Politics

Read about the latest UK political news, views and analysis.

Who would trust Holyrood with legalising euthanasia?

Would you trust this lot with assisted dying? The Scottish parliament’s record on issues of personal liberty has been pretty dire. Yet MSPs seem mustard-keen to introduce medically-supervised suicide as proposed by the Liberal Democrat MSP, Alex Cole-Hamilton. His Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill, published today, is the third such Bill to hit Holyrood and the betting is that this one will go the distance. I’m not entirely sure this particular parliament possesses the moral standing to legislate on pot holes, let alone euthanasia ‘Too often’, says Cole-Hamilton. ‘Dying people are facing traumatic deaths that harm both them and those they leave behind.’ He’s not wrong, and the Bill has widespread

Barristers should be allowed to join the Garrick

The Garrick Club affair has taken a new and slightly worrying twist, this time courtesy of – of all bodies – the Bar Council. Hot on the heels of calls for judges to resign en masse from the club because it remains single-sex, the Council now apparently wants to go even further. It is hinting that it may forbid any member of the Bar from being a member. Its menacing words bear quoting in full:  For now, it is a matter for individuals to determine whether or not membership of an institution, such as the Garrick Club, is compatible with the views they espouse in their professional lives, but this may change. As

Lara Prendergast

Easter special: how forgiveness was forgotten

36 min listen

This week: how forgiveness was forgotten, why the secular tide might be turning, and looking for romance at the British museum.  Up first: The case of Frank Hester points to something deep going on in our culture, writes Douglas Murray in the magazine this week. ‘We have never had to deal with anything like this before. Any mistake can rear up in front of you again – whether five years later (as with Hester) or decades on.’ American lawyer and author of Cancel Culture: the latest attack on free speech, Alan Dershowitz, joins the podcast to discuss whether forgiveness has been forgotten. (02:11) Then: Will and Lara take us through some

Labour’s pledge to ‘take back control’

10 min listen

Labour kicked off their local elections campaign today with a joint op-ed from Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner in the Times promising to empower localities and put an end to the regional divide. This is all encompassed in their Take Back Control Act … where have we heard that before? Rather than a seamless launch, the Labour leader has been met with difficult questions over Angela Rayner’s tax affairs and the suggestion that the shadow education secretary could scrap the £4 billion expansion of free childcare.  Oscar Edmondson speaks to Fraser Nelson and James Heale.  Produced by Oscar Edmondson.

When will Prince Harry stop punishing British taxpayers?

Wherever you go in the world, there are always two things that are never cheap: lobsters and lawyers. The British taxpayer has learned this painful reality as it picks up a bill of more than half a million pounds for defending the government’s case against Prince Harry. The Duke of Sussex has brought a case against the Home Office over its removal of automatic high-level police protection for him and his family when they are in Britain. So far, £180,000 has been paid in fees to leading barristers to defend the Home Office case. Another £320,000 has gone to the government’s own legal department, comprising the Attorney General, the Solicitor

Ross Clark

Thames Water proves privatisation has failed

Why do the Conservatives find it so difficult to admit that the privatisation of public utilities has in many cases been a disaster? It was supposed to bring heaps of finance into public services, protect taxpayers from financial risk and bring prices down through competition. Yet we have ended up with energy prices fixed by Ofcom, a rail industry which is swallowing vastly more subsidy in real terms than British Rail ever did – with unions bidding up pay to astronomical levels and taxpayers forced to cough up to fund those rises. Royal Mail has flogged off valuable city centre development sites while it jacks up the price of stamps

Kate Andrews

The UK’s economic problems are far bigger than a ‘recession’

It was extremely optimistic to think the UK could revise its way out of recession. After the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported GDP figures for Q4 last year showing a 0.3 per cent economic contraction between October and December, a recession seemed set in stone. Today the ONS reports no revisions to the figures. But even a small revision upwards would not have been enough to shake off the label of a recession. This remains a ‘technical recession’. Britain’s economy fell – just – on the wrong side of the line last year. Had the Q3 figures not been revised downwards in December last year – from no growth

Steerpike

Will Angela Rayner take her own advice?

It seems Angela Rayner is in hot water again. The Labour deputy leader might have thought she had escaped unscathed from claims about the sale of her ex-council house. But Greater Manchester Police (GMP) now says it is reassessing its previous decision not to investigate allegations that she gave false information on official documents, in a potential breach of electoral law. A sub-optimal start for Labour’s local election campaign today… For her part, Rayner continues to protest her innocence. She insists that the row is ‘manufactured’ in an attempt to ‘smear’ her. She told Newsnight last week that there had been ‘no wrongdoing’ and “no unlawfulness’, adding: ‘I’ve been very clear

Ian Williams

US businesses are falling out of love with Xi’s Chinese dream

A US diplomat in Beijing once told me a story of an American businessman hospitalised in the city of Ningbo after being hit at the airport by an electric buggy that was ferrying a group of Chinese VIPs who were late for their flight. The authorities confiscated his passport, demanding he pay for the damage to the buggy before he could leave. The diplomat was outraged, but when he got to Ningbo to provide help, the businessman told him to go home, explaining that he wanted to pay the fine since he was on the cusp of a big deal and didn’t want to upset the authorities. To the diplomat

Have NeverTrumpers found a way to hit Donald where it hurts?

With Donald Trump confirmed as the Republican nominee, a group of NeverTrump conservatives have tried to hit the former president somewhere vulnerable: the musicals of Andrew Lloyd Webber. The Lincoln Project, an organisation led by old-school Republicans, has released a video parodying one of the tunes most associated with Trump’s rallies – the theme song from The Phantom of the Opera. Trump has a profound love of musical theatre, particularly the work of Andrew Lloyd Webber. Since 2015, songs like ‘The Music of the Night’, ‘All I Ask of You’ and ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ have been part of his pre-speech soundtrack. He revealed in Think Like a Billionaire that he saw

James Heale

Could Jonathan Gullis be another Lee Anderson?

11 min listen

After the resignations of two ministers last night, No. 10 carried out a mini reshuffle, which included some controversial decisions. In particular, the appointment of the outspoken Red Wall MP Jonathan Gullis had some questioning whether Rishi Sunak was making another Lee Anderson-style mistake. James Heale talks to Katy Balls and former editor of Conservative Home, Paul Goodman. Produced by Cindy Yu and Patrick Gibbons.

Steerpike

Galloway suggests Obama involvement in Moscow attack

The fall-out continues from Friday’s attack on Moscow concert hall attack in which 139 people were reported dead. Russian officials have directly accused Ukraine and the West of being involved – despite, er, the Islamic State claiming responsibility and releasing video of the atrocity. But in their bid to prove their side of events, the Russian state press is now citing an unlikely ‘expert opinion’. Step forward George Galloway, the newly-elected MP for Rochdale, who is quoted approvingly at length in Russkaya Gazeta today, giving an ‘expert opinion.’ The quotes appear to be a distilled version of comments which Galloway made on his YouTube channel on Sunday. He suggested to viewers

Kate Andrews

Britain is falling out of love with the NHS

Rishi Sunak doesn’t speak much about his five priorities these days, apart from inflation, which ‘halved’ as promised. On NHS waiting lists, small boats, the economy and the public finances, the news hasn’t been nearly as positive – and people have noticed. Satisfaction with the National Health Service has hit its lowest point since records began, according to this morning’s British Social Attitudes survey, which reveals that fewer than one in four respondents were happy with their experience of accessing and receiving healthcare. The main gripe is those sky-high waitlists that the government promised would be falling by now: 71 per cent cited the struggle to get both GP and

Patrick O'Flynn

Why did a judge fall for Abdul Ezedi’s lie that he was a Christian?

Abdul Ezedi is dead and gone. The Clapham acid attacker was laid to rest in a Muslim burial at a cemetery in east London after a funeral at a mosque in the west of the capital. This is what his family and friends wanted for him. Given that we know he was a loyal customer of his local halal butchers in Newcastle right up until the end, we must presume it is what he would have wanted for himself too. Head-in-the-clouds vicars are a longstanding stereotype. But judges are supposed to be different Even the liberal dolts of our establishment – church leaders, immigration judges and the like – appear

Steerpike

Tories split on CCHQ attack ads

It’s five weeks to go until the local elections and Tory high command are stepping up their attacks. On Monday, the Conservatives released the first of several videos focusing on Labour controlled administrations. A 70-second, black-and-white video attacked Sadiq Khan’s record and gravely intoned that ‘London under Labour has become a crime capital of the world.’ But the in-house clip, voiced by an unknown actor, has since divided opinion among Tories, amid controversy over its use of footage from a New York subway station. Mayoral candidate Susan Hall was quick to distance herself from the adverts, telling the BBC that the video had ‘nothing to do’ with her team. Hall’s spokesman subsequently

Steerpike

When will Sunak’s next deputy chair resign?

In the two months since Lee Anderson’s resignation as Tory deputy chairman, there’s been something of a vacancy at CCHQ. Who could fill the gap left by the red wall rottweiler, to motivate the grassroots and energise the base? Well now it seems we have our answer: Jonathan Gullis, a close friend of Anderson and a fellow stalwart of the Common Sense Group. Gullis was last night handed Anderson’s old brief, with party chairman Richard Holden hailing him as ‘inimitable’ on Twitter/X, adding: ‘The non-stop campaigning MP for #StokeOnTrentNorth, #Kidsgrove and #Talke is a formidable addition to the team as we build to the General Election later this year.’ The

Katy Balls

The most striking appointment in No. 10’s mini-reshuffle

Another week, another set of Tory MPs announcing their retirement plans. This time it’s serving ministers. As MPs head into the Easter recess, defence minister James Heappey has ended the parliamentary term by following through on his promise to step down as armed forces minister. Meanwhile Rob Halfon has announced he is resigning as an education minister. The resignations have been taken as further proof that it is an end of an era for the Tory party and many are preparing for election defeat, with over 80 MPs now announcing they will step down. However, it’s not over yet – with No. 10 this afternoon carrying out a mini-reshuffle to

Fraser Nelson

The UAE bid for The Spectator is over

In the end, it was watertight. The House of Lords has just voted through a new law banning foreign governments from owning British newspapers and magazines. Any ‘material influence’ has been banned, so neither the United Arab Emirates or any ‘foreign power’ will be allowed so much as a 0.1 per cent stake in The Spectator, Daily Telegraph or any similar publication. The Emiratis had agreed to buy both titles through RedBird IMI, a vehicle majority-funded by vice-president Sheikh Mansour. Tina Stowell, the Tory baroness who led the campaign, has now stopped this deal in its tracks. She drew from the government an amendment to the Digital Markets Bill which

Isabel Hardman

I’ve done very well, says Rishi Sunak at select committee grilling

Normally when a select committee hearing or interview is described as ‘wide-ranging’, it’s because a lot was said, but none of it of much note. Today’s Liaison Committee session with Rishi Sunak was wide-ranging, but in an unusually newsy way. The Prime Minister was grilled by select committee chairs on immigration, Rwanda, Gaza, defence spending, China, online harms, pensions and local government. Almost all the topics yielded a line of note – though admittedly some of the lines were notable for what Sunak did not say. On defence, for instance, an issue that is heating up again in the Tory party, the Prime Minister refused to go beyond the holding