Coming soon
What to expect from my substack: analysis of and insight into the forces driving the political events of the day.
The situation
Politics is in turmoil across Europe and North America. In the UK, Labour just won a “loveless landslide” with a majority of 180 yet “The gap between the share of total votes won by the winning party in the 2024 general election and the share of Parliamentary seats won is the largest on record”.
In the tsunami, I was swept away as Wycombe’s MP. While the number of votes cast for Labour fell significantly, the number of Conservative votes cast collapsed as about half of previous Conservative voters stayed at home.
It was an honour to represent Wycombe and I am grateful to everyone I worked with, but I am glad it is over. I will not stand for election again: this is a longstanding, firm and final decision.
Why this substack?
I am best known for my campaigns: for being outspoken in the cause of liberty under the rule of law and accountable parliamentary democracy as the foundations of our prosperity: things which ought not to be controversial but oddly are in this age of accelerating change and growing polarisation. There is some demand - and considerable opposition! - for me to continue in public life in some way.
In this substack, I aim to create and equip a community of like-minded lovers of liberty who appreciate that our problems are not caused by the state being too small and laissez-faire, spending too little with taxes too low, running surpluses, having too little debt or too-tight money over many years: quite the reverse.
Society will need a generation of leaders and campaigners equipped to navigate the continuing collapse of the post war social democratic consensus, ultimately funded as it has been by chronically easy money.
That is what this substack is for.
My record
In addition to my ministerial work across three departments, parliamentarians four times sent for me to lead them: before the referendum, after the referendum, during the COVID-19 pandemic and over the cost of Net Zero. These campaigns were necessary and right but alas my resulting public profile resulted in many epithets, some but not all of which I regret. For example:
Rebel Commander. Government Tormentor in Chief. The General. Politician of the year. Godfather of the Conservative Right. The unlikeliest doyen of British-Irish relations.
I am proud that my time in Government was also a success. In 2017-18, I steered the EU (Withdrawal) Act through the Commons in working shape though we were in a minority government . Though many will remember the serious problems expected over the Euratom treaty and institutions, few will know I rode the issue minutely until every aspect was solved in good time, nationally and internationally. I could give further examples. As a minister in the Northern Ireland Office, amongst other things, I personally reset our relations with Ireland and thereby the EU through sustained humility and resolve, earning the epithet, “the unlikeliest doyen of British-Irish relations”.
I am widely thought to have changed significantly over the years - and who doesn’t develop? - but as a former aerospace and software engineer with 30 years of leadership experience in the armed forces, business, parliament and government, I like to believe I consistently applied the analysis, strategy and tactics which were necessary in the circumstances. I am glad and proud to create and inspire high-performing teams to surprising success.
What you can expect
I anticipate writing monthly for all readers, starting today.
From September, I intend to write weekly for paid subscribers, offering insight into what is going on in Parliament and policy, founded on my unique experience of being inside the Commons and Government at the centre of crises over 14 years.
Thank you for joining me on this journey. Events will be a wild ride: let’s navigate them together.