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Just hours after Andy and Jamie Murray crashed out of the Wimbledon grand slam, I arrive at the Islington Tennis Centre for another showdown featuring a one-time champion in an [...]

There is a huge internal contradiction at the heart of the new British government's approach to the Middle East and to its foreign policy generally. Standing on the steps of […]

LEGAL types who were troubled by the previous Conservative government's low regard for Parliament took heart from a speech delivered on October 14th by Richard Hermer, the new attorney-general. In [...]

In 1956 Anthony Crosland, a https://www.economist.com/britain/2024/09/25/what-is-britains-labour-government-for thinker, called for 'a brighter, more colourful country'. It was not enough, he wrote, for a Labour government merely to increase exports or old-age [...]

TONY BENN died in 2014 as a https://www.economist.com/obituary/2014/03/22/tony-benn to the left. But he is remembered by his opponents within the Labour Party for a singularly bad idea: the cause of [...]

IN a hot basement room in Liverpool, Pat McFadden, the chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and the prime minister's most trusted fixer, was regaling delegates at the Labour Party's [...]

IN 2015 DAVID Cameron called time on those who saw London as 'a place to stash your dodgy cash'. A year later the then prime minister hosted an international anti-corruption [...]

SIR TONY BLAIR, a former Labour prime minister, had a joke about critics on the party's left flank. "An old colleague of mine said: 'Come on Tony, now we've won [...]

This is the introduction to Blighty, a weekly, subscriber-only newsletter in which our correspondents turn their gaze on the latest developments in Britain. Sign up for https://www.economist.com/newsletters/blighty . Matthew Holehouse, [...]

Hippy-punching is a simple concept. To gain the trust of voters, leaders of centre-left parties must hunt down their most left-wing members and pummel them. Once an Americanism, it is [...]

The power of a new government stems not from its ideas but its enthusiasm. Labour, which https://www.economist.com/britain/2024/07/11/britains-general-election-was-its-least-representative-ever on July 5th, kicked off with a flurry of green measures approved with [...]

THERE WAS no shortage of predictions about how Britain's general election would pan out on July 4th. A huge amount of data gathered over the six weeks of the campaign—144 [...]

THE LABOUR PARTY, led by Sir Keir Starmer, scored a https://www.economist.com/britain/2024/07/05/labours-landslide-victory-will-turn-politics-on-its-head in Britain's general election on July 4th. Its majority is the largest won by any government since 1997. The [...]

SIR KEIR STARMER will today become Britain's new prime minister, having led the Labour Party to a sweeping general-election victory after 14 years in opposition. Sir Keir asked the electorate [...]

Britain is, in general, ruled by the Conservative Party for a simple reason: small-'c' conservative voters unite behind one party, whereas progressive voters split themselves across many parties. Thinkers labelled [...]

WITH VOTING now over in Britain, widespread predictions of an electoral earthquake appear to have been right. According to an exit poll conducted for the country's main broadcasters, published at [...]

On July 1st Sir Ed Davey, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, performed another publicity-seeking stunt in a campaign full of them—bungee jumping. Dangling by his ankles, Sir Ed shouted: [...]

As a championship chess player, Rachel Reeves must know that the first few moves can be some of the most important of the game. In preparing her Budget, she appears [...]

LABOUR WILL, barring the greatest polling upset in British political history, https://www.economist.com/britain/2024/06/26/the-economists-final-prediction-points-to-a-tory-wipeout-in-britain on July 4th. But if you think the race is boring, take a visit to Bicester and Woodstock [...]

This is the introduction to Blighty, a weekly, subscriber-only newsletter in which our correspondents turn their gaze on the latest developments in Britain. Sign up for https://www.economist.com/newsletters/blighty . Matthew Holehouse, [...]

Squint a little and the letters 'UwU' resemble someone with large, cartoonish eyes and a serene smile. The cutesy emoticon is a staple of a certain corner of the internet, [...]

This is the introduction to Blighty, a weekly, subscriber-only newsletter in which our correspondents turn their gaze on the latest developments in Britain. Sign up for https://www.economist.com/newsletters/blighty . Matthew Holehouse, [...]

IT IS hard to imagine today's shadow cabinet making a visit like that paid to Japan by https://www.economist.com/britain/2023/07/20/sir-tony-blair-mesmerises-the-labour-party-again , then leader of the opposition, in 1996. The delegation giggled as [...]

'THERE'S a lot of aggression on the doorsteps,' says Ronnie Cowan, who is running for re-election as the Scottish National Party (SNP) candidate in Inverclyde and Renfrewshire West, a constituency [...]

At the heart of Labour's economic strategy is a puzzle. All hope of repairing Britain's crumbling public services is pinned on https://www.economist.com/britain/2024/06/03/can-britains-economy-grow-as-fast-as-it-needs-to . To get it, Sir Keir Starmer, the [...]

An old axiom of British politics is that the Conservative Party is ruthless in its pursuit of power. Lately it has seemed relentlessly focused on losing it. It has purged [...]

LIKE THE hands of an old grandfather clock, British elections come around with some uncertainty. On May 22nd Rishi Sunak, the Conservative prime minister, confirmed the next election will take [...]

Over the patter of the rain and the sound of protesters' speakers blasting 'Things Can Only Get Better', an anthem of New Labour, it was almost impossible to hear Rishi [...]

This is the introduction to Blighty, a weekly, subscriber-only newsletter in which our correspondents turn their gaze on the latest developments in Britain. Sign up for https://www.economist.com/newsletters/blighty . Matthew Holehouse, [...]

This is the introduction to Blighty, a weekly, subscriber-only newsletter in which our correspondents turn their gaze on the latest developments in Britain. Sign up for https://www.economist.com/newsletters/blighty . Matthew Holehouse, [...]

By rights, the Conservative party conference in Birmingham ought to have been a funereal affair. It was the first time the party had gathered after its worst-ever election defeat and […]

Iwrite this as I leave the Tory conference in Birmingham. I have covered most of these events (and many Labour ones too) since the beginning of the 1980s. They do [...]

Never mind Labour's promise not to raise income tax, national insurance or VAT--the party will soon be jacking up taxes for everyone. That sums up the Conservatives' attack line for [...]