Glad to speak on the @mileendinstitute.bsky.social panel on the Budget today. My headlines: a damp squib of a Budget, really, with only one memorable measure - scrapping the two-child benefit cap - which gave the Tories a big opportunity to carve out a unique space on the political map.

The Conservative analysis of the Budget - Labour is putting up taxes to pay for extra welfare - is smart politics that shows the party is v much alive. It (i) speaks to lots of voters (ii) is a coherent critique of Labour and (iii) puts a clear gap between Tories and Reform on the economy.

🚨 NEW PODCAST - and it's not on the Budget! In a break from wall-to-wall Budget coverage, Richard and I discuss how to remove a Labour leader and local elections. To kick us off, Richard delves into the Labour leadership rulebook, before I raise the extraordinary... www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qDC...

“Margaret would quite often… cite advice she had received from 'one of my people' or 'my people'. It seemed sometimes as though she was Joan of Arc invoking the authority of her voices.” - Geoffrey Howe on the No 10 / No 11 relationship

🚨 NEW PODCAST: How did Neil Kinnock defeat Militant? Neil Kinnock’s showdown with Militant Tendency is one of the standout moments in Labour history. But who were Militant? How did they threaten the Labour leadership? And how did Kinnock take them on? Richard and I...

I’d known Ted Heath had No.10 decorated, but I didn’t know he’d made it look like ‘a boudoir’. (Barbara Castle). Most entertaining. And a little reminiscent of Trump decorating the White House like a deranged Liberace.

🚨 NEW PODCAST: Refurbishing Number 10 & The Crisis of Reading In our latest podcast, Richard takes aim at the complaints made about the condition of Number 10 Downing Street… … and I make the case for books as the pinnacle of literacy. See next tweet.

Enjoyable podcast by my colleagues Richard Johnson, Lee Evans and Tom Chidwick on Dick Taverne, who recently died at 97. Deselected as Lincoln's Labour MP in 1972 for the unforgivable crime of pro-Europeanism, he won a by election as an independent: very rare then! open.spotify.com/episode/662g...

Great to see the @mileendinstitute.bsky.social's own Tom Chidwick on this week's episode of 'Since Attlee and Churchill' with @qmulsse.bsky.social's Richard Johnson and @leedavidevansuk.bsky.social! How did Dick Taverne overcome the full force of the Labour Party? Find out in this week's episode...

🚨 NEW PODCAST: Who achieved 'the most significant by-election success ever’? In this week's podcast, Richard and I are joined by Tom Chidwick of the @mileendinstitute.bsky.social to discuss Dick Taverne. When Taverne was deselected by his local party, he forced a dramatic by-election...

🚨 NEW PODCAST: How did war shape our politicians? In a special episode to mark Remembrance Sunday, Richard and I discuss four titanic politicians of the 20th century who were shaped by their experience of war. What was their contribution to the wars they fought... (1/2)

🚨NEW PODCAST: Politicians Changing Names & Funding Political Parties In our latest podcast, Richard discusses the staggering number of politicians who don't go by their given first name... ... and I raise the thorny issue of how we fund our political parties and what...

In the lead-up to the 2009 local and European elections, the MPs’ expenses scandal broke. It was the biggest political scandal in a generation. The outrage was so intense that the Conservatives scrapped their party political broadcast for a piece to camera from David Cameron.

🚨 NEW PODCAST: How did the MPs' expenses scandal unfold? In our latest podcast, Richard and I discuss the biggest political scandal of a generation: the publication of MPs' expenses in 2009. From duck houses to moat cleaning, phantom mortgages to packets of biscuits...

🚨 NEW PODCAST: The size of the Civil Service, Digital ID & Compulsory Voting In our latest podcast, Richard reflects on the historic size of the Civil Service... ... I think back to Blair's attempt to introduce ID cards... and we discuss - and disagree! - whether...

I'll be talking about Edwardian Britain at the King's Gallery, Buckingham Palace on 13 November. Do come along, if you can. www.rct.uk/event/alwyn-...

Should this map have included the United Kingdom? The UK government, led by Clement Attlee, didn't think so - and Britain stayed OUT of the European Coal & Steel Community. Why? Richard and I discuss in our latest Since Attlee & Churchill podcast... (see next tweet).

🚨 NEW PODCAST: Why was Britain absent from the EU's beginning? Richard and I discuss one of the most important forks in the road in Britain's post-war history: When Attlee's Labour government refused to take part in discussions on the Schuman Plan (which would evolve into the EU). 1/2

🚨 NEW PODCAST: 'Are the old Political Parties over?' & Thatcher's Legacy Richard kicks off our mid-week Since Attlee & Churchill podcast by asking whether the old political parties in Britain are dying, changing, or simply finding they have new competitors. And I...

‘What a good idea! I hadn’t thought of it.’ Margaret Thatcher was so pleased with this heckle from Dennis Skinner that she apparently wanted to make him a peer!

🚨 NEW PODCAST: Did Margaret Thatcher have to resign as Prime Minister? In this week's podcast, Richard and I discuss the dramatic downfall of Margaret Thatcher in November 1990. Why did she resign? Could she have fought on? And... 1/2

🚨 NEW PODCAST: Political Awareness, Party Memberships & Public Loos In our new podcast, I challenge the shibboleth of some political commentators that hardly anyone pays attention to politics… … we discuss party memberships, following news that the Lib Dem membership has halved… 1/2

🚨 NEW PODCAST: Was Barbara Castle Labour's Iron Lady? 115 years ago this week, one of Labour's most iconic politicians was born: Barbara Castle. For over three decades, she was among the best-known MPs in the country and one of the most forceful advocates for socialism. 1/2

Standing room only for @ldfreedman.bsky.social's superb "Hennessy Lecture" at the @mileendinstitute.bsky.social this evening, on "As long as it takes: What does it mean to commit to Ukraine's security?" Really good questions from the audience, too. Thanks to everyone who came.

🚨 NEW PODCAST: Tory Conference, ECHR & Churchill's Boozy Prescription Richard and I are experimenting with mid-week instalments of ‘Matters of Interest’. In this episode, I reflect on Thatcher’s starring role at Conservative Party Conference…

🚨 NEW PODCAST: Conservative Party Conference 2005 In the second part of our miniseries on consequential party conferences, Richard and I discuss the Conservatives' 2005 gathering in Blackpool - when discussion of the next leader was top of everyone’s mind. 1/2

🚨 BONUS PODCAST: Conservative Lives Cut Short Richard and I recently completed a three-part miniseries on the Since Attlee & Churchill podcast on ‘Labour Lives Cut Short’. All three episodes are free to listen to on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. 1/2

Echoes of John Major in 1993 describing Britain as: ‘…the country of long shadows on county [cricket] grounds, warm beer, invincible green suburbs, dog lovers, and - as George Orwell said - old maids bicycling to Holy Communion through the morning mist.’

Picture Post's preview of the 1952 Labour conference held in Morecambe. It features many of the post-war Labour greats: Attlee, Bevan, Foot, Castle, Braddock, Wilson... The drama of this conference is the subject of the latest Since Attlee & Churchill podcast. Available now.

🚨 NEW PODCAST: The Crucible of Conference (Labour, 1952) With party conference season under way, Richard and I discuss Labour's dramatic 1952 party conference in Morecambe. Amidst pelting rain, Britain's socialists gathered in opposition for the first time in over a decade. The party was…

From Margaret Thatcher's last PMQs as PM. An SDP MP - Rosie Barnes - asks about an old Liberal/SDP talking point: electoral reform. The outgoing Thatcher, who came top in the first round of the Tory leadership election but had to resign anyway, offers a pretty witty reply...

Usual caveats about hypothetical polling to one side: I think this is disappointing for Burnham. He gets fawning media coverage, and isn’t obviously tarnished by Labour’s actions in Westminster, but he hardly polls better than Starmer.

The front pages after John Major's shock resignation as Conservative leader in June 1995. Almost as shocking as the news is their price: 27p for The Mirror, 30p for The Independent & The Telegraph, and 45p for The Guardian!

ESTABLISHMENT XI 218-3 dec. CHALLENGER XI 89 all out A special commemorative postcard, which proudly boasts being designed ‘by computer’ on the reverse, marking the 1995 Conservative leadership campaign.

How can a prime minister under pressure strengthen their position? John Major’s approach in 1995 was to resign, and then fight again for, his party’s leadership. Here’s the highlights of his resignation statement, when he told his critics to ‘put up or shut up.’ 👇🏻

🚨 NEW PODCAST: Why did John Major resign (and then stand again for) the Tory leadership? In June 1995, John Major shocked the political world by resigning as leader of the Conservative Party… … only to say he would stand to be his own successor. 1/2

With Danny Kruger's defection, the stakes have been raised for both parties on the British right. I've written for @capx.co on the significance of Kruger joining Reform UK - and what might happen next. Available to read now. 👇

The Since Attlee and Churchill podcast is proving something of a temptation. The latest book to arrive is a direct recommendation from recent days. Also if you saw The Gang of Three recently you’ll want more on these chaps… @leedavidevansuk.bsky.social #histbookchat 📚

🚨 NEW PODCAST: Labour Lives Cut Short (Ep 2 of 3): Anthony Crosland Having established himself as one of the lighthouses of socialist thinking in Britain, Anthony Crosland became a senior minister in the Harold Wilson and Jim Callaghan governments. 1/2

🚨 NEW PODCAST: Labour Lives Cut Short: Hugh Gaitskell Richard and I are beginning a new mini-series on the Labour politicians whose lives came to tragic and premature ends - starting with Gaitskell. Gaitskell's first election as leader may have ended in defeat...

I know I’ve developed a possibility unhealthy level of interest in Ted Heath, nonetheless this is an excellent podcast series.

Working today with the Grand Old Man staring down at me in @gladlib.bsky.social.

🚨 NEW POST: Who were the people in the ‘Labour isn't working' poster? It’s probably the most famous British political poster of all time. But who formed the queue in the 'Labour isn't working' poster? I went investigating...

🚨 BONUS PODCAST: What was it like working for Ted Heath? To celebrate 25,000 downloads of the Since Attlee & Churchill podcast, we’re releasing a bonus episode in which we interview Dr Mark Garnett, a onetime researcher for Ted Heath on the former PM’s memoirs.

This moment never ceases to excite. Out in shops on 9 Sept...

From the 1975 Conservative leadership contest: Margaret Thatcher, the leading candidate after the first ballot, and Willie Whitelaw, the carrier of the Heathite flame, pose for photographs doing household chores.

🚨 NEW PODCAST: Whatever happened to the Young Conservatives? In the 1940s and ‘50s, the Young Conservatives were the largest political youth movement in the free world. Celebrities joined and tens of thousands of young people took part in their social events. 1/2

🚨 NEW POST: Who was the first MP to die in World War Two? Anthony Muirhead was the Conservative MP for Wells and a junior minister throughout the 1930s. Much of his life was as you might expect - but his death was anything but...

What’s happened to the number of candidates standing against sitting Prime Ministers in their own constituency? Put simply: since WWII, it’s soared. Early in the post-war years, incumbent PMs tended to get away with very few rivals… A mini-thread. 🧵

🚨NEW POST: What’s the longest ballot in UK Parliamentary history? Ballots for the Canadian House of Commons are getting long - very long. There are 214 candidates standing in the Battle River-Crowfoot by-election. This got me thinking...