Politics

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

Thursday

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Whitehall on trial: how the government is preparing for the Covid inquiry

During the pandemic, Nicola Sturgeon has developed a reputation for announcing things just before the UK government does. But there has been no Downing Street follow-up yet to her announcement last week at First Minister’s Questions that there will be a full public inquiry into Scotland’s handling of the crisis. This silence should not, however, be taken as a sign that there won’t be a UK-wide inquiry as well as a Scottish one. Staff inside No. 10 accept that there will have to be one: when 50,000 people are confirmed or suspected to have died from a new virus, a private ‘lessons learned’ exercise won’t be enough. They are also

The Spectator

American police should not be above the law

In Minneapolis, where George Floyd was killed, a black entrepreneur had his bar destroyed before he even had a chance to open its doors for the first time. In Richmond, Virginia, a mob set light to a building, then blocked firefighters who were trying to save a child from the flames (-thankfully the child survived). These actions, repeated in cities all over America, are harmful in two ways: night after night, rioters are trashing their own backyard, destroying private property and putting innocent lives at risk. They are also diverting attention away from the legitimate grievances of peaceful protestors, whose efforts are far more laudable than looting. America’s law-and-order system

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Our duty to Hong Kong: the case for granting full British citizenship

When the fate of Hong Kong was last seriously considered by a British prime minister, the world looked very different. It was argued — naively — that not much would change when the colony was handed back to China in 1997. A deal had been struck. Beijing would run defence and customs control, but otherwise Hong Kong would still be self-governing. It was always unlikely that China would honour this promise, but the pretence was useful to a Tory party terrified of admitting the alternative: that Britain had a moral duty to let the Queen’s subjects stay British. Which meant allowing them to settle in the UK if they wished.

Wednesday

Kate Andrews Kate Andrews

Can the government deliver apprenticeship guarantees?

What exactly is an apprenticeship guarantee? That’s the major question to come out of Wednesday night’s Covid press conference after Boris Johnson committed to offering an apprenticeship to all young people:   I think it is going to be vital that we guarantee apprenticeships for young people. We will have to look after people across the board, but young people in particular, I think, should be guaranteed an apprenticeship. While the commitment was there, the detail was not. Is this really a guarantee for all young people? In the first quarter of this year, over 350,000 people aged 16 to 24 were unemployed (excluding those in full-time education); another 1.5 million aged 18 to 24-year-olds were

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Tory MPs might not like No. 10’s quarantine policy – but the public do

Boris Johnson is in the firing line today over his government’s plan to impose a two-week quarantine for anyone arriving in the UK from Monday. The Prime Minister’s policy was criticised by both Labour and Tory MPs during PMQs. When Home Secretary Priti Patel confirmed the details in the Chamber this afternoon, former ministers Liam Fox, Theresa Villiers, and 1922 committee chair Sir Graham Brady were among those who questioned the timing and the effectiveness of the new measures. With a growing backlash building among MPs and industry, Patel is under pressure to publish the scientific advice behind the decision. However, there is one group that appears to be on No. 10’s side: the general public. In

Lloyd Evans Lloyd Evans

Starmer is struggling against Boris at PMQs

A testy, ill-tempered PMQs. Sir Keir Starmer accused Boris of presiding over a corona-shambles. The PM fired back and asked the Labour leader to show ‘signs of co-operation’ with the government’s efforts. Sir Keir was able to cite a ‘sign of co-operation’. A letter written to the PM two weeks ago about helping to reopen schools. He hadn’t received a reply. ‘I’m surprised he should take that tone,’ said Boris aggressively. ‘I took the trouble to ring him up and we had a long conversation in which I briefed him about all the steps we were taking…He thoroughly endorsed our approach.’ Sir Keir sniffed grandly that the letter had been

James Forsyth James Forsyth

PMQs is increasingly tetchy

The clashes between Boris Johnson and Keir Starmer are becoming increasingly bad-tempered. Starmer’s strategy is to ask Boris Johnson a series of questions to which there are no good answers. Boris Johnson, informed by focus group research showing that voters don’t want to see a return to partisan politics, responds by accusing Starmer of not being constructive and of undermining public confidence. The result is testy exchanges that don’t shed a huge amount of light on the situation. Interestingly, Boris Johnson took a more emollient tone with Jeremy Hunt than he did at the liaison committee last week, when the former health secretary asked a question. Having said last that

Steerpike Steerpike

Boris’s PMQs ‘earpiece’ fake news

Was Boris Johnson wearing an earpiece during PMQs? Of course not. But that didn’t stop some of those who should know better suggesting otherwise. Former media editor of the Times Raymond Snoddy shared a claim that ‘it seems entirely possible the PM is in fact having radio prompts to attempt to make him appear competent’. Stand-up comedian Alastair Barrie also joined in: ‘This needs some serious retweeting. Johnson using an earpiece at #PMQs the day after The Telegraph reported he’s taken ‘direct control’,’ he wrote. While Labour MP Bill Esterton wrote: ‘Suggestions that Johnson had an earpiece in for #PMQs. If he was receiving help, it didn’t show.’ Mr S suggests

Cindy Yu Cindy Yu

The end of Keir Starmer’s ‘constructive opposition’

14 min listen

The time for constructive opposition is over, as Keir Starmer picks up a new tone in his interview to the Guardian, which he continued in PMQs. Cindy Yu talks to James Forsyth and Katy Balls about this strategy; and other issues of proxy voting, Scottish care homes, the BAME impact, and a new testing target.

Ross Clark Ross Clark

Why are teachers’ unions so reluctant to reopen schools?

You might have thought that of all people, leaders of teaching unions would be concerned about the effect of lockdown on children’s education and, in particular, on the gap in attainment between children from the wealthiest and least-wealthy households. From the beginning of lockdown in March, it became clear that children were going to have a very different experience depending on where they are educated. Many private schools and some of the best state schools immediately made arrangements for teaching to continue online, uninterrupted. For many other children, it has been a case of being set only the odd homework assignment. The attainment gap could wipe out a decade of

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Boris Johnson’s backbench problem

After spending Tuesday afternoon queuing in a socially distanced conga line across the parliamentary estate, many MPs found themselves in a bad mood. Even Conservative MPs who backed the government’s plan to change to a system of socially distanced physical voting were complaining. Speaking to Coffee House afterwards, Tory MPs complained the process was ‘humiliating’, a ‘clusterf–k’ and most kindly ‘a work in progress’. Despite this, the system is here to stay for the time being. However, yesterday’s episode just adds to a growing sense of unease among Tory MPs over the government’s direction. As I say in this week’s magazine, No. 10 has a growing backbench problem. Part of the reason

Tuesday

Steerpike Steerpike

Watch: MPs struggle with the new voting system

MPs tried out Jacob Rees-Mogg’s new voting system for the first time today, as they prepared for a return to the House of Commons and the end of the virtual voting system. The reforms have already proven controversial among MPs, who have complained that the new system will involve long queues, will take at least 40 minutes for a vote, and shielded members will not be able to take part. In order to keep socially distanced, the politicians were forced to form an orderly queue which ended up stretching for almost a kilometre around the Parliamentary estate, so MPs could remain two metres apart at all times. When they reached the

Steerpike Steerpike

Jacob Rees-Mogg’s surprising trip to Alton Towers

Today the House of Commons fully opened its doors to MPs again for the first time since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak. Members were summoned back to Westminster so they could vote on new proposals to end the ‘hybrid system’, where politicians were able to Zoom into debates and vote remotely. From tomorrow, MPs will likely have to be physically present in Westminster to vote. Already the government’s plans though have been subject to some mockery, particularly its scheme for socially distanced voting. To keep MPs sufficiently far apart, the normal voting lobbies have been ditched and instead MPs will have to form a long queue which snakes around

James Ball

The UK isn’t taking the risk of contact tracing fraud seriously

Experts have a get-out clause of which politicians can only dream when they are speaking from the podium at press briefings. While ministers are expected to be able to answer questions on any matter, there and then, and have details at their fingertips, advisors can escape most tricky questions with a simple few words: that’s outside my area of expertise. That makes it all the more baffling that when asked by journalists about the risk of fraudsters exploiting the government’s new track and trace system, not one, but two deputy chief medical officers decided to comment and belittle the risks involved. Deputy chief medical officer Dr Jenny Harries was particularly sanguine.

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Parliament’s socially distanced voting system may just fall apart

Parliament is back. However, its inhabitants are having to adjust to a new way of doing things. While MPs are supposed to be on the estate and are no longer able to intervene in debates remotely, only 50 MPs may occupy the Chamber at any one time and they cannot vote in the traditional manner as the voting lobbies are not deemed Covid-secure. In place of this, the proposal that’s been put forward is for a socially distanced, kilometre-long queue through parliament each time there is a vote. MPs are then to file past the left side of the despatch box table to vote Aye, and to the right side to vote No. The proposals have led to

Steerpike Steerpike

UK Statistics Authority questions Hancock’s figures

Last month, Mr S did a little digging into Matt Hancock’s claims that he managed to reach 100,000 tests a day – finding that Health Secretary had been fudging his figures by including tests that had merely been posted rather than just tests that had actually been completed. The expert verdict is now in, with the UK Statistics Authority pointing out the same problem.   Sir David Norgrove, chair of the monitoring body, has criticised the government’s counting methods, stating that ministers have continued to include posted tests in the figure for tests carried out.  In his letter to Hancock, published this morning, Sir David says: ‘This distinction is too often elided during the presentation

Monday

Kate Andrews Kate Andrews

The evidence on school re-openings is being ignored

One of the benefits of the UK exiting lockdown so slowly is supposedly that evidence from other countries can help mould our decisions. If liberalising parts of society in other countries doesn’t cause a Covid-19 flare-up, the UK can proceed with cautious optimism. If lockdown easing leads to a spike in infection rates, the UK can row back its plans before its too late, or put off making changes for a while longer. Around 50 per cent of people polled oppose the partial re-opening Based on this logic, the return of Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 to school today should be warmly embraced, as reports from Denmark over the

Steerpike Steerpike

Is YouTube censoring Peter Hitchens?

Last month, Mr Steerpike wrote about the worrying decision by YouTube to remove a video featuring Karol Sikora, a professor of medicine, from its platform. Sikora appeared to have been targeted because he believed that coronavirus was petering out, and that we could potentially learn from Sweden which did not lockdown to protect itself against the virus. Happily, YouTube reversed the decision shortly afterwards. Unfortunately though, it seems as though the social media company has not changed its policy on coronavirus videos. Today, the free speech show Triggernometry, has claimed that its recent interview with the Mail on Sunday columnist Peter Hitchens appears to have been removed from YouTube search.

Steerpike Steerpike

The over-70s plot a return to the House of Commons

Tomorrow MPs will swap dodgy internet connections and politics by Zoom for a real life journey into the House of Commons. Under government orders, MPs who can are to return to Parliament, as part of the government’s drive to encourage those who cannot work from home to travel to the office. For one group of MPs though, the changes will be more dramatic. At the moment, the government is advising that those over 70 are in a high-risk category and should therefore not really be travelling in to work. So where does that leave the over-70 MPs who can no longer take part in proceedings via video link? And will it change the