Blog
The Archbishop of Canterbury's Fatal Character Flaw
- 17 Nov 2024
This article first appeared in the iNewspaper. Watching a wounded animal in its death throes is never an edifying experience, and that is exactly how it’s felt observing the Archbishop of Canterbury failing to recognise, until now, that he was stipendiary toast, that his po...
How Not to Appeal to 'Working People'
- 1 Nov 2024
It’s almost as if on 5 July Labour strategists had sat down and discussed with each other how they could offend the largest number of people in the shortest possible time. First, it was the nine million pensioners who will be losing their winter fuel allowance, worth up to ...
A Love Letter to Germany
- 1 Nov 2024
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 us our Royal Family 300 years ago; that development alone should not b...
The Misjudgements of Philip Schofield
- 23 Oct 2024
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 no cameraman or sound person. His task was to survive for ten days and to rec...
My Personal Tribute to Alex Salmond
- 12 Oct 2024
The news of the death of Alex Salmond has come as such a shock to everyone who knew him. I heard the news from my LBC boss as I was driving home on the M25. I couldn’t believe it. Alex was such a force of nature, the kind of person who you might imagine could survive death...
So It's Cleverly Versus Who?
- 9 Oct 2024
This article was written for the iNewspaper minutes after the result of the third Conservative Party leadership ballot was announced at 3.30pm on Wednesday 8 October 2024. The original can be read HERE. The Conservative Parliamentary Party rarely ceases to amaze, and usual...
Starmer Will Rue the Day Sue Gray Has Departed
- 6 Oct 2024
They’re only 93 days in and they already run the risk of cementing their reputation as a government that is divided, incompetent and on the take. Quite an achievement, when you come to think about it. Even though I am on the other side of the political fence, I take little ...
The Tory Leadership Drag Race
- 5 Oct 2024
f you listen to the For the Many podcast, you'll know that one of my listeners, Oliver Turner, sends us some hilarious pieces on political drag names. When I knew I was speaking to the LGBT Tories Annnual Curry Night at the Birmingham Conference, I asked him for some help. Her...
Prime Minister Nigel Farage - This is How it Could Happen
- 29 Sep 2024
Each Tuesday I write a column for the iNewspaper. Here is this week's offering, which you can also read HERE Over the last decade, Britain has got used to the unexpected happening. People are now more ready to believe that scenarios which would once have seemed impossible c...
The Changing Nature of Party Conferences
- 24 Sep 2024
On Sunday afternoon I arrived in Liverpool, and amazingly they let me in! This is the 20th Labour Party conference I have attended. I first started going in 1998 when Politico’s started running the bookshop at all three party conferences. Next week it will be my 38th Conservat...
Time & Space Feature in the Sunday Times
- 22 Sep 2024
Last Sunday I featured in the Sunday Times Homes supplement in their Times & Space feature. Our house near Tunbridge Wells in Kent isn’t beautiful by any stretch of the imagination, but when my husband, John, and I bought it in 2003 we thought it was quite big. Actually...
Iain Dale Media Training
- 18 Sep 2024
Whether you’re a politician, a businessperson, a charity representative or trade union leader, putting your case professionally is a must. Iain Dale can help you to do that, whether it’s on television, radio, social media or in the written press. Iain has run polit...
What Counts as Work?
- 1 Sep 2024
I’ve come to the conclusion that we all have different definitions of what the word ‘work’ means. Traditionally it’s meant being paid for your time to fulfil tasks for your employer – being rewarded for working 9-5. Until the last few decades most people would have been involv...
A Taster from THE DICTATORS - My Essay on General Galtieri
- 22 Aug 2024
On 5 September, my new book, THE DICTATORS, is published. It contains 64 essays on 64 different dictators from Ancient Rome to the present day. I think it's the best book in the series, which started with THE PRIME MINISTERS, so far. You can order a copy HERE. I have wr...
What a Lazy Good For Nothing I am. Allegedly.
- 18 Aug 2024
Some people really do have a bloody cheek, especially when they are on social media and think they can get away with blatant lies. Yesterday, I went to see West Ham play Aston Villa with Jacqui Smith at the London Stadium. I posted a rather nice picture of us on Twitter. ...
Obsessing About the Olympics
- 11 Aug 2024
Twelve years ago I spent one of the most memorable nights of my life, taking my niece Philly to the Olympic Stadium. I got two tickets in the ballot for the second Saturday night, the night when we won three gold medals in the athletics. We saw Jessica Ennis, Mo Farah and Greg...
Whatever Happened to My Gallbladder, and My Six Days in Hospital
- 9 Aug 2024
It was the evening of Saturday 27 July. I was spending a relaxing weekend in Norfolk on my own, or at least that was the plan. At 7pm I went next door to catch up with out neighbours, Howard and Diane. We sat in their garden having a few drinks and some rather nice Waitrose ca...
Liverpool Philharmonic Cancels 'For the Many' Live Event with me, Lisa Nandy & Jacqui Smith - A Statement
- 27 Jul 2024
Over the past few years Jacqui Smith and I have hosted more than 20 ‘For the Many Live’ events all over the country. Two of them have been in Liverpool. We have been looking forward to another one with the new Culture Secretary, Lisa Nandy, as out special guest on 22 ...
Why Biden Must Go
- 17 Jul 2024
Napoleon Bonaparte always wanted ‘lucky generals’. In political terms, so-called ‘lucky politicians’ are more often than not, those who the history books consider a success. Joe Biden, it could be said is both lucky and unlucky – unlucky in the sense that he came to the presid...
Why Suella Braverman Must Be Stopped
- 10 Jul 2024
This article first appeared on iNews Never speak ill of a fellow conservative. This was sentiment Ronald Reagan echoed a few decades ago about his fellow Republicans. It seems, however, that despite being a self-described Thatcherite, and despite more than four decades of a...