Conservative party
How the Eurosceptics brought down David Cameron: a serious case of supplier lock-in
David Cameron’s decision to call a referendum on the EU was the result of intense Eurosceptic pressures from both within and outside his party. He found himself with little scope for manoeuvre as Ukip gained support and his backbenchers threatened rebellion. Pascal D König looks at what a competition theory usually applied to business can reveal […]
May’s conservative statecraft gives us a little democracy now to avoid an outbreak later
Approaching its second general election in two years, with a referendum squeezed in between, you would be forgiven for thinking that Britain was in the midst of a democratic bonanza. Think again, writes Craig Berry. He argues that the Prime Minister’s decision to call a snap election signifies a rather cynical, undemocratic turn in British […]
The case of the missing marginals: how big will May’s majority be?
A little-reported result of the 2015 general election was a substantial reduction in the number of marginal seats, and a consequent increase in the number of very safe ones for both the Conservatives and Labour. Ron Johnston, Charles Pattie and David Rossiter explore the implications of those changes for the forthcoming election. Will May get […]
This snap election will weaken Parliament just when it needs to scrutinise Brexit
In the event, the Fixed Term Parliaments Act proved no impediment to Theresa May when she decided to call a snap election. Jeff King argues that Labour and the Lib Dems should not have accepted a ploy that is constitutionally problematic. May’s reasons for calling the vote are flimsy, and Parliament will be weakened as […]
She does God: Theresa May, a PM with strong views but little ideology
The daughter of a High Anglican vicar, Theresa May describes herself as a “practising Christian”. In an edited extract from The Mighty and the Almighty: How Political Leaders Do God, Nick Spencer examines what we can glean about the influence of her Christianity on May’s politics. Theresa May arrives at Westminster Abbey, March 2017. Photo: […]
‘They shall reap the whirlwind’: how Churchill harnessed Christianity in the service of war
For centuries the Church of England buttressed a sense of Christian nationhood – which was ably deployed during the second world war by Winston Churchill. In this exclusive extract from his book The Evolution of the West, Nick Spencer explains how Churchill, who lost his faith for a while, nonetheless drew on the Bible to […]
Book review | The Coalition Effect, 2010-2015 edited by Anthony Seldon & Mike Finn
In The Coalition Effect 2010-2015, Anthony Seldon and Mike Finn have collected a volume of essays examining the impact of the Coalition government of 2010-2015 on British politics. While the hindsight enabled by the 2015 general election result and Brexit means the precise legacies of the Coalition are still unfolding, this is an indispensable text that provides intriguing, […]