Charles Moore 
Refusing to bang on about Europe has brought about even more banging on than before
The BBC loves nothing better than a narrative in which Tory anti-European eccentrics split their party, and a bewildered public votes Labour. It is certainly the case that some of… Continue reading
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If a policeman stops you, accuse him of raping you and force him to arrest himself.
Now that virtually any well-known male entertainer of a certain age is arrested for alleged sexual offences, it is becoming clear that this is more a culture war than a… Continue reading
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After leaving office, Margaret Thatcher believed Britain should leave the EU
On Tuesday night, at a Spectator readers’ evening, Andrew Neil interviewed me about my biography of Margaret Thatcher. He asked me if, after leaving office, Lady Thatcher had come to… Continue reading
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When Michael Heseltine turned up at a Thatcher book signing
At the launch of my biography of Margaret Thatcher, I was flattered to see Michael and Anne Heseltine joining the signing queue. It was very sporting of him. When they… Continue reading
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‘Please don’t mention Margaret Thatcher when you write to me’
‘Arthur Negus’ — Tony Bray — is the only one of Margaret Thatcher’s early loves still alive, though sadly he is now in poor health. Once I had tracked him… Continue reading
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Margaret Thatcher and the missing votes
There was a startling late entry for the first volume of my biography of Margaret Thatcher. On the day after she died, I received an email from Haden Blatch. Mr Blatch’s… Continue reading
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The ‘Thatcher should quit’ splash that never was
When Prime Minister, Mrs Thatcher did not have a great deal to do with The Spectator. She was not hostile, but slightly suspicious and perplexed. ‘This is Charles Moore,’ I remember… Continue reading
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‘An -ism has been named after her’: Charles Moore on Baroness Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher was always the candidate from the outside, both because of her background and because of her sex, and so it was an extraordinary event in the middle of… Continue reading
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Do changes to the Grand National fences really make the race safer?
The strange story that jockeys have been asked to ride more slowly in the Grand National on Saturday has not been explained. The demand to make the fences safer has… Continue reading
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Should the United Kingdom become an independent country?
Last week, Alex Salmond announced the date for the referendum in Scotland, 18 September 2014. The question is phrased to his advantage. ‘Should Scotland become an independent country?’ it asks.… Continue reading
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The problem with Mark Carney
In Washington last week, I encountered amazement that the Bank of England is about to be run by a foreigner. This was not because of any contempt for Mark Carney,… Continue reading
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Hilary Mantel’s misinterpreted Royal Bodies lecture was still unpleasant
People are quite often pilloried for saying the opposite of what they actually said. I have read Hilary Mantel’s London Review of Books lecture, and she is quite clearly not attacking the… Continue reading
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There will soon be a popular revolt over NHS standards
Can anyone think of a bigger scandal in any British public service than that revealed at Stafford Hospital? It is worse than Aberfan, or Bloody Sunday, or the King’s Cross… Continue reading
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Charles Moore on the witlessness of Gerald Scarfe
Before Gerald Scarfe caused outrage in the last Sunday Times with a cartoon so tasteless (and, critics said, anti-Semitic) that Rupert Murdoch issued a personal apology, our columnist Charles Moore pointed… Continue reading
125 CommentsThe hunting duchess
Charles Moore’s column in tomorrow’s issue of the magazine contains a wickedly funny literary item. Here it is, a day early, for readers of this blog: The Duchess of Cornwall… Continue reading
2 CommentsExclusive: the man who saved the Zurbarans
The drama over Durham’s Zurbaran paintings has reached an extraordinary conclusion — and one that is revealed exclusively in this week’s Spectator. The protest against the Church of England’s proposed… Continue reading
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