If You're Standing in the May Elections, Here are 20 Pieces of Advice...
- 5 Apr 2018
A few years ago I wrote this in relation to people who stand for Parliament. It got quite a reaction. So if you’re standing for your local council in the May elections, quite a lot of this applies to you too! You can’t do everything yourself. Let others take the strai...
WATCH: CNNTalk - Can the Gender Pay Gap Ever Be Bridged?
- 4 Apr 2018
A feisty discussion, which turns rather heated towards the end! With Ayesha Hazirika, Liam Halligan and me, with Hannah Vaughan Jones presenting.
FROM THE ARCHIVES: In Conversation With Alastair Campbell
- 4 Apr 2018
I did this interview in July 2010. Alastair never knowingly gives a bad interview and he was certainly very open in this two hour conversation. When did you start writing your diary? I’ve always done a diary, I started when I was a kid when my dad was in hospital and I use...
My Speed Awareness Course Experience
- 2 Apr 2018
This is from September 2009. This morning I attended a two and a half hour long speed awareness course, having been caught doing 37 mph in a 30 limit in Brixton at 3am one morning in early June. I will admit to being slightly sceptical of what it would entail, but I have to...
FROM THE ARCHIVES: In Conversation With Matthew Parris
- 2 Apr 2018
This is an interview I did with Matthew Parris in September 2010. It remains one of my favourites. It’s another interview that has stood the test of time. If you poll any group of politicians, journalists or newspaper readers and ask them who their top rated political colum...
40 Things I Loved About the 1980s
- 1 Apr 2018
Margaret Thatcher Labour couldn’t win an election Putting the Unions back in their box Enabling millions of people to buy shares for the first time A-ha & Alphaville Audi Quattros Ejecting the Argentinians...
FROM THE ARCHIVES: What Really Happened at Margaret Thatcher's Final Cabinet Meeting
- 1 Apr 2018
Some time ago, back in 2006, I had intended to write a book about the month leading up to Margaret Thatcher’s fall from power. Part of the incentive to do so was that there seemed to be so many conflicting accounts of what actually happened. I knew I would be able to get acces...
From the Archives: In Conversation with Peter Mandelson
- 31 Mar 2018
Back in November 2010 I interviewed Peter Mandelson. He was in soul bearing mood. I thought you might enjoy it all over again. It took place not long after hi autogiograhy had been published, and only a couple of months after Ed Miliband’s election as Labour leader. Reading th...
ConHome Diary: The Weasel Words of David Gauke, Theresa's Great Fortnight & Oblivion Beckons for UKIP
- 30 Mar 2018
I’m afraid David Gauke’s weasel excuses for not himself launching a judicial review on the John Worboys case just won’t wash. It should never have been left to two of his victims to have to bring the case, and no amount of wriggling on the part of the Justice Secretary will ch...
BOOK REVIEW: Winning Here by Chris Rennard
- 27 Mar 2018
It may have taken my 15 years, but I always get my man in the end. Back in 2003 I asked Chris Rennard to write a book about the art of political campaigning. If my memory is correct, he liked the idea but didn’t feel he could do it while still working actively for the LibDems....
BOOK REVIEW: What Happened by Hillary Clinton
- 26 Mar 2018
There are some books you finish reading and think to yourself: “Why in God’s name was this book written?” In the case of Hillary Clinton, I suppose it was cheaper than paying for hours of therapy. Half way through this book I wanted to give up. Indeed, I had that thought afte...
WATCH: CNN Talk: Who Would Win a Trade War + the French Terror Incident
- 23 Mar 2018
We had intended to spend the whole show talking about Trump’s trade tarriffs but then the news broke that a terror incident was underway in South West France…
ConHome Diary: Fish, Leaks and the Art of Chief Whippery
- 23 Mar 2018
I don’t know the new government chief whip Julian Smith, but if reports from a meeting held this week by him for Scottish Conservative MPs and others on fishing rights, he’s going to have his work cut out if he is to maintain party disciple over the 21 month Brexit transition ...
WATCH: CNN Talk- Are We Being Manipulated by Social Media?
- 21 Mar 2018
I argue it’s no different to the way political marketeers have tried to influence the electorate in the past…
WATCH: CNN Talk - Is Vladimir Putin the world's most powerful leader?
- 19 Mar 2018
As the Russian president secures an overwhelming election victory, is Vladimir Putin the world’s most powerful leader? By the way CNN Talk is now available as an iTunes podcast. Do subscribe!
EXCLUSIVE: The 100 Most Powerful Politicians of the Last 100 Years
- 18 Mar 2018
1 Winston Churchill Con 2 David Lloyd George Lib 3 Clement Attlee Lab 4 Margaret Thatcher Con 5 Harold Wilson Lab 6 Stanley Baldwin Con 7 Edward Heath Con 8 Ramsay Macdonald Lab 9 Tony Blair Lab 10 James Callaghan Lab 11 Harold Macmillan Con 12 R A Butler Con 13 William Whitel...
WATCH: CNN Talk - Are we Entering a New Cold War?
- 16 Mar 2018
Are we entering a new cold war? That’s the question we seek to answer today on CNN Talk.
ConHome Diary: Cometh the Hour Cometh the Woman...
- 16 Mar 2018
On Monday lunchtime, as my parting shot on CNNTalk I said that in her statement responding to the Salisbury nerve agent attack, Theresa May should ask herself one question: “What would Maggie have done?” And then do it. If I’m honest I thought we’d hear a statement full of dip...
WATCH: My Interview with Politics UK
- 13 Mar 2018
This is a 25 minute conversation with Steven Edginton from Politics UK. We cover Brexit, BBC bias, my five years on Drive at LBC and much else besides.
WATCH: CNN Talk: What Should Theresa May Do About the Russian Spy Poisoning?
- 12 Mar 2018
CNNTalk goes five days a week from today, every day at 11am for the next two weeks, then back to 12 noon. Today we discuss Russia and the poisoning in Salisbury. We have a lovely new desk too! Afua Hirsch was sitting in for Ayesha Hazarika.