Why did it take Labour 14 years to return to power? There are many answers to that question but one of them is how successfully the Conservatives toxified the party’s economic reputation. David Cameron and George Osborne used the weeks that followed the 2010 general election to speak repeatedly of “the mess” left by the last Labour government. This helped the Tories justify their austerity programme and entrenched their political advantage on the economy. In her first speech as Chancellor today, Rachel Reeves will signal that she has learned from this strategy. “We face the legacy of 14 years of chaos and economic irresponsibility,” she will declare to an audience of business leaders at the Treasury. Defining the past is as ...

Since 1966, whenever a World Cup or European Championship came along, I said the same thing to my wife. “If you have anything to say to me during the next four weeks, say it to me now, pet.” Most of the times we were in our Lakeland home so when I was slumped in front of the telly she would go off and walk the fells. By chance this summer I have been back in Lakeland, at Loweswater, where we had a holiday home for 30 years and lived each year from May to October. I am staying at the Kirkstile Inn with my partner Miranda. And while I have once again been slumped in front of the telly at the ...

What an extraordinary moment in British politics. Labour back in power with a near-record majority. The Conservatives brutally ejected from office. A dozen cabinet members gone. A red wave in Scotland at the SNP’s expense. But while it’s easy to get carried away by the seismic nature of this election – we cannot afford to be distracted. We have a country to fix.  When I congratulated Keir Starmer this morning my message to him was clear. The trade union movement stands ready to work with the new government to repair and rebuild Britain – and to deliver the change working people desperately need. After 14 years of wretched Tory rule and chaos, I am not blind to the size of the task this incoming ...

The SNP has finally paid the price for too many years of chaos, incompetence and self-indulgence, and what a heavy price it is. Paid not just in Glasgow and Edinburgh, as was expected, but in Stirling and Falkirk and Fife and Ayrshire too. Big hitters such as Joanna Cherry, Alyn Smith and Stewart McDonald are gone – each perhaps a loss to parliament, but each swept aside by a spasm of anger from the Scottish electorate. It was a chastening – indeed humiliating – night for a party that has breezily carried all before it for the past decade and more. At the time of writing the Nats had held just nine of their 48 Westminster seats (Scotland has 57 in total). ...

After one of the worst defeats in its history, Labour has achieved one of its biggest victories. By any measure, this is a remarkable feat. Upon becoming leader in 2020, Keir Starmer observed that he had to do the work of Neil Kinnock, John Smith and Tony Blair in a single term. Against the odds, he delivered.  A popular theory holds that Starmer has merely been a “lucky general” – the beneficiary of the Conservatives’ self-destruction. But his success reflects skill as well as fortune. Starmer recognised that his party would not win again until it was trusted on the economy and national security – and focused relentlessly on these aims. The British electorate is far from infatuated with Labour but, ...

The Labour Party is returning to government. After the party’s epic defeat in 2019 – its worst result since 1935 – some believed it was destined for eternal opposition. In a less tribal era of multi-party politics, Labour’s very existence was questioned. But not for the first time, rumours of its death proved much exaggerated.  What accounts for this transformation in a single parliamentary term? A popular theory is that Keir Starmer has been a “lucky general”: Boris Johnson and Liz Truss destroyed their own premierships; the inept Rishi Sunak was tortured by his. Yet Tory failure – as much of the preceding 14 years demonstrates – has never been a guarantee of Labour success. Starmer may have been gifted political opportunities ...

If the forecast is accurate, this election will write history like no other. Britain's Conservative and Unionist Party – perhaps the most successful political force in the Western world – looks like it will be punished as never before. Recovery might not be impossible but it could be improbable for the foreseeable future. Our final Britain Predicts forecast shows the Conservatives on course to lose 277 MPs, falling to just 114 seats in the House of Commons. Keir Starmer – unlike David Cameron or Tony Blair – doesn’t enjoy vast personal support. But he is nonetheless set to achieve Labour’s joint best election result with 418 MPs, 237 more than in 2019 – coincidentally the same figure achieved by Tony Blair ...

When Brian Donohoe lost Central Ayrshire in 2015, he had a final message for his constituents – “f**k off”. He elaborated to local reporters: “I can now turn round with the greatest delight and tell people to ‘f**k off’ which I haven’t been able to do… You have to take all sorts coming through the door and be kind, considerate and generous with your time and sometimes you wonder why.” Donohoe tells me now that he still hears from politicians saying, “We just wish we could say that to some of these people.” He is far from the only MP who has discovered the benefits of losing one’s seat. There can be no sacking quite like the one delivered at 3am ...