Kirsten Gillibrand is trying something new to differentiate herself from an increasingly crowded field of female 2020 Democrats.
By Sam Shenton | 22nd February 2019
A whole field of women have already announced that they will run for the Democratic nomination for President in the 2020 primary. Senators Kamala Harris of California and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts have so far made the largest noise of the campaign, but there is one woman that has mulled a presidential campaign for some time and has also set out her stall to take on Donald Trump: Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York. With so many women and ethnic minority candidates running for the nomination thus far however, the question must be…
The traditional swing states that pick US Presidents are moving over into the parties’ blocs.
By Sam Shenton | 8th November 2018
Most political commentators have on-going nightmares about the 2000 Presidential Election in Florida. Swinging the election to George W. Bush after a series of recounts and Court – including Supreme Court – decisions, Florida marked itself out as the key swing state in a series of states that help decide modern US Presidential Elections. Florida, along with Iowa, New Hampshire, Ohio, Nevada, Virginia, and a selection of others nearly always help decide with party takes the Presidency.
But all that is changing. These most recent mid-terms show a seismic trend in the way…
May’s announcement of an “end to austerity” was a method of staying in Downing Street, and today’s budget was in preparation for a new election.
By Sam Shenton | 29th October 2018
Theresa May’s dancing-queen-conference speech was met with little surprise following its timid proposals and language come to be expected from the embattled Prime Minister, but the one phrase that did make some heads spin was her promise of an “end to austerity”. What was Theresa May thinking? Firstly, “austerity” is the language of the Labour Party, not the Tories — the Governments she has been a part of and led have always talked about “living within our means”, and the “neccessity” of spending restraint following Labour’s handling of the economy. …
Conservative MPs will not allow Theresa May to face another election. A confidence vote might be their only way to stop that.
By Sam Shenton | 24th October 2018
The conventional wisdom is that Theresa May will probably survive a vote of no confidence in her leadership, at least for the time being. With the Brexit negotiations teetering on the edge of collapse over the issue of the Irish border, and the date of Britain’s Withdrawal rapidly approaching in 29th March 2019, the theory is that MPs wouldn’t support her removal at such a time. If a vote was called, the Prime Minister would, supposedly, win it easily and then be safe for at least another year to 18 months, able to…
Tory MPs must support the Prime Minister, but these next few weeks will prove it cannot be a one-way-street.
By Sam Shenton | 23rd October 2018
Theresa May will face the 1922 committee for a voluntary meeting, or show-down, with her back-benches tomorrow. The Prime Minister faces an impasse; the European Union won’t agree to her Chequers Proposal nor unlock the Brexit talks without some form of concession on the issue of the border in Northern Ireland; Remainers in her Party want a second referendum on whatever deal she brings back to the Commons, her confidence and supply agreement with the Democratic Unionist Party sits on a knife-edge as the threaten her budget, and – perhaps most crucially of…
Whatever it is Boris Johnson now does, it has come to be seen not just through the prism of his leadership ambitions, but through that of the EU Referendum.
When Boris Johnson walked away from the podium in June 2016, he had gone through all the highs and lows British politics has to offer in a matter of days. He’d led Vote Leave to a successful referendum victory, been stabbed in the back by his colleague Michael Gove, who withdrew support for Johnson and sought the Conservative leadership himself — and then had to suspend his own hopes of becoming Prime Minister for some time. It was Theresa May’s decision to appoint him as Foreign Secretary that gave him just a shred of dignity back. …
The Conservative (and Unionist) Party must decide what comes first: their commitment to post-Brexit trade deals, or the United Kingdom itself.
Theresa May’s leadership may have been given a small boost from the better-than-expected local election results, but the issue of post-Brexit customs is still causing a headache for her government and for the wider Conservative Party. May must seek to balance those like Anna Soubry, joined in the awkward corner by the recently resigned ex-Home Secretary Amber Rudd, with those led by Jacob Rees-Mogg and the eurosceptic European Research Group. …
Theresa May’s former Chief Whip left just in time to ensure his reputation is in tact for a future leadership fight.
Heads turned in Westminster as №10 announced the man tasked with replacing Sir Michael Fallon as Secretary of State for Defence, one of the most important cabinet roles and one that had been held by Fallon since 2014, demonstrating one of few examples of continuity between the Cameron and May Governments. But now he is no more, out of the cabinet and replaced by May’s trusted Chief Whip — a man that has never so much as spoken at the dispatch box, never mind have substantial ministerial experience.
Replaced in the Whip’s Office by Julian Smith and his new deputy…
The EU Referendum has poisoned politics with artificial division.
Ask yourself who you think the ‘hard Right’ of the Conservative Party are. Who comes to mind? Backbencher Jacob Rees-Mogg? Former Leader and Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith? Or how about the Prime Minster herself, with her tougher stance on immigration, comments about “citizens of nowhere” targeted at tax-avoiders, and her policy of withdrawing the U.K. from the EU’s Single Market? One person that certainly doesn’t crop up is former Chancellor George Osborne.
Osborne is has somewhat re-invented himself in the post-referendum politics we live in. Rather than being seen as part of the reason for Britain’s imminent…
Most of the discourse/ complaints around the issue appears to be about “powers”, when these aren’t the main issue at stake. The EU Withdrawal Bill technically withdraws not a single power from any of the devolved legislatures/ executives. It is not in itself an attack on devolution. What it does do, however, is redefine the relationship between the U.K. Government and the devolved Governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland over key policy areas.
At present, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland’s devolved executives all have the power to implement EU level policies around agriculture, fisheries and other policies. The ScotGov…
Sam Shenton
Observations from a 22 year old on UK and US politics.
