Patrick Maguire @patrickmaguire.bsky.social · 01/09/2026Somewhere becoming rain www.thetimes.com/article/407d...thetimes.comAndy Burnham makes stylish start, but substance seems awfully familiarThe prime minister may be doing politics differently but there is a lingering suspicion that this is an old-school Labour government, just like the last one 152
Patrick Maguire @patrickmaguire.bsky.social · 01/09/2026 David Miliband will not stand in Holborn and St Pancras, I am told. Had been widely expected in Labour circles that he might seek a return to British politics in his home constituency. www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/... 9209
Patrick Maguire @patrickmaguire.bsky.social · 28/08/2026This government announcement on “cowboy” tradesmen today comfortably Burnham’s worst yet. A charter for people with neither respect for nor any conception of the value of skilled labour. 372
Reposted by Patrick MaguireJoshi Herrmann @joshih.bsky.social · 21/08/2026Tickets for our Burnham event are SELLING FAST. Come along to watch five leading Burnhamologists stare into the soul of our new PM. www.tickettailor.com/events/millm... @londonermag.bsky.social 135
Reposted by Patrick MaguireBrian Groom @groomb.bsky.social · 02/08/2026Yates’s Wine Lodge, Bolton, 1983, photo by Martin Parr. 1614622
Patrick Maguire @patrickmaguire.bsky.social · 31/07/2026My latest Substack notebook: Social care, wools, Irish Catholics, pagans, polls, and the perfect paragraph on Keir Starmer. maguirepatrick.substack.com/p/wools-and-...maguirepatrick.substack.comWools and the social care theory of everythingFriday notebook: 31st July 2026 150
Patrick Maguire @patrickmaguire.bsky.social · 22/07/2026I'm on Substack. Subscribe for regular pieces on my writing in The Times, and more stuff that's too esoteric for that esteemed organ – and on what I'm reading too. maguirepatrick.substack.commaguirepatrick.substack.comPatrick Maguire Syndrome | SubstackMaking sense of our political moment – and the history you need to understand it. Click to read Patrick Maguire Syndrome, a Substack publication with thousands of subscribers. 091
Patrick Maguire @patrickmaguire.bsky.social · 17/07/2026@sanglesey.bsky.social Steve, your diary column refers to me as a “regular substitute presenter” on Times Radio. Could you please tell me the basis for you reporting this as fact? When did I last present on Times Radio? 150
Patrick Maguire @patrickmaguire.bsky.social · 12/07/2026At least 30 people in the street have told me I look like Harry Kane today. Thank you. 7502
Reposted by Patrick MaguirePhil Tinline @philtinline.bsky.social · 10/07/2026Great to read @patrickmaguire.bsky.social's column @thetimes.com today. This country needs a transformative govt. It's voted for change again and again. But a big reason it doesn't happen is a failure to identify & overcome entrenched power a la Attlee & Thatcher. www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...thetimes.comAndy Burnham wants to break ‘unaccountable state’Prime minister-in-waiting’s mission to end 40 years of neoliberalism is as much about democracy as it is economics 383
Patrick Maguire @patrickmaguire.bsky.social · 10/07/2026Friday notebook – including this week's Times column on Andy Burnham's theory of power. maguirepatrick.substack.com/p/friday-not...maguirepatrick.substack.comBurnham's theory of powerThis week's Friday notebook 010
Patrick Maguire @patrickmaguire.bsky.social · 03/07/2026Experimenting with a new weekly notebook on Substack… find my Times column and some other stuff here. open.substack.com/pub/maguirep...open.substack.comFriday notebook: Captain Swing and the soap factoryWhat I've been reading and writing this week 020
Reposted by Patrick MaguireLondon Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 02/07/2026‘The Starmer Project, such as it ever existed – or we should probably call it the McSweeney Project – it looked inwards. It was about the battle for supremacy and struggle for mastery in and of the Labour Party.’ @patrickmaguire.bsky.social on the podcast. podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...podcasts.apple.comOn Politics: The Andy Burnham ShowPodcast Episode · The LRB Podcast · 1 July · 1hr 8min 0176
Reposted by Patrick MaguireLondon Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 01/07/2026In the latest episode of ‘On Politics’, @piercepenniless.bsky.social discusses the collapse of the Starmer project and the prospects for a Burnham administration with @patrickmaguire.bsky.social and @will-davies.bsky.social. Listen here: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...podcasts.apple.comOn Politics: The Andy Burnham ShowPodcast Episode · The LRB Podcast · 1 July · 1hr 8min 0145
Patrick Maguire @patrickmaguire.bsky.social · 29/06/2026The view from the People’s History Museum: Andy Burnham’s first big speech as prime minister presumptive was deceptively substantial. No 10 North is the most concerted challenge to Treasury authority in half a century, hiding in plain sight. www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...thetimes.comAndy Burnham speech was a genuine challenge to Treasury controlThe putative prime minister’s No 10 North could be the most serious check on the finance ministry’s centralised power in half a century 1227
Reposted by Patrick MaguireStephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 27/06/2026Great goal by @patrickmaguire.bsky.social 1331
Patrick Maguire @patrickmaguire.bsky.social · 26/06/2026New Substack on Andy Burnham's choice of chancellor and Jimmy Reid's lessons in decorum for the incoming government. maguirepatrick.substack.com/p/andys-chan...maguirepatrick.substack.comAndy's chancellorPlus: The Jimmy Reid School of Party Management 052
Patrick Maguire @patrickmaguire.bsky.social · 22/06/2026If you enjoyed my Times essay on Andy Burnham’s Catholicism, I’ve explained a little more of the context and culture in this Substack. open.substack.com/pub/maguirep...open.substack.comAndy Burnham is a CatholicWhat made our next prime minister – and some recommended listening 2143
Reposted by Patrick MaguireBen Ansell @benansell.bsky.social · 20/06/2026Absolutely the most interesting thing I’ve read on Burnham. First rate. 42714
Reposted by Patrick MaguireStephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 20/06/2026Terrific piece by @patrickmaguire.bsky.social:thetimes.comHow the Catholic church shaped Andy BurnhamCatholicism defined the home, the school and the streets where the new MP grew up. It moulded the view that this former altar boy would take into Downing Street 34115
Patrick Maguire @patrickmaguire.bsky.social · 19/06/2026This is what he believes www.thetimes.com/article/5d9c...thetimes.comHow the Catholic church shaped Andy BurnhamCatholicism defined the home, the school and the streets where the new MP grew up. It moulded the view that this former altar boy would take into Downing Street 2296
Reposted by Patrick MaguireJohn Self @john-self.bsky.social · 19/06/2026Patrick Maguire of The Times channelling Spartacus Mills here. 0274
Patrick Maguire @patrickmaguire.bsky.social · 22/05/2026Andy Burnham is about to find out whether it’s possible to make Labour — and politics itself — look normal again www.thetimes.com/article/f4b5...thetimes.comThis by-election is an anti-politics revoltBurnham and Reform’s candidate both pitch themselves against the establishment — but can Labour emerge unscathed? 141
Reposted by Patrick MaguireStephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 12/05/2026I understand where Labour MPs on the “it’s too soon, best thing is for Keir to govern well and go in 2028” train are coming from. I used to think that myself. But the core problem is Keir won’t and can’t govern well. 1631050
Reposted by Patrick MaguireNormal Guy @guy-normal.bsky.social · 11/05/2026(at my absolute political and personal nadir) Ah, a delegation of my most loyal ministers request an audience? Delightful - certainly, they would bring only good news 114438
Reposted by Patrick MaguireNormal Guy @guy-normal.bsky.social · 11/05/2026We need to have the courage to have the hard conversations. To go further in our boldness. And to then embolden our conversations with the voters. That is the change I was elected to deliver. 310133
Patrick Maguire @patrickmaguire.bsky.social · 07/05/2026My latest in The Times: Reform has been split between Hertford Street and high street strategies in recent months. Now the high street has won – and Farage is turning back to catch-all, anti-politics populism. www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...thetimes.comNigel Farage turns back to the populist songbookReform leader cast the flirtation with Tory Lite aside in a crusading campaign that relied again on his big-tent appeal 220
Patrick Maguire @patrickmaguire.bsky.social · 01/05/2026New Substack on Morgan McSweeney’s 150 minutes on the rack, whether Keir Starmer is sat at the front of the DLR or behind the wheel of a Waymo, what he might say next week, and the understated Irishness of Joseph P Kennedy Sr. maguirepatrick.substack.com/p/whos-drivi...maguirepatrick.substack.comWho's driving the DLR?McSweeney, Starmer, and Joseph Kennedy Sr 142
Patrick Maguire @patrickmaguire.bsky.social · 26/04/2026In the unlikely event I have Maltese followers on here, can anyone help sourcing a copy of this biography of Dom Mintoff? It is, I have just learned to my frustration over a few days, possibly the hardest book to find even in Malta! bdlbooks.com/product/the-...bdlbooks.comThe Tail that Wagged the DogDr Mark Montebello, the author of Dom Mintoff’s biography The Tail that Wagged the Dog: The Life and Struggles of Dom Mintoff (1916–2012) says “With this first scientific biography of Dom Mintoff we g... 032
Reposted by Patrick MaguireSam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 09/02/2026Getting really tired of "this is all a media concoction"... Starmer has the lowest approval rating of any PM in history bar Truss. Senior ministers are openly and unsubtly positioning. His Chief of Staff, Director of Comms and Cab Sec have all resigned on the same day. I mean come on... 216763118
Reposted by Patrick MaguireStephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 05/02/2026Absolutely brilliant column by @patrickmaguire.bsky.social: every word of it true:thetimes.comKeir Starmer’s hollowness is clear for all to seeThe PM’s distaste for politics means he has outsourced every significant decision and now finds he’s left to pay the bill 187522
Patrick Maguire @patrickmaguire.bsky.social · 15/01/2026I spent today with Nigel Farage and watched Robert Jenrick’s rumoured defection become reality in the space of minutes, listening to a phone call from my vantage point in the back seat of a people carrier. Here’s how it happened. www.thetimes.com/article/12d3...thetimes.comAdvantage Nigel Farage as the right realignsKemi Badenoch may have projected strength by firing Robert Jenrick but I watched as Reform leader had the last laugh 4132
Reposted by Patrick MaguireMatthew Holehouse @matthewholehouse.bsky.social · 12/01/2026Indeed. The overriding essay question that Reform needs to answer in the next three years is: if you are on the right and hate Keir Starmer, which of a) Reform UK or b) The Tories is the bigger, stronger, more viable vehicle for change? In many ways it is a basic issue of showing mass and velocity 4204
Patrick Maguire @patrickmaguire.bsky.social · 12/01/202699 per cent of analysis I’m reading about Zahawi is way too involved. To the extent people pay attention to this at all, it will be to note that Reform are doing well and hear someone else say Farage will/can be PM. Also: are Reform the same old Tories or something new and scary? 13679
Patrick Maguire @patrickmaguire.bsky.social · 13/12/2025I've gone completely insane. New Substack on – variously – Harry Enfield, Alan Bleasdale, Walter Greenwood, Dennis Potter, Jimmy Reid and Damian McBride. maguirepatrick.substack.com/p/in-defence...maguirepatrick.substack.comIn defence of LoadsamoneyMore thoughts on Labour's blindspot 1111
Reposted by Patrick MaguireHetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 08/12/2025Insightful piece from @patrickmaguire.bsky.social on what makes some voters tick, and how to tickle them maguirepatrick.substack.com/p/the-voters...maguirepatrick.substack.comThe voters who make populism happenAnd why this government isn't speaking to them 061
Patrick Maguire @patrickmaguire.bsky.social · 08/12/2025New Substack: why Labour Together's membership survey matters. And how to define "helpful" maguirepatrick.substack.com/p/how-not-to...maguirepatrick.substack.comHow not to be helpfulWhy Labour Together's leadership survey matters 061
Patrick Maguire @patrickmaguire.bsky.social · 07/12/2025I've written a Substack about what I've been reading and writing recently – on the voters who make populism happen, and why Labour isn't speaking to them. maguirepatrick.substack.com/p/the-voters...maguirepatrick.substack.comThe voters who make populism happenAnd why this government isn't speaking to them 2144
Patrick Maguire @patrickmaguire.bsky.social · 07/11/2025New on my similarly new Substack: why Keir Starmer needs fat men around him, the person actually doing a good job inside No 10, and the best books on Brownism substack.com/home/post/p-...substack.comGet some fat men around himKeir Starmer's government is full of the wrong Brownites 0193
Patrick Maguire @patrickmaguire.bsky.social · 07/11/2025Column: not many people appreciate just how many Brownites there are at the top of this Labour government. But are they the right ones for a PM with his back to the wall? www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...thetimes.comIt’s Browning Street revisited but where’s Starmer’s Tom Watson?The old guard offers experience across Whitehall but the prime minister lacks the enforcers that sustained New Labour 020
Patrick Maguire @patrickmaguire.bsky.social · 04/11/2025I've joined Substack to share more thoughts on my reading, writing and thoughts on the history that helps explain our political moment. Subscribe here, if you like. substack.com/home/post/p-...substack.comWhat I'm reading and writingWelcome to my Substack 0114
Reposted by Patrick MaguireThe Times and Sunday Times @thetimes.com · 10/10/2025Nigel Farage v Keir Starmer is the only game in town | ✍️ Patrick Maguirethetimes.comNigel Farage v Keir Starmer is the only game in townNigel Farage v Keir Starmer is the only game in town 522
Reposted by Patrick MaguireJoshi Herrmann @joshih.bsky.social · 08/10/2025A podcast intro that is actually funny! @patrickmaguire.bsky.social sings I Think We're Alone Now at Maggie Thatcher’s 100th birthday to explain Kemi’s position at conference. podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...podcasts.apple.comBadenoch woos WhatsApp plottersPodcast Episode · The State of It · 08/10/2025 · 37m 132
Patrick Maguire @patrickmaguire.bsky.social · 03/10/2025Nigel Farage is leading Labour round in circles www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...thetimes.comLabour has a new leader. His name is Nigel FarageSir Keir Starmer displayed multiple personalities at his party conference, which shows you that Reform is making the political weather 771
