In an alternate, preferable reality the SNP government would this week have announced a major rethink of Scotland’s disgracefully failing education system. Ministers would have been embarrassed by the results of the latest Pisa study, which show the nation’s schools are continuing their long-term decline in maths, science and reading. Jenny Gilruth, the Education Secretary, would have called an emergency press conference to promise urgent action: “It’s clear that as things stand we are failing to provide the quality of education our children deserve and need. The Curriculum for Excellence is not fit for purpose, as the Pisa data proves, and must be rethought from the bottom up. If Holyrood cannot deliver a decent education system, if it can do nothing ...

Since the resignation of Robert Jenrick, the UK government has divided the role of immigration minister into two. Tom Pursglove will now serve as minister for “legal migration and delivery” and Michael Tomlinson as minister for “illegal migration”. These changes expose how crucial it is now for the Conservatives to separate the two – legal and illegal migration – in voters’ minds. In a press conference explaining his new measures to push through the Rwanda deportation scheme, Rishi Sunak opened by emphasising that his own immigrant parents “came here legally”. As the record net migration figure of 750,000 for 2022 shows, this Conservative administration is relying on high immigration to keep the economy ticking over. The new Home Secretary James Cleverly’s recent ...

A mere six weeks ago, as Rishi Sunak was marking his first anniversary as prime minister, rumours were swirling that letters of no confidence were starting to be submitted by disgruntled Tory MPs. It wasn’t much of a threat – “bored MPs trying to make themselves seem important and look like they have a plan” was the assessment of one Sunak loyalist to me. But the boredom – or perhaps more accurately, the disquiet – among Conservative backbenchers was worth noticing nonetheless. Following a disappointing party conference and two catastrophic by-election defeats, MPs were running out of patience. Both the moderate One Nation caucus and the different factions associated with the Tory right were fed-up: with the polls, with the frequent ...

We are in the Rishi Sunak endgame. We’ve probably been in it since the moment he assumed the premiership. Such was the political damage done to the Conservative Party’s reputation for honesty by Boris Johnson, and its reputation for competence by Liz Truss, that little could have been done to arrest its decline. But Sunak’s own particular political ineptness has accelerated the process. He promised to end the chaos. He came with the sheen of stability. Yet his maladroit politics, coupled with an ideologically riven Conservative Party, mean he has not become the prime minister of order he wanted to be. The resignation of the immigration minister, Robert Jenrick – an erstwhile ally – is devastating, but Sunak brought it upon ...

If one wanted a case study to encapsulate the travails of the Conservative Party, the Rwanda fiasco is hard to beat. We start off with a genuine problem: people – mostly young men – arriving on the Kent coast and claiming asylum. It is disorderly and uncontrolled and a responsible government should want to address it. This issue also appears to provide a political opportunity. Given the changing nature of the Tory party’s support, a row about illegal immigration and the tough measures being taken to address it could provide a useful dividing line. Brexit might be done but illegal immigration isn’t. In this context, the Rwanda plan was formulated. A cynic might think it was all a political wheeze – only a ...

In the days leading up to Boris Johnson’s appearance before the Covid Inquiry, his team briefed some journalists that the former prime minister had been preparing for over a year and had been “ensconced” with his legal advisers for ten days. After the illuminating testimony of Chris Whitty, Patrick Vallance, Helen MacNamara, Matt Hancock and of course Dominic Cummings, Johnson’s team must have known what to expect. Questions on how long it took for the government to take the threat of Covid seriously, on the toxic culture within Downing Street, the dysfunctional decision-making process, the degree to which Johnson himself understood and made an effort to keep up with the science, and what happened to all the messages from January to ...

The real show in Westminster today for the Press Gallery’s sketch writers was Boris Johnson’s appearance in front of the Covid Inquiry. But they would have found much to write about at PMQs. It was one of the most unserious and jovial sessions I’ve attended.  The atmosphere in the chamber was festive, as if the end of the school term was round the corner. Brendan Clarke-Smith, the honourable Conservative member for Bassetlaw, donned a Christmas jumper. The Speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, has been cut down by Covid and his deputy takes a more lackadaisical approach to crowd management within the chamber. This resulted in a greater degree of mooing from the Conservative benches than is usual at PMQs.  The chaos started with a ...

In the summer, Kate Forbes, formerly the fast-rising economy and finance secretary in Nicola Sturgeon’s government, backed calls for a “discussion” with SNP members on the Bute House Agreement, the power-sharing arrangement with the Scottish Green Party signed by Sturgeon, then the First Minister, in August 2021. Now, in a wide-ranging interview in the New Statesman’s Christmas special, Forbes, MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch and former SNP leadership contender, goes further and calls for the agreement to be repealed. The SNP, internally divided, had “lost momentum”, she said, and bold change was necessary. “The momentum of the SNP has stalled in the last year, even if support for independence has remained strong,” Forbes told the New Statesman. “We have lost the ...