Stateside narratives have a tendency to be imported into UK politics – one of the knock-on effects of this messy Presidential election outcome.
If they can’t make a real impact on the lives of working class voters in provincial seats, Johnson will meet the same electoral fate as Trump.
The author warns we are sending far too many people to university and creating “a whole great bloated cognitive bureaucratic class”.
If the Prime Minister doesn’t have confidence in his most senior Ministers, it’s impossible to see how anyone else can.
Some of its problems can be fixed. Others won’t be. And one perhaps can’t be: namely, that this Parliament seems to be incapable of saying No.
As with Brexit, much of the Tory family finds itself pitted against the permanent State on how Britain aligns itself in the world.
The Treasury’s decision is a vital moment in the battle against coronavirus and in the emerging consensus about the country we want to be in future.
The Conservative victory in the general election of 2019, on a promise to Get Brexit Done, was a crushing defeat for them.
It may be necessary, given the Coronavirus, and could even work. But Britain has a long, long record of state spending failing to turbo-charge growth.
If Downing Street doesn’t grip the campaign against Patel by allies of her Permanent Secretary and others, it may spiral out of control.
It is straining to be bigger and better, and see further, faster. But the lesson of the story is that it can’t see everywhere at once.
Would the Government have the bottle for planning, childcare and police overhauls – and will Downing Street sign up to this plan anyway?
Listening to conversations in Westminster in recent days, I fear a number of misconceptions will drive bad decision-making.
There are three main issues for us. The HE/FE balance, making all students welcome on campus and the Conservatives’ own internal housekeeping.
Don’t expect Downing Street to bother too much about what MPs or the media think as it prepares to shake up government and Whitehall.