Tom Harris

Tom Harris is a former Labour MP and sometime spinner who survived the heights and depths of the Blair-Brown era. After serving as a minister in the Department for Transport he led the Scottish Brexit campaign and founded his own lobbying company, Third Avenue Public Affairs. He now delivers his independent, no-nonsense insight every weekday in the Telegraph. His latest book, 'Ten Years in the Death of the Labour Party', is available from Biteback.

Boris can win the next general election – if he learns from Tony Blair
The former PM managed to construct a broad coalition of voters that allowed him to implement a programme of radical reform across a decade
Tom Harris11 May 2022, 12:18pm

Voters are getting impatient. Vague promises about high growth will no longer cut it
Neil Kinnock's legacy of economic Micawberism is alive and well in Boris Johnson’s administration
Tom Harris10 May 2022, 1:12pm
In embracing Sinn Féin, Nicola Sturgeon has shown her true colours
She calls herself a 'civic nationalist'. But there is nothing civic about Sinn Féin's brand of politics
Tom Harris9 May 2022, 1:29pm
Keir Starmer's Labour has been confirmed as the party of the Remainer Islington class
Labour gains in London are not enough to change the narrative about Starmer’s leadership, nor is defeat there enough to write off Johnson’s
Tom Harris6 May 2022, 9:28am

Have some sympathy for local councillors
Let's be honest. We consider local authority elections to be no more than a milestone in the path between general elections
Tom Harris5 May 2022, 1:56pm
Keir Starmer can no longer avoid 'beergate'
This episode has exposed the shambolic nature of Starmer's operation, with shades of Michael Foot in 1983 rather than Tony Blair in 1997
Tom Harris4 May 2022, 12:46pm
Nicola Sturgeon has just admitted defeat
By saying she wouldn't go ahead with a referendum that wasn't legal, the First Minister is fast running out of options
Tom Harris3 May 2022, 1:20pm
The Left's obsession with a Lib-Lab pact shows how far Labour still is from power
Why bother to work out why you aren't electable, if you can just agree an anti-Tory alliance?
Tom Harris2 May 2022, 1:32pm
Misbehaving MPs must be disciplined with an iron fist
Parliament will suffer enormous consequences unless these individuals are challenged and ultimately excluded from their parties’ whips
Tom Harris29 Apr 2022, 2:14pm
Starmer was naive to believe that the Partygate row wouldn't touch him
We must be reconciled to this saga dragging on for some time yet as each side attacks the other for being less morally pure than the other
Tom Harris28 Apr 2022, 3:10pm

Jeremy Corbyn lost. Why can’t the Left accept this?
2/5
Oliver Eagleton’s sneering biography of the Labour leader, The Starmer Project, is laced with bitterness and clouded by bias
ByTom Harris27 Apr 2022, 5:00pm
Love or loathe her, Angela Rayner commands our attention
While Keir Starmer looks like he would refuse to laugh at an un-vetted joke, his deputy has humour and authenticity
Tom Harris27 Apr 2022, 4:06pm
Why isn't Keir Starmer doing better?
The leader of the opposition is more Miliband than Blair
Tom Harris26 Apr 2022, 1:14pm
Labour is in dire need of an Ed Balls figure
Rachel Reeves' confused announcement on non-doms proves the Party needs more heft and experience on its benches
Tom Harris25 Apr 2022, 1:00pm
Don't be fooled: Labour's big problems still haven't gone away
Keir Starmer has yet to confront the sense that, at its heart, Labour doesn’t like the country or the people it wants to govern
Tom Harris22 Apr 2022, 12:53pm
When will Starmer apologise for campaigning to put Jeremy Corbyn in power?
Corbyn's latest comments on Ukraine should remind us just how absurd it was for any Labour MP to back him
Tom Harris21 Apr 2022, 5:17pm
Keir Starmer lacks one thing: authenticity
He still comes across as a career politician: too measured, too on-message, too aware and controlling of his public image
Tom Harris20 Apr 2022, 2:22pm
How Nicola Sturgeon gets away with Covid rule-breaking
There is an underlying belief that the Left can be forgiven their occasional breaches because their hearts are in the right place
Tom Harris19 Apr 2022, 1:00pm
Labour offers no viable alternative for tackling illegal migration
If the Rwanda plan dissuades cross-channel trips, the Opposition cannot go into the next election opposing offshore processing
Tom Harris15 Apr 2022, 11:49am
Stubborn and divided, the French Left risk a Marine Le Pen victory
By refusing to support President Macron, Mélenchon and others are engaging in the worst kind of tribal politics
Tom Harris11 Apr 2022, 2:52pm
Nicola Sturgeon is taking a leaf from the Donald Trump playbook
A press free to interrogate leaders is a defining characteristic of a democracy – so why is the First Minister refusing to invite them?
Tom Harris8 Apr 2022, 12:09pm
Beware of holding Rishi Sunak accountable for his wife's actions
It is indeed a bad look for the Chancellor, but Akshata Murty is her own woman whose personal finances she alone is responsible for
Tom Harris7 Apr 2022, 1:57pm