Articles tagged Diary:
ConHome Diary: "I'm Going Nowhere" Says May & Michael Heseltine's Delusions
- 1 Sep 2017
So Theresa May has announced she intends to fight the next election. Cue a legion of the usual suspects appearing on radio and TV questioning the likelihood of that actually happening. It was an audacious announcement for the PM to make, as she knew what the reaction might be....
ConHome Diary: Chris Rennard's Memoirs, Giving a Former Gang Member a Chance & Nigel Farage becomes Me
- 25 Aug 2017
This week I signed up a two volume memoir by former LibDem campaigning guru, Chris (Lord) Rennard. What this man doesn’t know about the arts (and also dark arts) of constituency campaigning can be written on a postage stamp. He, more than anyone, was behind the LibDem rise to ...
ConHome Diary: Why Theresa May Was Right to Play the Ball, Not the Man
- 19 Aug 2017
Sarah Champion is one of the more impressive Labour MPs. She is that rarest of people, a Labour front bencher who can actually string a sentence together and conduct a coherent interview without experiencing a car crash. On Wednesday evening she resigned from the front bench (...
ConHome Diary: A Dispatch From Spain
- 28 Jul 2017
OK, I admit it, I’m not exactly in the mood to write this column today. Why? I’m sitting by the swimming pool on the side of a Spanish mountain, overlooking a lake, struggling to actually see the screen because of the sun. The water beckons, but I’m determined not to succumb t...
ConHome Diary: Interviewing the PM
- 24 Jul 2017
I imagine The Spectator’s Andrew Neil and Fraser Nelson must have been rather pleased at the ensuing publicity from their annual summer party last Thursday. I arrived rather late on and it was in full swing. Virtually the first two people I clapped eyes on were Robbie Gibb and...
ConHome Diary: Bim Afolami, Ignoring David Cameron's Norway Plea & My Weird Few Days
- 7 Jul 2017
Nick Watt is one of the political broadcasters I always take notice of. He has a keen ear for shifts in government policy and is very good at keeping his ear to the ground. On Wednesday night he made a film about how the government is being urged by “senior Tories” to adopt ...
ConHome Diary: Golf, Vince & Why the BMA Make Me Sick
- 1 Jul 2017
On reflection, I was a little harsh of Sajid Javid in last week’s column, where I criticised him for his response to the Grenfell Tower crisis. I still think there were aspects of his department’s immediate response which were lacking, and the PM seemed to endorse this when sh...
ConHome Diary: Remainers Triumph in the Conservative Reshuffle
- 16 Jun 2017
I write this in light of what has happened at Grenfell Tower in West London and I am fully aware that picking apart a reshuffle after so many people have tragically died, makes the ‘game of politics’ seem rather petty. But writing about politics is what I do, so here goes. ...
ConHome Diary: Who Will Theresa May Reshuffle? Brandon Lewis Is My Tip To Replace Lizz Truss & Other Stories
- 2 Jun 2017
So it’s the midday on Friday June 9th. The results are in and it may not be quite the landslide she had hoped for but Theresa May is back in Downing Street and sitting down to form her new Cabinet. Reshuffling a cabinet after barely eleven months poses several dilemmas. If you...
ConHome Diary: Diane Abbott's New Nickname & Credit To Donald Trump (Yes, Really)
- 26 May 2017
Let’s give credit where credit is due. Donald Trump’s first trip broad as President was tipped by everyone to be a disaster. People assumed there would be gaffe and gaffe and he would embarrass himself, his country and his hosts. Well it hasn’t happened, has it? Even his speec...