Kemi Badenoch’s Tories need a corporate overhaul Opinion Like the Manchester United owner, Kemi Badenoch must get a tarnished brand back on winning form, says John Oxley The “other” election this week may already feel like a distant memory, but for Kemi Badenoch, the work is just beginning. Winning the contest to be Leader of the Opposition may briefly feel like a triumph. [...]
Maternity pay is an investment, not a cost Opinion Shortsighted criticism of the cost and admin involved in maternity leave do not take account of the wider benefits to society, says John Oxley There may be some businesses that bristle at the costs and admin of maternity leave. While the state essentially picks up the tab for statutory leave, this doesn’t stretch to the [...]
Pensioners and the politics of perceptions Opinion The furore over winter fuel payments is driven by the false idea that pensioners are uniformly old, frail and poor. But in politics, feelings often matter as much as facts, says John Oxley This week’s tussle over the winter fuel allowance has highlighted one of the problems of our politics – how much of it [...]
Millennials will be hit hardest by tax rises August 29, 2024 The generation that’s about to reach the most rewarding of years of their careers face spending their entire working lives earning less and paying more for worse public services, says John Oxley Few will have been cheered by Sir Keir Starmer’s speech this week. While Harold Macmillan might have told voters that they’d never had [...]
It’s not just taxes, rent, childcare and a decrepit NHS are driving talent out of the UK August 1, 2024 High taxes are a problem, but the list of factors driving talent away from the UK is far more extensive, writes John Oxley One of the first criticisms levelled at Labour’s intended tax rises is their potential to drive high-productivity workers away from the UK. It is a fair one. In a world where capital [...]
A year on from the election, Boris is ensnared in the classic Conservative leadership trap December 11, 2020 It seemed like all of Boris Johnson’s plans had come together. The Red Wall had tumbled, turning Labour heartlands blue for the first time in history. The Prime Minister would return to the Commons with 364 MPs backing him and his oven-ready Brexit deal. He had vanquished his own party rivals, outplayed a divided Commons, [...]
What next for one-term President Donald Trump? November 11, 2020 There perhaps nothing that will hurt Donald Trump more than being a one-term wonder. Politics is a cruel game, there is no second place, and falling short is both brutal and public. For a man with an ego that the world has come to know, the last six weeks as a caretaker President will rankle. [...]
How the Democrats threw away their shot to topple Trumpism November 4, 2020 The US election has not delivered the Joe Biden landslide that many were anticipating. Instead, the Democratic candidate appears to be limping towards a narrow Electoral College victory, which may well end up in the courts. Even if The Donald is beaten, he is hardly vanquished, and the Democrats also look like they’ve failed to [...]
Ennobling your mates maintains the finest tradition of the House of Lords August 4, 2020 Britain’s upper chamber is a place of tradition: the Woolsack, the ermine, the outrage over who a Prime Minister has placed there. Boris Johnson’s latest ennoblements have been no exception. Since the honours were announced last week there has been much said about both the size and content of this newest cohort. Yet really, his [...]
With its own Magnitsky Act, Britain can make it clear that international wrongdoers are not welcome here July 10, 2020 The new government sanctions regime, which has seen restrictions imposed on around 50 individuals accused of orchestrating human rights abuses, is a major step in Britain’s post-Brexit place in the world. Dubbed the “Magnitsky Act”, after the Moscow lawyer murdered after uncovering a massive tax fraud, this approach allows the UK to pursue a new [...]
