Analysis

Resignation honours — What are they, why are they so controversial and can the system ever be changed?

— The prospect of Boris Johnson and Liz Truss adding peers to the House of Lords has reopened a knotty debate that never quite gets resolved.

Long-Read

Enter Sunak, the fifth Brexit Prime Minister

— The ignominious collapse of Liz Truss’s government may mark a turning point in the entire Brexit saga. But the corner has not been turned by the arrival of Rishi Sunak. Nor will it be until the poison of Brexit lies has been drained from the body politic.

Analysis

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak: Who is he and how did he end up with the top job in British politics?

— It has been a short but very eventful journey to the top for a man who has only been in parliament since 2015.

Stats

Rishi Sunak: Best of a bad bunch?

— Rishi Sunak is the UK’s fifth Prime Minister since the Brexit vote of 2016, and the third of 2022, following Liz Truss’s exceptionally short time in Downing Street. But is he only the best of a bad bunch?

OPINION

The Tory lettuceship contest

— Party still comes before country and constituents and democracy to the Conservatives. The Tories would do anything now, including giving Boris Johnson another go at being PM, to avoid annihilation in a General Election.

UK Politics

Why Liz Truss finally lost control of MPs

— After years of testing the limits of British democracy, the government finally got a taste of its own medicine when Labour used a parliamentary mechanism to lay Tory divisions bare.

OPINION

The public shouldn’t pay to get the ex-PM off the hook

— It’s not for the taxpayers to pick up the tab for getting the former Prime Minister off the hook. Here’s what Good Law Project are doing about the fact we all have, they think unlawfully, paid for Boris Johnson’s legal advice. And here’s why they think that legal advice is wrong.

UK Politics

Accountability and the prorogation of Parliament

— Evidence presented by Boris Johnson’s Government to the courts for the prorogation of Parliament may not have complied with the duty of candour, and may not have been the truth.

UK Politics

4 ways Boris Johnson tested the British parliament to its limits

— From calling his opponent a bollard to shutting parliament for an extended period, Johnson has pushed the limits of the ‘good chaps school of government’.

UK Politics

PM Liz Truss: A laser-like focus on delivery is needed after the chaos of the Boris Johnson years

— Liz Truss must provide a clear plan and a fresh start. The new PM needs to commit to a laser-like focus on the delivery of public services. But the shadow of her predecessor looms large.

UK Politics

Liz Truss: Who is the UK’s new prime minister and why has she replaced Boris Johnson?

— Who is Liz Truss, the new leader of the Conservative party who inherits a country in crisis after Boris Johnson and how did she get to become the new PM?

UK Politics

Liz Truss may not appoint an ethics adviser – Does that really matter?

— Having an ethics adviser is a matter of convention, not a legal requirement.

OPINION

Liz Truss, the last PM of the “big tent” Tory party

— I think the Tories are heading for a decade of strife and internecine warfare, worse than the period after Thatcher. And I think – although this is pretty speculative – that it could lead to a complete split between the two wings. Here is why.

OPINION

Truss is a gift to the cause of Scottish independence

— Boris Johnson is a liar and a cheat but like all successful con artists, he is basically a showman. Even so, the people of Scotland proved immune to his charms. Liz Truss’s problem is that she has no charm at all.

Human Rights

Western countries are shipping refugees to poorer nations in exchange for cash

— The UK plan to move asylum seekers on its shores to Rwanda has been met with stiff opposition from human rights organizations. But the UK Government persists, and Rwanda is all too willing.

OPINION

Hasta la vista, he wants to come back.

— What is the difference between the Terminator and Boris Johnson? One is an inhuman evil destructive force without empathy or compassion. The other is also Prime Minister.