Steve Richards

Jun 6, 2024 | unherd.com | Steve Richards

ElectionKeir StarmerLabourPoliticsUK Pendant les élections de 1979, le Premier ministre travailliste sortant, Jim Callaghan, a noté un ‘changement radical’ propulsant Margaret Thatcher au pouvoir. Callaghan a déclaré avec désespoir à un conseiller principal qu’il ne pouvait rien y faire. Les marées idéologiques étaient irrésistibles. Ses opinions sur le rôle de l’État, sur la manière de gouverner, étaient dépassées. Il a donc échoué.

Jun 4, 2024 | theneweuropean.co.uk | Steve Richards

Is there anyone who expects Rishi Sunak to be prime minister after July 4? I doubt if even the Sunaks are working on the assumption that they will be in Downing Street at the end of the election campaign. Yet elections are more layered than sporting contests, where one team wins and another loses. Almost certainly Labour will be in power this summer, but the size of its majority, if it secures one, will determine quite a lot of what follows. No one knows what is going to happen.

Apr 30, 2024 | theneweuropean.co.uk | Steve Richards

The effective exercise of power is based on ideas and the policies that arise from them. Successful implementation of a programme is dependent on ambitious figures uniting around a mission, willing to compromise in order to keep the show on the road. When the ambitious sniff looming defeat, they are no longer bound to a leader or a common sense of purpose. Some prepare for future battles. Others wonder about a life outside politics.

Apr 2, 2024 | theneweuropean.co.uk | Steve Richards

What to do if you are a Conservative MP waking up each day to opinion polls suggesting your party faces electoral slaughter? That it might – as Easter weekend megapolls suggested – end up with less than 100 seats when the election is finally held, or around 150 if Reform were to stand down? A large swathe of MPs has answered the question in the most simple way. They have announced they will not contest the next election, the most vivid barometer of a party in crisis.

Mar 12, 2024 | theneweuropean.co.uk | Steve Richards

Were you up for Portillo? The mischievous question came to define the heady election night in 1997 when the seemingly invincible Conservative Party was slaughtered. Unexpectedly, Michael Portillo, the ambitious defence secretary who had become favourite to replace John Major once the inevitable happened, lost what had been a majority of 15,563 on a swing of 17.4% to Labour. A lot of voters were up for Portillo – the result came in at 3.10am – and recognised the symbolism of his fall.