I read Keir Starmer’s recent article claiming Labour is the true party of English patriotism with rising disbelief, both at his lack of vision for our country, and also his apparent reluctance to even name it. Because for all his stated expressions of love for the English flag, our football team and pubs, Starmer referred repeatedly to Britain instead of England, muddling both together as if the two terms were interchangeable. Perhaps he did not even notice himself doing it, so ingrained and automatic is the Left’s squeamishness to even talk about the concept of England and Englishness directl ..read more

MPs have voted to overturn the House of Lords amendments to the Rwanda Bill and send the legislation back to peers. The upper chamber has so far refused to pass the Rwanda Bill and had dug their heels in on two issues: Ensuring that Rwanda is not declared safe until an independent monitoring committee at work in the country confirms as much. Exempting people who have served and helped British forces abroad. Amendments on these points, in the names of Lord Hope and Lord Browne respectively, have now been rejected by MPs. It is now up to peers in the upper chamber if they want to insist on the ..read more

The below content first appeared in Politics.co.uk’s Politics@Lunch newsletter, subscribe here and never miss this daily briefing. Five months after Rishi Sunak first unveiled the Safety of Rwanda Bill as a response to the Supreme Court’s ruling against the full deportation scheme, today is the day the controversial legislation is expected to finally clear parliament. More here. Weeks of parliamentary back-and-forth — known as “ping pong” — had repeatedly seen the House of Lords amend the legislation in ways the government still refuses to accept. Today, the prime minister declared “Enoug ..read more

A cabinet minister has suggested Kigali, the Rwandan capital, is safer than London as the government seeks to pass its Rwanda bill through parliament today.  Rishi Sunak is set to hold a press conference in Downing Street this morning, ahead of crunch votes on the Rwanda bill this afternoon and likely this evening. The prime minister is expected to urge peers to allow the Rwanda bill to complete its parliamentary stages. ***Politics.co.uk is the UK’s leading digital-only political website, providing comprehensive coverage of UK politics. Subscribe to our daily newsletter here.*** Weeks of ..read more

Consider this take on former prime minister John Major’s beleaguered premiership, reportedly written as the 1997 general election results rolled in: “Nobody elects a divided party” or rewards “weak leadership, sleaze [and] a poorly run campaign”. In short, so bereft had the Conservative Party become of unity and purpose, John Major deserved to fail in his second shot at re-election.  This assessment, scribbled for Winchester College’s school magazine, flowed from the pen of a sixteen-year-old Rishi Sunak. As the PM’s biographer Lord Ashcroft goes on to note, the analysis was remarkably so ..read more

Britain is achieving near-Victorian conditions arising from policy errors such as poor privatisations going back over thirty years, and it’s not just the Tories who are to blame. Poor politics leads to poor economic outcomes, then to people giving their rulers a kicking at the ballot-box. The need is to turn the absolute power of government on its head, and let the people form policy based on mature consideration of facts. This requires ending the era of spin, lies and misinformation, thereby bringing capture of the machinery of government by vested interests to an end. Criminal juries, citize ..read more

Peter Murrell, the former SNP chief executive and husband of the former first minister Nicola Sturgeon, has been re-arrested. In a statement, Police Scotland said a 59-year-old man was arrested this morning in connection with the ongoing investigation into the party’s funding and finances. He was taken into custody at 9.13am on Thursday and is being questioned by Police Scotland detectives. Murrell, who was previously arrested in April, resigned as the SNP’s chief executive in March 2023. His initial arrest was the first of three as part of Operation Branchform, Police Scotland’s major inve ..read more

A Conservative MP has been suspended from the party after being accused of using campaign funds to pay off “bad people”. Mark Menzies, who represents the constituency of Flyde, is alleged to have used thousands of pounds given by donors to fund medical expenses and to have made a late-night call to an aide asking for help because he had been locked up by “bad people” in the middle of the night. The Fylde MP, 52, disputes the allegations reported by The Times. ***Politics.co.uk is the UK’s leading digital-only political website, providing comprehensive coverage of UK politics. Subscribe to our ..read more

It was little surprise that Keir Starmer focussed his questioning on the return of Liz Truss at PMQs this afternoon. The former prime minister’s publicity tour for her new treatise, Ten Years to Save the West, has aligned perfectly with parliament’s return post-recess — and Labour has taken advantage.  Yesterday, Labour’s chief attack dog Jonathan Ashworth toured the press gallery with his own version of Truss’ book. “14 Years to ruin a nation”, the title read in block capitals. And inside contained this confected quote from the prime minister: “Liz, this deserves to be read by every ..read more

Suella Braverman has said that the prime minister’s “noises” about withdrawing from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) are likely to be seen by voters as being “inauthentic”. It came as the former home secretary urged Rishi Sunak to take the UK out of the ECHR and fight the coming general election on the issue. Braverman told GB News: “We need to leave the European Convention of Human Rights and we need to do it now. It is no good putting it in a manifesto for the Conservative Party at the next general election, it is no good putting off the debate.” Braverman insisted that le ..read more