Politics

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

Tuesday

Steerpike Steerpike

Will Louise Haigh receive a golden goodbye?

Well, well, well. Before Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour lot got into government, Starmer’s army was quite happy to commit to to suspending – and, in some cases, revoking altogether – severance pay over ministerial code breaches. But it appears Sir Keir’s crowd is a little less enthusiastic about the prospect now it threatens to affect one of their own. Former Transport Secretary Louise Haigh resigned on Friday after it emerged she had pleaded guilty to a criminal offence in 2014 – with No. 10 advising her to step away from the brief over a possible breach of the ministerial code. The former Transport Secretary did not declare her spent conviction

Matthew Lynn

Marine Le Pen’s reckless game with the French economy

The power probably feels good. And it may help her win the presidency eventually. Even so, there is a catch to Marine Le Pen’s decision to bring down Michel Barnier’s government in France, potentially as soon as tomorrow afternoon. If the government goes, the eurozone ay well go down with it. The financial plans of Le Pen’s National Rally’s (NR) party are completely reckless. And even if the chaos that will follow the vote does help win the Élysée Palace for Le Pen, she will inherit a ruined economy – for which she will only have herself to blame.  The NR’s only answer to excessive spending is to spend even

Damien Phillips

Why Britain is rolling out the red carpet for Qatar

This week’s state visit by the Emir of Qatar is the first of any Arab leader since King Charles ascended the throne. This is no coincidence: while its role is often misunderstood, Qatar has skilfully positioned itself as one of the West’s most important allies in the Middle East. Doha’s role as the world’s mediator-in-chief is only going to become more important With the current conflict in the Levant showing no signs of slowing, the Russo-Ukrainian War entering a critical phase, and events in Syria and Yemen increasing the risk of a wider conflict, Doha’s role as the world’s mediator-in-chief is only going to become more important. Yet the polarisation

James Heale James Heale

Is Starmer planning a foreign policy reset too?

Keir Starmer is preparing to give his big reset speech on Thursday. But the more interesting address is perhaps the one he gave last night. The annual Lord Mayor’s Banquet was the setting for the Prime Minister to give his first major speech on foreign policy since entering No. 10. The most interesting passage saw Starmer reject the notion that Britain will need to pick sides between the US and EU under the looming Trump presidency – particularly in the event of a trade war. ‘I reject it utterly. Attlee did not choose between allies, Churchill did not choose,’ he said. ‘The idea that we must choose between our allies,

Robin Ashenden

Things can only get worse for Keir Starmer

Finally a date has been set – 29 January 2025 – for the government to debate points posed by the now infamous ‘Call a General Election’ petition. ‘I would like there to be another General Election,’ reads the blurb on the website. ‘I believe the current Labour government have gone back on the promises they laid out in the lead up to the last election.’ Many of the nearly three million who signed – unless they’re fantasists – will have done it more in agreement with the second statement than hope of the first. But how did we get here in under five months? Will Keir Starmer, at his announced

Justin Marozzi

Britain is finally debating cousin marriage

It is a biting winter’s evening in Cambridge and apparently we are making history. This is the first serious public discussion in the UK of the law on cousin marriage, and the desirability of legislating against it, since the mid-Victorian era. At a time when British universities seem more interested in discussing diversity, equity and inclusion and decolonising the curricula than engaging with the great issues of the day, there is an unmistakable frisson as we gather around a long beechwood table in the brightly lit Weston Room of the interfaith Woolf Institute. A portrait of the no-nonsense Princess Anne, its patron, smiles down upon us. Charles Darwin, who was

Patrick Gibbons

Ireland’s centre has held

Two years ago, I secured an apartment in Dublin through a gay dating app. I was desperate and there was a housing shortage in Ireland so I was prepared to ignore safety concerns to get a roof over my head. ‘You must be used to this in London’, Irish friends would say to me. But I was not. In London if you’re happy to compromise on cost or location, there are plenty of rooms available. In Dublin you can double or triple your budget or look further afield and still not find a place. There are some very high-spec, new-build apartments in the city’s docklands (its ‘tech hub’), which can cost around

Monday

Jonathan Spyer

Success for Syria’s rebels is far from guaranteed

Syrian Sunni Islamist fighters are continuing to consolidate their gains in Syria’s Aleppo province. Almost the entirety of Aleppo city, sometimes called the capital of Syria’s north, is now in the hands of the Turkey-backed fighters. Russian and Assad regime airstrikes have begun in earnest on opposition-held parts of the country’s north west. The lightning advance of the insurgents has now slowed down. Fresh from their triumph in Aleppo, the Sunni fighters sought to push into Hama province further south. Elements of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS – or the ‘Organization for the liberation of Syria/the Levant’), which is spearheading the push south, entered the suburbs of the city but were

Eliot Wilson

Will Wormald actually help Starmer change the civil service?

Downing Street has announced that the 14th secretary to the cabinet and head of the civil service will be Sir Chris Wormald. He will succeed Simon Case when the latter stands down after four years on 16 December. Wormald, 56, has been permanent secretary at the Department of Health and Social Care for eight and a half years, before which he was the top official at the Department for Education for four years – a true Whitehall veteran. There is no doubt that Wormald is experienced. He is likeable and highly rated, though his department has hardly stood out for excellence over the past decade and he sometimes struggled under

James Heale James Heale

Labour risks death by consultation

After 14 years in opposition, you might have expected Labour to come into government bursting with plans for Britain. Yet the first four months of the Starmer supremacy have seen ministers commission a glut of various reviews, consultations and task forces about what they should actually do in office. Helpfully, Sky News has compiled a running tally of these. Their current figure is 61 in less than 150 days: a rate of one every two-and-a-half days. The obvious risk is ‘paralysis by analysis’. Under Yvette Cooper, the Home Office has commissioned seven reviews on police and fire fighter pensions, knife sales, ninja swords, police prosecutions, family visas and counter-extremism. Angela

David Christopher Kaufman

Why Joe Biden was right to pardon Hunter

President Joe Biden’s unexpected pardon of his son, Hunter, on federal gun charges may appear as the ultimate example of lawfare hypocrisy, but it’s really the best outcome for everyone – including Donald Trump. Despite indications that such a pardon was unlikely, Biden – who infamously declared on X in May that “no one is above the law” – now believes that Hunter was “unfairly prosecuted.” Jail time would have kept the Biden family in the spotlight long past their expiration date “I believe in the justice system,” Biden said on Sunday while announcing an end to his son’s legal drama, “but as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this

Kate Andrews Kate Andrews

Can Starmer force the NHS to change?

‘Hear me when I say this – no more money without reform.’ That was the Prime Minister’s message to the NHS only in September, when he promised the biggest reform of the health service since its founding.  But that’s not quite how it has panned out. Labour’s first Budget, which raised an additional £40 billion in tax, also announced an additional £22 billion for day-to-day spending within the NHS. Having allocated more than half of the tax rises to the health service, the promise from Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves was that improvements would be forthcoming. It’s not obvious, however, that the NHS agrees.  There is never a circumstance where

Francis Pike

Why the West must back Syria’s Bashar al-Assad

I had a nasty shock when I switched on my TV on Sunday. It was clearly a propaganda film with hijabed women standing amidst the rubble of their former homes extolling Hezbollah’s victory over the invading forces of Israel. Except it wasn’t a propaganda film; it was a BBC news report from Lebanon highlighting the plight of the de-housed Hezbollah-supporting Lebanese.  Of course, there was no report on the 60,000 Israelis who are still too frightened to return to their homes in northern Israel. They have good reason. Over the weekend, Hezbollah troops broke the ceasefire agreement and fired rockets into northern Israel. However, the anti-Israel bias of the BBC

James Heale James Heale

Sir Chris Wormald is the new cabinet secretary

Keir Starmer has today resolved one of his longstanding headaches: who to appoint to lead the civil service. The man chosen to replace Simon Case as cabinet secretary is Sir Chris Wormald. The 56-year-old has served as permanent secretary of the Department of Health since 2016, leading colleagues throughout the ups and downs of the pandemic. Prior to that, he was permanent secretary at the Department of Education (DfE) from 2012 to 2016. Government is very much in Wormald’s blood: his father Peter served as under secretary in the DHSS from 1978 to 1981. The task that faces the new cabinet secretary is considerable With 33 years of continuous service

Andrew Tettenborn

Why did the state let Kneecap win?

There was something predictable in the government’s agreement last week to accept defeat in the Belfast High Court. The overtly republican Irish band Kneecap had brought a judicial review over the withdrawal of an offer of a £14,500 state grant to support artists overseas, alleging unlawful political discrimination. The government lawyers caved at the door of the court. It is going a bit far to expect government to directly fund something so contrary to its own interests and values Put simply, there were many advantages for the government in acting as it did. The sum at stake was chickenfeed, and blame for the whole affair could be conveniently placed on

Cindy Yu Cindy Yu

Is Keir Starmer turning into Rishi Sunak?

11 min listen

The government is trailing a major policy speech ahead of Thursday, in which the Prime Minister will set out key ‘milestones’ that he wants to hit, in terms of healthcare, living standards, the climate and so on. It’s all sounding a little like a previous prime minister… Cindy Yu talks to Katy Balls and James Heale about the opportunities and perils in setting public targets. Produced by Cindy Yu.

Jonathan Sacerdoti

The Oxford Union has disgraced itself

The chamber of the Oxford Union, that once-proud institution, has been breached by the forces of bigotry, hatred, and mob rule. Invited to speak against an anti-Israel motion, I attended with three colleagues, each bringing unique expertise and experience to the room. But what unfolded on Thursday night was not a debate at all. It was an assault on the very principles the Union once claimed to uphold, presided over by organisers who behaved more like a mafia than custodians of an august society dedicated to free speech. This was an extremist mob dressed up like a wolf in black tie The motion for debate was itself a grotesque provocation: “This

Simon Cook Simon Cook

How does the NHS tackle eight million missed appointments?

One of the perennial scapegoats of the NHS is the patient who doesn’t turn up for their GP appointment. The headlines write themselves: millions of pounds wasted and other patients can’t get seen. But while missed GP visits have become a symbol of inefficiency, a far bigger – and often overlooked – problem lies within our hospitals. Every day, there are more than 300,000 outpatient appointments at hospitals, from MRI and breast scans to plaster casts and blood tests. And every day, 20,000 patients don’t turn up. On the surface the data looks like a success story for the NHS, with the percentage of appointments that patients miss gently falling over the last

Ross Clark Ross Clark

Tony Blair is wrong to love nuclear energy

Towards the end of his time in office, Tony Blair came over all nuclear. A new generation of atomic energy plants, he told a CBI conference in 2006, would provide Britain with clean, carbon-free energy as well as boost national energy security. He didn’t last long enough in Downing Street to see it through, but this week he is banging the drum for nuclear energy again. The Tony Blair Institute for Global Change has published a polemic, A New Nuclear Age, which dismisses fears over safety and cost to propose that Britain once more plunges headlong into new nuclear plants. ‘Public perception of the risk of nuclear power is not

Freddy Gray Freddy Gray

Joe Biden was always going to pardon Hunter

Joe Biden’s whole presidency has been built on untruths. We were led to believe, for instance, that since 2021 the Commander-in-Chief has been fit and well enough to serve, when everybody could see that he was not.  So the latest proof-of-dishonesty over the pardoning of Hunter Biden comes as no great surprise. Of course, Joe was going to grant clemency to his errant and only living son. He just pretended he wouldn’t all year for electoral reasons. The maudlin love of the father used to dress up the presidential deceit ‘I believe in the justice system,’ said the president in a statement. ‘But as I have wrestled with this, I also believe