Ruth Davidson

Exclusive: Britain's civil service ethics chief twice offered to officially question Lord Mandelson over his links to Jeffrey Epstein but was rebuffed by No10. Darren Tierney approached senior No10 staff in late 2024 and offered to conduct formal interviews before the decision.

We need practical, workable solutions to the housing crisis. That's what the @Prosper_UK_ Commission on Housing - bringing together experts across the fields of homebuilding and public policy - will be looking to provide. Read more here 👇 cityam.com/britain-needs-…

Housing is one of the biggest barriers facing younger working people today. Prosper UK has launched a new expert Commission - led by Prosper UK Board Member @GavinBarwell - to identify the practical reforms needed to improve housing affordability and increase supply. Evidence-based policy starts by listening to the people who understand the system. Read more here: prosperuk.com/prosper-uk-lau…

Another example of Labour’s tax and subsidise obsession. Tax businesses that employ young people so highly that they stop employing young people. Then Spend tax money subsidising businesses to employ young people.

Increasing employers’ National Insurance makes hiring more expensive just as businesses decide whether to recruit. And outdated business rates still hold back high street businesses. We should be removing these barriers to growth. express.co.uk/news/politics/…

EXCL: In a phone call shortly after he was elected, President Trump suggested that Sir Keir Starmer keep Karen Pierce on as UK ambassador to Washington. Starmer was noncommittal (and then chose to send Peter Mandelson instead) thetimes.com/uk/politics/ar…

@rugbyphilosophy If it is that sort of flowing, attacking rugby you want where speed, vision, skill and ambition results in tries you remember long after the final whistle, then go back and watch last week's Scotland Vs France match.

Dear 6 Nations fans, I want to give you an insight into the mindset of Southern Hemisphere (albeit New Zealand) rugby fans. For years, there’s been this sentiment down under that 6 Nations rugby is rubbish compared to the Rugby Championship. Admittedly, it turns out this rivalry is pretty one-sided. Apparently, you guys don’t really care much about the North vs South thing, while down here, we care deeply. Like a little brother making up a competition just so he can beat his older brother. But I want to give you some insight into where this perception has come from and why we think this way. 6 Nations fans love their rugby because it produces some of the most exceptional rivalries, and high pressure moments in the international rugby. Highly pressurised, back and forth, leave-nothing-on-the-field, pressure cauldrons. Each team duking it out with each other, landing blows, trading penalties, until one team finally wrestles momentum to score the match-winning penalty with seconds left on the clock. BUT... they were trading penalties. Every moment one team gave an inch, the other team would capitalise in the form of a penalty. To us New Zealanders, we’d wake up on a Sunday morning, pop on the highlights, and watch a 3-minute penalty compilation. "Boring!" we’d shout, and go back to drinking our milo and eating our marmite toast. What we missed were the stories. The moments, the pressure, the devastation of loss and heartbreak at a mere penalty changing the balance of an 80-minute encounter. "But we want tries," we’d say. Most Northern Hemisphere fans would think we meant try-fests, or defenceless muckabouts where it’s basically like watching 7s. No time building pressure, no moments of teams beating each other to try to force an inch of difference. But that was far from what we meant. It’s not just more tries because of poor defence. It’s tries because teams and players are so exceptional in their skillset that they are able to exploit the smallest error for a try, rather than focusing on the big giveaways that result in penalties. And that final game between England and France perfectly encapsulates what we’ve been saying all this time. Rather than a tit-for-tat of penalties building to massive moments, it’s a tit-for-tat of incredible tries. It was the same beautiful, powerful, pressured rivalry. The same storied history. The same never-say-die attitude, the same moments of pressure, the same giving everything on the field, but now the moments, the inches given, are capitalised on not by penalties, but by tries. Two powerhouse teams giving their all, exchanging blows and capitalising on each other's mistakes with TRIES. Beautiful, glorious, spectacular tries! Just look at this shift: France (2022): 17 tries and 12 penalty goals. France (2026): 30 tries and 3 penalty goals. England (2022): 8 tries and 17 penalty goals. England (2026): 21 tries and 6 penalty goals. This latest game is the exact opposite of what we’ve critiqued about 6 Nations rugby in years gone by. It's exactly what we've been talking about! It's the kind of rugby that keeps us awake at 3:00am. And if this is the new 6 Nations, then the old 'North vs South' grudge is officially moot. That was world-class rugby, and we can't get enough of it.

"Why the #Mandelson Files Matter for #Starmer's Future" Electoral Dysfunction @SkyNews @BethRigby @HarrietHarman @RuthDavidsonPC 13 Mar 2026 [0:51:14] #HumanTrafficking #Cult s.cultpodcasts.com/Zd6HPQZmfkWLTf… youtube.com/watch?v=xxVHVw…

So it turns out Zack Polanski initially doubled down on his hypnosis/breast enlargement claims: 'Actually increasingly more and more as I work with people, there's starting to become anecdotal evidence, at least, of a growth in breast size' bbc.co.uk/news/articles/…

This is first rate journalism from @CatrionaStewart The difference between two governments FOI responses is scandalous. You don’t get clearer demarcation than this, and the follow up Q really is, why?

Yet another massive fire rips through the heart of Glasgow, wreaking devastation. Our thoughts are with the brave firefighters and other blue light heroes working through the night.

The power of @Scotlandteam rugby....

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THE PARS HAVE A SEMI AT HAMPDEN!

Scotland produced one of the great Murrayfield performances to thump defending champions France in a completely ridiculous thirteen-try Guinness Men’s Six Nations thriller ⚡ Read the full match report ⬇️ scottishrugby.org/news-and-featu…

Just got home from Murrayfield after a @Scotlandteam performance for the ages to see @officialdafc are 2-0 up at the break against Aberdeen in the cup. Crikey, I wish I'd put a few extra lines on the lottery for tonight as well.....

.@HarrietHarman calls the leak from the National Security Council ‘utterly destructive’ as she lets rips over anonymous briefings to @ShippersUnbound in @spectator around what should be top-secret govt discussions. It’s a lively ED pod this week! news.sky.com/story/leak-fro…

Was the UK's response strong enough following the drone attack on RAF Akrotiri? Ruth Davidson doesn't hold back on this week's episode of Electoral Dysfunction, expressing her feelings that Starmer's response to the Iran threat has not gone far enough. 🎧trib.al/tgmbFgl

Own a piece of history. This Saturday's match against France will be your last chance to pick up a Centenary programme, celebrating 100 years of Scottish Gas Murrayfield. Limited numbers are still available!

Exclusive Britain’s allies in the Gulf and Cyprus have accused Sir Keir Starmer of failing to do enough to protect the region and UK citizens from Iranian missile strikes The Times has been told that Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates have concerns about the UK’s response to the Middle East conflict At the same time Cyprus’s high commissioner to the UK said the “least” his country expected was for the government to provide a robust defence of the island that is home to two British bases While British F-35s and Typhoon aircraft based in Cyprus are flying defensive missions to take down Iranian missiles and drones, HMS Dragon, a UK destroyer, will not set sail for Cyprus until next week because it is being brought out of maintenance and fitted with the right weapons One western official said that the proposal to send the ship did not cross the desk of the chief of defence staff until 9.30am on Tuesday — four days after the war started and nearly two days after RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus was hit by a drone strike. He passed the proposal to ministers and a decision was made shortly after that Britain operates a naval support facility in Bahrain, with about 300 service personnel, which is next to the site of a successful Iranian missile strike on the US Fifth Fleet headquarters John Healey, the defence secretary, said that the missile had landed less than 200 metres from UK forces Gulf nations including the United Arab Emirates were also angered by the delay in giving the US permission to use joint bases, including Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, to carry out “defence” airstrikes against Iranian missile sites. Starmer eventually gave America approval on Sunday evening “There was a feeling that the prime minister had to be dragged there,” a source familiar with the UAE’s concerns said. “It obviously reflects badly in the eyes of the Gulf Cooperation Council.” thetimes.com/article/b253a5…