A lot of common sense and measured judgements on the future of the Western alliance from @davidlidington.bsky.social in this @rusi.bsky.social podcast with Neil Melvin. A worthwhile listen.

A new moderate centre-right Tory group launched today. Worth looking at the list of supporters including @davidgauke.bsky.social @davidlidington.bsky.social, Ruth Davidson, Malcolm Rifkind &many others known to 1) be quite pro-European 2) have no time for culture wars prosperuk.com/meet-the-team/

New UK parliamentary report wants gov to go further with EU but within political red lines, while EU partnership is ranked „alongside US and Commonwealth“. The intro alone is testament to how tight the UK’s room for manoeuvre is. Deserves thorough reading. publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5901/cm...

Could centrist politics finally be making a comeback? Rory talks about the new movement, Prosper UK.

This deserves more attention than it has received. Gove: "we were too anxious as a government to secure those deals in order to show that Brexit was working". Exactly as so many of us warned at the time, and as the government denied at the time. www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/country-and-...

A thought as I pondered whether just to pay my tax early this year so I know where I stand. Why doesn’t HMRC incentivise early / over payment of taxes by paying a competitive rate of interest on any monies deposited and advertising this? Surely this would be better than nagging emails?

Darren Jones as CDL plus Chief Sec to PM is a v sensible move designed to secure more effective & energetic cross-departmental implementation of policy. Also means titular DPM is different from the de facto one! V clear signal to Whitehall that Jones speaks with PM's authority

'A video posted on [FB] congratulated whoever "did this to the mosque"...and attracted hundreds of comments expressing anti-Muslim sentiment. But the South Lakes Islamic Centre, which is behind the building's construction, said it had displayed the flags itself, to symbolise "our shared belonging".'

"Misperception about UK cases before ECtHR. Judgments against UK are rare. Since 1980, ECtHR found UK decision to extradite or deport would violate ECHR 13 times. 4 of these concerned family life. In respect of UK immigration rules, ECtHR ruled against UK 3 times in 45 years": Oxford Uni research

This is vile. Local guy speaks to Sky News about the impact of asylum seekers protests. Watch what happens and share widely

@jamesrball.com and @writesbright.bsky.social have confirmed they're also banned from this year's Reform UK national conference. They were informed today. So Farage explicitly told Congress that he doesn't ban journalists from Reform events on the exact day that he banned journalists from events.

Democrat @raskin.house.gov excoriates Nigel Farage for banning journalists from Reform UK events: "I'm asking you a direct question. Why do you ban journalists who oppose your views from coming to your events? Why did you tell local government not to do interviews with your local newspaper?"

2 September 1582: Mary queen of Scots, at Sheffield, has now learned of events in Scotland. She writes two letters to the French ambassador in England, Castelnau, one rather dull one mainly about her business affairs, and another recently deciphered one about the Raid; clearly ... 1/ #earlymodern

Trenchant & sobering analysis of UK's record in Afghanistan by army veteran @edrusi.bsky.social @rusi.bsky.social

Elon Musk is a radicalised extremist openly championing the most racist faction who would deport the Foreign Secretary, the Leader of the Opposition, the Justice Secretary and the last Prime Minister The govt silence about such a level of extremism is craven: infinite tolerance of racial hatred

That PX report on the Good Friday Agreement is breathtakingly disingenous. Just waves away all the immense political and practical problems with a bunch of semantic obfuscation.

The big question the media haven't noticed or started to ask is why none of the trouble & disorder in summer 2025 (most of the sporadic disorder is in London suburbs & southeast Epping, Cheshunt, Hillingdon/Heathrow, Canary Wharf) & v little protest of any scale is where riots happened a year ago

Angry at insinuations that judges who granted or overturned Epping injunction were politically biased. I've known both Cons & Lab lawyers who've become judges. Whatever their previous politics they take seriously their judicial oath to do justice without fear or favour

All you need to read and know on Anchorage. 👇

PODCAST 🎙️ Starmer and Macron: Le spécial relationship? Former Europe minister @davidlidington.bsky.social joins the podcast team to assess the state of UK–French relations. PLUS: The Leveson review of criminal courts and the new bill on devolution www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/podcast/insi...

Here's hoping for a successful summit meeting on 19 May. And why not ?

Happy to share some great news! I just started a new job - with Helsing, the AI Defence Company. Helsing is at the forefront of the fight to develop the emerging defence tech we need to deter authoritarian threats & compete long term by attaining tech leadership. helsing.ai

We take tariffs on our beautiful Heard Island very seriously. We will be consulting all mammals and flightless birds and will make an announcement in the near future detailing our response. #heardisland #tariff #mcdonaldisland #trumptariff

No, Britain did not get off lightly in the Trump tariffs. And no, it is not much of a vindication of Brexit. Or at the least seeing it is an economic dividend is to conveniently look away from the more substantial economic costs. New writing from me. open.substack.com/pub/goodalla...

In my latest for @alphaville.ft.com I discuss why the new Trump tariff measures are a recipe for … crime! (Yes, I’m writing about rules of origin again.) on.ft.com/44cO71p Trump’s new rules (of origin)

NEW: The leaders of every major political party in Greenland have united in a joint statement against Trump. "We cannot accept the repeated statements about annexation & control of Greenland. We find this behavior unacceptable. “Greenland is one country that everyone wants to stand behind." 🇬🇱🇩🇰

Trump on NATO: "If the United States was in trouble and we called them. We said, 'We got a problem, France.' Do you think they're gonna come and protect us? Hmm. They're supposed to. I'm not so sure." (Literally the only time NATO Article 5 was invoked was after 9/11 on behalf of the US.)

She is giving regular master classes on political communication and crisis management, and I hope global leaders are taking notes. The pitch perfect substance and tone match her policy posture of being willing to work with Trump, but on condition of mutual respect and honesty.

This is the first page of this morning’s edition of the Globe and Mail (arguably the English Canadian paper of record) I don’t remember seeing anything like this before

Elbows up. 🇨🇦🇪🇺 👇👇👇👇

Heartening news in dark times to see Germany willing to take on a leading role in the rearmament of democratic Europe. This decision is welcome news for UK, France & other European allies.

Thank you to Inigo Lambertini, Ambassador of Italy to the United Kingdom for hosting the @centreeuropeanref.bsky.social 27th birthday reception on 26/02 & to @davidlidington.bsky.social for delivering the keynote speech, listen to the speeches here: buff.ly/9LhRJi2

"The Prime Minister — and I think the whole country — is full of admiration for all British troops who have served for instance in Iraq and Afghanistan, many of whom have lost their lives in the process and fought obviously alongside allies including the US," says the PM’s spokesperson

"It's a time of existential crisis for European democracies", David Lidington tells @centreeuropeanref.bsky.social birthday party. He warns of the end of period of history that began with US entry into WW2. Is there European political will to meet the challenges, starting with Putin's attacks on us?

Reality check. Thank you, Financial Times.

Perceptive comments on Merz from @jillongovt.bsky.social @instituteforgov.bsky.social . As he'll be the most influential centre-right leader in Europe, I certainly hope both PM & Kemi make it a priority to establish a good working relationship with Merz. It's in our national interest that they do

Insightful thread by @bctallis.bsky.social, easier to read in this format: skywriter.blue/pages/bctall...

The reality is that Keir Starmer's government is increasing sanctions on Russia at the same time that the United States looks to all intents and purposes to be getting closer to them. That is a decision with big implications for the UK that I think is not sufficiently obvious in their coverage.

This is truly shameful. Even China and Iran abstained. The US has put itself in the company of some of the worst states in the world - Russia, Belarus, North Korea. Hungary showing its true colours as Russia's Trojan horse in the EU as well.

This is the world we’re in. The Trump administration are extortionists and we have to protect ourselves. Fortunately we have the means. We just need the political will.

I don't think people here have forgotten the murder of Andrei Litvinenko nor the chemical weapons attack in Salisbury that killed one British citizen, left others gravely ill & recklessly risked the lives & health of hundreds.

What European nations can & should do now to strengthen deterrence & defence: compelling arguments from @garvanwalshe.org

Clear point-by-point rebuttal by former Defence Secretary Ben Wallace of the disinformation on Ukraine coming from Russian & now (sadly) US sources. Hope current Conservative shadow ministers are equally firm in their comments.

A massive gulf between the views of #Conservative and Reform voters on Putin, Trump & Ukraine.

That's why determined and persuasive political leadership is needed.

Paul Wood, in today’s Spectator

Also, you're going to diss Romania for having a fragile democracy? The country which overthrew its last dictator in the year Nirvana released Bleach? Er, yes. It's fragile. Read a book.