Skip to main content
Work with the NEU
Watching the Tory meltdown first-hand
In his much-delayed debut column from Parliament, ANDREW MURRAY watches the rot set in at the top, after 13 years of venal mayhem

LAST week, being finally the possessor of a parliamentary press pass after a 10-month wait for approval — high-five to whoever at MI5 manages my account — I attended Prime Minister’s Questions in person for the first time in 39 years.

First question up was from Tory Michael Fabricant, who used the opportunity to wax strong on the merits of Margaret Thatcher to wild cheers from the Conservative benches.

It was like time had stood still from 1984. Clearly, the Tories still have mummy issues.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
Robert Jenrick with Reform UK leader Nigel Farage at a Reform UK press conference in Westminster, London, where it was announced the former Conservative MP has joined Reform UK, January 15, 2026
Politics / 17 January 2026
17 January 2026

Once derided by Farage as a ‘fraud,’ Jenrick has defected to Reform, bringing experience and political ruthlessness to the populist right —  and raising the unsettling prospect of a Farage-led movement with a seasoned operative pulling the strings, says ANDREW MURRAY

Prime Minister Keir Starmer departs 10 Downing Street, London, to attend Prime Minister's Questions at the Houses of Parliament, November 12, 2025
Labour Party / 15 November 2025
15 November 2025

As the PM and his chief of staff’s blunders have mounted up, ANDREW MURRAY wonders who among Labour’s diminished ‘soft left’ might make a bid for the leadership

ouse of Commons Handout photo issued by the House of Commons of Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch during Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons, London, May 21, 2025
Eyes Left / 28 May 2025
28 May 2025

The Tories’ trouble is rooted in the British capitalist Establishment now being more disoriented and uncertain of its social mission than before, argues ANDREW MURRAY

Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch at their local election campaign launch at The Curzon Centre in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, March 20, 2025
Features / 14 May 2025
14 May 2025

KEITH FLETT traces how the ‘world’s most successful political party’ has imploded since Thatcher’s fall, from nine leaders in 30 years to losing all 16 English councils, with Reform UK symbolically capturing Peel’s birthplace, Tamworth — but the beast is not dead yet