I have yet to see a Tapp In/Tapp Out headline. Standards are slipping.

Micro-targeted social media seems appropriate to market a podcast about the Brexit referendum. So hello @philipjcowley.bsky.social, hope you appreciate this clip. For the full episode, which may or may not feature praise of other professors,* see politicalfictions.substack.com/p/brexit-the...

Negative Patriotism strikes again. A belief that your culture is exceptionally bad and thus, by definition, exceptional... when actually that's just how it works and every other fucker does the exact same thing

is this good?

The care visa article row between Shabana Mahmood and Mike Tapp has got a real “last week of summer term” energy to it. The headteacher has resigned! No one knows which teacher has authority! The kids are hot and acting out!

On the one hand it's bad for our body politic that a moderately left-wing politician such as Ed Miliband is being characterised as the second coming of Chairman Mao. But on the other hand, LOOK WHAT I'VE GOT IN MY ARCHIVE!!!

Tapp to pay

Tapp's the sign.

haven't even seen a "Tapp: Water Down Immigration Reform"

Mahmood to Tapp out, after Mike drop blunder?

I have yet to see a Tapp In/Tapp Out headline. Standards are slipping.

This was posted on the other place by Nikki da Costa, who is an opponent of assisted dying - but also has an excellent understanding of party management, having done the job for Boris Johnson. The potential for the issue to cause a new government pain is very real.

Fellow SW1-ers ánd journalists, I am dismayed this week by how much the fact that James Purnell ran a globally important London university has been totally ignored, as if that experience, and our huge HE exports and cauldron of talent, just aren't very interesting or relevant to govt or UK future.

Hansard - the official record of what is said in Parliament - originated in the early 19th century. Consequently, it is a valuable resource for our colleagues @victoriancommons.bsky.social, who have put together a research guide for those wanting to access Hansard online.

Ditto. It's very well done. A few months ago, a Streeting supporter described to me what Wes's social media would be like were he to enter Downing Street - and it was *exactly* like this. And Burnham does it really well.

The Princes Risborough line made me laugh...

This, in passing, was one of the curiosities of doing the research this time - reasons for which I am still unsure about.

Back on the other site, years ago, there was a thread about the most pretentious thing people had ever overheard. Someone said they witnessed a guy at an ice cream van asking for 'two Magna'.

Interested in rebellions during the first session of the parliament - which, helpfully, almost perfectly coincides with the Starmer premiership? Here's a piece I wrote for @robfordmancs.bsky.social's substack, giving rebellion rates, lists of rebels, etc. swingometer.substack.com/p/rebel-rebel

Why is the UK now changing prime minister every few years? By @qmulsse.bsky.social's tonymcn64.bsky.social

Nobody does backbench rebellion analysis better. And contains a very striking statistic: 2024 saw highest rate of rebellion for any first session under a newly-elected single-party government since 1945. A sign of things to come - and the parliamentary management challenges facing Burnham?

Interested in rebellions during the first session of the parliament - which, helpfully, almost perfectly coincides with the Starmer premiership? Here's a piece I wrote for @robfordmancs.bsky.social's substack, giving rebellion rates, lists of rebels, etc. swingometer.substack.com/p/rebel-rebel

Absolutely terrific magazine piece by @jenwilliamsft.bsky.social. You can read it here, or in the FT Mag in the @ftweekend.com on Saturday:

This is getting massively dunked on. And dunking on the WP is usually correct. But had it not been for the opinion polls over the last year or so - and esp the thrashing Labour got in the local elections - Starmer would be going nowhere.

This, from the Times Redbox email this morning, is fairly typical of a lot of commentary. But a) this is what used to happen - there were 6 days between Thatcher resigning and Major becoming PM, and b) given this was a hostile takeover, it is not unreasonable to expect there to be a plan?

Sunak took over in 5 days; May in 19 days; Major in 6; Callaghan in 20. Even Brown - as a result of there being a deputy leadership contest - was 48 days. Truss and Johnson are longer, but there were contests involving the membership then.

GREAT stat: one in six of all British prime ministers _ever_ will be at Remembrance Sunday this year. [assuming nothing bad happens] [pray 4 JMPM] diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2026/06/all-...

This, from the Times Redbox email this morning, is fairly typical of a lot of commentary. But a) this is what used to happen - there were 6 days between Thatcher resigning and Major becoming PM, and b) given this was a hostile takeover, it is not unreasonable to expect there to be a plan?

How could the assisted dying bill be amended even if MPs seek to use the Parliament Acts (which requires them to pass an identical bill)? From my comments on Radio 4’s Today in Parliament. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Andy Burnham looks increasingly likely to become prime minister within weeks Here are eight @politicshome.bsky.social stories you might have missed about the man himself, his ideas, the people around him, and what happens next 🧵👇

I joked about this happening on the @hansardsociety.bsky.social podcast - but I didn't thuink they would actually do it...

If Andy Burnham becomes our next PM, he will be the first to do so as a "Labour and Co op" MP Co op policies include greater devolution, people power and an economy with greater local agency It's no coincidence that Miatta Fahnbulleh is among those advising him observer.co.uk/news/the-sen...

Robert Redford had a similar reaction in The Candidate: www.youtube.com/watch?v=myEp...

The next Prime Minister will be the 7th in a decade. It is worth bearing in mind that in his first decade as King, George III saw six PMs come and go. The 7th, Lord North, went on to retain the position for a dozen years. #HistParl

📣 On the eve of the 10th anniversary of the Brexit vote, listen to this excellent BBC R4 programme by James Tilley @politicsoxford.bsky.social on how Brexit created two new political tribes: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

well, sort of. although, if you don't have a clear idea of what you want to do, you could maybe try not becoming prime minister

September makes sense if there is a contest. But if there isn't, then it's three wasted months.

A political St Augustine: Lord, make me Prime Minister, but not yet...

Please just stop being weirdly reductive and dramatic when writing about things or people to do with the north!

Imagine if, in recent history, there had been a prime minister from, say, Scotland! Or Richmond! Or Sedgefield!

Imagine if MPs with constituencies in the north commuted to Westminster, say, every week

As we approach a possible seventh prime minister in ten years, I try to explain the UK's instability in @politicshome.bsky.social. The volatility is partly structural, but Labour's historical hangups and the Tories' unmoored powerseeking are also culprits. www.politicshome.com/opinion/arti...

NEW ARTICLE! "Brexit as Democratic Crisis: Parliament, People & Prophetic Democracy" The Brexit crisis brought the UK's democratic institutions close to breakdown, culminating in an unprecedented assault on judges, Parliament & MPs. How did it happen? Free here! 🧵 academic.oup.com/ehr/advance-...

I was on Radio 4’s Today in Parliament yesterday, discussing the assisted dying bill. We talked about how the Parliament Acts might be used to pass the bill, and how changes can still be made to it. Around 7:35 in: www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

NEW: Andy Burnham’s path to Westminster: How could he become Prime Minister? We talk to @philipjcowley.bsky.social about the parliamentary choreography that could take him to No.10 Plus: Which Private Members’ Bills will be the focus of this parliamentary session? Link in next post.⬇️

New article on Open Access: Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social on 'Brexit as Democratic Crisis: Parliament, People and Prophetic Democracy, 2016–2019' academic.oup.com/ehr/advance-... #Brexit #Brexitanniversary

A campaign to sweat the small stuff: how two political insiders are trying to make life better by focusing on life's little quibbles 😤

I engaged in too many hydration breaks last night and am now paying the price.