PERSPECTIVES

By: Adrian Khodavardar For a party that has spent the past two years presenting itself as the credible alternative to Britain's established political order, Reform UK's latest internal dispute is more than an embarrassment. It raises questions about whether the party can maintain a coherent message as it grows. Last week, two of Reform's most senior figures publicly contradicted one another over one of the party's defining policies. Speaking on Sky News, Robert Jenrick, the f

By: Adrian Khodavardar When Sajid Javid speaks about fairness in Britain’s immigration system, his personal history is never far from view. As the son of a Pakistani bus driver who arrived in Britain in the 1960s, Javid rose to become the country’s first British Asian Home Secretary. Yet the system he came to defend would almost certainly have prevented his father from ever entering the country in the first place. I argue this is not a rhetorical irony but a material one, sha

Andy Burnham’s honeymoon period as Prime Minister has encountered its first serious challenge. Labour’s attempt to ease pressure on England and Wales’s overcrowded prisons through the early release of thousands of offenders has provoked fierce opposition, particularly after it emerged that two of the men convicted of killing PC Andrew Harper could benefit. Burnham has already excluded some more serious offenders from the scheme, but political pressure to go further is growing

By Stephen Dowse It would not be an exaggeration to say that Reform UK has been the ghost haunting Keir Starmer’s premiership and, unfortunately for Labour, that ghost materialised during the recent 2026 English local elections, with Reform UK winning over 1450 council seats while Labour lost over 1200 council seats. It’s very easy to assume that the people who are voting for Reform UK are disillusioned Conservative Party voters and right-wing political activists; however, th

By: Charles Wawn Last month signalled a permanent shift in the future power dynamics of the Labour party. On May 14, then Health Secretary Wes Streeting resigned, having told Prime Minister Keir Starmer the previous day that he had lost confidence in his leadership. That evening, Josh Simons, a former minister and ally of the Prime Minister, announced he would step down as MP for Makerfield to make way for Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, to replace him. On the soci

Starmer visits HMS Prince of Wales in April 2025. Image: Flickr/No.10 It is often said in politics that the first actions a Prime Minister takes are the most significant— a criticism that the current PM is probably familiar with. But this is quite literal. Indeed once all the clapping, shaking hands with the Cabinet Secretary and warm smiles are done, the Prime Minister does a very specific thing. They sit down, and writes four identical letters. Known as letters of last res

By: Ingrid Cochrane Last week saw the defection of Suella Braverman to Reform UK. Joining Andrew Rosindell and Robert Jenrick as the third sitting Conservative MP to defect in less than two weeks, the former Home Secretary’s move was not entirely out of the blue, reflecting continued momentum for Reform UK as they remain Britain’s most popular political party, polling at 29% following Braverman’s defection. Taken together with Reform UK having welcomed 14 Conservative council

Opposition parties have accused the government of denying democracy by postponing 30 council elections , as part of its local government reform program. The Labour government plans to abolish the system of two-tiered councils in England, under which around one-third of the population of England lives. Currently, local government services in two-tiered council areas are provided by multiple layers of councils, a situation that wastes government money and creates bureaucracy.

Morgan McSweeney's resignation as Chief of Staff is the single largest change to Starmer's operation since the Prime Minister became Labour leader. His departure is a wise decision, and it goes without saying that his support for Lord Mandelson was a severe and reprehensible mistake. Whether it was a preventable one will likely be clear soon—it is difficult to write about the Mandelson-related aspects of his resignation until the ISC publishes evidence. Ensuing analysis of hi

On the 28 November 2024, the Australian government passed a bill that required a minimum age of 16 to create an account on certain social media platforms. Coming into effect on the 10 December 2025, the ban is the first of its kind and the subsequent events since the imposition of the law have been watched very closely by the rest of the world, with many countries seriously considering the idea of introducing similar legislation. Leader of the Conservative party, Kemi Badenoc