Matthew d’Ancona

Matthew d’Ancona

Author

Matthew d’Ancona is a British journalist and award-winning political columnist who writes a weekly column for the Guardian. He was Deputy Editor The Sunday Telegraph before becoming editor of The Spectator in 2006. During his editorship, the magazine enjoyed record circulation and he was named Editor of the Year (Current Affairs) in the 2007 BSME awards.

He was the Sunday Telegraph’s political columnist for 19 years.  He also writes for the Evening Standard, International New York Times and GQ. He is a visiting research fellow at Queen Mary University of London, and the author of several books including In It Together: The Inside Story of the Coalition.

He wrote Being British: The Search for the Values That Bind the Nationwhich was published in 2009 with an introduction by Gordon Brown. His earlier works include the international bestseller The Jesus Papyrus in 1997 and The Quest For the True Cross in 2000.

Photograph/Alistair Richardson

Matthew d'Ancona @MatthewdAncona

Quite Trump Lite of Johnson to decline to acquit the committee of being a ‘kangaroo court’ - pending their findings.

Now he’s reclassifying these events as ‘motivational’

The words ‘But I’m special!’ hover over the committee room, almost but not quite stated

A leaving do is not necessary, by definition. They're leaving. #PrivilegesCommittee

Now we’re at the bone: Number Ten people ‘needed to be thanked’….But so did any number of key workers, not least NHS professionals, who did not expect such social demonstrations of gratitude in the workplace

It’s also a bit like a Poundshop Lewinsky scandal…’It depends on what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is.’ Etc

‘I was not advised before I took the oath that this would commit me to not repeating falsehoods.’

So I guess that’s a ‘no’ to higher education as a mind gym… https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/claire-fox-trans-joke-ricky-gervais-royal-holloway-university-2023-knj5xwzh6

@ayeshahazarika "these people all knew one another, worked in the same building, long hours under stress, taking big responsibility for important decisions...."

"So the nurses and doctors &therapists on ICU/HMU/A&E/Covid Wards had a piss up on site"??

Err. no

The Downing Street Justification

#BorisJohnson really is the full English post-truth ex-PM: ‘Nobody told me that I might be breaching my own rules, the ones that I imposed myself, and anyone who says otherwise is part of a terrible conspiracy plotting against me’

Whatever political point you're trying to make if you're using photoshopped pictures of Birkenau to make it you've gone wrong somewhere. Please don't.

The PM’s primary objective is to nurture economic optimism; but he is more than willing to whip up nativist resentment, too.

✍️@MatthewdAncona https://bit.ly/3n0ukyT

The PM’s primary objective is to nurture economic optimism; but he is more than willing to whip up nativist resentment, too.

✍️@MatthewdAncona https://bit.ly/3yEy4sa

I have heard Downing Street sources refer to their “Track B”: the Government’s battle against “wokery”, its skirmishes with the BBC, and above all its performative toughness on immigration

✍️@MatthewdAncona https://bit.ly/3FjcgpO

Sunak's harsh immigration laws and culture war are a squalid side bet in case Hunt's Budget and economic policy do not deliver votes in time. My @standardnews column https://www.standard.co.uk/comment/rishi-sunak-cunning-morally-dubious-matthew-dancona-b1067105.html

Now can we get back to the real politics please? This week's cover about to go to press.