If Count Binface comes on and scores winning goal for England I predict the collapse of Reform.

We’ve all heard of TACO - Trump Always Chickens Out. Now we have FAJITAS - Farage Jitters Are Showing. #FAJITAS

We’ve passed one billion downloads on Cambridge Core! 🎉 Reaching this remarkable milestone is about more than just a number, as it reflects the enduring value of trusted academic content. 🌏💻 Read more 🔗 https://cup.org/4gGorQT

Smartest political move would be for political parties not to stand any candidates in Farage’s invented by-election.

Essentially Farage is getting ahead of a recall petition by resigning and seeking re-election.

I appear to have mislaid my tiniest of tiny violins for Nigel Farage.

How much of “No 10 North” will be “No 10” and how much will be “North”?

What does Burnham’s regional and local devolution push mean for devolution outside of England? Couldn’t Glasgow do with a strong executive mayor? Wouldn’t Aberdeen and Edinburgh also benefit?

No Scotland it is then. Party is all it ever is. Maybe that’s enough.

A warm tribute to a remarkable field-defining scholar on the death of Sir Roy Goode. During my time at Queen Mary he was an incredibly positive presence for colleagues and students. www.qmul.ac.uk/law/news/202...

That UK is soon to have its 7th PM since the Brexit vote ten years ago and that its politics is dominated by a sense that people are poorer with failing public services ought to fall us that leaving EU was never a magical solution to all the UK’s problems.

Monarchs are coronated. Politicians win democratic contests. Or they should.

The coronation of Burnham as party leader is a wasted opportunity to test his fitness to do the top job. I wonder if that will become apparent in time.

Wes Streeting could launch a contest of policy ideas and see if Andy Burnham backs those ideas. If he did then Wes could step back and see if Burnham can lead the party and the country.

There will be two stories from the Makerfield results. One is about Burnham and the date of Starmer. The other is how split votes on the Right shape the future of Reform and the Conservatives.

I wonder if UK politics is starting to resemble French politics in which the threat from the Right coalesces support for a Left candidate? If Burnham becomes PM this may be his best hope for the next general election.

With a U.K. social media ban for under 16s in prospect I wonder if this is fhe moment for Smash Hits to make its return?

Helpful to remind people in UK that rejoining EU is not in the gift of UK. EU Member States will act in their individual and collective self interest.

So many touching tributes are being paid to my Sidney Sussex colleague Rosamond McKitterick who died on Saturday. We will miss her dearly. Her sparkle. A knowing look. That smile.

The complaint of some politicians is that there is discriminatory policing (two-tier policing). So why should the response be to reduce equality guarantees? Wouldn’t we want more equality not less?

Steamer’s legacy could be to finalise agreements with EU for July summit and settle (for now) Labour’s position on Europe to avoid leadership contest also creating a split over EU.

Beer Law! A study with no half measures. 🍺🍺🍺 www.cambridge.org/core/books/b...

A challenge for a Burnham premiership is whether his style of English devolution works with or against the politics and practices of devolution in Scotlsnd, Wales and Northern Ireland. Will what turns English voters on turn others off in other parts of the U.K.?

I wonder if Darren Jones might be new Health Secretary.

New post: Does the Prime Minister have to be an MP? publiclawforeveryone.com/2026/05/14/d...

In short term Burnham’s decision to seek election to Parliament buys Starmer political time. No one will trigger leadership election unless and until Burnham elected as I suggest here: 👇 substack.com/@profkaarmst...

The U.K. failed to lead in Europe when it was an EU Member State. It can hardly claim to be at the heart of Europe now that it has left the EU.

Working people do not settle their tax bills because they seek public service. They do so to pay for public services. They pay those bills through hard work not by speeches to City firms.

Labour would have won the General Election without Starmer as leader. They won’t win the next election with him as leader. This is the summer to make a change and have a clear plan for delivery over the next two years.

My Bluesky has been very quiet, which I’m going to try to rectify… Part of the reason is that I have been finishing my next book The Governance of Migration in the EU. It will be out with OUP later in the year, with some Portuguese art on the cover.

Why there is no ‘precedent’ for a further Scottish independence referendum following the elections to the Scottish Parliament. substack.com/@profkaarmst...

If there is any comfort for Labour in these elections it is that the electorate is more disappointed than angry with the Labour leadership. There is an opportunity to change things but that requires a deliverable plan of action.

Every time the PM takes “full responsibility” he sacks someone else. It won’t just be Labour councillors losing their jobs.

EU-UK Specialised Committee on the Implementation of the Windsor Framework met yesterday. Joint Statement: commission.europa.eu/document/dow...

🚨 | Final Holyrood Nowcast: 🎗️ SNP: 56 (-8) - 36.1% | 28.0% - 9 Short. ➡️ RFM: 19 (+19) - 17.7% | 17.9% 🌹 LAB: 17 (-5) - 18.2% | 16.0% 🌍 GRN: 14 (+6) - 1.7% | 13.7% 🌳 CON: 12 (-19) - 11.4% | 11.4% 🔶 LDM: 11 (+7) - 11.0% | 10.0% Changes w/ 2021. Explore: electionmaps.uk/nowcast/holy...

In advance of Scottish election it bears repeating that no precedent was set by the 2014 Independence referendum following Holyrood elections. It was a deal struck at a political moment in time. That moment has been and gone.

The great known unknown for Scotland is who will vote Reform on Thursday – regular voters who have dumped mainstream parties or non-voters enthused by its disruptive offer – and how likely they are to turn out on the day... www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Catching up with Scottish election final polls, Labour’s lack of a clear list vote strategy may come back to bite

Days away from consequential elections it’s striking - at least in Scotland - how little has been said about housing and access to decent options. Instead we get performative banalities about the NHS and cost of living. Where are the policies and big ideas?

Dear other humans. When seeking to assist someone with a visual impairment a wave of the arm isn’t going to cut it. Nor is an exclamation of “over there!”. If in doubt just ask. Thank you for your attention in this matter.

Both the U.K. and Scottish Parliaments have failed to reform the law on assisted dying. This is despite public opinion consistently over three decades showing that 3 in 4 people support law reform. That position is consistent across the U.K.

We're at the Better Buses National Hustings, organised by @getglasgowmoving.org. Join us to find out what our political leaders plan to do to fix our broken bus system. Livestream here! m.youtube.com/watch?v=0rFh...

The test for the PM is not whether the leader of the Opposition was wrong in her accusations - she was wrong. The tests are whether he was right to appoint Mandelson (he admits that was wrong) and whether he was right to sack Robbins (probably not).

Reflecting on Olly Robbins dismissal we should pause to note it was a summary firing. That’s usually reserved to gross misconduct. But as Pat McFadden made clear today this was a disagreement with the PM about process. At most the PM might suspend him pending advice from Cabinet Secretary.

The PM’s beef with Olly Robbins is not that he came to the wrong judgment in substance on clearing Mandelson’s appointment but rather that the process did not include ministers. Robbins believes the correct process should not involve ministers. That’s a difference of view not a sacking offences

Starmer’s Premiership is over even as he stays on as PM. This is not because of the issues of process and vetting of Mandelson. It is because Mandelson was a candidate at all. He should not have been appointed even if he passed vetting for the obvious reason that we all knew of his background.

So we know that Olly Robbins believes he was not permitted to disclose vetting outcomes to the PM. But did he disclose and discuss it with anyone at all? If so, who? What process did Robbins follow to come to his decision and are there records of what advice he took and from whom.

It would seem crazy for Labour to ditch Starmer a matter of weeks before elections and more likely to happen after. But the Mandelson saga will try the patience of Labour figures like Anus Sarwar who has already called for Starmer to go. He may do so again this week.

If it’s unlikely that Olly Robbins unilaterally decided to reject the vetting recommendation for Mandelson and if no minister took that decision then which senior figure is left in the frame? Wouldn’t that have been the PM’s chief of staff and ally of Mandelson?