Patrick O’Flynn is a former MEP and political editor of the Daily Express
The great liberal economist Adam Smith was one of the first people to sound the alarm about the damage that occurs when vested interests get too big for their boots. ‘People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public,’ he warned.
It was way back in 2003 that the journalist Peter Hitchens first declared the Conservative party to be ‘useless’. Peter’s thesis was that the Tories had become incapable of fighting effectively for any significant conservative cause, and were in any case usually unwilling even to try and therefore should be disbanded. In a series of
Every prime minister needs a Willie, said Margaret Thatcher to a soundtrack of great national tittering. She was of course referring to William Whitelaw, her massively experienced deputy upon whose advice she relied to moderate her zanier impulses and views. Whitelaw fitted the bill as a non-ideological Conservative who had pledged his loyalty to her
The way to beat Boris Johnson is to offer a stark contrast to his political persona. At all points radiate seriousness, professionalism and competence and in times such as these the electorate will soon tire of his joshing and clown-like antics and flock to your banner instead. That’s the theory anyway and it seems to
I saw a little cloud no bigger than a man’s fist that was coming in from the sea, reported the servant of the Prophet Elijah to his master. In that Bible story, the incoming cloud was the sign of an impending rainstorm that the drought-hit land of Israel positively yearned for. The political storm brewing
Where are we again? Oh yes: a newish Conservative prime minister has confounded his critics by winning a general election that most expected would lead to a hung parliament. The result has caused Labour to drop its leader and replace him with someone more reassuring and substantial. And before the Government can work on its
It’s happening again. Despite having lost four general elections in a row, supporters of the Labour party have already convinced themselves that Boris Johnson is doomed and they are on course for victory next time. Their reasoning was expertly set out by Andrew Rawnsley, still the doyen of left-of-centre commentators, in his Observer column on
What are we thinking about Dame Cressida Dick, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner whose officers have lately ‘taken a knee’ at unlawful protests, failed to prevent the defacing of cherished national monuments, been injured in their scores and chased out of London housing estates? Weak, woke and woeful, right? That was certainly my view. Indeed, I
When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do sir? That defence of the political u-turn was purportedly uttered by the great economist John Maynard Keynes and is recognised as the classic intellectually respectable case for abandoning a stance in favour of an opposite one. It is certainly the best defence available
In 1992 a young footballer named Dion Dublin left my local team, Cambridge United, to take up one of the most coveted jobs in football – centre-forward at Manchester United. After a promising first few outings, disaster struck when he suffered a broken leg. By the time he was restored to fitness a genius named
A new problem is looming for Sir Keir Starmer: a leader of the opposition needs some shop windows if he is to get more punters through the doors and his will shortly be getting boarded up. Prime Minister’s Questions is usually more important to opposition leaders than it is to the actual PM because he
The British political and media establishment had Remain winning the Brexit referendum at a canter, Hillary Clinton as US president by a landslide, Change UK actually changing the UK and a ‘Government of National Unity’ emerging in the Commons after Boris Johnson removed the whip from dozens of Tory grandees. All completely wrong. What does
When those words and phrases of the year lists come out there is bound to be a place in them for ‘the new normal’. It is a phrase that invites us to expect that short-term shifts in how things are will become new long-term equilibriums. A socially-distanced lifestyle; governments being able to borrow vast sums
In the run up to December’s election, many on the Left and in the media sought to present Boris Johnson as a ‘Far Right’ politician. His support for Brexit was the foundation stone of this absurd mischaracterisation, built on fragments of his quotes ripped from their wider settings in old newspaper columns he had written
It’s pointless to deny that the government is currently performing poorly across a wide range of fronts – and I say that as someone who voted Conservative with enthusiasm in December and who wishes the government well. Despite the shrill claims of some, the onset of an epidemic of a horrible new disease would clearly
Almost across the political spectrum, people appear to have decided that it is a very good thing that the government may offer Hong Kong citizens with British Nationals Overseas (BNO) status the chance to come and live in the UK permanently. With China having passed draconian security legislation that runs against democratic norms, Home Secretary Priti
The idea of short-termism being a disease that especially afflicts the British economy is a recurring theme. We are regularly told that UK investors are too often looking for a quick buck unlike in, for example, Germany where they take a longer-term strategic view. Less attention is paid to the idea that this condition has
The failure of Boris Johnson to sack Dominic Cummings exposes him as a coward, according to the Daily Mirror today, The paper says the Prime Minister was ‘scared to act’ against his chief adviser as it continues to go for his jugular. Its visually quite powerful front page also damns him as a cheat – or perhaps
Who are you backing in the latest Liberal Democrat leadership contest then – Layla ‘you got me on my knees’ Moran or steady Sir Eddie Davey? It’s an academic question really, as I highly doubt it will have punctured your carapace of indifference. The stewardship of what we once referred to as ‘the third party’
The idea of a flotilla of little ships crossing the English Channel from France to deposit their beleaguered human cargo safely on our shores was born in this country’s darkest hour during the second world war. To say that the method behind the success of the Dunkirk evacuation 80 years ago has been repurposed for
