This Month
Sunak clings on as PM by the skin of his teeth
The local elections were disastrous for the British PM, but rebel Tories have paused because the outcome suggests Labour may not be on course for a landslide.
- Hans van Leeuwen
Tories suffer historic losses in UK local elections as voters revolt
The Conservative have lost dozens of seats on local councils - a result that suggests the party faces one of its biggest-ever defeats in the upcoming general election.
- Pan Pylas
- Analysis
- UK politics
Angry, broken Britain set to push its PM off a cliff
If Rishi Sunak can’t prevent a complete hammering at 100-plus mayoral and council elections, his party might kick off yet another leadership spill.
- Hans van Leeuwen
April
The homeless high school dropout now worth $670m
Mark Constantine, the unconventional founder and head of soap empire Lush, believes getting your product right means spending everything on it.
- Guy Kelly
Risk of wider conflict as Israel weighs its response to Iran
Facing pressure from all sides, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reportedly looking for non-lethal options to retaliate against Tehran’s weekend missile fusillade.
- Updated
- Hans van Leeuwen
- Opinion
- Workplace culture
Why it doesn’t pay to be a working-class professional
Social class is a bigger barrier to career progress than gender or ethnicity, a study by KPMG in Britain has shown.
- Pilita Clark
March
Britain’s Conservatives are on the road to the Apocalypse
The polls are now so bad for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak that people are starting to talk about an epochal wipeout, and a reshaping of the British right.
- Hans van Leeuwen
Murdoch’s News Corp eyes joint Telegraph bid with rivals
News Corp and the owner of the Daily Mail have held talks about a potential joint takeover of the Telegraph alongside the UAE-backed investment fund RedBird IMI.
- Alex Wickham and Jamie Nimmo
Tories try to staunch Britain’s ever-growing tax take
Trailing Labour in polls and facing an election soon, PM Rishi Sunak tries to woo the battlers with tax cuts but squeezes UK residents with offshore income.
- Hans van Leeuwen
February
Rishi Sunak suffers double poll blow as recession hits UK
Britain’s opposition Labour Party won two byelections in another setback for the Conservatives which faces national elections this year.
- Stephen Castle and Mark Landler
- Analysis
- Energy transition
‘Too hard’: Britain’s Labour, Europe take scalpel to climate plans
Despite all the headlines, the big announcements in London and Brussels are more cosmetic surgery than major policy amputation.
- Hans van Leeuwen
January
Investors warn governments over ‘unmoored’ levels of public debt
Issuance in the US and UK, to name just two, is this year expected to soar to the highest level on record, except for the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Mary McDougall
British PM fires starting gun on election
The Tories are running far behind in polls and prime minister Rishi Sunak says an election is likely in the second half of 2024.
- Muvija M and Elizabeth Piper
November 2023
Long home of the elite, the British private school is in decline
A new government may cut their tax breaks – and the number of such students at Oxford and Cambridge has fallen from 50 to 30 per cent.
- Melissa Denes
October 2023
- Analysis
- UK politics
Why Britain’s next PM has memorised the Albo playbook
Ultra-cautious Labour leader Keir Starmer is taking the small-target strategy into the 2024 election. He’ll be hoping it’s like Australia in 2022, not 2019.
- Updated
- Hans van Leeuwen
September 2023
Sunak to water down key UK green measures
Britain’s prime minister is under fire as he examines delaying initiatives intended to take the country to net-zero emissions.
- Jim Pickard, George Parker and Lucy Fisher
August 2023
London’s widening pollution tax sparks protests, stirs political passions
Moves in Britain to stamp out poor air quality and reduce car use have become a flashpoint.
- Jill Lawless
May 2023
Tories suffer ‘terrible’ losses in UK local elections
The Conservatives could lose up to 1000 local council seats in a major test for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak ahead of the 2024 general election.
- Andrew MacAskill
April 2023
Keir Starmer is quietly bending the UK Labour Party to his will
Three years after taking over, the leader of Britain’s opposition has quietly but efficiently marginalised Labour’s once-ascendant left wing.
- Stephen Castle
March 2023
- Analysis
- UK politics
Can the AUKUS deal save Britain’s PM?
To Tory malcontents, Sunak is an illegitimate ruler who knifed Johnson and toppled Truss. They see a tax-raising, Brexit-undermining social liberal.
- Hans van Leeuwen
