Tom McTague

London

Political Editor at UnHerd

Podcast Co-Host at These Times

Political Editor, UnHerd. Host of the podcast These Times (@TheseTimesPod). Formerly of the Atlantic.

Articles

The deep rot of the British state

3 weeks ago | unherd.com | Tom McTague

Conservative partyDeclineLabour PartyPoliticsReform UKUK There‚Äôs a poignant epigraph in Hilary Mantel‚Äôs final book, The Mirror & the Light. ‚ÄúBrother men,‚ÄĚ it reads, ‚Äúyou who live after us, do not harden your hearts against us.‚ÄĚRight now, it feels particularly difficult not to harden our hearts to the governments of our recent past.
The danger of Starmer's conservatism

1 month ago | unherd.com | Tom McTague

Donald TrumpKeir StarmerLabourPoliticsUKWelfare The challenge of political leadership, Henry Kissinger observed, is that all the easy decisions have been taken by someone else, leaving only the most difficult and agonising choices for those at the very top.
Europe's great delusion

1 month ago | unherd.com | Tom McTague

DefenceDonald TrumpEmmanuel MacronEuropeKeir StarmerMilitaryPoliticsrussia ukraine war Wars, it is said, make people conservative, since they are fought for an idea of home under threat. And yet their innate tragedy is that, even in victory, they usher in a world transformed. We are seeing this revolutionary fable playing out once again in Ukraine, reshaping Europe in ways that we cannot yet comprehend.
Why JD Vance offends us

1 month ago | unherd.com | Tom McTague

JD Vancemilitary interventionPoliticsUKUkraine James David Vance is the epitome of what so many Europeans loathe about America: brash, insular, moralising and imperious. And yet — even more annoyingly — like America itself, he combines this with intelligence, education, wealth and, ultimately, power. Vance is the Hillbilly Crown Prince countering the Old World’s scorn with a contempt of his own.
Why JD Vance offends us

1 month ago | flipboard.com | Tom McTague

15 hours agoAt the current rate, Russia will control all of Ukraine in about 118 years. Last year, Russia made slow progress in Ukraine: Tens of thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands, of Russian soldiers were killed or wounded, and whole mechanized divisions were lost, in exchange for Ukrainian territory …
Trump's angry imperialism

1 month ago | unherd.com | Tom McTague

Donald TrumpKeir StarmerPoliticsrestofworldRussiaSpecial RelationshipUKUkraine ‚ÄúWe tell ourselves stories in order to live,‚ÄĚ observed Joan Didion. Yet politicians are different. They tell stories not so much to live, but to survive. Stories give leaders an aura of purpose and control, imbuing their decisions with great meaning; ushering in new beginnings and, of course, new ends. And then, sometimes, we just stop believing in them.
Are we all Gaullists now?

1 month ago | unherd.com | Tom McTague

EUEuropeEuropean politicsfriedrich merzGerman politicsKeir StarmerPolitics A conventional wisdom is sweeping across much of Europe as indignity is heaped upon it by the new imperator in Washington. Maybe Charles de Gaulle was right after all. Finally, it seems, France’s age-old push for “strategic autonomy” has found its moment.
Can Starmer exploit Europe's crisis?

2 months ago | unherd.com | Tom McTague

DefenceKeir StarmerPoliticsUKUkraine ‚ÄúThe big dividing line among political leaders is between those who are conviction politicians and those who are not,‚ÄĚ wrote Jonathan Powell, Keir Starmer‚Äôs National Security Adviser, in his 2010 book, The New Machiavelli.
Will Kemi Badenoch last the year?

2 months ago | unherd.com | Tom McTague

Conservative partykemi badenochLabourNigel FaragePoliticsReformUKUK politics Reading the newspaper coverage of Margaret Thatcher‚Äôs election as Conservative Party leader is a reminder that the figure of history we know today was far from certain to emerge. ‚ÄúNew Tory chief just lucky, says Mr Enoch Powell,‚ÄĚ ran one Times headline 50 years ago this week.
Is Elon the new Enoch?

Jan 10, 2025 | unherd.com | Tom McTague

AmericaChinaDonald TrumpElon MuskNationalismPoliticsUS In the opening of E. H. Gombrichâs A Little History of the World, thereâs a lovely metaphor of the work of an historian. History, he writes, is like a bottomless well stretching into eternity, visible only by human recollection falling through the generations like lighted piece paper dropped into the void, getting smaller and smaller as it falls and disappears.