Ian Stevens
Former teacher and lawyer, Liberal, pro-Europe.🇪🇺
- Reposted by Ian StevensExcellent, incisive analysis
- On Epstein, Mandelson and Starmer - and the argument that the PM won't make. Latest column www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
- Reposted by Ian StevensYes. Because these are only "revelations" which are to be worked into a political narrative of survival rather than a basic question of right and wrong. That's politics. It was also what turned so many people against the Conservatives.
- Reposted by Ian StevensCount to one hundred. New post on my Brexit & Brexitism Blog reflecting on a frenetic fortnight of domestic and international news, the state of the reset, the significance of the latest calls for 'proper Brexit', and the anger suffusing our politics: chrisgreybrexitblog.blogspot.com/2026/02/coun...
- Reposted by Ian StevensI've changed my mind. I think Starmer will have been replaced by September. I know Labour MPs talk a lot and act little (and the system is designed to stop them from acting) but Starmer's position is untenable now. What is the point of him? One way or another, he'll be ousted.
- Reposted by Ian StevensI just adore the idea that the ‘Canada’ model is still being proudly held aloft as as post Brexit exemplum of ‘independence’ when the Canada model doesn’t work for the *actual* Canada anymore.
- Reposted by Ian StevensMy "if you make us feel bad, we will have to shoot you" press conference is prompting the exact response I was trying to stop.
- Reposted by Ian Stevens"This is the increasing worry among many Labour MPs and ministers: they see Starmer as simply unable to resurrect the party and hold off what is viewed by them as the utterly terrifying prospect of a Reform government.
- Reposted by Ian StevensHow people laughed when it was ‘Comical Ali’ telling us to disbelieve the truth of what we could see.
- Reposted by Ian StevensMaking sense of the madness. New post on my Brexit & Brexitism Blog. Analysis of the international and domestic implications of the ‘Greenland crisis’, including how the ‘Carney doctrine’ could offer a way forward for post-Brexit Britain: chrisgreybrexitblog.blogspot.com/2026/01/maki...
- Reposted by Ian StevensAnd we're back. The moment the danger passes, people rush to pretend everything is alright again. It isn't and will not be.
- Reposted by Ian StevensWithout America, "right now, you'd all be speaking German" Trump tells an audience in Switzerland.
- Reposted by Ian StevensThis is one hell of a quote. European leaders really are running out of patience.
- Reposted by Ian StevensWhy is Donald Trump changing his mind every five minutes and saying completely mad stuff an embarrassment for Keir Starmer? It feels like it should chiefly be seen as an embarrassment for the United States.
- Reposted by Ian StevensAny Tory who claims the Conservatives no longer represent their values, and defects to Reform, is a liar. They were members under Sunak, and usually May, Cameron or even before. The idea that Reform is for them, Badenoch is not, but Sunak etc were, is laughable. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
- Reposted by Ian StevensMark Carney is explaining the new world in a way that is beyond any other leader I've heard speak. Hard to think of more than a handful of politicians with this level of awareness across Europe as a whole.
- Reposted by Ian StevensStarmer keeps using this line, & it's bonkers. Most importantly, it's untrue: the party that ended Free Movement, ran the "hostile environment" & made Suella Braverman Home Sec did not run "an experiment in open borders". It's also politically mad. Voters who believe this will not vote for Starmer
- Reposted by Ian StevensBadenoch had multiple opportunities to sack Jenrick on matters of principle. By ducking that, she let him pull the Tory Party to ever more grotesque positions while building his profile. And by sacking him now, she gives the impression that the only offence that matters is disloyalty to the party.
- Reposted by Ian StevensWhen the interior ministry declares its militia to be above the law in terms that equate dissent with treason there really isn’t any question of whether or not we are looking at an authoritarian regime.
- Reposted by Ian StevensICE has escalated from Arresting undocumented migrants with criminal records to Arresting undocumented migrants without criminal records to Arresting legal migrants to Arresting US citizens who 'look' like migrants to Arresting US citizens protesting ICE to Arresting random bystanders. Who's next?
- Reposted by Ian StevensNew piece by me
- 🔴The EU’s ‘Farage Clause’ Shows the Damage Reform Is Already Doing to the UK As well as making us poorer each year, Farage’s Brexit is also making us more vulnerable to those who wish to do us harm, argues @chrisgrey.bsky.social bylinetimes.com/2026/01/13/t...
- Reposted by Ian StevensWhen did “disrespect” for law enforcement become a crime worthy of summary execution in the street? Clearly it must have started after Jan 6th, 2021. So…when?
- Reposted by Ian StevensOngoing, but on the evidence of the first few dozen posts, a super deep dive using the EU reset as an example of why Starmer is struggling - no clear purpose, no narrative
- Reposted by Ian StevensMy latest.
- Reposted by Ian StevensEnemies within and without. New post on my Brexit & Brexitism Blog includes a look at Erasmus, the Mail's anti-emigrant campaign, the great hate at home and the threat from Trump abroad, and the government's response: chrisgreybrexitblog.blogspot.com/2026/01/enem...
- Reposted by Ian StevensAn upsetting question I have this morning is whether the transparent absurdity of the White House's denials that ICE agents are quite simply killing people in plain sight is something else they learned from Putin after, e.g., the Salisbury poisoning or another oligarch falling out of a window.
- Reposted by Ian StevensExcellent analysis of yesterday’s shooting including ICE refusing to let a doctor check the victim and the ICE agent who shot leaving the scene of the killing soon afterwards. This killing will live in infamy.
- Video analysis clearly contradicts what Noem and Trump claim about the killing of Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent in Minneapolis. By @devonlum.bsky.social @robinsteinnyt.bsky.social Ainara Tiefenthaler Courtney Brooks for @nytimes.com www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQCv...
- Reposted by Ian StevensAlmost everything Reform UK really thinks is diametrically opposite to the views of the UK electorate - on vaccines, Russia, Trump, climate change, green energy, race and nation, trade with the EU, whatever. If they're elected on an immigration scare alone the buyers' remorse will be so, so fierce.
- Reposted by Ian StevensWe are Christopher Isherwood, watching the scenes in the Berlin street below from our apartment window above.
- Reposted by Ian StevensIf the UK government had a Culture Secretary, that person would be in a position to take a view about whether child porn on demand was a good thing, or a bad thing. thecritic.co.uk/brin...
- Reposted by Ian StevensI have a general rule that any presentation based on words starting with the same letter is bollocks. I once asked a famous CEO who gave a presentation on the "10 Cs of business" what the chances were of the ten most important things all starting with a C. He wasn't pleased.
- Reposted by Ian StevensI'm afraid there *is* an obvious answer: it can't.
- Reposted by Ian StevensA gangster state at home, a rogue state abroad: and entirely because Congress and the Supreme Court have abdicated their proper constitutional roles.
- Reposted by Ian StevensMarco Rubio is reportedly saying Maduro will stand trial in US courts. Which means it’s now the US administration’s position that US courts can hold foreign presidents, but not the US president, accountable for crimes.
- Reposted by Ian StevensBritain is missing out on up to £100m for every week that a landmark deal with the European Union is not in place, according to new research that has prompted calls for Keir Starmer to urgently break the Brexit economic “doom loop” www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli...
- Reposted by Ian StevensBegum may be 'distasteful', but it is pretty clear she was a victim of grooming and trafficking. The decision to make her defacto stateless is also clearly incompatibile with the principles of international law. Labour doubling down doesn't change that it is bad. 1/2 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
- Reposted by Ian StevensI'm certainly not defending the Abd el-Fattah tweets but I really can't stomach the outrage about them from those who also insisted that Lucy Connelly was a heroic martyr for free speech and were equally outraged by her punishment.
- Reposted by Ian StevensShamima Begum was the beginning of something in so many ways, one of which was 'the last government's inability to just do its job properly (in this case by passing legislation that would have allowed it to prosecute her here at home) and instead going 'no option but to undermine all our rights'.
- Reposted by Ian StevensThe revocation of citizenship is a fundamental and brutal discretionary power of the state. One of the more depressing themes in recent judgments is how the courts nod-along and shrug when faced with this brute exercise of fundamental power, rather than subjecting this power to anxious scrutiny.
- Reposted by Ian StevensThe EU referendum, 10 years on: @patrickmaguire.bsky.social www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...
- Reposted by Ian StevensSad and predictable but also interesting and revealing to see the angry reaction from the populist right to the King's Speech. They're reading it as a call for tolerance of diversity, approval for multi-faith, multi-cultural UK, and supportive of Ukraine. Which I think it was & intentionally so. 1/3
- Reposted by Ian StevensU-turn on inheritance tax for farmers, just another in the long list of u-turns Labour have seen fit to embark on since the 2024 GE. But their Brexit red lines? Those remain nice and solid for some mysterious reason. Anyone would think they don't want a second term.
- Reposted by Ian StevensBut what does Barry from Kettering, former supporter of the BNP, and current Reform UK voter, think? He’s the only one that matters.
- More than 75% of Labour, Lib Dem and Green voters think PM should open talks on joining EU customs union YouGov poll for the Times suggests even 40% of Conservative voters support such a move www.theguardian.com/politics/liv...
- Reposted by Ian StevensThe bit that gets missed in the scandal around Farage's schooldays is that his school made him a prefect - despite warnings from staff about his conduct. It's a recurring theme for Trump, Johnson, Farage & co. We can't be surprised at the way they behave, when their behavior is constantly rewarded.
- Reposted by Ian StevensAgree with all of this, other than "the right will go 'pro-natalist" - I think what will happen is that much of the right will shift from 'blaming our ills on immigration' to 'blaming our ills on ethnic diversity', which is already happening to an extent.
- Reposted by Ian Stevens“Leave support is falling. That’s an opportunity the PM should seize before pro-Europe challengers for the Labour leadership do” Sound advice from Tom Baldwin www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
- Reposted by Ian StevensThe 'betrayal of Brexit' response to rejoining Erasmus is obviously predictable, and stupid (Brexit = leaving EU). But what's more striking is how *dated* it seems, like someone still waving a 'Thatcher out' placard.
- Reposted by Ian StevensProof that Farage is a liar www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
- Reposted by Ian StevensA good piece which adds to my sense that the political cost of dramatically reducing immigration and even reaching net emigration, is likely to be far greater for the government in terms of the impact on the economy, taxation and public services than the alternative
- New post just out: "The Overshoot" Net migration is collapsing, and will fall further over the coming years. We could even have net emigration. What does that mean for the country and the political narrative as we head towards the next election? (£/free trial) open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/t...
- Reposted by Ian StevensDedicated to all those who say Ted tried to fool the British people by saying it was merely a Common Market.
