I do wonder whether such slogans ought to be registered. They are supposed to be ‘descriptions of the party’, but often, as here, aren’t. (I doubt even the party itself would claim that ‘Corporate Crime’ in any way accurately described their party.)

Ridiculous situation. giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... “When will Andy Burnham tackle the ‘cost of working’ crisis?”

Shades of Lawrence Fox, except that his longing for hard men was bound up with disappointment that they always led to soft men.

Agree on the early signs here, but perhaps more so than under KS: it looks like short term wins (the ‘cost of living government’) are going to be prioritised at the expense of long term reforms & infrastructure changes (possibly even with a view to an early election). bsky.app/profile/mart...

Why do drafters keep using this word? No one seems to know what it means. "It all depends on the context." So everyone needs to troop off to court to find out. Why not just say what you mean up front? I keep complaining about this & no one seems to paying any attention.

Includes a cameo from Steven Barrett. bsky.app/profile/jame...

The 29% strategy. conservativehome.com/2026/07/17/p...

Was Blue Labour underestimated? Maurice Glasman presumably delighted by all this.

The AG has now been admonished by the Court of Appeal. (Though query whether now this power ever can be entirely separated from politics.) www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/u... bsky.app/profile/publ...

This is the only sort of thing that seemed to really fire him up.

Ouch.

To be properly Conservative it's necessary to renounce policies held by the party for decades. (Even Thatcher was an early supporter of tackling climate change & never threatened to leave the ECnHR.) And practically, is it wise to reduce the numbers of Tories in the Lords? bsky.app/profile/timb...

Comments here suggest there may be an issue of principle that may be considered better achieved via JR? www.ft.com/content/c185...

The way this is being repeatedly emphasised, as though it’s the most important detail of the whole awful business.

To be fair to Mr Tice, I've carefully combed through the Equality Act, & cannot find anything that protects very successful aristocratic families from discrimination.

Agree on the powers, but it's likely the EC did start investigating the issue, & used those powers to gather evidence then. It does seem from reports they referred to the police when they suspected a potential s.61 offence, & are now out of it. But presumably can pass over evidence they gathered?

This is because s.61 is a more serious offence, for which civil sanctions weren't deemed sufficient. "Knowingly" is a high bar: hard to prove, but if proved, the offence may be expected to be dealt with more severely than other breaches of the donations rules.

This is the relevant offence: www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/4.... Like several other offences under the Act, it can be punished with either a fine or a short prison term (Schedule 20).

As with parties & candidates, such donations can only be accepted if they're permissible, which excludes donations from many foreign sources. www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/4...

RJ is a relevant individual here as a member or a registered party or as a holder of elective office. As it seems that the donation was for the leadership campaign there doesn't seem any doubt it's a relevant donation for these purposes.

When the CCRC referred the Ruth Ellis case to the Court of Appeal in 2003, it so incensed the judges that they called for Parliament to change the law to stop such cases being sent to it again.

IMV correct insofar as he's not be required as a new MP to register interests he was required to register previously, but if the Parl Comr is able to continue investigating breaches as an MP previously (& I think it's accepted he can resume after the by-election), then I don't see that it matters.

Good explainer here on calling by-elections. Convention is within 3 months, but it’s up to the House of Commons to decide. Given the context of the vacancy, why not wait till the investigations have finished & any sanctions have been imposed? www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainer/by...

This reaction reminded me of Johnson too, at times in Parliament during partygate, & the interview with Eddie Mair. Once the bonhomie is punctured, they seem all at sea, & lash out angrily.

Reminded me of Boris Johnson. Rich folk in politics, flaunting their dark arts. bsky.app/profile/fasc...

Excellent, thanks. But this is one bit I don’t follow. Given it’s likely the Ukrainian war drags on for a while, with ongoing sizeable losses, & even a ceasefire likely to consume lots of Russian resources, & with the economy so badly damaged, how will it be at ‘full strength’ again by 2030?

Apart from anything else, this makes Reform look very amateurish. This is laughable: apart from the absurdity of claiming Farage was an ‘ex-politician’ prior to becoming an MP in July 2024, he did actually register one of the payments made beforehand. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Excellent trolling of chippy Cestrian @alanbeattie.bsky.social by the FT editorial team today.

Tensions within the Christian wing of Reform?