Exclusive: Blackstone founder Steve Schwarzman picks up Wiltshire country pad for cool £80m September 27, 2022 If you have ever driven through the countryside and imagined living in a 17th century estate, you’re not alone. Steve Schwarzman, the founder and chief executive of Blackstone, has bought Conholt Park, a country house with around 2500 acres of sprawling grounds and a series of cottages fashioned from the remains of an 18th century [...]
Kwasi’s gamble to settle the score on the size of the state September 26, 2022 Neither Kwarteng or Truss are fools, even if they are gamblers. They know we cannot go back to the time when citizens were left to fend for
Explainer-in-brief: National Mourning means Parliament back in recess September 12, 2022 After only a six week long recess, MPs – and the new prime minister – had only just come back to Parliament. But the death of the Queen means it will be in a ten day recess until next Tuesday, the day after the funeral for Elizabeth II. In a short space of time, Liz [...]
Sadiq Khan: Mayor to write book on winning support for climate change policy September 8, 2022 Sadiq Khan will publish his first book early next year, Breathe, which publishers say will be a “warm and practical” guide to winning support for “tough climate action.” Khan’s book will be a “seven step guide” to persuading citizens and businesses to get on board with policies to fight climate change. The book will identify [...]
Commons Snapshot: Maybe we need a boring Prime Minister September 8, 2022 Spare a thought for Keir Starmer’s flack, who have spent the better part of two years slogging it out to make him look less boring. Turns out all they needed to do was to put him up against Liz Truss. There were a few solid one-liners from the new prime minister, but it was a [...]
In memoriam of Boris Johnson’s premiership September 6, 2022 He’s been the poster boy for Brexit, the flag bearer for Levelling Up, and then the party boy of Downing Street who was eventually brought down by a sex scandal not involving him.
Explainer-in-brief: Candidates for Sunak’s anti-Britain extremist program August 4, 2022 The lastest bizarre policy tabled in the Tory leadership contest was from Rishi Sunak, who has promised to extend the Prevent anti-terrorism scheme by referring people who display “extreme hatred for Britain” to the deradicalisation program. But he might need only look as far as his own parliamentary colleagues for potential candidates. It was Boris [...]
Sunak’s green belt ban is a plea to Tory members but will fall flat at an election July 29, 2022 YOU would be forgiven for thinking Rishi Sunak woke up yesterday morning and decided to troll young Londoners. The former Chancellor of the Exchequer has struggled to build momentum behind him since taking the lead in the first series of votes to pick the Tory leader. Where he surged ahead to win the support of [...]
Explainer-in-brief: Behind Rishi Sunak’s VAT cut promise July 28, 2022 Rishi Sunak has announced a plan to cut VAT from energy bills in a bid to ease the burden on households. Many, however, have seen it as a desperate attempt to revive his “underdog campaign” for the Tory leadership. His flagship ideology thus far has been that tax cuts would stoke inflation by encouraging people [...]
Explainer-in-brief: Did we save the NHS? July 26, 2022 During the pandemic, the flagship slogan from No10 was centered around protecting the NHS. Without the health service, we were repeatedly told, the collateral damage of deaths and waitlists would enact a toll much greater than Covid-19 on the UK. A damning report released yesterday by a cross-party group of MPs suggests the damage has [...]