Politics

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

Friday

Irwin Stelzer

The big mistake Keir Starmer made with Donald Trump

Keir Starmer did almost everything right. He headed for lunch with the President, leaving the British Embassy’s Jaguars and Land Rovers in the garage. Instead, he relied on a made-in-America (probably) Chevy Suburban, presumably part of the Secret Service’s fleet of bullet-proof gas guzzlers. That might take Trump’s mind off the fact that the UK exports £8 billion worth of cars to the US every year, making America the main destination of UK car exports. But it won’t change Trump’s mind that reciprocity is the cornerstone of his tariff policy. America taxes imported cars at a 2.5 per cent rate; the UK imposes a 10 per cent import duty and

Lisa Haseldine Lisa Haseldine

Merz is caught in a defence spending trap of his own making

It’s not just in Britain that defence spending is top of the agenda. In Germany, too, the debate has turned to how the government can resurrect the country’s hollowed-out armed forces. Friedrich Merz, leader of the CDU and the man pipped to become the next chancellor, is driving the discussion. But unlike the grudgingly positive response Prime Minister Keir Starmer has received for pledging to increase UK defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP over the next two years, Merz is blundering his way into an almighty row – and possibly a constitutional crisis.  The final vote in Sunday’s federal election had not been fully counted before Merz, whose

Andrew Tettenborn

The CofE is dealing with its safeguarding crisis badly

The John Smyth affair in the Church of England has already claimed the scalp of Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and may yet engulf Stephen Cottrell in York. Earlier this week, it became clear that its reverberations will go much further. The Church has applied to arraign ten other clergy, including an ex-Bishop of Durham, under the Clergy Discipline Measure. It alleges that they knew or ought to have known about Smyth’s proclivity for brutally flagellating young men, indulged first at an evangelical camp at Iwerne Minster in Dorset and later in southern Africa after he was packed off there in 1984, and that they could have taken steps to stop him.

Katharine Birbalsingh

The questions Bridget Phillipson must answer about Labour’s Schools Bill

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which threatens the huge gains made in education over the last 15 years, is moving swiftly through Parliament. If it passes, the impact on our children, especially our most vulnerable, will be seismic. Yet this Bill is slipping by largely unnoticed. Labour’s huge majority gives it untrammelled power. But it is using this authority to push through, without proper scrutiny, a piece of legislation that will do untold damage. Here are the questions that Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson must answer about this Bill, before it is too late: Do you understand why school leaders find it odd that you did not visit a single school

Thursday

Alexander Larman

The rationale behind Trump’s second state visit

When Keir Starmer greeted President Trump on his visit to Washington, he held a piece of paper in his hand that would have been rather welcome for The Donald. It was nothing less than a formal invitation from King Charles for the second-term president to conduct a second state visit to Britain, and it would be an occasion on which every single indulgence would be offered to him. The letter, which Trump proudly demonstrated in front of the cameras, was emollient in nature, to say nothing of almost parodically polite. It said that ‘I can only say that it would be [a] pleasure to extend that invitation once again, in

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Starmer’s press conference with Trump was a triumph

Keir Starmer could not have dreamed of a better press conference with Donald Trump. Much of its success was not down to luck, either: the Prime Minister has meticulously prepared for these talks both in terms of substance and (very important) superficialities such as flattering the President. But instead of appearing to be a sycophant who just says whatever Trump wants to hear, Starmer ended up looking as though he was the one in control of the relationship. The President came into the press conference telling journalists that Starmer is a ‘very tough negotiator, however I’m not sure I like that, but that’s OK’. It was exactly the kind of

Jacob Heilbrunn

Trump plays the joker with Starmer

Donald Trump was in a jocular mood as he met with Keir Starmer, barely allowing the Prime Minister to get in a word in edgeways during their joint appearance in the Oval Office. ‘Did I say that? I can’t believe I said that,’ he mused after a reporter queried whether he continued to regard Volodymyr Zelensky as a dictator, only days after he had flayed him as a tinpot authoritarian who might be best off returning to his halcyon days as a television comic. If anyone was the joker, however, it was Trump. He entertained the press corps while Starmer played the straight man. Trump never got handsy with Starmer,

Steerpike Steerpike

BBC apologises for ‘serious flaws’ in Gaza documentary

The Beeb is better at becoming the news than making it these days. The last fortnight has seen the corporation come under fire after a rather controversial Gaza documentary – whose child narrator was, er, the son of a Hamas minister – was first released and then pulled from streaming services. Now Steerpike has had sight of a rather interesting email sent by the corporation’s CEO, Deborah Turness, about the whole affair… Writing to staff about the doc, titled ‘Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone’, Turness first admitted that these were ‘turbulent times’ for the corporation, before tacitly reminding her staff that when it comes to news stories, ‘we have

Steerpike Steerpike

Reform announce Olympic gold medallist as mayoral candidate

As Prime Minister Keir Starmer is making headlines stateside after his big talk with Donald Trump, Nigel Farage is busy making news of his own. The Reform UK leader has tonight announced that Olympic boxer Luke Campbell will be the party’s candidate to become the first elected mayor for Hull and East Yorkshire. ‘He’s a knock-out candidate!’ declared Farage. Indeed. The big unveiling received whoops and cheers from the Reform supporters packing out Hull’s Connexin Live arena this evening. Hull-born Campbell – who took home the gold medal at the 2012 Olympics – spoke to the crowd about his upbringing in the area, his career and his new hope to

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Starmer’s Trump charm offensive gets underway

The Trump charm offensive has begun. Keir Starmer has met with Donald Trump in the Oval Office as his first White House visit gets underway. What was initially billed as a short welcome before officially talks turned into a 30-minute question and answer session with the travelling press pack. It made for a wide-ranging discussion as the US president spoke on everything from the future of Ukraine to free speech, the Chagos islands and the positives of the Prime Minister’s wife. In a sign that Starmer’s charm offensive is paying off, the conversation between the two leaders was largely warm. Trump described the Labour leader as a ‘special man’ and

Freddy Gray Freddy Gray

The case for climate humanism

28 min listen

Robert Bryce, an energy expert and author of The Question of Power, discusses the state of global energy, electric vehicles, and government policies both in the UK and America. Freddy and Robert look at how government subsidies and mandates have driven automakers toward unprofitable EV production, what is energy humanism, and how foreign interference has shaped climate policies over the past decade. 

Jonathan Sacerdoti

The true meaning of Trump’s AI Gaza video

Donald Trump’s AI-generated vision of Gaza – complete with golden statues of himself, bearded belly dancers, and a triumphant song declaring, ‘Trump Gaza, number one!’ – landed like a slap across the face of polite Western discourse. The reactions were swift and predictable. Outraged commentators called it tasteless, delusional, the fever dream of a man obsessed with his own mythology. Newspapers mocked its crudeness, its cartoonish spectacle, its lack of realism. Yet, in all the ridicule, something crucial was missed. This wasn’t just Trump being Trump. This was Trump speaking Arabic again – not linguistically, but in the deeply symbolic, visually driven language of Middle Eastern power. The video was not a policy

Lucy Dunn

Medical students are being let down

It’s allocation day for junior doctor jobs. Soon-to-be medical graduates across the UK find out what deanery they will work in upon finishing university. While it should be an exciting time for Britain’s future medics, recent changes to the system have sparked outrage as students hoping to work close to friends and family find out they have been sent halfway across the country instead. Criticism has long been directed at the way in which foundation programme jobs have been dished out. Foundation years 1 and 2 provide compulsory training to graduating doctors, completion of which leaves one a fully registered medic and able to progress further into training. You might

Cindy Yu Cindy Yu

Can Starmer charm Trump?

12 min listen

Keir Starmer is in D.C. for what will probably be one of the most important bilateral meetings of his premiership. The goal is to charm Trump and secure some guarantees for Ukraine’s security after a negotiated peace in the war. Can he succeed? Cindy Yu talks to James Heale and Peter Quentin, Rusi Associate Fellow and former policy adviser to Ben Wallace. Produced by Cindy Yu.

William Moore William Moore

Inside Nigel’s gang, my day as a ‘missing person’ & how to save James Bond

38 min listen

This week: Nigel’s gang – Reform’s plan for power.Look at any opinion survey or poll, and it’s clear that Reform is hard to dismiss, write Katy Balls and James Heale. Yet surprisingly little is known about the main players behind the scenes who make up Nigel Farage’s new gang. There are ‘the lifers’ – Dan Jukes and ‘Posh George’ Cottrell. Then there are the Tory defectors, trained by Richard Murphy, a valued CCHQ veteran, who is described as a ‘secret weapon’. The most curious new additions are the Gen Zers, who include Tucker Carlson’s nephew, Charles Carlson, and Jack Anderton, known as ‘the Matrix’. Katy and James joined the podcast

Freddy Gray Freddy Gray

Chagos – the riviera of the Indian Ocean?

Keir Starmer seemed on unusually good form as he arrived in Washington last night. He cracked quite a good joke about the United Kingdom’s new ambassador to the United States, Lord Mandelson. Maybe, just maybe, there’s a charismatic statesman lurking behind the Prime Minister’s dreary exterior. We shall see. At any rate, assuming no bizarre media blow ups in the coming hours, the odds are that the Trump-Starmer meeting today will prove to be a success. Despite his reputation, Trump tends to like people, especially British PMs (he tried and failed with Theresa May) and reports are that he responded well to his long first telephone call with Sir Keir last month.

Steerpike Steerpike

Mike Amesbury avoids prison after punching man

To the curious case of Mike Amesbury. The former Labour politician for Runcorn and Helsby was on Monday handed a 10-week prison sentence after he pleaded guilty to punching a man in the street. But after appealing the sentence at Chester Crown Court today, Amesbury will now avoid prison. During the ex-Labour man’s appeal hearing today, Judge Steven Everett imposed another 10-week prison sentence – but suspended it for two years. Instead of going to jail, Amesbury will be expected to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work, undertake both a 12-month alcohol monitoring programme and an anger management course and do 20 days of rehabilitation work. Explaining his decision,

Kate Andrews Kate Andrews

Can Starmer score an easy win with Trump on Ukraine?

Keir Stamer has landed in Washington, where he joins the succession of European leaders lining up to convince the President of the United States that he’s got it wrong on Ukraine. But will the Prime Minister be convincing? Starmer and Donald Trump will meet today at the White House, arriving just after 1pm EST (5pm GMT). The pair are set for talks, lunch, and a press conference, taking up several hours of the afternoon. The Prime Minister has arrived with some points to make about Ukraine – mainly the insistence that the US provides a ‘security guarantee’ for the country under siege – but he’s got some kind words to

Michael Simmons Michael Simmons

The problem of Britain’s idle generation

The number of young people not doing anything with their lives has hit its highest level in 11 years. Figures released this morning by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on 16- to 24-year-olds not in education, employment or training – so-called NEETs – show that the number has reached just under one million in the last three months of 2024. Standing at 987,000, the number of NEETs is up by 110,000 since the end of 2023 – equivalent to a town the size of Oldham. The new data means that nearly one in seven Britons aged 16 to 24 are not in education, employment or training. The figures are