Politics

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

Saturday

Michael Evans

American diplomacy might not stop a Middle East war

On the face of it, the assassination of Hamas leader Ismael Haniyeh in Tehran on 31 July was a brilliant, opportunistic strike by one of the world’s most dedicated and fearless intelligence services. The presumed targeting by Mossad, however, has disrupted negotiations to bring a ceasefire to Gaza and the release of more Israeli hostages, has provoked a sharp telephone call between President Biden and Benjamin Netanyahu, and has inflamed the Middle East to such a dangerous level that a full-scale war cannot be ruled out. It’s a deja vu crisis Much is being made of the urgent diplomatic efforts underway to try and persuade Iran, now with a new

Phillips O'Brien

Franklin Roosevelt was made in world war one

Many of those around Franklin Roosevelt were puking their guts out – but he could not have been happier. It was July 1918 and Roosevelt was crossing the Atlantic on his way to Europe on an official trip as assistant secretary of the Navy. Apart from rather forlorn attempts to sleep while the USS Dyer bobbed up and down in the deep North Atlantic swell, Roosevelt revelled in everything he experienced. Roosevelt loved being at sea and he had chosen, deliberately, to travel in a destroyer, the small nimble vessels that did much of the fleet’s dirty work. The destroyer he was on was newly constructed and manned with a

Daniel Thorpe

Will Erdogan go on and on?

Today marks ten years since Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was elected president. There will be no celebrations, and Turkish media may make little mention of the anniversary. The date is an important milestone, nonetheless, in Erdoğan’s remarkable career as Turkey’s most successful modern leader since the father of the nation, Kemal Atatürk. In the past ten years, Erdoğan overcame illness, a coup, social unrest and the hostility of several world powers to consolidate his iron grip on the country. Before the 2014 election, the presidency was mostly a ceremonial role. Erdoğan came to power as prime minister in parliamentary elections in 2002 as head of the AK party. The shift did

Friday

Philip Patrick Philip Patrick

Nagasaki shouldn’t have snubbed Israel from its A-bomb ceremony

Nagasaki’s Peace Park held a ceremony today to mark the 79th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on the city (which killed 74,000 people). It was a sombre and moving occasion, as it always is, and one usually attended by high level representatives of all nations. This year was different though: the ambassadors of the UK, US and Israel were elsewhere, holding their own memorial at a Buddhist temple in Tokyo, 750 miles away. Nothing spooks the Japanese as much as disorder The reason is an unseemly row over the withdrawal of an invitation to Israel, by the mayor of Nagasaki Shiro Suzuki, apparently over fears of potential

Steerpike Steerpike

Man handed 20-month jail sentence for stirring up hate on Facebook

And there we have it: the first person to be charged with intending to stir up racial hatred online has now been jailed for 20 months. 28-year-old Jordan Parlour pleaded guilty to charges put to him at Leeds magistrates’ court on Tuesday, confessing in court to having taken to Facebook during the recent unrest to rile up rioters. His own city Leeds saw approximately 400 people turn out last weekend and cause chaos on the streets – with a local hotel manager having to put his business into lockdown after rioters pelted it with stones and smashed windows. Good heavens… But while the court heard Parlour was at home at

Lucy Dunn

Keir vs Elon: round II

14 min listen

Elon Musk has it in for the Labour government, his latest tweet screenshotting a racist comment Labour MP Lauren Edwards made over a decade ago. On this episode, Lucy Dunn talks to Katy Balls and John McTernan about whether Big Tech can be regulated, and how DSIT Secretary Peter Kyle thinks the government should treat tech tycoons. Produced by Oscar Edmondson and Cindy Yu.

Stephen Daisley Stephen Daisley

The oldest hatred is thriving in Britain

Britain’s antisemitism problem continues to grow. A report from the Community Security Trust (CST), a charity that monitors racist attacks and abuse against British Jews, documents 1,978 incidents in the first six months of 2024. That is the highest figure ever recorded for the first half of any year and a 105 per cent increase on the same period in 2023. It is no coincidence that this comes after the October 7 attack, in which Palestinian terrorists invaded Israel, killed 1,200 people, raped women and took 250 hostages. As the CST noted in a previous report, October 7 occasioned an outbreak of antisemitic activity in the UK long before any

Lisa Haseldine Lisa Haseldine

Ukraine’s Kursk offensive is a disaster for Putin

It’s four days into Ukraine’s surprise offensive in the Russian region of Kursk and Moscow is only just sending reinforcements to repel the advance. Multiple launch rocket systems, artillery guns and armoured vehicles – which were probably redeployed from other parts of the front line – have been sent to shore up defences, according to the Russian ministry of defence. The delayed response has reportedly allowed Ukrainian forces to advance as far as 10 kilometres inside Russia’s territory, forcing Moscow to declare a ‘federal emergency’ in the region and tell several thousand of civilians from districts around the town of Sudzha to relocate. It’s the deepest cross-border advance by Kyiv

Patrick O’Flynn Patrick O'Flynn

Migration figures are falling – but the crisis is far from over

Ok folks, the show is over and there’s nothing left to see: that traditional refrain of an American police officer at the scene of an on-street drama is being repurposed for Britain’s immigration debate. Official figures out today show a significant downward trend in visa applications for work and study – and especially for bringing in dependants after a tightening of the rules at the fag end of the last Conservative administration.  Sponsored study visa applications fell by 16 per cent in the first half of this year compared to the same period last year, while applications to bring in dependants plunged by a massive 81 per cent. Applications for

Steerpike Steerpike

Beeb asks Huw Edwards to pay back £200,000 from salary

Back to the Huw Edwards scandal, where the disgraced ex-BBC presenter is facing more trouble. Last week, the former TV star pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children at Westminster magistrates’ court. Edwards had 41 indecent images of children, which had been sent to him by another man on WhatsApp. At the same time, it emerged that the presenter last year received a £40,000 pay rise despite not working for most of those 12 months. Now it transpires that the Beeb wants its money back. The public service broadcaster has asked Edwards to return the six-figure salary he was paid after being arrested last November for

Michael Simmons Michael Simmons

Why is the pound falling?

Is America about to enter a recession and take the world with it? Yesterday the pound was on track for its longest losing streak in a year as markets once again began to fear a US recession. The week started with what looked like the bursting of a tech bubble. Japan’s Nikkei dropped by 12 per cent in a day – its largest fall since Black Monday nearly four decades ago. But by Tuesday morning, stocks had recovered 10 per cent and markets looked to be steadying while the jittery hands of investors began to hold firm. Are we out of the woods? Not quite. A leading Wall Street Bank

Steerpike Steerpike

Elon Musk’s battle with Labour continues

As if the new Labour government doesn’t already have its work cut out trying to get a handle on riots breaking out across the UK, it is also engaged in an ongoing fight with Elon Musk. The US entrepreneur appears to have taken a rather lot of interest in Britain this week – and he’s not pulling any punches when it comes to Starmer’s army. Wading into the ‘two tier policing’ argument, Musk started tagging Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Twitter, blasting him as ‘#TwoTierKeir’ and suggesting that the UK government is overstepping in its criticism of those who incite violence online. ‘Is this Britain or the Soviet Union?’ he

Andrew Liddle

The SNP still has no ‘plan B’ for Scotland’s economy

Scottish independence has always been economic lunacy, but rarely has that reality been exposed as well as by Alistair Darling. Ten years ago this week, the Better Together chief faced off against the then SNP leader Alex Salmond, quizzing the former first minister about what he would do if the UK government refused to let Scotland use the pound post-secession. A decade on, it is striking how the SNP has failed to learn from that ruthless exchange – and still has no ‘Plan B’ for Scotland’s economy. Extraordinarily, the SNP’s position on currency has not evolved in any meaningful way since Darling challenged Salmond over it ten years prior. Taking

Terry Barnes

The everyman immortality of Jack Karlson

Jack Karlson, whose death this week aged 82 has been reported in Britain and around the world, was an Australian small-time crook, prison escaper and colourful character who had a tough and difficult life. He was also, however, the reluctant star of a 1991 TV news report that later became an internet sensation. Back then, Karlson was having a bite to eat in a local Chinese café in suburban Brisbane, when, like Monty Python’s Spanish inquisition, a posse of Queensland police suddenly and unexpectedly swooped to arrest him. Thanks to a tip-off to a journalist, it was all captured on camera. Imagine a stubbled Brian Blessed in a half-buttoned polyester

Lloyd Evans Lloyd Evans

What Liz Truss must learn from Humza Yousaf

Hats off to Humza Yousaf. He knows how give a straight answer. At the Edinburgh fringe, he was quizzed by Matthew Stadlen who asked if he took responsibility for the chaos that led to his resignation as Scotland’s first minister.  ‘I frankly f***ed up,’ admits Yousaf. Warm applause greeted this confession, and Stadlen compared his honesty with the more equivocal approach of Liz Truss. ‘It upsets a lot of people,’ said Yousaf, ‘that she’s unable to utter a syllable of contrition. She blames the markets, the Bank of England, and the deep state. We need fewer Liz Truss’s.’ Yousaf argued that the far right are complaining about a migrant crisis

Francis Vorhies

Labour’s trophy hunting ban is confused

Labour’s election manifesto promised to ban the importation of hunting trophies. This is part of a campaign spearheaded by animal rights activists in Britain. It is well-intentioned, and driven by a wish to protect endangered species. But it just happens to be entirely counterproductive. Trophy hunting, when properly managed, supports wildlife conservation. It generates revenue for habitat protection and anti-poaching efforts, makes people want to protect wildlife and supports local communities. In fact, most trophies are imported from countries with stable populations of hunted species, including South Africa, Namibia, and Zambia. It is condescending for rich British activists to tell African countries how they are meant to manage conservation and

Jim Lawley

Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont escapes arrest – again

There was something fitting about the name of the thoroughfare in which Carles Puigdemont was welcomed back to Barcelona on Thursday. Cheering supporters lined el Passeig de Lluis Companys as the former president of Catalonia arrived back in the city after almost seven years of self-imposed exile. In 1939, seeing that General Franco’s troops were about to enter Barcelona, Companys, another former president of Catalonia, fled to France. Captured near Nantes by the Gestapo, he was returned to Spain where he endured five weeks of torture. A court martial lasting less than an hour then sentenced him to death. Refusing to wear a blindfold, Companys stood barefoot before the firing

Alex Klaushofer

The truth about two-tier policing in Britain

Does Britain have a two-tier policing system? Accusations that some protesters are treated differently to others have emerged in the wake of this week’s riots and the various counter-protests that have taken place. But while the blame is being directed at Sir Keir Starmer – with Elon Musk tweeting about ‘two-tier Keir’ – questions over the police’s handling of protests must not solely be directed at Britain’s current Prime Minister. Since 2020, I’ve harboured an uncomfortable feeling about the way protests are dealt with – and a sense that something is wrong. The policing of protests holds up a mirror to society That year, as lockdown elided into rafts of

Thursday

Lucy Dunn

How the Tory candidates have responded to the riots

12 min listen

The last week has been dominated by rioting, and last night was expected to be a particularly explosive night. How did it measure up against expectations?  Meanwhile, the Tory leadership race continues to chug along, with each of the six candidates providing their own take on Keir Starmer’s response to the violent disorder. Rishi Sunak has been surprisingly absent. How do you provide effective opposition during a time of civil disobedience? Lucy Dunn speaks to Katy Balls and Paul Goodman, former editor of Conservative Home.  Produced by Cindy Yu and Oscar Edmondson. 

Annabel Denham

Is the ‘motherhood penalty’ really behind the UK’s falling birth rate?

Britain is so beset with immediate problems that major issues, ones which could drastically alter our society and the way we live, are being sidelined. One of these is our plummeting birth rate. The number of deaths in England and Wales could this year exceed the number of births. Our total fertility rate, at 1.49 children per woman and falling, is far below the 2.1 required to sustain population growth. Ultimately, we don’t know how to get people to have more children The economic implications are obvious: in the late 1970s, there were four workers for every dependent person. There are now only three and, all other things being equal,