A Vice President came to Newcastle to remind us that a constitutional order survives only when those entrusted with it are willing to defend it without hesitation or apology. It is that same clarity of purpose that Britain must now rediscover.
There is no better start you can give children than teaching them to read, write and add. Labour’s approach to education leaves state-educated children less able to succeed, and asserts that our history, art and literature – our cultural jewels – are the preserve of the wealthy.
We should stop pretending that the status in the law of ‘fiscal rules’ is of any relevance – with Parliamentary Supremacy the penalty for ignoring fiscal rules is set by the bond markets not the law courts nor the OBR.
We can learn a lot from Blair – about party management, sensing the public mood, and telling a story that connects. But he is not to be admired or revered and it was a mistake to leave his legacy untouched when our party could’ve changed it.
And the very difficult politics of doing so, illustrated by Johnson’s swipe at Cummings.
Governments have been publishing ‘growth plans’ for decades, many of which gather dust on the shelves of the Treasury, and are quickly forgotten. The real challenge is not simply what to do – but how to get it done.
Blair’s ambition to send half of young people to university is undoubtedly one of his most damaging legacies. It has weakened the strength and value of a degree and has forced British companies to look overseas to plug the technical skills gap.
It’s that the most underrated ability in public life is the ability to think. Politicians have got to stop proposing things without thinking about them.
If Conservatism is to mean anything, it must end dependency and restore Britain as a nation of enterprise and aspiration.
However tedious the idea of civil service reform might seem, such reforms are perhaps the most critical changes any new government can make. Unless the next administration has a plan for civil service reform, they don’t have a plan to govern.
The succession of Blairite governments that have run Britain over the past three decades put in place a judicial apparat that now serves as a rampart against change.
Will the crisis over illegal migrants precipitate the PM’s abandonment of his commitment to human rights?
I hope I am wrong, but every last flicker of hope has been all but extinguished in Labour’s YIMBY movement. Yet those ideas still live on in the Conservatives.
At a fundamental, instinctive level, Labour don’t trust the British people. They argue that their plans to curb jury trials are an administrative necessity, yet this argument falls down on closer inspection. I’d be far happier placing my faith in the British people than in any single judge.