Patrick Maguire

It was literally the founding principle of the NHS after all…

The central issue for parties now is fairness. For Labour that means cost of living, good public services, social justice. But Farage has defined it on crime, immigration, welfare bills and voters being played for mugs. And right now he is winning that fight
www.ft.com/content/e153...

Labour should beware Mums for Reform Constrained by Westminster, Nigel Farage is taking his anti-crime drive around the country — Keir Starmer knows he can’t ignore it

Column: Labour should beware Mums for Reform

www.thetimes.com/article/160a...

Andy Burnham: Officials misleading public over Hillsborough Law The mayor of Greater Manchester accused parts of Whitehall of making ‘false’ and ‘unfounded’ claims about legislation to stop state cover-ups

EXC: Ministers and civil servants are deliberately misleading the public with “false” and “unfounded” briefings about the Hillsborough Law, Andy Burnham tells The Times

KC who wrote draft bill says officials are seeking to “subvert and destroy the entire process”

www.thetimes.com/article/a220...

Keir Starmer doesn’t yet have whip hand over his MPs A tough autumn awaits when Keir Starmer will need new powers of persuasion to sell the vision he’s beginning to articulate

Full piece: www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...

Is Keir Starmer planning a progressive pivot?

He made a class-conscious speech to cabinet last week.

But the justice secretary asked whether Labour could really claim to represent the working class...

...and then his policy chief sketched out a tougher direction of travel.

Keir Starmer doesn’t yet have whip hand over his MPs A tough autumn awaits when Keir Starmer will need new powers of persuasion to sell the vision he’s beginning to articulate

Column in this morning's Times:
- How four MPs ended up without the Labour whip – and why No 10 wanted more
- Shabana tells Keir: no point having a working class cabinet the working class hate
- Liz Lloyd tells cabinet: social cohesion under threat due to migration

www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...

Danger is welfare rows + winter fuel and coming rows on SEND etc recreates sense of chaos voters thought they’d got rid of with the Tories. Damaging in two ways 1. Annoys exhausted electorate 2. Derisks Reform - people think (fairly or not) if current lot already chaotic how bad can Reform be.

This guy

Thank you boss 🫡

A year on, is the Starmer project doomed or can he claw it back? Elected with a huge majority, Labour rapidly squandered it through internal spats and misjudged policy. The PM must redefine himself before it’s too late

Excellent piece by @patrickmaguire.bsky.social. Starmer is entering one of his 'hmm, things aren't working how they should' contemplative modes - will be big personnel changes in the coming weeks and months I think:

Keir Starmer’s fate lies with strivers and grafters If the Labour Party is to see off Reform, it must reach hard-working voters disillusioned with mainstream politics

Tomorrow’s Times column:
- The key segments of the electorate in No 10’s new poll of trust in government
- Farage planning a ‘Robin Hood’ intervention on the cost of living next Monday
- What Orban’s aides have told Reform on welfare
- Who’s debating a wealth tax?

www.thetimes.com/article/eed0...

Why would anyone think beating Farage meant being overtly racist when the first principle of Faragist politics is: emphasise you have no truck with overt racism

It's quite remarkable that the elite of the British right has chosen *now* as the moment to go blood-and-soil. When the actual public have probably never been as un-racist as they are.

This from @patrickmaguire.bsky.social captures UK politics in 2025 better than anything I’ve read & this para hits it on the head. People we speak to every week in focus groups largely don’t give a stuff about left and right, they want life to be less of a struggle www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...

Keir Starmer’s fate lies with strivers and grafters If the Labour Party is to see off Reform, it must reach hard-working voters disillusioned with mainstream politics

Tomorrow’s Times column:
- The key segments of the electorate in No 10’s new poll of trust in government
- Farage planning a ‘Robin Hood’ intervention on the cost of living next Monday
- What Orban’s aides have told Reform on welfare
- Who’s debating a wealth tax?

www.thetimes.com/article/eed0...

Reform says ‘everything is up for debate’ over Bank of England Richard Tice, the party’s deputy leader, questioned whether the central bank’s independence from government, including in setting interest rates, should continue

EXC: Bank of England independence should be reviewed, say Reform

www.thetimes.com/article/6f49...

Whereas when I was in Morpeth with Farage recently there was barely an empty shop in sight. And he was still mobbed.

Anderson getting suspended as a Labour councillor for dropping a boulder at the entrance to a traveller encampment in 2018 has to be one of the great butterfly effect moments of British politics this century

At last Keir Starmer sees virtue in pier pressure Spending review bears the imprint of a PM now persuaded by the need to deliver tangible improvements outside London

What Southport Pier tells you about the new politics of this Labour government

www.thetimes.com/article/df83...

No. You can’t have a journalist saying Farage is a Nazi because he obviously isn’t a Nazi.

This is not me saying what you said I “told you”, though, is it?

No I didn’t say this.

So it turns out almost everyone was completely wrong in their analysis of Reform over the past 48 hours. So many nonsense assertions made without any evidence, largely because people can't, won't or don't want to understand that this isn't just Ukip again.

Now Nigel Farage needs some Five Star thinking If Reform is to look different from other parties, including its leader’s past outfits, it should borrow from Italy’s insurgents

Column: Reform have got this far on vibes alone and consciously reject SW1 convention.

But Yusuf's resignation shows the limits of doing it differently.

No wonder some close to Farage are talking about a new team... after tonight, they'll need one.

www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...

Now Nigel Farage needs some Five Star thinking If Reform is to look different from other parties, including its leader’s past outfits, it should borrow from Italy’s insurgents

Column: Reform have got this far on vibes alone and consciously reject SW1 convention.

But Yusuf's resignation shows the limits of doing it differently.

No wonder some close to Farage are talking about a new team... after tonight, they'll need one.

www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...

Separate but related: can I have some of what the people who think Reform are done are smoking please?

Misread to add Yusuf to long list of people who have fallen out with Farage. The real problem for Reform is that even in a party designed with zero meaningful provision for internal democracy, his chosen enforcer was incapable of running it without alienating everyone else.

I have literally never described Nigel Farage as “a man of the people”, still less this morning. If you can’t acknowledge he’s a good communicator then I don’t really know what to say. And sorry, which funders and mentors are you talking about?

Really odd way to talk about someone. Aren’t you a bit old to be carrying on like this?