The pact question will not go away, but it is also not yet the right question to be asking. The right question, for now, is whether conservatism can make itself compelling enough that the answer becomes irrelevant.
We have to ensure there is a right wing government after the next election, no matter what that entails. A deal with Reform is essential, and we must accept Conservatives cannot stand in every seat.
The political map has been redrawn, and the Conservatives are becoming a party of only wealthy and older voters. This is a dangerous development for the party, and the cliff edge is moving closer.
The Conservatives and Labour have benefited from an electoral system that delivers large parliamentary majorities with a small slice of the overall vote. But this is changing, and the question for the Tory party is whether it continues defending a model built for a political era that may be ending.
Lowering taxes can be a win-win-win situation. It increases individual liberty, it benefits society as a whole and also can raise tax revenue. We can point to both theory and practice to back this statement up.
The question is not who builds AI fastest. It is who governs it wisest. And quietly, almost without noticing, Britain has accumulated precisely the tools the moment demands.
Our electoral system means that perhaps two-thirds of the electorate could find themselves shut out, and there is no opposition to speak of.
Unequal concentrations of wealth could enable monopoly-like distortions on asset values, interest rates, rents and would end market competition. Reasonably then, there must be a limit on the proportion of wealth held by a minority before it starts to jeopardise normal market function.
My latest poll looks at the Iran crisis, including Britain’s role and Keir Starmer’s handling of it, whether and how the state should subsidise energy , Shabana Mahmood’s changes to indefinite leave to remain, the North Sea, support for Green policies, and Zack Polanski’s past.
The public has become immune to the new Labour spin Streeting personifies. When he took office, 41 per cent of the public thought Labour was best placed to run the NHS. Today, just 19 per cent say the same. It’s up to the Conservatives to hold him to account.
The wise politician addresses the questions of his age with a view to passing a society’s fundamental values on to future generations, allowing for adjustments that do not compromise its deepest character.
The impact of social media in schools is visible in friendship groups destabilised overnight by the fallout from group chats; in the heightened anxiety that stems from constant comparison; in the quiet but persistent erosion of self-regulation.
My latest focus groups took place in Leeds, Halesowen and Solihull, where we heard from uncommitted voters about their views on the early weeks of Andy Burnham, and their hopes and hesitations about Labour’s main opponents.