• March 6 2026
  Inside Politics

  Economic history suggests welfare reform will take a while

  High-impact decisions of the Thatcher and Major eras show policies need time to bear fruit

  
• March 5 2026
  Inside Politics

  China spy case exposes new electoral hazards of foreign policy

  Allegations against former Labour advisers shake a government compelled to engage with world’s second-largest economy

  
• March 4 2026
  Inside Politics

  Reeves’ speech was rightly low-key but lacked hard truths

  Chancellor should have warned public of painful choices ahead amid world of uncertainty

  
• March 3 2026
  Inside Politics

  Greens’ second place in new poll puts Labour under pressure

  Wave of excitement could strengthen Zack Polanski’s party in May elections, as Reform and Tories take unpopular position on Iran war

  
• March 3 2026
  Labour Party UK

  Britain’s ‘open’ voters need a champion

  Despite their triumph in Gorton, it’s not clear the Greens have what it takes to prevent a Reform victory at the next election

  Stephen Bush

  
• March 2 2026
  Inside Politics

  Backing war abroad has little electoral upside at home

  Keir Starmer needed to let US use UK military bases for attacks but handling conflict’s wider impacts will be tricky

  
• February 27 2026
  Inside Politics

  Anti-Reform voters give up on Labour

  Fear of Farage is mobilising voters, but frustration with government means Britons will find alternative beneficiaries

  
• February 23 2026
  The best books of the week

  Ways to save liberal democracy — the pick of the latest political books

  A welcome shot of serious thought about populism, a bold argument for citizen rule, Gordon Brown revisited — and a work by Cass Sunstein that all politicians should digest

  
• February 20 2026
  Political Fix podcast37 min listen

  Farage against the machine

  Plus, a new cabinet secretary (and a major arrest) took centre stage

  
• February 20 2026
  Inside Politics

  Hollow pledges infect British politics

  Country has not become ‘ungovernable’ — rather, magical thinking around trade-offs has sapped credibility

  
• February 19 2026
  Inside Politics

  Reform still looks too risky for government

  New ‘shadow chancellor’ Robert Jenrick talks up party’s responsible approach, but its policies are unpopular

  
• February 18 2026
  Inside Politics

  You cannot sustain high youth employment while raising hiring costs

  UK should learn from the Netherlands, where lowering the youth minimum wage has helped keep Neet rates low

  
• February 17 2026
  Inside Politics

  The limits of age-based policymaking

  Focusing on the rights of children has merit, but it also avoids politically harder decisions about adults

  
• February 17 2026
  Technology regulation

  Perhaps we should all be banned from social media

  Focusing only on under-16s obscures the lack of internet safeguards for everyone else

  Stephen Bush

  
• February 16 2026
  Inside Politics

  In a time of war, UK must not starve the BBC

  Information warfare must pair with hard power, particularly when Putin’s strategy hinges on weakening democratic resolve

  
• February 13 2026
  UK politics

  Both Britain’s main parties are sinking in the electoral quicksand

  Labour failure is no guarantee of Conservative success

  Stephen Bush

  
• February 13 2026
  Political Fix podcast31 min listen

  Mandarin mayhem

  Starmer’s judgment comes under scrutiny after more close aides leave office

  
• February 13 2026
  Inside Politics

  Keir Starmer’s hiring mistakes create a culture of drift

  Even Chris Wormald’s critics are angered by treatment of top official, who, like others before him, was unsuited for the job

  
• February 12 2026
  Inside Politics

  The rich world evades hard choices on immigration

  Starmer shows progress in criticising anti-immigrant comments but must make clear case for chosen path on population growth

  
• February 11 2026
  Inside Politics

  Matthew Doyle: basic blunder by Starmer begs questions about other misses

  Appointing him to the Lords was a poor political call, however you look at it

  
• February 10 2026
  Inside Politics

  Starmer’s route to recovery

  Scottish leader’s blow to PM rallies party, but government needs to make tough choices and rejig agenda

  
• February 9 2026
  Labour Party UK

  Keir Starmer’s inconvenient truth

  Labour must stop believing things because they are politically helpful and engage with the world as it really is

  Stephen Bush

  
• February 9 2026
  Inside Politics

  What went wrong with the Starmer-McSweeney approach?

  They were only ever superficially interested in policies that convinced voters, rather than in governing seriously

  
• February 6 2026
  Political Fix podcast34 min listen

  Mandelson, money - and the risk to the prime minister

  Could revelations about Peter Mandelson’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein bring down Keir Starmer?

  
• February 6 2026
  Inside Politics

  Why Al Carns is gaining ground as MPs mull Starmer’s replacement

  Current challengers to the PM fail to convince Labour rank-and-file, lifting profile of lesser-known alternative