Hmm yes… sort of. His reputation stepped down a long time before he did.
Emeritus Professor of Politics & Public Policy, London School of Economics & Political Science. Interests - digital era governance, democratic audit & renewal, theories of the state, elections & party competition. And in open social science, universities.
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Hmm yes… sort of. His reputation stepped down a long time before he did.
The Labour party has now lost two deputy leaders in a row to scandal … and it still goes on with Tom Watson in the Lords lobbying for gambling firms and Palantir (owned by far right Peter Thiel)
In June 2024 I warned that Labour in government would face a never-ending sequence of sleaze scandals without major reforms of UK anti-corruption and anti-malversation institutions. No such reforms have been made & levels of public trust are rock bottom blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandp...
@bbcstever.bsky.social @bbcdomc.bsky.social @bbcdaniels.bsky.social @bbcnewsnight.bsky.social Now do Tice and Farage.
"We are the patriotic party" says Nigel Farage, who just spent the past few days slagging off his own country to a foreign superpower, while encouraging them to impose sanctions on our economy if we don't do what they say
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09...
Why prompt engineering is now essential for HR professionals blogs.lse.ac.uk/businessrevi...
The Trump administration is reversing long-established US human rights discourse blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/20...
John Curtice “At the heart of Reform's success is a fundamental realignment of the party preference of Brexit supporters”. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
And then there's governing in a world that's going bat shit crazy. Labour are renationalising industry (steel, train), investing in green energy, reducing NHS waiting lists, brought in laws to protect tenants, workers rights. Making change on climate, etc.
The progressive coalition might more realistically and productively be one of LD,GRN,YP standing aside for each other and threatening to do so for Labour in the seats they need Labour to win. This should release the tactical Labour vote everywhere else. Ranked preference polling to kick things off
That must be why the Labour government has done so well since gaining power? Those 427 seats have so helped the Labour government cruise to soaraway popularity, haven’t they? The truth is that Starmer has too little democratic legitimacy to govern, plus every incentive to just play the voting system
This is moving in the right direction but really is piecemeal when you consider that tax avoidance and non-collection is averaging about £40bn per year. hansard.parliament.uk/lords/2025-0...
Stage One - make the Labour Party progressive . But is there time and does it have the inclination.
We can stop reform well it’s not reform it’s the conservatives in sheep’s clothing by tactical voting please people embrace it from today
Starmer simply doesn’t have the talent to build a broad coalition. He’s instinctively VERY socially conservative, and he’s not a persuader.
Nigel Farage uses private company to pay less tax on £400,000 GB News earnings. Poor attendance record in parliament, collects £94,000 salary+expenses. Has used a trust fund in an offshore tax haven. Previously described people who try to avoid tax as the “common enemy”.
The thread on one page: skywriter.blue/pages/did:pl...
Antisemitism Envoy Jillian Segal is being paid more than $1,000 a day and has appointed SIX taxpayer funded staffers. Investigations reveal the role is costing Australians well over $1 million a year... theklaxon.com.au/antisemitism...
arstechnica.com/science/2025...
theconversation.com/why-wind-far...
Who would want to be Rachel Reeves this autumn? blogs.lse.ac.uk/businessrevi...
The basis exists for a centre-left coalition to win in 2029 - but Labour must now cease its tribalism & acknowledge that it has failed to govern the country on 33% of the vote. Building a progressive coalition will take time and perhaps a new Labour leader if Starmer can’t see or accept that.
Taxing private schools won’t smash the class ceiling blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandp...
The “new” UK malversation regime under Labour - same as the old one under the Tories… And the results? Rampant malversation
MAKE MCCARTHY GREAT AGAIN’ Laura Loomer has become the Joseph McCarthy of the Trump era. www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...
Now we know the timeline.... Was Darren Jones’ new role (which otherwise looks like a risky demotion from being Chief Secretary in the Treasury) actually created by Starmer as a kind of waiting room - so that Jones can smoothly become Deputy PM for all domestic policies when Rayner has to go?
Badenoch says Starmer should sack Rayner before any findings. She then says she would not necessarily sack someone who had broken the ministerial code. Also saying Rayner should be sacked for breaking the law, conveniently forgetting her PM Johnson did just that & Sunak was made PM after doing so!
13% of Greens want a Farage government uh? Yet another highly reliable Yougov poll.
The ‘nuclear option’ is PR to save the centre ground from both the rabid right and the utopian ultra left Given a PR option I suspect many will also vote for who they do want rather than who they don’t ..
So Labour has already introduced multiple Wealth taxes, ongoing renationalising the railways, huge investments in green energy, significantly increased spending on the NHS plus planned to spend billions extra in real terms on Health and Disability benefits by 2029/30. So ? 🤔
Now we know the timeline.... Was Darren Jones’ new role (which otherwise looks like a risky demotion from being Chief Secretary in the Treasury) actually created by Starmer as a kind of waiting room - so that Jones can smoothly become Deputy PM for all domestic policies when Rayner has to go?
MAKE MCCARTHY GREAT AGAIN’ Laura Loomer has become the Joseph McCarthy of the Trump era. www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...
I may have fallen out of love with Labour, but what a load of bollocks about Angela Rayner's stamp duty. She is being compared with Zahawi who evaded £5m in tax but unlike Angela denied wrongdoing until caught bang to rights & subsequently sacked. The media despises a working class upstart.
The “new” UK malversation regime under Labour - same as the old one under the Tories… And the results? Rampant malversation
Starmer must feel he’s really succeeded in sorting out govt ethics issues
Taxing private schools won’t smash the class ceiling blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandp...
The basis exists for a centre-left coalition to win in 2029 - but Labour must now cease its tribalism & acknowledge that it has failed to govern the country on 33% of the vote. Building a progressive coalition will take time and perhaps a new Labour leader if Starmer can’t see or accept that.
In a few short years we will put Sadiq Khan in this category for ULEZ.
Farage being grilled by Raskin isn't on the BBC news app home page. Why not? I searched Farage and this was the result 'Clash on freedom of speech'. Pathetic both siding.
Who would want to be Rachel Reeves this autumn? blogs.lse.ac.uk/businessrevi...
theconversation.com/why-wind-far...
arstechnica.com/science/2025...
Ally Fogg “Have I understood this? This isn't people being tried for being members of Palestine Action, they're being tried for organising protests against the proscription of Palestine Action? Which is precisely what many Govt supporters said wouldn't happen?” www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Amazingly technocratic research here into “electoral integrity” globally, whether countries are democratic or not. But there is absolutely *no* electoral integrity outside democracies, and to pretend otherwise is not pol sci scholarship - but absurdity. academic.oup.com/edited-volum...
Yes, I know their policies. I'm not the issue. The issue is changing general perceptions amongst "the working and middle classes". They need money, media support and a smart, punchy comms strategy.
Australian SAS guy Ben Roberts-Smith lost a final legal bid to overturn defamation ruling. “In pursuing his case, the appellant did not seek to prove that he did not commit the murders, only that the evidence that he had done so was legally insufficient," judges said. www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09...
No
Far-right political lobby group “Advance” — bankrolled by the family of Antisemitism Envoy Jillian Segal — spread anti-immigrant attack material ahead of the weekend’s racism-fuelled rallies. Segal called for peaceful pro-Palestine demonstrations to be “banned” . theklaxon.com.au/envoy-segal-...
Was Darren Jones’ new role (which looks like a risky step down in power for him from being Chief Secretary at the Treasury) actually created by Starmer as a kind of waiting room from which Jones can smoothly become Deputy PM for domestic politics when Rayner has to go?
The problems of “our turn, no need for clean politics“ Bourbon Labour - that learns nothing about governing illegitimately with 33% support - have multiplied again
Starmer has already shown his contempt for democracy in his autocratic disdain for free speech and his headlong rush to hand control of huge chunks of our country over to corporations in the shape of SEZs, so boosting the unelected and costly Lords is no surprise.
Adding to a problem doesn't usually improve it.
UK economy is looking up … And 30 year debt costs are fairly trivial, ‘cos you have 30 years to place that debt somewhere. & UK already has a kind of paranoid amount of long run to short run debt. www.theguardian.com/business/202...
Labour has become the new Conservative Party, the Conservative Party has become the party for corporations, and then there is the far right fascist, oligarch and dictator loving New Reform Farage party ( which is the UK equivalent to MAGA). We need a new party for the middle & working class.
Great thinking here - let’s add 24 more sleazy Labour appointees to the utterly corrupt House of Lords, so they can get on with making money by lobbying for far-right Palantir and gambling companies, just like Tom Watson. What a popular reform this won’t be. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
That's two Labour deputy-leaders in a row linked to sleaze or malversation - but the existing useless status quo machinery for combatting corruption and conflicts of interest in politics is fine for public trust, McFadden thinks blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandp...
Met Police Chief tells Cooper to change loony proscription of Palestine Action ""Greater clarity and common sense would enable us to limit the resources we dedicate to tackling online statements to those cases creating real threats in the real world". news.sky.com/story/graham...
Google’s search monopoly just became a utility. A US judge's ruling = business equivalent of a ceasefire. Google keeps the pipes, Apple keeps the tollbooth, & the federal government gets to claim it outlawed exclusivity. qz.com/google-antit...
In 2024-25 Bangladesh passed through a crucial phase in its history: the people pitted against state machinery ousted the Bangladesh Awami League government, putting in an Interim Government led by Muhammad Yunus. Atiarul Islam looks at the year gone by blogs.lse.ac.uk/southasia/20...
I used to read books like Lord of the Rings or watch movies like Star Wars and think the villains were unbelievable. And of course, now watching the tech oligarchs (who could not spend all their money if they tried) destroy civilization for power, I’m like, guess I was wrong. People are that awful.
Social media firms need to be taken seriously as both tech platforms and as influential political organizations blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/20... Too right - they are the global oligarchs
That's two Labour deputy-leaders in a row linked to sleaze or malversation - but the existing useless status quo machinery for combatting corruption and conflicts of interest in politics is fine for public trust, McFadden thinks blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandp...
Listening to Angela Rayner talking to Beth Rigby, it is clear to me that the devil is in the detail of the Trust that defends her son's interests. In my view that detail will eviscerate Kemi Badenoch before it comes anywhere near damaging the reputation and regard in which Angela Rayner is held.
It's hard to see how Angela Rayner holds onto her position www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Pat McFadden wouldn't clean up government, despite countless warnings that millions of ordinary Labour voters demanded reform. Labour now mired in a Raynor sleaze row again, www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cr... while Tom Watson in Lords makes money from Peter Thiel and lobbying for gambling
Blair stuck in the middle of it.
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...
All three Racist Right parties have policies which act to make climate change worse to a greater or lesser extent, lobbyists trumping science From Labour's £22b for Big Oil greenwashing to Reform's Trumpian insanity. We need political representation that treats challenges like this realistically
I expect they will want to put refuges and asylum seekers in there now 😣
Great thinking here - let’s add 24 more sleazy Labour appointees to the utterly corrupt House of Lords, so they can get on with making money by lobbying for far-right Palantir and gambling companies, just like Tom Watson. What a popular reform this won’t be. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Continuing to show he's turned Labour into the Conservatives, filling the right of centre void left by the Tories lurching to the far right. Instead of reforming the upper chamber just pack it out more... 🤦🏼 www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
'What if you split the Labour vote?!' My brother I could start a joke party called 'Tick this box if you hate Keir Starmer' and still get my deposit back. Labour should try being less shit if they want votes.
Indeed. Far too much worrying about Polanski, about Farage, about the Ipsos' issues index, about individual polling, and not enough on 'how can we deliver election-winning budgets and spending rounds in 2027-8 and 2028-9'.
Jenrick risks law and order for personal advantage www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpo...
How post-materialism fuelled the rise of the far right by worsening awareness of inequalities blogs.lse.ac.uk/inequalities...
UK macro-policy disasters came thick and fast in the 2010 to 2024 lost decade and a half. Getting things right now requires faster action. www.politico.eu/article/brex...
UK economy is looking up … And 30 year debt costs are fairly trivial, ‘cos you have 30 years to place that debt somewhere. & UK already has a kind of paranoid amount of long run to short run debt. www.theguardian.com/business/202...
bsky.app/profile/patr...
I've just watched this ABC (Oz) 4 Corners program with the same horrors I remember watching a 1950s program (involving Richard Dimbleby) on the liberation of Nazi concentration camps. If this doesn't result in war crime tribunals there is absolutely no justice. #Gaza www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08...
I have doubts on everything about Badenough
The article talks about borrowing as an alternative to cutting costs, but maybe it's time to tax wealth? Defense spending should be partly a common EU expense (not just a private concern of bordering countries), and at the same time, taxing wealth is something that countries cannot do alone.
Workers’ health and the economy in the UK are suffering due to climate change blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandp...
Not a good look www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09...
That’s Corbyn for you - always ten years behind the times
Very apt story news.sky.com/story/the-ru...
Another quota of slaughter, and for what? Grinding Gaza’s rubble into sand. news.sky.com/story/at-lea...
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofb...
Despite what The Atlantic says, Sudan is not locked in a war about nothing blogs.lse.ac.uk/africaatlse/...
news.sky.com/story/austra...
Three corporations show how to use extended reality for business growth blogs.lse.ac.uk/businessrevi...
Spending more on defence without damaging social spending – time for a coalition of the borrowing? blogs.lse.ac.uk/europpblog/2...
Speaking as someone who studied and taught at US universities for over a decade, that KB has been telling this story for so long, without anyone in the UK previously questioning it is kind of amazing. It reflects total credulity about how the US works from the Spectator/Ashcroft etc.
on.ft.com/46eXCO6 Crossings of small boats to UK in August fall to lowest since 2019. Poor Nigel.
We have three years to establish proportional representation or farage will be pm.
Kemi Badenoch has insisted she was offered a place to study medicine at Stanford University but said she does not now have the relevant papers, after a report cast doubt on the claim
Farage's Agent Jenrick: "More hotels have been coming online almost every month... & I have ramped that up & procured even more..." #ukpolitics