The results in Manchester, and Rupert Lowe’s stunt, will be seized upon by many as proof that the right must unite, and that the Conservatives are dead. Both conclusions are wrong. Bowing to the demands of tacky populists would be the ultimate humiliation, and one by-election result in a Labour heartland should not dictate the Tories’ direction of travel.
ConservativeHome’s round-up of ten of our best articles from the preceding week.
Why should the state usurp the role of the family? The UK have three times as many old people in residential care as Poland.
At the moment, however, Reform possesses contradictory beliefs on the matter. They push back against state overreach in the case of Connolly, but very much welcome it in the case of Polanski. They must make their minds up. They are either staunch defenders of free speech, or they draw the line at incitement.
The new PM calls for more apprenticeships, but shows no sign of lifting the burdens on the businesses which might provide them.
So we should take these polls with a rather significant pinch of salt. The Westminster commentariat will likely obsess over these numbers and seat projections – pushing the idea that Reform is on the way out. But step outside the confines of SW1, and this is not an attitude shared by the public.
And so, when Burnham ruled out an early general election yesterday, I found myself – yet again – struggling to believe him. After all, both Theresa May and Boris Johnson ruled out early elections just months before they called them. What is to say that Burnham won’t do the same?
ConservativeHome’s round-up of ten of our best articles from the preceding week.
All politicians like to be photographed at election time pulling a pint of beer, but the man who has stepped forward for the past 30 years as the true champion of the man in the pub is Nigel Farage.
From what we have seen of Burnham thus far, his agenda appears to be little more than spend now, pay later. A Mancunian take on Klarna which leaves future generations footing the bill.
Having enjoyed the backing of close to the entirety of the PLP, Burnham appears to have fallen at the first hurdle after entering Number 10. To justify these types of actions – these ideological purges and unfunded commitments – one requires some type of Great Leap Forward
In a matter of hours, Reeves, Lammy and others were sacked from the Cabinet, paving the way for a sort of Mancunian mafia to take control. ‘Cosa Nostra’ the Cabinet whispers together in a thick northern accent, as they sit down for their first meeting
Burnham has begun his premiership with a culling of the old guard, and has imposed a new regime which is committed – most of all – to moving power out of Westminster. Much of my evening will now be spent texting Tory MPs in an attempt to understand where the party stands on these appointments, and what the Party should do – if anything – in response
If Andy Burnham and Louise Haigh really do think Britain’s current problems started because of the Thatcher years, I’m very much afraid he will try to borrow solutions from the past which will not tackle our profound and monumental challenges as a country but make our future a darned sight worse.
ConservativeHome’s round-up of ten of our best articles from the preceding week.