In case this week's record-breaking heatwave and/or criticism of net zero from Tony Blair have you thinking about the status of climate change in British politics, I did some polling: open.substack.com/pub/drmatthe... 1/4

🚨Could the Parliament Acts be used to pass assisted dying? As I say in this clip: 🔵 Never previously used on a PMB 🔵 But explicitly intended to apply to PMBs, not just govt bills 🔵 In practice, not straightforward to do, but possible

This is 100% correct and if anyone thinks we are too big for an exile in the lower leagues like Coventry, Sunderland and now maybe Leicester, then they’re bonkers. Dangerous days lie ahead and the urgent thing we needed is new owners. ⚒⚒⚒👏👏👏⚒⚒⚒ www.theguardian.com/football/202...

Me on the UK's journey from beacon to basket-case in ten short years.

Remain/Labour fans don't get your hopes up: Reform UK, it turns out, need not fear the reaper. According to the ever-excellent @chanret.bsky.social, "amongst the still living in Makerfield, the Leave:Remain split moves from 66:34 to 64:36." (Source: www.chrishanretty.co.uk/posts/makerf...)

On Thursday, MPs will hold this year's private members' bills ballot. Supporters of the assisted dying bill will hope to bring the bill back - allowing them to override the Lords using the Parliament Acts. But they face 4 challenges. My article ⬇️ theconversation.com/can-the-assi...

"The focus on MRPs throughout the 2026 Holyrood campaign led to fewer polls, cost more money, and produced erratic claims due to some poor, or at least not transparent, methodological practices. The campaign highlights that whilst MRPs can add value, they remain a...fallible source of information."

Interesting work from friends and colleagues at QMUL

"But," as I noted, "one thing we know about members [from our research] is that party members also want to win elections. So if Streeting can show them he’s the guy to do that, he still has a chance, even if he’s not their ideological ideal.”

What are Labour’s rules for a leadership election if Keir Starmer is challenged? labourlist.org/2026/05/labo... – via LabourList

Our very own Tom Chidwick is mentioned in today’s @thetimes.com Diary! While Heath denied the ‘monstrous allegations made about a lack of courtesy shown in my own home’, his friends conceded that he hadn’t accompanied Thatcher to the door so they wouldn’t be photographed together …

Looking forward to this - discussing what we can learn about PMBs from the recent failed passage of the assisted dying bill.

'Can the assisted dying bill be brought back? It’s possible – but supporters face four challenges' New piece by me for @uk.theconversation.com on the assisted dying bill in the new parliamentary session (starts Weds) - including use of the Parliament Acts. theconversation.com/can-the-assi...

Me, blathering on a bit earlier today, if you like that sort of thing. www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWcv...

Fancy a podcast for the weekend? @qmulsse.bsky.social’s Tom Chidwick is featured in this episode of "Rear Vision" on ABC Radio! He discusses how devolution came to dominate British politics in the 1970s, how Scotland secured its Parliament in 1997 and the prospects of IndyRef2. shorturl.at/c8UGC

Latest article for @thehousemag.bsky.social, this time of the records broken by the 2024 general election: www.politicshome.com/opinion/arti...

Another excellent and reflective piece from @timbale.bsky.social

This is excellent from the @danielgover QMUL’S expert on the murky world of PMBs. Don’t always agree with him as a former PMB whip for the government - but his authority on the subject is beyond doubt. Very good analysis.

Pleased that the @ippr.org Progressive Review's special issue on 'abundance', edited by @carsjung.bsky.social, is currently open access. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/25732331... My essay has been described as "satisfyingly blunt realism". See if you agree: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Excellent with key contribution from QMUL’s very own Dr ‘Private Members Bills’ @danielgover.bsky.social - superb

“Treason doth never prosper. What’s the reason? For if it prosper, none dare call it treason” Epigrams, Sir John Harington, 1618 Worth a read from friend and colleague @timbale.bsky.social

Thoughts in the FT on why I don't like the idea of an automatic by election if an MP changes party - but understand why some people do, along with a possible compromise... How to deal with defecting MPs - giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... via @FT

Possibly worth a read? (Tasters here theloop.ecpr.eu/the-british-..., here blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofb..., and here www.theguardian.com/books/2023/m...) if you can't afford the time or the £15). 2/ENDS

'Free to' and 'will' are, I'm afraid, two totally different things. And the idea that it was only the presence of these two jokers that has prevented the Tories turning away from culture-war populism towards the centre right before now is, I'm sorry to say, utterly preposterous. 1/n

Very timely and reflective piece on Centrism from friend and colleague @karlpike.bsky.social - worth a read - in essence Centrism as shape-shifting and opportunism I think…..

New piece by me for @uk.theconversation.com, explaining yesterday’s Lords vote on under-16s’ social media use. ‘The House of Lords has voted to stop under 16s using social media – what happens now?’ theconversation.com/the-house-of...

More detail on this and other aspects of party membership here 4/ENDS esrcpartymembersproject.org/wp-content/u...

Latest piece for @thehousemag.bsky.social, on the 1954 British government report estimating that the deaths of women in road traffic accidents had benefited the UK to the tune of just over £1.2m. Yes, benefitted. www.politicshome.com/opinion/arti...

Bit of history from yours truly for the Telegraph, covering Churchill ratting and re-ratting, the Conservatives' post-'45 and post '97 recoveries, its current situation - oh and, why not, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.

An interestin read theconversation.com/the-ten-most...

Article for the House magazine, in which I get a bit Scrooge-like about my Santa poll www.politicshome.com/news/article...

“A pact or merger also helps Reform overcome one of the biggest doubts that people have about voting for it –namely its sheer inexperience. Nigel Farage as prime minister and Robert Jenrick as chancellor? Be afraid – be very afraid.”

The @uniofeastanglia.bsky.social via @tobysjames.bsky.social kindly recorded this event. I gave Kemi Badenoch a grade D. But then I hadn't heard her supposedly brilliant Budget response. So should that have been a D+ or a C-?

For some pre-Budget reading (open access) about fiscal dilemmas, economic restraint, and the politics of tax: bsky.app/profile/bjpi...

I enjoyed a rare privilege today: seeing one of my new journal articles in print.

The Tories are plumbing such depths these days that my whole business model is in severe danger, so thought I better go back to talking about Labour now and then! Here's me on CNN just now on the trouble they (and Keir Starmer) are in.

"As a new generation of Labour MPs grapple with their unease...Taverne’s example reminds us of the importance of having independently minded MPs with the shrewdness and elegance of the 'Victor of Lincoln'." Words by our Manager Tom Chidwick in the latest @thehousemag.bsky.social! shorturl.at/BeTPd

Excellent new podcast

BTW, any UK outlets that want a British based Chilean (party and electoral) politics expert, need look no further than our fab @qmulsse.bsky.social colleague @sajuria.com

Breaking the tax pledge is the right call...and politically sulphurous. Reeves must argue, far more forcefully, that taxes are *the* essential downpayment we all pay for a fairer society. Patrick Diamond and I wrote for @renewaljournal.bsky.social. Key points in 🧵 👇 renewal.org.uk/blog/if-labo...

ft. our @qmulsse.bsky.social colleague Sofia Collignon.

One observation re. the Dutch election is the enduring strength of the far right (I am not fully subscribing to the 'shift back to the centre' narrative). I should be on ABC Australia News channel at around 11 CET to talk about this and to show my plants (again). www.youtube.com/live/vOTiJkg...

Latest @thehousemag.bsky.social column, on the politics of pints. www.politicshome.com/opinion/arti...

Who joins and why? Does it matter? QMUL colleague @timbale.bsky.social sharing insight in party membership in fragmented party system.

Another excellent edition of an essential text book from the ever excellent @timbale.bsky.social - well worth a look in these ever fragmentary times!!

Just arrived. Look at all those lovely Babybels!

👏👏👏👏👏👏😂

Keir Starmer needs to give voters short-term gain to persuade them he can deliver long-term renewal theconversation.com/keir-starmer...

“I want it now, I want it now Not the promises of what tomorrow brings” Impatient to read more from the excellent research here from @mbarnfield.bsky.social @karlpike.bsky.social and @philipjcowley.bsky.social - wonderful colleagues from @qmulsse.bsky.social

Words of wisdom from the excellent ⁦‪@ProfTimBale‬⁩ ⁦‪@QMPoliticsIR‬⁩ colleague and party membership guru!! www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...