View all newsletters
Sign up to our newsletters

Support 110 years of independent journalism.

  1. Politics
  2. Media
2 September 2014updated 26 Sep 2015 7:47am

Clash of the Times titans: Matthew Parris vs Tim Montgomerie

Two of the Times' most prominent political commentators are taking chunks out of each other on the paper's pages.

By Media Mole

Oof. On the right, we have Matthew Parris – veteran political columnist and the Times‘ resident voice of the Tory moderates. And on the, well, even righter, we have Tim Montgomerie – until recently the paper’s opinion editor, and founder of the website ConservativeHome. And they’re not happy with each other.

In Parris’ column on Saturday, headlined “A Tory schism is now all but inevitable”, responding to the defection of maverick chin Douglas Carswell from the Conservatives to Ukip, he wrote:

My fellow columnist Tim Montgomerie could not have been more wrong when he wrote in yesterday’s Times Red Box blog that “Ukip voters don’t believe that the Tory leader is serious about the referendum”. The “let’s-get-out-now” brigade in British politics have a very different fear. They fear that Mr Cameron would indeed hold his referendum and win it.


That day, Montgomerie reacted by fulminating on Twitter about how wrong his colleague is:


… and even linked to a piece with an opposing argument praising Carswell, from a rival paper:


Montgomerie then officially responded yesterday to his colleague in the Times’ daily political briefing email, Red Box, writing:

Photo: @TimMontgomerie


So then Parris also took to Red Box today to blast his sparring partner:

Photo: @stephentall


This isn’t the first time the two right-wing heavyweights have been in the ring together. Around Christmas time last year, they had a battle in the Times online comment section about abortion, after a comment piece on the subject by Montgomerie. Here’s the exchange:

Photos: screenshots from the Times online
 

Talk about Tory rifts.

Content from our partners
The promise of prevention
How Labour hopes to make the UK a leader in green energy
Is now the time to rethink health and care for older people? With Age UK

Select and enter your email address Your weekly guide to the best writing on ideas, politics, books and culture every Saturday. The best way to sign up for The Saturday Read is via saturdayread.substack.com The New Statesman's quick and essential guide to the news and politics of the day. The best way to sign up for Morning Call is via morningcall.substack.com Our Thursday ideas newsletter, delving into philosophy, criticism, and intellectual history. The best way to sign up for The Salvo is via thesalvo.substack.com Stay up to date with NS events, subscription offers & updates. Weekly analysis of the shift to a new economy from the New Statesman's Spotlight on Policy team. The best way to sign up for The Green Transition is via spotlightonpolicy.substack.com
  • Administration / Office
  • Arts and Culture
  • Board Member
  • Business / Corporate Services
  • Client / Customer Services
  • Communications
  • Construction, Works, Engineering
  • Education, Curriculum and Teaching
  • Environment, Conservation and NRM
  • Facility / Grounds Management and Maintenance
  • Finance Management
  • Health - Medical and Nursing Management
  • HR, Training and Organisational Development
  • Information and Communications Technology
  • Information Services, Statistics, Records, Archives
  • Infrastructure Management - Transport, Utilities
  • Legal Officers and Practitioners
  • Librarians and Library Management
  • Management
  • Marketing
  • OH&S, Risk Management
  • Operations Management
  • Planning, Policy, Strategy
  • Printing, Design, Publishing, Web
  • Projects, Programs and Advisors
  • Property, Assets and Fleet Management
  • Public Relations and Media
  • Purchasing and Procurement
  • Quality Management
  • Science and Technical Research and Development
  • Security and Law Enforcement
  • Service Delivery
  • Sport and Recreation
  • Travel, Accommodation, Tourism
  • Wellbeing, Community / Social Services
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
THANK YOU