Tag Archives: Blair

Ed Balls and a defence of sledging at PMQs

Prime Minister’s Questions is one of the most extraordinary Parliamentary spectacles at Westminster, if not the world. Every week, while Parliament is sitting, the Prime Minister must come to Parliament and subject themselves to thirty minutes, (in recent times quite … Continue reading

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The not-so-invisible man

An excellent essay by Andy Beckett on the role of the Cabinet Secretary, Jeremey Heywood, in The Guardian‘s excellent long read series. No blog just read the article, ‘The most potent, permanent and elusive figure in British politics’.

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Putting some stick about: House of Cards and parliamentary whipping

The recent glossy American remake has brought a new audience to the political drama House of Cards, but the original BBC drama from the 1990s has been a feature of our first year politics course for a number of years, and does bear repeated … Continue reading

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Big C and small c conservatism

Almost without exception, at some point early in each academic year, in one of my first year lectures I will make reference to someone being ‘conservative with a small c’. Until recently I assumed that everyone knew exactly what I … Continue reading

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Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and Scottish Devolution

Sometimes there is material I would like to include in a lecture but just don’t have the space. The following extract from Tony Blair’s memoir, A Journey, is one example. It is illuminating and a little amusing. Interestingly when I shared this with a … Continue reading

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