BOOK REVIEW: Speaking Out by Ed Balls - Best Political Book I've Read This Year

  • 18 Sep 2016

Very few political books stand the test of time. Three months after they come out they’re forgotten. Ed Balls can be proud that his book will be different. It’s not a conventional political memoir in that it’s not chronological and doesn’t pretend to be a learned, intellectua...

The Top 50 Liberal Democrats 2016

  • 17 Sep 2016

Each year I convene three panels to compile lists of the Top 50 Liberal Democrats, the Top 100 People on the Left and the Top 100 People on the Right. Each list is published to coincide with the three party conferences. This is the ninth year I’ve been doing this and although ...

WATCH: Iain Dale Interviews Owen Smith

  • 17 Sep 2016

Twenty minutes with the Labour leadership contender.

ConHome Diary: Dave Quits, I'm Playing Kofi Annan & Why Sadiq Refused an Upgrade

  • 17 Sep 2016

Brits don’t quit. That’s the quote that came back to bite David Cameron on the arse this week, after he announced his departure from the House of Commons. This decision makes me sad as I have always taken the view that ex-Prime Ministers should continue to play a role in our n...

ConHome Diary: Do Some Lives Matter More Than Others?

  • 9 Sep 2016

In the next few weeks we’ll get the results of the UKIP and Labour leadership elections and the SNP’s deputy leadership election. Labour and the SNP have both experienced booming membership growth, but there the similarity seems to end. Labour is languishing at 27% in the late...

WATCH: A Frankly Excellent Interview with Ed Balls!

  • 6 Sep 2016

Earlier this evening I interviewed Ed Balls for twenty minutes about his new book SPEAKING OUT: LESSONS IN LIFE & POLITICS. I had just finished doing one of my more ‘robust’ interview with the Vice Chairwoman of Momentum, so perhaps that wasn’t the best preparation to ha...

WATCH: Iain Tells Newsnight Why Keith Vaz Should Quit

  • 6 Sep 2016

This was a discussion I had on Newsnight last night about the Keith Vaz scandal. Ian Dunt from politicos.co.uk was my fellow guest. I explained why I thought Keith Vaz has to stand down as chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee. Ian disagreed. Emily Maitlis asked the ...

Keith Vaz And Why He Must Quit the Home Affairs Select Committee For Good

  • 5 Sep 2016

On Saturday afternoon, for want of anything better to do, I watched a film called SOFT LAD. It is about a 22 year old lad called David who has an affair with his brother in law, Jules, played by Billy off Coronation Street. David then seeks to break off the relationship when h...

ConHome Diary: I've Had a LibDem Sympathy Shag

  • 2 Sep 2016

I don’t quite know how I am going to write this in a way which won’t cause confusion, but here goes anyway. There was a LibDem Minister in the coalition government. Let’s call him Sean. That’s not his real name, although I do know his real name. Sean, lucky boy, had his own pr...

It Shouldn't Happen to a Radio Presenter 49: When the 14th Most Influential Doctor in the Country Won't Answer a Simple Question

  • 2 Sep 2016

This morning I interviewed Dr Hamed Khan, who sits on the Council of the British Medical Association. It didn’t start well, when he wouldn’t answer a simple question and descended from there. Dr Khan describes himself on his Twitter Feed as the 14th most influential GP in the ...

Extortion by the Liberal Democrats

  • 22 Aug 2016

Since the election I’ve always felt a bit sorry for the LibDems. They didn’t actually deserve to lose 49 of their MPs, to only be left with eight. OK, I did take a little vicarious pleasure in the electoral demise of one or two of their number, I admit. However, I do think a t...

My Edinburgh Fringe Diary

  • 19 Aug 2016

I’ve spent this week at the Edinburgh Festival. Last year virtually everything I saw was a comedy or had some political tinge to it. Several of my friends said I should spread my wings this year and go to some plays too. So I booked to see the ‘Chronicles of Narnia’! Oh dear. ...

ConHome Diary: The Pantheon of PMs, Any Questions & Trumpageddon

  • 13 Aug 2016

I’ve always thought all months should be like August. Most political journalists take the whole month off and politicians are largely absent from Westminster. And yet somehow the country manages to struggle on. Indeed, it struggles on very nicely thank you. It’s a bit like the...

ConHome Diary: Craig Oliver's Book, A Boost for the Economy & Trump's Unfitness to Govern

  • 29 Jul 2016

“You may have seen I’ve signed a deal with Hodder. Hope all well.” That was a text message I received from Craig Oliver, David Cameron’s former Director of Communications, earlier this week. I hadn’t actually seen that news, so it came as a bit of a surprise to say the least. ...

One Day My Kids Will Ask: Daddy, What Did You Do When Donald Trump Came Calling

  • 26 Jul 2016

Guest Post by my American friend Daniel Forrester First, you sent me Sarah Palin. Then, you created a process and vetted a bench of candidates that led to Donald Trump as the nominee. I have had enough. I am out. After a lifetime spent supporting the Republican party and th...

Attitude Column: If I Want to Watch People 'Fisting' Each Other, Why Shouldn't I Be Able To? (I Don't, By The Way)

  • 23 Jul 2016

Imagine you are a member of a private WhatsApp group of friends. One day one of your friends sends a picture of an extreme pornographic act – let’s say fisting. You send a reply making a jokey remark about it but think little more about it. Some months later your phone is seiz...

ConHome Diary: From a Spanish Poolside, Cecil Parkinson's Purple Head & Theresa May's Enemies

  • 22 Jul 2016

Not that I intend to inspire any jealousy with this column, but I’m writing it beside a swimming pool in the Spanish mountains overlooking a lake. I normally write four of five ‘chunks’ in my columns so I am deciding to reward myself with a swim after each chunk is finished. T...

Keith Simpson MP's Summer Reading List

  • 18 Jul 2016

Guest Post by Keith Simpson MP After the recent political roller coaster of the EU referendum, the resignation of Prime Minister Cameron, the Conservative leadership contest and the triumph of Theresa May who became the Conservative leader and then Prime Minister, the continu...

Attitude Column: Why Good Sex Education is Needed

  • 17 Jul 2016

The following paragraph contains possible too much information. I must have been around 12 or 13, I suppose, when I got out of bed and crept into my parents’ bedroom. “Mum, I think I’ve wet the bed,” I whispered. She got out of bed, grabbed some new sheets and ripped the old ...

ConHome Diary: Theresa May & DD - Starting As They Mean To Go On

  • 15 Jul 2016

As I start writing this column, Theresa May is embarking on the second part of her reshuffle. She’s certainly hit the ground running and no one, can say, especially George Osborne, that she hasn’t been decisive in her initial choices. In her initial speech outside Number Ten I...