would ever do, but when I look back on my 64 years I think it’s one o...
Long Read: The Cost of Climate Change – The Rush to Net Zero by 2050, the Renewables Dilemma & Adapting to the New Normal
- 18 Aug 2026
Long Read: The Cost of Climate Change – The Rush to Net Zero by 2050, the Renewables Dilemma & Adapting to the New Normal The choices facing politicians are stark... If we can't, on our own as a country, stop global warming, then politicians have to realise we have ...
My Memories of Ann Widdecombe
- 12 Aug 2026
Today I will be attending Ann Widdecombe’s funeral in south Devon. My last event in Edinburgh finished at 9.30pm last night so the only way to get to Totnes in time was to be driven, given I don’t get my driving licence back until the weekend. My best friend Dan Bryce drove...
Dear Ann,,,
- 12 Jul 2026
Dear Ann I have no idea where to start. What I do know is I will miss the email you send me every Sunday evening protesting about something I have written in this newsletter. You hate it when I swear. You accuse me of being woke. You complain about the typos. I aways read i...
Is Andy Burnham the Emperor with no Policies?
- 21 Jun 2026
Tomorrow, the King of the North will grace southerners with his exulted present and travel to London to claim the throne that he considers his by right. It’s as if he has hypnotised his party to lay down their collective shawls in order that the chosen one can walk on wate...
A Tale of Two Interviews - Streeting v Burnham
- 7 Jun 2026
Last night at around midnight I was flicking through Youtube and came across the latest Newsagents podcast, in which Lewis Goodall interviews Wes Streeting for 90 minutes. Wow. What an interview. Wes Streeting was in 100 per cent honest mode and gave Lewis so many newsline...
What is a General?
- 6 Jun 2026
On Thursday, my new book, THE GENERALS was published. It seeks to give the reader an introduction to 69 of the most significan Generals in world history, through the eyes of 69 different authors. As a taster, I thought I would reproduce my introduction to the book here. If ...
A Tribute to Derek Conway
- 31 May 2026
On Friday, the funeral of former Conservative MP Derek Conway was held in his beloved Northumberland. In the end, I was unable to go, which was such a shame as Derek was one of those people who was a one-off, one of life’s most positive and generous people. He was great compan...
The Great West Ham Fire Sale Begins - Stick or Twist
- 25 May 2026
Note: I appreciate this won’t be of interesy to everyone, but it’s of great interest to me, which is why I’ve spent the bulk of Bank Holiday Monday writing it. It’s happened. There’s no point in dwelling on what might have been. We got the third worst points total of an...