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Ryan Bourne - 14 May 2013 - Politics

Over the past few years, Conservative MP Douglas Carswell has continually predicted a revolution in the way politics is undertaken given the rise of the internet. In a recent Spectator blog, he wrote: "Politics in the West, I speculate in my book on iDemocracy published last year, is going to ...

Belinda Brown - 24 April 2013 - Politics

Belinda Brown is a fellow at the Young Foundation and honorary research associate at University College London. Mrs Thatcher has often come under the spotlight for her relationship to feminism and other women. She has been described as “a man in skirts” who would not appoint another woman to cabinet, for ...

Jenny Nicholson - 19 April 2013 - Politics

CPS Deputy Director Jenny Nicholson writes about attending Lady Thatcher's funeral and her memories of meeting the former Prime Minister. An old friend reminded me of the first time I had met Lady Thatcher.  We were working for a firm of publishers and to supplement our income we washed up at ...

Tim Knox - 09 April 2013 - Politics

CPS Director Tim Knox writes on the origin of arguably Lady Thatcher's most famous, and most mischaracterised, quote. Opinion pollsters know that they can never ask the question which they often most want to ask: “why do you say that?”Why? Because those five words can be interpreted in five subtly different ...

Adam Memon - 12 November 2012 - Politics

Remembrance Sunday is the one day of the year when we stand together to honour the millions of British and Commonwealth men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. We remember the families of those who were killed; we remember those who were maimed and injured in ...

Jeremy Jennings - 22 October 2012 - Politics

My guess is that supporters of the CPS are not greatly interested in the Big Society. I might be wrong, but I suspect that for most the priorities lie in limiting the activities of the state, cutting taxation, and reducing the deficit. Ending big government rather than crafting the big ...

Kieron O'Hara - 22 October 2012 - Politics

Perhaps more than at any other point in modern memory, the Conservative movement is being pulled in many different directions. How can these competing political voices coalesce into one successful vision for the Party as a whole? Dr Kieron O’Hara explores the various strands of thought. Conservative politics are all over ...

Ryan Bourne - 15 August 2012 - Politics

Head of Economic Research Ryan Bourne examines the 'Battle for the Centre Ground' both here and in the US, and commends Mitt Romney's choice of Vice-Presidential candidate Paul Ryan as the chance for a real debate about America's future. For years the political debate both here and in the US has ...

Ryan Bourne - 21 June 2012 - Politics

David Cameron appears to have opened a huge can of worms by claiming that Jimmy Carr’s ‘tax avoidance’ is immoral. If it’s found that what he did was, in fact, within the law, this will have huge implications for the future of the tax debate in the UK.Carr is, of ...

Ryan Bourne - 09 May 2012 - Politics

The Queen’s Speech was somewhat anti-climactic. There was a distinct lack of, or lack of detail on, supply-side measures needed to enhance our economic growth rate. These events are always suitably vague, so this was largely to be expected. But the Speech seemed to lack a coherent vision or theme ...

Kieron O'Hara - 20 December 2011 - Politics

In his Sunday Telegraph column, Matthew d’Ancona argues that David Cameron needs to pass what he calls the Christopher Hitchens test.Hitchens was conspicuously uninterested in the PM and all his works, regarding him, it seemed, as one of the less engaging characters his beloved Bertie Wooster might have bumped into ...

Lewis Brown - 07 December 2011 - Politics

Ed Miliband’s attack on David Cameron’s stance over Europe rocked the PM from the off today. While Conservatives often adopt the line ‘I won’t be lectured by the Labour Party’ over Europe (and for the most part, this obviously chimes), there was definite hay to be made for the Labour ...

Lewis Brown - 06 December 2011 - Politics

Part of the fun of American primaries and elections for the politically aware on this side of the pond is engaging as if it were a spectator sport. We like to make predictions, think about who our vote would go to, and rate the candidates on our own sort of ...

Nigel Knight - 02 December 2011 - Politics

Baroness Thatcher famously said ‘U-turn if you want to’. Unfortunately David Cameron seems to have out U-turned Edward Heath in his first eighteen months in office.

• At first there were no plans to raise VAT, then VAT rose to 20%.
• The Education Maintenance Allowance was ‘safe in ...

Ryan Bourne - 28 November 2011 - Politics

A considerable number of Government policies continue to be announced ahead of the Autumn Statement tomorrow. We’ve already heard about reforms (or in many cases, consultations) on employment law. We’ve heard about the shift of £5bn from current to capital expenditure, and attempts to utilise pension funds to invest in ...