Tom Goodenough is online editor of The Spectator.
Owen Smith is now in a head-to-head battle with Jeremy Corbyn for the Labour leadership. We’ll know by September 24th – the day before the Labour party conference starts – who has come out on top. As things stand, Corbyn is the clear favourite: a recent YouGov poll put the party’s current leader 20 points
Owen Smith has told us he’s both ‘radical’ and ‘normal’. It doesn’t take a genius to work out those characteristics aren’t compatible. Yet, Owen Smith knows he needs to try and be both if he is to defy the huge odds and win this Labour leadership race. And therein lies the problem. Smith is deftly
We were told it should never happen and would never happen. But the impossible has now happened: Donald Trump is officially the Republican candidate in this year’s presidential election. It’s been a near-certainty for some time, but there is no going back after Trump sealed the nomination at the Republican National Convention last night. Some of
Fresh from banging his head on the door of Downing Street, John Kerry has just been speaking at a press conference alongside Boris. But it wasn’t the US Secretary of State coming to blows during the heated Q and A session at the Foreign Office. John Kerry might be heading home tomorrow, but most of
Inflation is up: between May and June it jumped from 0.3 per cent to 0.5 per cent. But before the doomsayers blame Brexit, it’s worth remembering that these latest Consumer Price Index figures are nothing to do with the EU referendum. Instead, the numbers behind today’s inflation rise were collected in the middle of June,
Demonstrations of Labour party disunity are ten-a-penny these days. But even so, last night’s Trident debate was still something to behold: 140 Labour MPs went against Jeremy Corbyn to back Trident renewal. Yet it wasn’t numbers but the words Labour MPs said which will have damaged Corbyn the most. Scores of backbenchers accused Corbyn of going
MPs have voted to renew Trident by an overwhelming margin: 472 voted for, compared to 172 against. It’s no great surprise that the decision to approve the replacement of Britain’s four nuclear submarines passed. Perhaps what was more interesting was the split on the Labour benches opposite the Government, with 140 of the party’s MPs going
One of the first things Theresa May will have been briefed on when she took over as Prime Minister last week is the protocol for firing nuclear weapons. She’ll have been handed the nuclear codes in the clearest demonstration, if she doubted it before, that she really is in charge. And today, in her first
After a bit of initial drama involving an emergency plane landing, Boris Johnson is in Brussels. There’s been a lot of social media chatter about why Boris is the wrong choice for Foreign Secretary and how he’s going to embarrass Britain in his new role. Some are quoting Boris’ past articles to prove he is
Theresa May has told us repeatedly that ‘Brexit means Brexit’ and Philip Hammond has been at it too: just in case you weren’t aware, Brexit really does mean Brexit. Whilst it’s a catchphrase which is meant to reassure those who want Britain to leave the EU (and those who don’t, but respect the outcome of
Theresa May has just given her reaction to the terrorist attack in Nice, saying that Britain would stand ‘shoulder-to-shoulder’ with the people of France as she condemned the ‘brutal murderers’ responsible. Here’s what she said: ‘I am shocked and saddened by the horrifying attack in Nice last night. Our hearts go out to the French
The death toll from last night’s Nice terror attack has now topped more than 80. It also looks as though some 50 people were injured when a truck driven by a 31-year-old man, who was known to police but not to the intelligence services, tore through the crowd of people celebrating Bastille day. Isabel Hardman, who
Amber Rudd didn’t pull her punches during the referendum campaign when she aimed her fire at Boris Johnson. During a heated ITV debate, she said this about Boris: ‘Boris? Well, he’s the life and soul of the party but he’s not the man you want driving you home at the end of the evening. This
Angela Eagle’s leadership launch has so far been characterised by one thing: her terrible timing. When she announced her bid to run against Jeremy Corbyn on Monday, journalists abandoned her speech after Andrea Leadsom dropped out of the Tory race at the same moment – leaving Eagle desperately trying to find anyone left in the
David Cameron’s final PMQs brought out the best of the House of Commons. There was a good balance of wit, wisdom, jokes and also accountability as the PM and Corbyn traded off for the final time over the despatch box. The SNP did their best to spoil the party by bringing Cameron crashing back to
Owen Smith has officially thrown his hat into the ring for the Labour leadership contest. But the question on many people’s lips is: who is he? A recent poll of Welsh Labour voters showed that 69 per cent had no idea who Smith was. So whilst Angela Eagle’s leadership bid launch might have been overshadowed
On the day Theresa May takes control at No.10 in a comparatively seemly transition, the Labour party is in the midst of the biggest crisis in its history. Jeremy Corbyn will be on the ballot paper in what looks set to be a messy and fractious leadership contest. He also looks likely to win: in
Signing a petition calling for a referendum re-run might seem rather futile after the Brexit vote was done and dusted. But it seems that the four million people who did just that and put pen to paper haven’t completely wasted their time after all. The petition, which said that the Government should hold a re-run
Jacob Rees-Mogg and Mark Carney’s clash at this morning’s Treasury Committee was a masterclass in passive aggressiveness veiled in pleases and thankyous. From the words being said, it wasn’t clear there was any enmity in the room. But Carney’s expressions couldn’t have made things clearer: there is certainly no love lost between these two. Before
There were no great bombshells being dropped elsewhere or dramas unfolding in the Tory leadership race to distract attention away from Angela Eagle during her interview this morning on Today. But the Labour leadership hopeful might have been wishing there had been. It’s a big day for Eagle, with the party’s NEC deciding today whether