Stephen Daisley

One of the Left’s least attractive features is its boundless capacity for moral self-righteousness. There is a near religious conviction that to be Left-wing is to be good and ethical and therefore everything a Left-winger does must be honourable. This superstition has been one of the biggest contributors to Jeremy Corbyn’s endurance as Labour leader.Continue reading "Jeremy Corbyn and decency fatigue"

A minority government daily teetering on the brink of collapse. A radical opposition leader poised for power. A political establishment at loggerheads in the wake of a divisive referendum. The atmosphere is febrile. The air carries a whiff of hysteria. No one is quite sure who is running the country or whether the country isContinue reading "The MP who launched an accidental coup"

One hour before deadline for this column, I had a panic attack. Panic attacks aren’t sudden bouts of fright, as the name might suggest, but episodes of acute, debilitating anxiety. Your heart palpitates, you struggle to breathe, and you break out in a cold sweat. You feel dizzy, nauseous and your hands and arms areContinue reading "It’s taboo to say a word against the NHS but it’s failing on mental health"

Holyrood may be on summer recess but politics never takes a break. Fresh polling released on Friday had MSPs leaving the latest John le Carré behind on the sun lounger and heading off in search of a WiFi hotspot. Sunshine is one thing but nothing beats the restorative power of political gossip. The research fromContinue reading "A wake-up call for Scottish Labour"

Television screens across the world, in every country and every language, are beaming the same images today. They show the rescue of children who have been trapped in a cave in the northernmost tip of Thailand. The twelve boys and their coach from the Wild Boars youth football team went on an outing to ThamContinue reading "The brave boys of Tham Luang give us hope in a world of despair"

The SNP hysteria over imaginary power-grabs is galvanising the party faithful. But a bad deal as we leave the EU will allow Nationalists to ramp up the rhetoric – and encourage their fresh attempts to tear Scotland out of the UK, Stephen Daisley writes in the Scottish Daily Mail. ***** Will Britain survive Brexit? NestledContinue reading "Brexit tests that must apply to secure the Union"

Nothing holds you back in politics quite like the millstone of received opinion. Leaders take soundings, study the polls and apply the lessons of history but they are not captive to them, servants of circumstance praying the Fates will turn benevolent soon. Leaders draw on instinct and principle to change their lot; they make their ownContinue reading "It’s time for May to play her joker and reshuffle her troublesome pack"

Reshuffles are usually dramatic – yesterday’s in Holyrood was like a bloodbath. But often they fall victim to the law of unintended consequences. In 1962, Harold Macmillan abruptly sacked his Chancellor Selwyn Lloyd and six senior ministers in a ruthless shake-up. Nicola Sturgeon upturned her ministry for similar reasons – like Macmillan’s Tories, the SNPContinue reading "Ministerial musical chairs for a government tired of governing"

The breathless horror of the political class at the rise of rabble-rousing populism is matched only by a stubborn refusal to learn lessons from it. The past week has seen much wailing and gnashing of liberal teeth over Donald Trump’s efforts to crack down on illegal border crossings into the United States. Italy’s far RightContinue reading "Public trust lies abandoned in a dark corner of the corridors of power"