What does it mean to be a Conservative? Every political party, especially those in a first past the post system, is a coalition of interests. Therefore, any definition is either going to be crude or so caveated that only a political theorist would be bothered to wade through to find one. Yet there has always been a pretty consistent core in Britain, as defined by Disraeli in his Crystal Palace speech of 1872: “The first object of the Tory party [is] to maintain the institutions of the country.” For this, he was reaching back to the founder of modern conservatism, Edmund Burke, and anticipates the conservatism of all the 20th-century leaders of the party. And what was the first institution he turns ...

As the government reels from crisis to crisis, like an inebriated adviser at a Downing Street party, its dwindling fan club can at least comfort themselves that Priti Patel, Liz Truss and Boris Johnson have found time to sock it to the most desperate people on Earth. Today, after months of anticipation, the UK will fly the first of potentially thousands of refugees to Rwanda, as part of a scheme that will force them to claim asylum there instead of here. The official line, as articulated by the Foreign Secretary on breakfast TV sofas this morning, is that the policy aims to tackle “people-smuggling rings”. The logic goes that as soon as refugees realise that they will be sent to Rwanda, ...

There’s no hard and fast rules to being an LGBTQ+ person. You do your thing, Miss Thing. That’s the whole point. The only rule I can think of, the one that we don’t write down because fundamentally we all know it, as any decent human should, is that you don’t out someone else. Ever. You let them choose, in their own time and their own way. Rebel Wilson didn’t get that choice. Her hand was forced. On Friday the Australian actress revealed that she had a girlfriend via an Instagram post, with a caption (“I thought I was searching for a Disney Prince… but maybe what I really needed all this time was a Disney Princess”) that implied this was her ...

The second best piece of journalism advice I ever received was not so much a tip as a question: “You’re in your twenties. You want to write columns. Why should anyone care what you have to say?” (The absolute best piece of advice I got went as follows: “Be nice to the junior PRs now, because they’ll be the senior PRs in ten years when you inevitably quit journalism and are interviewing for a job in PR.” But since this was given to me by an embittered journalist-turned-PR trying to pitch me stories, I don’t believe it was entirely altruistic. I later married him – but I digress.) It was Ben Brogan, former deputy editor and chief political commentator of the Telegraph, ...

Food and fuel prices have reached 40 year highs. British people are struggling to put food on the table, parents miss meals to save money, and children arrive at school with empty stomachs. Farmers are trying to cope with rising fertiliser and delivery costs, and the degraded countryside is now a significant emitter of the greenhouse gases that cause climate change. The answer of Boris Johnson’s government to all of this is, believe it or not, more home-grown tomatoes. Today (13 June) the government produced its food plan for the nation. After a brief intro the second paragraph of the press release, its first concrete pledge, says: "Currently, the UK only produces 15 per cent of tomatoes supplied domestically, but new ...

Another year, another series of Love Island, another round of calls for more body diversity on the show. Yes, all of the contestants continue to be cardboard cut-outs of conventional beauty – tall, tanned, toned, tattooed, with abs you could grate cheese with – but I’m not sure that greater inclusivity and representation is the answer. All that would happen is that audiences would call the ones that weren’t buffed and bronzed and stereotypically beautiful "brave", "confident", "role models for body positivity" who should be "celebrated" for flaunting their flaws and embracing their imperfections. And herein lies the ultimate contradiction behind the body positive movement: for all its seemingly innocent and innocuous intentions, all it does is reaffirm the idea that ...

Seven days ago, few people knew anything about The Lady of Heaven, an obscure film about the life of Fatima, the beloved daughter of the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) and an important female figure for Muslims. Yet because of loud protests against it outside cinemas across the UK, many are now talking about it. Cineworld and Showcase cinema chains gave in to the protesters and pulled the film – but Vue is still standing its ground (but for how long?). The movie begins with a very graphic scene that directly references the horrific murder of the Jordanian pilot, Muath al-Kasasbeh, by followers of Islamic State. The narrative then moves to Arabia AD 622, the year of Hijrah; the date from which the ...

Since taking on the role of chair of the Social Mobility Commission Katharine Birbalsingh has been busy ruffling feathers. Only last month, “Britain’s strictest headteacher” caused uproar after saying that it is “natural” for schoolgirls to study physics at a lower rate than boys. “I just think they don’t like it,” she asserted, to widespread disbelief. “There’s a lot of hard maths in there that I think they would rather not do.” It would appear Birbalsingh has learned the power of making members of the chattering classes spit out their tea. Yesterday (9 June), ahead of her first major speech as chair, she managed yet again to draw ire. She was set to announce a “fresh approach” to social mobility in ...