The Latest Breaking News from Tanya Gold

Less than 12 months ago, he was prime minister. Barely a year before that, it seemed not inconceivable he could govern for a decade (people make fun of this tweet but it was right at the time).

The 2001 general election was a disaster for the Conservatives. After four years in opposition, a young new leader and the twin crises of fuel protests and foot and mouth disease, the party achieved a swing of just 1 per cent and a net gain of a single seat, taking…

The thing to understand is they really mean it. Of course, politicians often dodge and dissemble, but they also hold beliefs that they hope to enact when in power.

Succession is the final act of leadership. For as long as power has been concentrated in the hands of mortals, men and women have sought to ensure they are followed by their chosen heir – perhaps an oldest child or political protégé. But if you want to make god laugh,…

Lord Ashcroft thinks about polling the same way I feel about my emotions: they are a snapshot, not a prediction. Even when 100 per cent accurate – which no survey professes to be – they still do not necessarily tell you what will happen in the future.

If Filippo Inzaghi was born offside and Patrick Vieira perennially one yellow card away from suspension, what of Harry Kane?

It’s Monday, the trains are stuffed and your feet are wet, so let’s start with some good news: the worst-case scenario has been averted. It was not so long ago climate scientists were warning that Earth – the only known place in the visible universe you can live/watch Matt Hancock…

Rishi Sunak has been elected unopposed as leader of the Conservative Party and will be the UK’s next prime minister. Aged 42, he will also be the youngest to assume the office since the 2nd Earl of Liverpool in 1812. and the first from an ethnic minority since Benjamin Disraeli…

Kyiv and cities throughout Ukraine fell under renewed Russian aerial bombardment today, with the death toll reaching 11 people and dozens more injured. Targets from Moscow’s so-called ‘high-precision’ weaponry aimed at apparently ‘critical military infrastructure’ included children’s playgrounds, pedestrian bridges and parks.

If there is one building that exemplifies the great sweep of English (later British) history and the pitch battles – sometimes literally – that marked the development of constitutional monarchy in this country, it is Westminster Hall.

There was something deeply weird about last night’s ITV leadership debate. Not the moment Rishi Sunak asked Liz Truss what presumably his team thought would be a zinger: