Rebels Leading London: the mayoralties of Ken Livingstone and Boris Johnson compared

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One-loop renormalisation of general N=1/2 supersymmetric gauge theory

We investigate the one-loop renormalisability of a general N=1/2 supersymmetric gauge theory coupled to chiral matter, and show the existence of an N=1/2 supersymmetric SU(N)xU(1) theory which is renormalisable at one loop.Comment: 30 pages, including 8 figures. Plain TeX. Uses Harvmac and eps

Going, going, gone: how safe is David Cameron?

Last weekend, rumors were once again abound of plots to remove David Cameron as leader. Ben Worthy assesses the Prime Minister’s position in light of the latest threat, and writes that although it appears probable he will survive attempts to topple him in the short-term, the plots, rumours and rebellion will continue

Boris Johnson’s influence over the outcome of the EU referendum is highly overstated

Boris Johnson, the Conservative Mayor of London and MP for Uxbridge, recently announced that he would campaign for a vote to Leave the European Union in the forthcoming referendum on UK membership of that body. Here, Ben Worthy argues that Boris’s views aren’t as influential as his media admirers may suggest

Ending in failure? The performance of ‘Takeover’ Prime Ministers 1916–2016

When Theresa May became Prime Minister in July 2016, she joined a list of eleven previous UK takeover leaders in the past 100 years. While the popular image is of Prime Ministers arriving in power after a general election victory, more than half of the Prime Ministers who governed since 1916 have acceded as ‘takeover leaders’ through an internal party process. This article analyses how such takeover leaders perform, concluding that May is likely to face greater obstacles and enjoy fewer advantages than if she had been popularly elected. Takeover leaders have less time in power and less chance of winning subsequent elections, and are generally rated as worse-performing

History shows that the new president has a fairly good chance of winning re-election in 2020.

Donald Trump is the new President of the United States. But should the 45th president expect to gain another four years in the White House? Looking at presidential elections over the past six decades, Ben Worthy argues that incumbency is a distinct advantage to presidential candidates, meaning that presidents are more likely to stay in the White House than to go

If he handles his leadership well, Jeremy Corbyn could become the successful rebel head of an anti-establishment party

Jeremy Corbyn was recently announced as the Leader of the Labour Party, surprising everybody in beating established candidates such as Andy Burnham and Yvette Cooper, despite having never held a frontbench role. His critics suppose that his status as an outsider, somewhat outside the mainstream of his parliamentary party, may mean that he has a short life span as Leader, but as Benjamin Worthy argues, these attributes served the likes of Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt and Margaret Thatcher