Matthew d'Ancona articles



Article archive:


Articles: 2013

 * The battle to harvest votes from the recovery begins - The challenge for a Tory chancellor is persuading voters that the figures apply to them, not just the rich - 1st December
 * Of course a privileged background matters - Tories addressing social mobility must accept the scale of the problem - 17th November
 * Once again, Labour's future rests on two bright boys - Chuka Umunna and Tristram Hunt are the Blair and Brown of today, but have they truly learnt the lessons of the demise of New Labour - 3rd November
 * Cameron shouldn’t play on Miliband’s side of the pitch - With the clock ticking to the next election, the Labour leader’s pledge on energy prices is still setting the agenda - 27th October
 * Give Andrew Mitchell his job back, and show who’s in charge - The Police Federation claimed a scalp, unjustly. Voters need to know that David Cameron stands up to vested interests - 20th October
 * Politics is now about pounds in pockets – not philosophy - The Royal Mail sell-off storms into terrain that Ed Miliband was staking out as his own - 13th October
 * It’s people who drive prosperity - The PM thinks families are the dominant force of change - 6th October
 * David Cameron gears up to say hello again to Mondeo Man - Far from lurching to the Right, the PM wants to reintroduce himself to the Tory voters who famously defected to Tony Blair, says Matthew d’Ancona - 29th September
 * It’s Ed 'Ryanair’ Miliband v David 'Business Class' Cameron - The Tories realise they are in trouble unless the public believes them to be in the same single class Boeing 737 as the rest of us - 22nd September
 * The Lib Dems know their future lies in power-sharing - Thanks to Nick Clegg, no one can claim that coalition governments are a recipe for disaster - 15th September
 * We can’t pretend the world didn’t change after September 11 - Our political class is ignoring the great question post-9/11: how to ensure the regions that spawned terror are stable - 8th September
 * A nauseating, preening and grubby carnival of inaction - Thursday’s vote on Syria wasn’t the nation speaking its mind – it was our MPs stepping aside at a moment history was asking them to stand firm - 1st September
 * The question Syria asks us: what sort of country are we? - The images of the Ghouta massacre are intolerable – but Cameron faces a tough task in persuading world leaders to act - 25th August
 * Immigration has redrawn the old party political lines - It's notable now how many advocates of immigration are on the Right, while the Left apologises for past mistakes - 18th August
 * Take note, Ukip: political discourse isn’t a free-for-all - Many floating voters are wary of a politician who presents bigotry as plain speaking. Godfrey Bloom’s remarks are a fork in the road for Nigel Farage - 11th August
 * The end of the peers show that has run for 100 years - The new appointees to the Upper House will add to the expertise of a body that fulfils a crucial role - 4th August
 * 'Game on’, as David Cameron says – things may be looking up - In No 10, they call Len McCluskey the Manchurian Candidate, a brain-washed deep-cover agent for the Tory party - 27th July
 * David Cameron takes on the pornographers - The Prime Minister is challenging the internet companies to acknowledge their 'moral duty' to restrict access to hardcore pornography - 21st July
 * Reshuffle rumours bode ill for forward-looking Tories - A government that ejects a politician of David Willetts’s intellect and experience is practising self-harm - 14th July
 * Everything hangs on Ed Miliband’s battle with Labour’s past - The showdown between Ed Miliband and the unions will define his destiny – and the future direction of the party - 7th July
 * Nelson Mandela taught the Tories the value of trust in politics - The Conservative Party’s shifting relationship with the great South African leader reflects a significant change in its style and attitude - 30th June
 * You may laugh at 'Jeffrey’, but he’s won the argument - George Osborne has defined the rules of the game and the terms of the debate - 23rd June
 * A swing of the handbag reveals Mrs May’s ambition - The Home Secretary has made it clear she believes she could lead the Tories - 16th June
 * Labour still won’t admit that it got us into this mess - The two Eds' strategy has many gaps, but last week's speeches showed how determined Ed Balls and Ed Milband are to get back into power - 9th June
 * Patrick Mercer: A rogue operator, or a return to the days of Tory sleaze? - For the Prime Minister’s allies, Patrick Mercer’s disgrace is positively karmic - 2nd June
 * How far is Britain willing to go to prevent modern jihad? - The choice is not only how hard we fight to protect ourselves, but what we are prepared to sanction in order to pre‑empt attack - 26th May
 * Tory self-harm over Europe has buried the good news - Once a party is seen to be indulging its own priorities rather than addressing the anxieties of the electorate, it is sunk - 19th May
 * EU referendum 'the political mouse that roared' - David Cameron's promise of a new deal has won few friends. To too many eyes, it looks like compromise - 12th May
 * She was a giant, but karaoke Thatcherism is not enough - Mere mimicry of Mrs Thatcher won’t solve the challenges her heirs face today – they require a very different approach - 15th April
 * Timing is everything, Boris Johnson, as David Miliband will testify - If the Mayor becomes Tory leader, he will look back on the Eddie Mair interview as sparring before the main event - 30th March
 * Cunning George Osborne pulled a fast one on the Lib Dems in the Budget - The Tories are now going to keep their message simple – but show their 'masculine’ and 'feminine’ sides - 24th March
 * Free speech is too important for all this messy politicking - A national wave of revulsion at phone hacking is ending in compromise, brinkmanship and Hugh Grant finally getting to play the tough guy - 17th March
 * It’s no mutiny, but the ties of loyalty are unravelling in David Cameron's Cabinet - Oligarchies decide the fate of their leaders, and the Prime Minister faces one now in the Cabinet - 10th March
 * The PM can still win, but it might have to get personal - People need to hear a narrative that makes sense of the pain, the change and the challenge – and they haven’t heard it yet - 3rd March
 * What’s so wrong with a thoroughly modern leader for the Conservative Party? - If the Tories decide to stick with David Cameron, they need to get real about the electoral consequences of continued disunity - 10th February
 * Westminster’s Tory tots must do some growing up - The mutineers are living in a Hogwarts fantasy world – where all it needs to achieve growth is a wave of the magic wand - 3rd February
 * Europe must change to stay the same, and the PM knows it - The promise of a vote means that Miliband is trumped as tribune of the people - 27th January
 * David Cameron had to tackle the future before the past - Jihadism is a hypermodern threat - 20th January
 * Now it’s our loss of faith in justice that needs 'fixing’ - The Jimmy Savile affair has shed grim light on procedures and systems that are woefully inadequate - 13th January
 * David Cameron is determined to stay on and finish the job - Our pragmatist Prime Minister is set on winning a full term in No 10 so he can see through policies, not out of some crazed will to power - 6th January



Articles: 2012

 * Ditching their modernisation campaign was the Tories’ worst strategic error since the poll tax - David Cameron must address the identity crisis in his party before it is too late - 30th December
 * Where does Danny Boyle’s Britain go from here? - We inhabit a pluralistic society – and identifying the common ground is the most pressing challenge for the 21st-century politician - 16th December
 * The West is signing its own death sentence - Capitalism is, by its nature, dynamic. George Osborne's attempt to engineer the 'perfect society’ undermines the logic of the free market - 9th December
 * Leveson Report: This could spark a new Labour-Lib Dem alliance - It would not be surprising if a rival draft Bill on press regulation is produced - 2nd December
 * I see one last, if faint, hope for a truly free British press - For the Prime Minister to offer the newspapers a final chance would be both statesmanlike and a complete political nightmare - 25th November
 * Ed Miliband is facing his Clause Four moment - The Labour leader’s remarks are not a conversion to Euroscepticism - 18th November
 * David Cameron won’t win by listening to the illiberal elite - Barack Obama’s victory may have been welcome news for the PM, but it was also a stark reminder that his party must broaden its appeal -11th November
 * David Cameron fears a chill wind blowing across the Atlantic - The Tories’ strategy for winning in 2015 is founded on the power of incumbency – but the US election may prove that this is no longer a strong card to hold - 4th November
 * The sacrifice of Andrew Mitchell sets a dangerous precedent - The affair has sent a message to every trade union and special interest group in the land: when you have a minister on the ropes, keep at it - 21st October
 * 'Compassionate Tory’ is not a contradiction in terms - The party’s tribal language can be an off-putting hybrid of technocracy, ideology, and embattled Blimpishness - 14th October
 * The Man with the Plan can’t keep avoiding the Blond One - There is a clear and present danger that Boris Johnson will steal the show in Birmingham.The Cameroons must act - 7th October
 * What’s the point of Labour when the coffers are empty? - Ed Miliband’s answer to this question will help to decide the outcome of the next election - 30th September
 * I don’t believe that Andrew Mitchell let loose the explosive P-word - The Tory Chief Whip Andrew Mitchell has a temper, but it is not in him to use the word 'pleb' - 23rd September
 * Cleggmania is now nothing but a distant memory - Nick Clegg, the Lib Dem leader, is being bombarded by dismal opinion polls - and Vince Cable is waiting in the wings - 16th September
 * David Cameron's 'Twitter reshuffle’ has big ambitions – spreading the word - The lazy consensus is that the Cabinet reshuffle was a triumph for the Tory Right, but the Lib Dems are remarkably chipper - 9th September
 * Dogged and decent, Chris Grayling shows how to get reform right - The Paralympics should inspire politicians to continue the fight for a fairer benefits system - 2nd September
 * The Tories can still wring victory from the Coalition - Letting Nick Clegg get his way on party funding could hand David Cameron a far greater prize - 26th August
 * Michael Gove must be allowed to complete his quiet revolution - From top down to bottom up – a cultural transformation is under way in schools across the country - 19th August
 * The lesson of the Games for David Cameron is the grit it takes to gain the glory - The Prime Minister’s daunting task is to explain that the Coalition’s work is slow, demanding and sometimes painful - 12th August
 * London 2012 Olympics: Boris limbers up to join the Tory Olympians - Only the most churlish would deny the London Mayor his Olylmpic laurel - 29th July
 * London 2012 Olympics: The Games can be a beacon of aspiration amid the gloom - The Coalition needs to revive the country’s self-belief – and a successful Olympics would be the ideal start - 22nd July
 * David Cameron must steady the ship - The Lords reform debacle shows a failure of communication - 15th July
 * While politicians score points over Libor, politics itself loses - Public anger at the latest banking scandal will not be assuaged by party political conflict. Quite the opposite - 8th July
 * Our divided society cries out for Michael Gove’s school solutions - The return of the O-level as a driver of excellence, in state schools as much as in the private sector, is essential - 24th June
 * Cameron survives Leveson but his harshest test is still to come - It is hard to exaggerate the extent to which the fate of the euro is dominating and transfixing the Coalition - 17th June
 * The monarchy is doing fine – the problem is the oligarchy - The Queen represents a still, small voice of calm - 3rd June
 * From his seat in the dock, David Cameron can show who’s in charge - David Cameron can use his appearance at the Leveson Inquiry to revive his political fortunes - 27th May
 * This crisis that proves nothing is more certain than uncertainty - A faith in the euro that was more theology than economics made its potential collapse impossible to foresee - 20th May
 * Politics in this age of austerity will be a contest of character - The danger for David Cameron is that the electorate will see him as out of touch - 13th May
 * David Cameron needs to capture some of Boris Johnson's sunshine - The success of Boris Johnson in being re-elected as Mayor of London shows that voters crave robustness of spirit in their leaders - 6th May
 * The PM’s last chance to regain the public’s trust? - Hints of shoddy motives and shady dealings at the Leveson Inquiry are alienating voters - 29th April
 * Forget Ukip, Mr Cameron and explain what you're up to - In its first months, the Cameron-Clegg Government was superbly effective in communicating its policies - 22nd April
 * Charities row may be least of Coalition’s worries - The harsh truth is that the age of austerity will last for many years, and the public’s resolve will be severely tested - 15th April
 * How a crisis from the past fuelled the panic of today - The PM was determined to avoid a repeat of the chaos that paralysed the country under Blair - 1st April
 * A Nimby storm won’t divert the Coalition - Everyone will suffer in this realignment between the state and the citizen - 25th March
 * Budget 2012: the Coalition’s finest hour? - The Chancellor will soon discover whether this was a political gamble worth taking - 18th March
 * The case for gay marriage is fundamentally conservative - it will strengthen Britain's social fabric - As the author GK Chesterton observed, if you leave a thing to itself, you are leaving it to wild and violent changes - 11th March
 * All the policies are in place: now it’s time for delivery - Steve Hilton’s departure from No 10 leaves the Chancellor in an even more crucial role as the PM’s key advisor - 4th March
 * Workfare provides a ladder of hope, from despair to dignity - The PM (maybe stretching it a bit) has called business 'the most powerful force for social progress the world has ever known - 26th February
 * The credibility of politics itself will be in the dock with Huhne - The trial will be a compelling soap opera for those who usually switch off when they hear the word politics - 5th February
 * David Cameron is the prisoner of his own rhetoric about the banks - The PM’s recent talk of 'moral markets’ and appeals to fairness make Stephen Hester’s bonus that much harder to defend - 29th January
 * Labour has finally decided to join the grown-ups’ table - Ed Balls and Ed Miliband showed signs of a willingness to capitulate to reality - 22nd January
 * A tale of two Camerons and a return to Victorian values - HS2 demonstrates how the PM’s visionary instincts are prevailing over his love of the countryside - 15th January
 * PM won’t let the socialists have fairness all to themselves - The PM wants to create a society in which there is a visible link between merit and reward - 8th January
 * David Cameron must offer us more than the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics - The Olympics and the Diamond Jubilee offer the Prime Minister the chance to persuade voters that the Government has a broader vision - 1st January



Articles: 2011

 * David Cameron must now pass the Christopher Hitchens test - My old friend described the Tory leader as 'content-free’. Time for the PM to prove him wrong - 18th December
 * The Coalition's best hope is the audacity of truth - Today’s version of political optimism is not to promise the earth, but to safeguard what we have - 4th December
 * Autumn Statement: the two coalitions go to war - On Tuesday, George Osborne will be making the case for the coalition of the competent against its ragtag rival - 27th November
 * Under black economic skies, political battle awaits - The Tory message may end up being that, as bad as things are, they would be a lot, lot worse under Ed Miliband - 21st November
 * This border skirmish is about far more than immigration - Theresa May’s dispute with her officials is an acid test of the Tories’ strategy and competence - 13th November
 * The Euro elite are totally out of touch with the modern world - The realities of 21st-century politics are finally catching up with the guardians of the single currency - 6th November
 * The Tories are forgetting the lessons of the past - David Cameron's rebel backbenchers are the pinstriped equivalent of the protesters outside St Paul's - 30th October
 * Spooks - the spies who are the good guys - 'Spooks’ is so compelling because of the moral dilemmas it forces upon us - 23rd October
 * Why did Adam Werritty behave as he did? Because he could - The Liam Fox scandal shows why our system of aides and advisers needs such a radical overhaul - 16th October
 * David Cameron must show he is not powerless before the storm - The Coalition’s support could evaporate in an instant if it seems inadequate to the economic challenge - 9th October
 * David Cameron needs to win the voters' hearts as well as their minds - The Conservative conference will be marked by a concerted effort to prove that there is more to the Government than deficit reduction - 2nd October
 * Ed Miliband has to show voters he has more to offer than old tunes - The Labour movement is longing to spend, spend, spend - and tax, tax, tax - 25th September
 * A strategy of guts and guile may yet save the Lib Dems - The Lib Dems are moving from a party of protest to a party of government. No wonder Nick Clegg looks happy - 18th September
 * David Cameron needs to offer tough love - even to the Bullingdon Club - The Prime Minister’s new agenda is the right response to the riots, but it shouldn’t only be applied to the poor - 4th September
 * won’t make David Cameron’s reputation, but it’s certainly a start'' - Only the most churlish would deny that the Prime Minister's judgment has been vindicated, and his courage rewarded - 28th August
 * Coalition has launched a revolution in our university system'' - We are witnessing the death throes of the old order, and the birth pangs of the new - 21st August
 * another deficit that David Cameron has to deal with'' - The Prime Minister faces an 'empathy deficit' unless he can convince the voters that he feels their pain - 30th July
 * hacking: The hiring of Andy Coulson exposes David Cameron’s essential decency'' - Far from being shady and cynical, the hiring of Coulson showed Mr Cameron's benign view of human nature - 24th July
 * muzzled media would not make Britain a better place'' - Britain could end up with a press that lacks the tools it needs to hold the mighty to account - 17th July
 * Cameron and Rupert Murdoch are swept up in a public fit of morality'' - The Prime Minister and the media tycoon will need all their reserves of strength in the ferocious days ahead - 10th July
 * to the Coalition - but the battle over public sector pensions has only just begun'' - Ministers should put the champagne on ice, for in reaching a deal over pension reforms, they face an extraordinarily delicate balancing act - 3rd July
 * Miliband and his brother are divided by much more than sibling rivalry'' - What afflicts Labour today is not civil war, or fraternal feuding, but something much worse - 18th June
 * 'Pew Labour' is a blessing to the Coalition'' - Rowan Williams wanted to damage the Government. Instead, he showed how threadbare the opposition to it really is - 12th June
 * is giving Clegg high ground on the NHS'' - Tories and Lib Dems are actually saying the same thing about the health service reforms - 29th May
 * Clarke has done his time. He should go without delay'' - Until the Justice Secretary is sacked, David Cameron's claim to be on the side of the public over crime will fail to ring true - 22nd May
 * Cameron would be wrong to jettison his co-pilot'' - Nick Clegg’s only chance of recovery is to ignore the turbulence and carry on regardless - 8th May
 * referendum: When it comes to change, we prefer a prince in an Aston Martin to a weird new voting system'' - The British like their voting system like they like their monarchy - the result of evolutionary adaptation, not pointless tinkering
 * royal wedding will be positively drenched in politics'' - This kind of ceremony carries a dauntingly heavy payload of messages and symbols about where we are as a nation - 24th April
 * Cable broke the rules, and he should have been sacked'' - The Business Secretary’s posturing sets a dangerous precedent - 17th April
 * door is open for Ed Miliband to pose as the defender of our cherished institutions'' - The fiasco over David Cameron's NHS reforms has allowed Labour to lunge for the terrain he abandoned - 10th April
 * Clegg is ready to use shock and awe to force social change'' - Nick Clegg is determined to make Britain more equal – but he could have a bloody fight ahead - 3rd April
 * is Cameron’s chance to exorcise the ghost of Iraq'' - The PM has realised that this conflict is about more than the removal of Gaddafi - 27th March
 * rescues a principle from the shambles of Iraq'' - Whatever happens in Libyan skies, there will be no allegations that the Prime Minister misled the Commons - 20th March
 * Cameron knows what to do about Libya, but does Barack Obama?'' - The Prime Minister is laying the groundwork for intervention in Libya - and rightly so, says Matthew d'Ancona. Now Barack Obama needs to follow his lead - 13th March
 * Cameron will stand up as a tribune of the people'' - David Cameron's speech to the Conservative Spring Conference promises to be a declaration of 'gut belief' - 6th March
 * Cameron's true character will be revealed on the world stage'' - This historical turning point in the Middle East also marks a defining moment for the Prime Minister - 27th February
 * Street's backroom boys want to save the Tories from themselves''- The reshuffle at No 10 is not a takeover by modernising metropolitans, but a clear-eyed sharpening of focus - 20th February
 * 2011: George Osborne must grit his teeth and prepare us for the pain'' - The Budget has to explain why the cuts are a necessary precondition of prosperity - 12th February
 * Clegg is about to set off an almighty row over universities - and he's glad'' - A splenetic debate about social mobility and the education system is exactly what the Deputy Prime Minister wants - 6th February
 * Cameron's revolution will take years – he should say so'' - The Coalition’s strategies sit uncomfortably in a culture that is pathologically impatient and reward speed above all else - 30th January
 * Coulson lost his job but kept his sanity'' - Andy Coulson played a considerable part in steadying the Tory boat - 24th January
 * will soon find out if two Eds are better than one'' - Ed Miliband's real problem is that he and Ed Balls are cut from precisely the same cloth - 23rd January
 * Tories couldn’t deliver the goods without the Lib Dems'' - The Tory Right is wilfully blind to the fact that it is getting most of what it wants from a Coalition that it hates - 16th January
 * Coalition should be judged by its ability to maintain course'' - The Oldham by-election will be followed by a join-the-dots of political horrors - but ministers must keep faith in their strategy - 9th January



Articles: 2010

 * 'LibiLeaks’ actually show how robust this Coalition is'' - After the Vince Cable gaffe, the Government must become less vulnerable to the caprices of its senior members - 26th December
 * Cameron's by-election strategy is simple: 'Stop Labour''' - A clear run for Nick Clegg's party in Oldham East and Saddleworth could be the perfect Christmas gift, as well as a preview of campaigns to come - 19th December
 * Coalition's shock therapy demands exemplary bedside manners'' - The tuition fee protests show that the Government needs to remain as compassionate as it is determined - 12th December
 * climate conference: the warmists' last Mexican wave'' - The global warming scare was fun while it lasted, but the joke's over - 5th December
 * Clegg should forget his wobble and whip his party into line'' - The Lib Dems cannot take the moral high ground and remain a potent force in the Coalition - 5th December
 * Miliband is simply Gordon 2.0'' - Like his former boss, Labour's new leader knows what to say to the middle classes, but not how to mean it - 28th November
 * royal wedding won't win votes, but it will raise spirits'' - Prince William and Kate Middleton embody David Cameron's ideal vision of Britain with almost spooky precision - 21st November
 * students' storming of Millbank Tower was just a taste of the unrest ahead'' - Tuition fees will not be the Coalition’s poll tax, but future protests may test it to the limit - 14th November
 * Tories need to be more Michael Palin than Sarah'' - The Tea Party’s passion is impressive, but its advocates on the British Right are ignoring reality - 7th November
 * Johnson represents the essence of David Cameron's Big Society'' - The row over housing benefit is a lurid preview of future disputes between centre and locality - 31st October
 * review: George Osborne's review is a bible for the new generation of Tories'' - What he has done is not only economically necessary: it is also ideologically innovative - 24th October
 * review: The generals may be angry – but doctors and nurses aren't'' - If the spending review succeeds, then things will work differently but better - 17th October
 * row over child benefit obscures the radicalism of David Cameron's plans'' - we should ignore the self-interest of the rich, and focus on the true importance of David Cameron's plans - 10th October
 * creature of the unions is the least of Cameron’s worries'' - The Prime Minister should concentrate on preparing the ground for the spending review instead of attacking 'Red Ed’ - 3rd October
 * choosing Ed Miliband, Labour has handed David Cameron the next election'' - Labour chose to be soothed by Ed Miliband rather than challenged by David, and it will suffer the consequences - 26th September
 * Lib Dems should forget frog-fondling and think big'' - Nick Clegg needs to remind his Tory-phobic party that Conservatives can be the truest liberals - 19th September
 * is Keith Vaz to accuse Andy Coulson of anything?'' - The campaign against Andy Coulson, David Cameron's communications chief, is partisan, hypocritical and unjust - 11th September
 * Blair's book is an instruction manual for David Cameron'' - The Coalition are Tony Blair's true heirs – and his memoir shows as much - 5th September
 * Miliband jealousy could make a leader of David'' - Going toe to toe with his brother Ed has put some welcome fire into David Miliband's campaign - 29th August
 * results: Yet again, the education system has failed Britain’s teenagers'' - Soggy-minded adults are responsible for an educational culture that flinches from all forms of grading or selection - 22nd August
 * graduate tax is a Tory idea whose time has come'' - If we are going to base future economic growth on intellectual enterprise, we need universities capable of doing the job - 15th August
 * David Cameron has to explain the rewards for all that pain'' - The Prime Minister's zeal has been impressive – but he needs to give voters a sense of what's in it for them - 1st August
 * is easier to promise shiny schools than better teaching'' - The Coalition has gone for the difficult option on education - and Labour’s taunts have strengthened its resolve - 11th July
 * reform is bad news for the Tories, whatever the result'' - David Cameron was right to offer a vote on AV, but it is an irritation he could certainly do without - 4th July
 * played a clever game to motivate ministers'' - The Budget was a stern call to action that invites both politicians and public to grow up and face the awesome challenge ahead - 27th June
 * Gove has a precious chance to save our schools from the state'' - The educational establishment has seen off previous reforms – but this time, the revolution could finally take hold - 20th June
 * Miliband is leading Labour on a march into insignificance'' - Until it accepts and apologises for its mistakes, the party will never recapture its connection with the voters - 13th June
 * 'Manny State’ can wean us off big government'' - The PM’s calm words after the Cumbrian tragedy show how determined he is to break our reliance on Whitehall - 6th June
 * David Laws's painful sacrifice could save the 'new politics''' - The Lib Dem axeman was a star of the Coalition, but he could not be allowed to protect his private life at public expense - 30th May
 * is the Queen's Speech of a team in a tearing hurry'' - The Queen's Speech shows that Nick Clegg and David Cameron want to get things done, and fast - 23rd May
 * allies work on the deficit as Labour plays in the sandpit'' - The battle of the Milibands is good news for Cameron and Clegg – but they need all the help they can get - 16th May
 * if talks fail, Cameron has read the public mood correctly'' - In trying to achieve a Lib-Con alliance, David Cameron he has shown that the Conservatives are not a closed sect of the self-seeking - 9th May
 * next PM must face up to New Labour's corrosive legacy'' - Tony Blair and his gang gained power by infantilising Britain, and fixing that will be a daunting process - 2nd May
 * Lib-Con deal is a real possibility'' - David Cameron and Nick Clegg could sink their differences more easily than you might think - 25th April
 * Cameron must sweep aside the impostor who stole his act'' - 'Calamity Clegg’ came across as the candidate of change – but don’t count the Tory leader out just yet - 19th April
 * Cameron as Gene Hunt? Labour must be living life on Mars'' - This woeful attack on the Tories caps a truly terrible week for No 10 - 4th April
 * up, or there'll be another nightmare on Downing Street'' - Gordon Brown back in Number 10? It’s not as unlikely as you might think - 28th March
 * prepares for 48-hour trench warfare'' - Labour’s last-ditch Budget will herald an artillery battle over Britain’s future - 21st March
 * battle for hearts more than minds'' - David Cameron has still to conquer a generation-old national assumption, that the Tories are up to no good - 14th March
 * Ashcroft saga shows why the Tories need to embrace transparency'' - It is pointless to preach the virtues of open government if your own party is being economical with the actualité - 7th March
 * isn't Labour v Tory, but Gordon v Dave'' - The choice at the general election is about which leader is best for Britain, and the answer should be clear - 28th February
 * do not need a second look at Labour'' - Gordon Brown's election speech was an argument with himself - 21st February
 * Brown deserves our sympathy, not our vote'' - The pain in Gordon Brown's interview with Piers Morgan is real, but he makes for a rather desperate romantic - 14th February
 * jittery January - but the Tories need some perspective'' - Though the Cameron team's nerves are easy to explain, they need to take a reality check - 7th February
 * Chilcot Inquiry is New Labour's death-rattle'' - The testimony on show at the Chilcot Inquiry reveals Tony Blair's Cabinet to be craven wimps - 24th January
 * Brown's election strategy is doomed, but you have to admire the cheek of it'' - The PM's bare-faced efforts to scare Mondeo Man away from the Tories will make this a rollercoaster election - 17th January
 * incompetence: it's clear what history's verdict will be'' - This Government, riven by indecision, cannot see how far it has fallen - 10th January
 * with public opinion is the terrorist's greatest ally'' - Politicians with one eye on the news cycle can never properly defend us from the deadly, patient threat of Islamist terror - 3rd January



Articles: 2009

 * was the MPs' expenses scandal writ large'' - The futile climate-change negotiations at Copenhagen revealed the same contempt for the public as the MPs' expenses scandal - 20th December
 * Brown has failed. Now it's George Osborne's turn'' - Labour played politics with the pre-Budget report rather than addressing the debt crisis. The Tories must do better - 13th December
 * David Cameron, the egghead is an endangered species'' - Intellectuals have their uses, but being seen as smart alecs is the last thing the Tories want - 29th November
 * will take nerve to free schools from Whitehall's ruinous grip'' - Ed Balls doesn't understand that the best engine for raising standards is not ministerial diktat, but the devolution of power to parents - 22nd November
 * folly, crisis. . . so why is Gordon Brown starting to cheer up?'' - As the election approaches, the PM’s instinct for a scrap is starting to emerge – as is his strategy against the Tories - 15th November
 * transfer of authority to Cameron has already begun'' - The reaction to Lisbon shows that the Tories are being treated - and scrutinised - as a ruling party - 8th November
 * Points' for President Blair - but David Miliband sounds like a winner'' - As Tony Blair's chances of becoming European president fade, the Foreign Secretary is hitting all the right notes - 1st October
 * MPs blind to the mortal peril they are all in'' - The disgraced political class has forgotten it is the servant of the people - 18th October
 * Tories offer a surprisingly radical agenda'' - The cuddly, tree-hugging 'Dave' Cameron seemed like a distant memory after his closing speech - 11th October
 * David Cameron fix the bodge job left by Labour?'' - David Cameron's message at the Tory party conference will be of radical repair to a broken nation - 4th October
 * problem isn't just the election - it's what comes next'' - The party has grown too used to Government to think about the trauma that defeat will bring - 27th September
 * have turned Brown's own tactics against him'' - The climbdown over cuts shows how Gordon Brown has been out manoeuvred by David Cameron - 20th September
 * damning character flaws have been laid bare'' - Evasive, indecisive and unpersuasive - how can such a Prime Minister govern - 6th September
 * has a cunning plan - a punch-up over schools'' - The Tories' silence on the NHS will be matched by an all-out assault over education - 30th August
 * Mandelson's short reign has put a smile on Labour's face'' - For all the gags and the faux-menace, at least Peter Mandelson looked like a man in charge - 16th August
 * the Iraq inquiry finally nail Blair?'' - The nation may be longing for closure - but never underestimate the former PM - 2nd August
 * North: It costs nothing to show some humility in defeat, Mr Brown'' - Labour got well and truly thumped in Norwich - just as it will be at a general election - 26th July
 * David Cameron does as PM, he will cause pain and anger'' - The row over military spending is a taste of what lies ahead for the Tory leader - 19th July
 * tapping: A tabloid scandal that will do the Tories no harm at all'' - It is in Andy Coulson's best interest that the 'News of the World' affair should break now - 12th July
 * Gordo out of step'' - While his colleagues seek a way out of crisis, Gordon Brown is in an economic Neverland - 5th July
 * to Downing St is the least of Cameron’s challenges'' - It is one thing to achieve power with candour about the choices to be made, it is quite another to make those choices - 21st June
 * a pathetic loss of nerve, Labour backs the wrong man'' - MPs had to choose between Gordon Brown and James Purnell. By siding with the Prime Minister, the party shows it has lost the hunger needed to win - 14th June
 * Gordon Brown falls, it won't be the work of the cowardly Cabinet'' - The backbench coup is everywhere, and nowhere. It is impossible to nail down. That is its weakness - but also its strength - 7th June
 * elections 2009: Labour will learn the true depth of public anger'' - Voters demand a wholesale purgation of the system, and nothing less than a general election can deliver that cleansing - 31st May
 * expenses: Reform can wait; what the people want now is an election'' - With politics in the A&E department, it will take more than cosmetic surgery to provide a cure. It’s time for Gordon Brown to go to the country - 24th May
 * expenses: It's easy to blame 'the system' without taking responsibility'' - The Labour Party promised us a new era of fair play, but they have treated the parliamentary rulebook as if it were a daisy-chain of loopholes - 10th May
 * Brown founders, no one knows what’s going on'' - There are clear parallels between Callaghan’s last days and Brown’s current calamities - 3rd May
 * Watergate leaves trust in the gutter'' - As Alistair Darling will soon discover, you can't govern when you're the object of ridicule - 19th April
 * Damian McBride scandal shows just how out of touch Labour is'' - Damian McBride, the disgraced No 10 adviser, had no choice but to quit - his shabby email smears against leading Conservatives belong to a bygone era - 12th April
 * that G20 pomp will never impress the voters'' - The summit marked the rise of the "neo-conference-holders", or "neo-confs", who believe in multilateralism for its own sake but have little grasp of reality - 5th April
 * King has calmly cancelled Gordon Brown's credit card'' - The spandex-clad superhero has lost his aura of power - 29th March
 * G20 agenda is already unravelling'' - The general election campaign will be brutal and utterly mesmerising - 22nd March
 * more Mr Nice Guy: Cameron's warning'' - David Cameron's apology was a shrewd move that transformed our expectations of the leader - 15th March
 * Brown must apologise, and quickly'' - The Prime Minister's response to the recession is too dry, forensic and bloodless - 8th March
 * tribute to Ivan was the opposite of a 'Diana moment''' - Those who criticised the cancellation of Prime Minister's Questions following the death of David Cameron's son, Ivan, missed the point - 1st March
 * next Labour leader is destined to be a loser'' - The battle to succeed Gordon Brown is ferocious because it matters so little - 22nd February
 * keeps on passing the buck'' - It is too late now for the public to acquit an increasingly petty and desperate Gordon Brown - 15th February
 * Brown's been shamed and scorned - and upstaged by Tony Blair'' - The insults that the prime minister has endured reflect the crumbling of Labour's reputation - 8th February
 * week Labour lost the next election'' - Fearful and angry, voters are ready to drive Gordon Brown decisively from office - 1st February
 * Barack Obama, Tories must offer prospect of change and hope'' - If David Cameron is to join Mr Obama's side on the global stage as a head of government, he too must be a plausible agent of change - 25th January
 * this war, Islamists have found a shared strategy. We haven't'' - David Miliband is misguided to claim that the terrorist threat is disaggregated and heterogeneous - 18th January
 * Brown might win the war, but lose the peace'' - Amid economic gloom, our political leaders are laying claim to the Blitz spirit. They should also remember what happened to Churchill after the fighting stopped - 4th January



Articles: 2008

 * Barack Obama help Gordon Brown in 2009?'' - The absent friend at the feast this year is the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come - 28th December 2008
 * Brown and Peter Mandelson are united - against the Labour Left'' - The most unlikely reunion of 2008 was between two bitter political enemies, with the aim of saving Labour from itself - 21st December 2008
 * Cameron can't do anything about recession but must say the right things'' - Mr Cameron is turning the Prime Minister's weapon against him - 14th December 2008
 * affair is comedy with a sharp point'' - In his wonderfully ludicrous statement on the MP's arrest, Michael Martin looked like Widow Twankey and spoke like a Scottish Vicky Pollard - 7th December
 * Labour losing its grip on information?'' - A week is a long time in politics. All of a sudden the Government looks oppressive, cack-handed and deceitful - 30th November
 * opening battle of the next election'' - The pre-Budget report will be a test of the cleverness of Labour and Conservatives alike - 23rd November
 * has brought 'change' to UK politics'' - Both Gordon Brown and David Cameron are scrambling to be seen as our answer to the President-Elect. But they will not find his success easy - 9th November
 * Gordon Brown would dream of a call from President Barack Obama'' - That photo-opportunity with the newly crowned Most Important, Popular and Generally Wonderful Man in the World will be genuinely useful to Brown - 2nd November
 * 'Yachtgate' give you that sinking feeling?'' - Never mind which crew comes out worst, it's the voters, with their foundering faith in the political system, who will lose out in the end - 26th October
 * won't be a superhero for ever'' - Cameron has been joking privately about the PM's reinvention as a world-saving superhero - 19th October
 * Brown with siren suit and cigar'' - The PM looks at ease and in his element, he no longer reminds one of an overworked accountant on the verge of nervous collapse - 12th October
 * back to save New Labour'' - Gordon Brown's clunking fist has uncurled this week to display some dazzling sleight of hand - 5th October
 * Cameron must seize the torch'' - When the Tory leader speaks in Birmingham this week he must stick to his modernising guns - 28th September
 * Party conference unity, and then it's back to playing dirty'' - There is indeed a desperate plot in Labour's ranks to overturn the settled will of the vast majority of the party's members - 21st September
 * Brown's Scottish tragedy'' - The Prime Minister knows that no serious challenger will emerge from his tribe. His departure is likely be slow and painful - 14th September
 * used to be a nice word'' - It was often said of Blair that he was "just interested in winning". For the leader of a party that had been in opposition for 18 long years, that was a pretty sensible policy - 7th September
 * shows that Labour is flagging'' - The glorious sight of Boris Johnson wielding the Olympic flag was one to warm every Tory heart and send a chill through every Labour soul - 31st August
 * Labour works like clockwork'' - That birth of New Labour was unplanned, and unexpected. But everything else thereafter has been governed by timetable - 17th August
 * Miliband is no iBlair nano'' - when David Miliband gets back from holiday he should resign as Foreign Secretary, prepare his challenge and get on with it - 10th August
 * Miliband makes Labour exciting again'' - Mr Miliband's fancy evasions were an intolerable provocation to his boss, says Matthew d'Ancona. One might as well saunter up to Gengis Khan and call him a perfumed ponce - 3rd August
 * Brown's not-entirely-Golden Rule'' - The Prime Minister has endlessly alleged that the Tories would make unfunded tax cuts. In fact, he himself has been doing just that, says Matthew d'Ancona - 20th July
 * Brown is still up for it'' - Matthew d'Ancona thinks the Prime Minister may have a chance to plot the most unlikely and therefore the most potentially thrilling political comeback in a generation - 13th July
 * East is the by-election to watch'' - The Tories are still a long way off deserving to be called the party of the poor, says Matthew d'Ancona, but the claim is no longer entirely implausible - 6th July
 * challenge facing David Cameron has changed'' - The Tory leader expected to replace a regime that had run its course and missed its chance. Now it is more likely that he will inherit a landscape of economic wreckage - 29th June
 * Brown's bitter anniversary'' - Matthew d'Ancona thinks the problem is that, all too quickly, the public came to see Mr Brown as a grey personification of the very old politics he declared redundant a year ago - 22nd June
 * seldom say this these days, but Gordon Brown is right'' - Matthew d'Ancona has kicked the Government hard recently, but on the issue of extending the detention limit for terror suspects to 42 days, the Prime Minister's opponents are wrong - 8th June
 * rage shows there's no mileage left in Gordon Brown's Labour government'' - Gordon Brown's government is so fragiles that one more gust of fury could do for it - 1st June
 * are the Labour pains of a dying era'' - At the Google Zeitgeist forum, Matthew d'Ancona watched Gordon Brown deliver a speech which was undoubtedly prime ministerial in quality, but it did him little good in Crewe - Some by-elections dramatise significant shifts in the political landscape - 25th May
 * at Crewe will stop Labour in its tracks'' - Some by-elections dramatise significant shifts in the political landscape - 18th May
 * Blair says things about Gordon Brown that Tony Blair can't'' - By setting the record straight, Cherie Blair is also offering a devastating gloss on the Brown Government, its origins and its structural crisis - 11th May
 * Johnson's London will be a Tory lab'' - Conservative control of the capital will allow voters to see exactly what they would get from a government led by David Cameron - 4th May
 * is losing the will to govern '' - The only long-term decision that matters now, says Matthew d'Ancona, is whether Gordon Brown decides to stay where the voters are, or drifts off once more - 27th April
 * abroad and animosity at home for Gordon Brown'' - In Washington, President Bush played host to a very moral leader, whose Christian values were shaped by growing up in the church. Oh, and the Pope was in town, too - 20th April
 * Brown doesn't do empathy'' - The Prime Minister's instinct, says Matthew d'Ancona, is to offer an intellectual and historical context which will make voters see how silly their worries are - 13th April
 * Minister Gordon Brown commits fatal political error: being out of touch'' - Gordon Brown insists that - thanks to his heroic reforms as Chancellor - the British economy can withstand this period of global financial turbulence, but voters don't believe him - 30th March
 * Brown is scared of losing London'' - No wonder Gordon Brown said Ken Livingstone was "inspirational" last week, because with so little time left to turn round Labour's prospects in London, the PM would say just about anything - 23rd March
 * the Barack Obama v Hillary Clinton US Election fight, I'm backing John McCain'' - Last summer, it seemed that John McCain was finished, but now, things look very different - 16th March
 * this, we can't believe a word you say, Gordon Brown'' - "Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?" Johnny Rotten famously sneered to the audience, just before the Sex Pistols split up. Well, 30 years on, we have all been cheated - 9th March
 * Cameron would be crazy to write off PM'' - As he addressed Labour's spring conference, one could sense that Gordon Brown was seeking to move from his normal, reassuring idiom to something a bit more inspiring - 2nd March
 * ifs, no buts, MPs must not employ relations'' - Most family members employed in the Commons work hard for modest wages - but public trust can be restored only by drastic action - 3rd February
 * Hain's exit won't calm storms'' - I doubt that Gordon Brown is feeling very fortunate this weekend, as he reels from Peter Hain's resignation, the latest buffeting winds from Northern Rock, and the turbulence in the global markets - 27th January
 * EU clash hard on Dave as well as Gordon - Matthew d'Ancona bears witness to the unedifying spectacle of our Prime Minister covering his ears and saying "la, la, la, la, I am not listening" - figuratively speaking - 20th January
 * for Peter Hain to exit the political stage'' - The essence of the scandal engulfing Peter Hain would have been instantly comprehensible to the Jacobean audience that first saw King Lear - 13th January



Articles: 2007

 * politics to be played out in Britain'' - Gordon Brown likes to say that "over there is now here". There could be no more vivid illustration of this principle than the fate of Pakistan in 2008 - 30th December 2007
 * season's greetings to you, Ozymandias'' - Matthew d'Ancona wonders whether Christmas with the Browns involves a jolly session of Moral Compass, the character-forming board game for all the family - 23rd December 2007
 * Government is spinning in circles'' - In the past week, says Matthew d'Ancona, the Brown Government has surpassed itself as a factory of spin, doublethink and mixed messages - 16th December 2007
 * long, lonely time without Led Zeppelin'' - Matthew D'Ancona has a hunch that we will not have to wait too long for more of Led Zeppelin. They looked as if they had rediscovered the fun of being an amazing band - 12th December 2007
 * Hitchhiker's Guide to Gordon Brown'' - There is no logical political explanation why ministers have finally decided that the number of days terror suspects can be held without charge should be 42 - 9th December 2007
 * misery is a tale of decline and fall'' - The Government's immune system has collapsed: the smell of death is unmistakable - 2nd December 2007
 * Brown's strategy has fallen to pieces'' - Brown's open-mindedness is begining to look dangerously like diffidence, incompetence and indecision - 18th November 2007
 * Cameron fills the Tony Blair-shaped hole'' - When Gordon Brown entered Number 10 he seemed, at last, to have been released from his jealousy and resentment of Tony Blair. Now, David Cameron appears to have filled the hole - 11th November 2007
 * Tories, Labour and the torrents of spin'' - Gordon Brown can no longer assume that the public will recoil from the Conservatives as a marginal and vaguely unrespectable coalition of tired single issue groups - 4th November 2007
 * liberty speech: cunning and learned'' - Among Gordon Brown's advisers, the PM's capacity to plough through books inspires both awe and exhaustion - 28th October 2007
 * could be Gordon Brown's Maastricht'' - This is how the talks end: not with a bang, but a dinner. There wasn't even the ritual choreographed punch-up at Lisbon, to ensure that the Prime Minister could return home claiming to have wrung a big, headline-grabbing concession from the 26 other EU states - 21st October 2007
 * real problem is deeper than just Gordon'' - Tony Blair has been telling his allies that they must under no circumstances join in the Gordon-bashing that is now all the rage. That is wise of the former Prime Minister - 14th October 2007
 * Analysis: Gordon’s colour now will be yellow - Mr Brown will be presented as a man frightened of a leadership contest, an EU referendum and an election. He only has himself to blame, writes Matthew d’Ancona - 7th October 2007
 * Cameron prepares for "speech of his life"'' - At the Carlton Club on Tuesday evening, David Cameron lost count of the number of Tory well-wishers who told him that he must make the "speech of his life" at the party's Blackpool conference - 30th September 2007
 * conference is an election focus group'' - The Prime Minister was, I am told, amused by the argument advanced by Mark Penn, Hillary Clinton's chief strategist, in an interview in the current Spectator that "you need experience to bring about change" - 23rd September 2007
 * Labour like seaside trip without a row?'' - The point was made to me most vividly by a close ally of Tony Blair. "I see Gordon as a Shakespearean tragic character, who has been given an extra Act," this Blairite told me. "His fatal flaw was his resentment of Tony. But now that's gone. It's as if Lear or Hamlet came back to life." - 16th September 2007
 * The 'lurch to the Right' is for losers - Three weeks today, the Conservative Party will gather in Blackpool for what will probably be its final annual conference before the general election. To state the obvious corollary: it is very likely that when the Tories meet for their 2008 gathering in Birmingham, they will either be in power for the first time in 11 years, or licking the wounds of a fourth successive election defeat... - 9th September 2007
 * Unlike Gordon, referendums are for wimps - When the fledgling "Yes" campaign was preparing itself in 2004 for the planned referendum on the EU Constitutional Treaty, its focus groups showed that the politician whom the voters would most trust as a figurehead was none other than Gordon Brown - 2nd September 2007
 * Why I despair at this grotesque public downfall - Amy Winehouse was born in Southgate, a sleepy north London suburb etched into the nation's literary landscape by the poet Stevie Smith. Apt, really. For, beholding the soul singer's desperate decline in the past few weeks, especially the photographs of her pitifully skeletal, bikini-clad frame, scarred by tattoos and self-inflicted cuts, on the beach in St Lucia, I have been reminded of Smith's most famous line: "not waving but drowning" - The Independent, Friday 31st August 2007
 * At last, David Cameron speaks for the nation - On February 19, 1993, Tony Blair, then shadow home secretary, made a speech in Wellingborough which, in capturing the national mood of shock after James Bulger's death, staked his claim to lead the country - 26th August 2007
 * The Gordon vs Dave fist fight decider - Here's how it all began, on the night of February 25, 1964, in Miami Beach, Florida. At the end of the fourth, Cassius Clay retreated to his corner, almost blind, and told his trainer, Angelo Dundee, that he wanted to throw in the towel. Dundee was having none of it - 5th August 2007
 * Brown is leading the way in counter-terrorist thinking - On the road in the US, the prime minister revealed to us - and to Bush - a bold new strategy in the fight for hearts and minds - The Guardian, Thursday 2nd August 2007
 * Gordon and George will get along just fine - Gordon Brown believes that the remarkable growth of book festivals in this country has lessons to teach us about the future of political engagement and unmediated contact between politicians and public - 29th July 2007
 * off without Dave? The Tories are mad'' - Against all expectation, Gordon Brown is becoming a successful brand. These days, Cabinet Ministers refer much less frequently to "New Labour" (so 1997) than they do to the "Brown Government" - 22nd July 2007
 * must take charge of the Mallochs'' - How quickly talent can turn into torment. When Gordon Brown unveiled his "government of all the talents", there was no outside recruit of whom he was prouder than Sir Mark Malloch Brown, the former UN deputy general secretary, now ennobled and installed at the Foreign Office - 15th July 2007
 * Now for the war over phonies - "This huge stuff about trust": Alastair Campbell's words in his diary for May 2003, later disclosed during the Hutton Inquiry, have become legendary with good reason - 8th July 2007
 * may have changed, but little else has'' - One of my cherished memories of Tony Blair's last days will always be that of a Cabinet Minister (still in the Cabinet today) doing an impression of Gordon Brown as the perennially-absent Macavity being coaxed reluctantly towards his first Prime Minister's Questions - 1st July 2007
 * Goodbye Teflon Tony, hello Gore-Tex Gordon - So there I was, waiting in the BBC foyer on Friday morning to take part in a panel on climate change kicked off by Al Gore, when, suddenly, one sensed the distinctive footfall of power approaching - 24th June 2008
 * Citizen Gordon cannot deny us a referendum - It's Gordon - the Sequel: only weeks after bringing out Courage: Eight Portraits, Mr Brown is about to publish yet another book - 17th June 2007
 * Brown will recycle more Blair than he flytips - In its dying days, the Blair regime hovers between a job centre and a garage sale. On Friday, Ben Wegg-Prosser, departing head of the Number 10 strategic communications unit, hosted a birthday party at a club off the Strand, discussing his future as a web entrepreneur in Russia with other young Blairites who will soon be seeking gainful employment - 10th June 2007
 * back to school with clever Mr Coulson'' - The original Black Wednesday now has a mini-me cousin: May 16, the day on which David Willetts gave his speech to the CBI on Tory education policy, which, if not quite black, will certainly be remembered as Dark Grey Wednesday - 3rd June 2007
 * Cameron ready to sacrifice the History Boys - One of the many reasons that Alan Bennett's The History Boys has been such a long-running triumph is that it tells a very British story - 27th May 2007
 * Blair vs Brown it's Gordon vs Gordon'' - These are confusing times. On Thursday, as the Prime Minister and George Bush said their fond farewells and prepared for a new chapter in the special relationship, you felt that the President might pay tribute to his "good friend, Tony Brown" - 20th May 2007
 * Alone together at last - Brown and the public - The launch of Gordon Brown's leadership campaign on Friday was held just across the street from the Church of Scientology on Tottenham Court Road, and I found myself wondering which of the two cults is actually tougher - 13th May 2007
 * to Labour's King Arthur'' - 'Oh God," the Downing Street source said to me. "Not another row about timing. We've just had one that lasted 13 years!" The Prime Minister is reported to be giving serious thought to leaving politics altogether before the next general election... - 6th May 2007
 * Number 10's wheelie bin waits to be emptied - Ten years ago this Tuesday, I took a quick tour of Conservative Central Office as the full, shattering impact of the 1997 Blair landslide began to sink in to its huddled occupants - 29th April 2007
 * Labour blows its last chance to avoid civil war - Tomorrow ought to be a big day for Gordon Brown as the Arctic Monkeys, a band of which he has often spoken in the past, release their second album, forbiddingly entitled Favourite Worst Nightmare - 22nd April 2007
 * What spin? There's no one in charge'' - The meaning of the word "Brownite" has changed radically over the years. It was once applied to those who regarded New Labour as only a means to an end, rather than an end in itself... - 15th April 2007
 * campaign is in Brown's best interest'' - Somehow, in the last month, David Miliband, who has repeatedly said that he supports Gordon Brown as the next prime minister and Labour leader, has come to be seen as a serious contender for the job - 1st April 2007
 * budget all about GBH, not GDP'' - Just as Andrew Turnbull could not "help but admire the sheer Stalinist ruthlessness" of Gordon Brown's methods, there was a pugilistic artistry to the Chancellor's final Budget last Wednesday - 25th March 2007
 * The Chancellor is still the man to beat - In the immortal phrase from Spinal Tap, this one goes to eleven. On Wednesday, Gordon Brown will deliver his 11th and final Budget, a modern record well ahead of Lloyd George's seven... - 18th March 2007
 * Parties and peerages: still a buyer's market - On Friday afternoon, the deal was nowhere near completion: Sir Hayden Phillips, the former Whitehall mandarin asked by the Prime Minister a year ago to sort out the funding of political parties was still on the telephone to the main players - 11th March 2007
 * Miliband and Brown should have dinner - Gordon Brown finds himself in an unprecedented double purdah. As Chancellor, preparing for what will almost certainly be his last Budget on March 21, he is exercising the traditional ex officio restraint over Treasury policy. As prime minister-in-waiting, meanwhile, he has to sit tight, watch David Cameron flourish, and wonder when, precisely, Tony Blair will depart Number 10 - 4th March 2007
 * gets leadership opponent he wants'' - Saul Bellow called it "crisis chatter": the fretful muttering, much of it aimless and banal, that arises at moments of emergency. Last week, Labour was engulfed by one such wave of panic after the Guardian published an ICM poll showing that the Tories would open up a 13 point lead if Gordon Brown succeeded to his party's leadership - 25th February 2007
 * The reason Tony Blair still turns up for work - At a quarter to seven on Thursday morning, the Prime Minister and his youngest son, Leo, were already busy in the gardens of Number 10 building a snowman. Later, Mr Blair's colleagues joked that he would be personally blamed for the arctic weather that suddenly had the nation in its icy clasp - 11th February 2007
 * Blair has already resigned. He just hasn't realised it yet'' - Although he survived last autumn's abortive coup, the Prime Minister has been a political wraith ever since - 4th February 2007
 * is on the police to beat the Blairites'' - Whether or not Mr Blair's aides ever face criminal charges, Mr Brown will have to fight hard to avoid political imprisonment - 21st January 2007
 * who would rather lose than change'' - The defection of an economist from one party to another would not normally make headlines. But Tim Congdon, who announced his transfer of allegiance from the Tories to the UK Independence Party in the Telegraph last week, is no ordinary economist - 14th January 2007