Politics & Comment
I comment regularly on British and American politics, with a broad focus on foreign policy. I also maintain a particular expertise in the internal workings of the Conservative Party. I have contributed columns to most major British newspapers, starting my career at The Spectator, and am currently most likely to be found at The Financial Times and The Guardian, as well as number of US outlets. I have recently joined the Board of Index on Censorship.
In addition to my perspective as an intellectual historian, I also have a strong hinterland in the Anglican church, and write regularly on issues of faith and ethics. Much of my insight into British politics has been shaped by my time as part of the team responsible for establishing Bright Blue, the think tank associated with the Tory modernisation agenda. In 2014, I published a collection of essays with Ryan Shorthouse on the future of the Conservative Party, entitled The Modernisers’ Manifesto, for Bright Blue.
I have also made available here the three articles I wrote in late 2017 about Damian Green MP, which formed part of the #metoo movement and eventually led to his resignation as First Secretary of State. Originally published behind paywalls, they were widely reported in more sensationalist terms and it is important to me that my own words on the matter are publicly available.
Like most people who write for newspapers, I have no control over the headlines added to my articles. So I sometimes post articles here with my own choice of headlines, when I feel strongly that the published headlines are inappropriate.
Nigel Farage’s hypocrisy has upstaged Cameron over Syrian refugees
written for Conservative Home, 30 December, 2013 The week before Christmas, I spoke separately to two Conservative ministers about the two million refugees who have fled Syria. These refugees aren’t benefit tourists, but people who have no functioning society to which they can even try to contribute. That...
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Western Christians are not helping their persecuted brothers and sisters
written for The Spectator, 23 December 2013 As Christmas Day breaks over Maaloula, one of the last few villages which still speaks the language of Christ, Islamist fighters will patrol the streets. Whether the nuns of its ancient convent are safe depends on who you believe, President Assad or Al Qaeda. The...
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Coriolanus, Donmar Warehouse
reviewed for Conservative Home, 19 December 2013 Is there a more toxic cry than “plebs”? I’d bet my house that Andrew Mitchell never uttered the word during that notorious stand-off at the Downing Street gates last year. But if Mitchell wants to see himself played by a Hollywood heartthrob, he might...
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Gender segregation: radical speakers cannot demand an audience that fits their prejudices
written for The Spectator, 14 December 2013 listen to ‘Kate Maltby vs Fatima Barkatulla on gender segregation’ on audioBoom I spent much of Tuesday afternoon shivering outside the offices of Universities UK. I was there to protest their publication of guidelines which suggest segregated seating of...
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Michael Gove and Boris Johnson: partners in power?
written for The Spectator, 30 November 2013 Boris Johnson’s speech at the Centre for Policy Studies, much misrepresented, is still grabbing headlines. Boris gave the Margaret Thatcher memorial lecture, so it’s no surprise it has been interpreted as a bid to succeed her. But another relationship is just...
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The memory of Kristallnacht should alert us to the perils of indifference
written for Conservative Home, 14 November 2013 When John Izbicki was an eight year-old boy in Berlin, he learned a lesson in divine justice. He decided that God exists because he watched an elderly woman, bent double with arthritis, split her head open on a sharp shard of broken glass. It’s an abhorrent...
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