Politics

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

Friday

3 May 2024

Reform is a busted flush without Nigel Farage

Any insurgent political party needs a breakthrough moment. For the SNP, it was Winnie Ewing’s victory in the 1967 Hamilton by-election. For the SDP, it was Glasgow Hillhead in 1982. For Ukip, their success in the 2004 European Parliament elections was the moment the mainstream parties sat up and took notice. For Reform UK, such a moment should have occurred in the small hours of this morning. Except it didn’t. In truth, many voters remain unaware of Reform The Blackpool South by-election was seemingly tailor-made for Richard Tice’s party. The town is classic Red Wall territory. The previous incumbent, Conservative Scott Benton, had resigned in disgrace, and you’d think Keir

Isabel Hardman

Tories aren’t panicking – they expected a drubbing

Unsurprisingly, the overnight results from the local elections have been very bruising for the Conservatives. Local election results day is often quite formulaic, though, given there are always predictions of a ‘bloodbath’ for one party or the other for months ahead of polling day. This means that the losses can be priced in to the political narrative, and the spinners for the most damaged party can highlight surprising results. This morning, the Tories are putting great store by holding onto Harlow, which Keir Starmer visited twice during the campaign. They are also relieved to have only come second, rather than third, in Blackpool South, given how hard Reform campaigned in

Steerpike

Tory MP calls for Boris to return amid election losses

Election results are coming in thick and fast – and the bad news is piling up for Rishi Sunak. Labour beat the Tories in the Blackpool by-election and Sunak’s party lost 130 seats in councils around England. Although Sunak allies like transport secretary Mark Harper insist that it’s too early to make judgement calls, the picture is undeniably bleak. Inevitably, some Tories are turning on the Prime Minister. A rather frustrated Tim Montgomerie, veteran Tory commentator and founder of ConservativeHome, told the BBC this morning the ‘results are so bad’ that Sunak ‘should go’. He then took to Twitter to vent that ‘things are getting worse rather than better under

James Heale

How big is Labour’s Gaza backlash?

From Hartlepool in the red wall to true blue Rushmoor, Labour has made gains across the country. But as Keir Stramer chalks up the wins, he also confronts some setbacks. Oldham council has fallen to no overall control due to the election of seven new independents – and the conflict in the Middle East is emerging as a theme. One in four Oldham residents is Muslim, with many protesting against Labour’s support for Israel since October. ‘In some parts of the borough, it’s the Gaza issue that may lose them the seat,’ one outgoing Labour councillor told local journalists. The Manchester Evening News is also citing it as a reason

Patrick West

Did Stephen Fry join the Garrick by mistake?

The battle over sexism and equality at the Garrick Club continues to rumble on. It was revealed yesterday that several of its members, including Stephen Fry, Sting, and Dire Straits frontman, Mark Knopfler, had put their name to a letter threatening to quit the Garrick unless members vote to admit women. They have been joined by luminaries from the world of theatre, film and television, who had been warned that they were in an untenable position because of a ‘very public controversy’ over the issue. The broadcaster John Simpson pronounced on X yesterday that he and many others ‘would also find it impossible to stay’ if the club didn’t open its doors to women. This is the luvvie-spat

Steerpike

Labour keeps the spirit of Karl Marx alive

Purging the left has been one of Keir Starmer’s main goals since his election as leader four years ago. His team has taken the whip off Jeremy Corbyn, junked much of the party’s 2019 manifesto and moved to block left-wingers on Labour’s National Executive Committee as part of their bid to show that the party has truly changed – honest! But how true is that really, eh? Mr S was amused to discover that among the dozens of Labour councillors elected this morning was one Karl Peter Marx Wardlaw. Yes, it’s official: getting Karl Marx into office is official Labour policy. Wardlaw was elected to represent Brinnington and Stockport Central

Ross Clark

The local elections have not left the Tories in crisis – yet

The Conservatives have, as predicted, had a pretty awful night, but is there any comfort they can draw from the local election results? True, the next general election now seems to be lost – the public has simply made up its mind that the Tories have been in power for too long and that it is time for a change. But if you are a Conservative strategist peering through a pair of rose-tinted spectacles this is what you might see. Firstly, the Tory party has clung onto Harlow council – a town which was so much in Labour’s crosshairs that it was one of Keir Starmer’s final points of call

Oscar Edmondson

Labour triumphs in Blackpool as Tories suffer heavy losses

14 min listen

It’s looking like the worst night for the Conservatives in 40 years. The prediction – that the Tories will lose about half of the council seats they are defending – looks on track so far. Labour comfortably won the Blackpool South by-election with a 26 per cent swing and it has also taken several key councils, including Rushmoor which has been Tory-run for the last 24 years. A Gaza backlash has seen Labour lose Oldham while the Conservatives have suffered a string of council losses, coming within 120 votes being beaten by Reform in Blackpool. Oscar Edmondson speaks to Katy Balls and Fraser Nelson. Produced by Oscar Edmondson.

James Heale

Harlow offers a rare bright spot for the Tories

It is a thankless morning for Tories on the media round. Faced with the loss of half of their council seats, ministers are resorting to the time-honoured tactic of talking up favourable results as offering useful national lessons. This trick was pioneered by Kenneth Baker, who as Mrs Thatcher’s party chair successfully sold the post-Poll Tax elections of 1990 as a good night, based on the exceptional results of Westminster and Wandsworth. This time, Harlow is CCHQ’s favourite local council, with the Tories winning 17 of the available 33 seats therem and Labour one shy on 16. It is clear from results elsewhere that Harlow is an exception, and not

Patrick O’Flynn

The local election results hold few crumbs of comfort for Sunak

Given the universal forecasts of the Tories taking a proper pasting in yesterday’s elections, it is quite something for Rishi Sunak’s party to have done worse than expected. But a truly dismal result in the Blackpool South parliamentary by-election, coupled with early council results indicating the party could end up losing half of the thousand or so seats it was defending, show that Sunak has managed to do just that. In Blackpool, the Conservatives picked up just 3,218 votes, compared to 16,247 at the 2019 general election. Labour took the seat with 10,825 votes, compared to the 12,557 it lost with in 2019. Is it a crumb of comfort that

Steerpike

Watch: Tories are ‘socialists’, claims Tice

It’s only the beginning of a long weekend of election results, but so far so bad for Rishi Sunak’s Tory party. Even the veteran Tory commentator Tim Montgomerie has had enough, telling the BBC that the ‘results are so bad’ that Sunak ‘should go’. Meanwhile polling guru John Curtice predicts this weekend’s results will be ‘one of the worst, if not the worst, Conservative performances in local government elections for the last 40 years’. Ouch. And now, to add insult to injury, the Tories came a distant second to Labour in Blackpool South’s constituency by-election — only 117 votes ahead of Reform UK. Talk about being hit where it hurts…

Michael Simmons

Who won the local elections? Results in maps and charts

Counting is nearly complete across England and Wales and the picture in the local elections is clear: Tory losses and a red wave. Thursday saw 103 English councils go to the polls with ten mayoral races and dozens of police and crime commissioner positions up for grabs too. The by-election in Blackpool saw a huge swing to Labour but the real story of the night is Reform coming within 100 votes of the Conservatives. Here’s the national picture so far: It's notoriously difficult to extrapolate a national result from local elections but Professor John Curtice has had a go for the BBC. They estimate that had the whole country gone

Steerpike

‘You’d be toast’: Ashworth taunts Gullis over elections

Oh dear. As local election results start to trickle in, it’s not looking good for the Conservatives, with Rishi Sunak’s party losing councillors in Leave-voting areas like Hartlepool and Thurrock. And from the early morning media appearances, it sounds like some of the Starmer army are really rather enjoying revelling in today’s Tory misfortune… Appearing on the BBC early this morning was Jonathan Ashworth, the Shadow Paymaster General, who was sporting a new pair of Ronnie Corbett-style spectacles. He was up against his Conservative counterpart Jonathan Gullis, the Tory attack dog who sits for Stoke-on-Trent-North. With Labour boasting a 16 per cent swing, Gullis and his majority of just 6,286

Coffee House

Local elections 2024: Labour win over 730 seats

Labour has won the Blackpool by-election as the Tory party also performed badly in local election results overnight, losing 280 seats so far. Here are the results: Labour: 736 seats (+115) Tories: 283 seats (-280) Liberal Democrats: 242 seats (+43) Green: 77 seats (+35) Reform: 0 seats Some Tories will be breathing a sigh of relief not to have beaten into third place in Blackpool by Richard Tice’s party. Ben Houchen’s re-election for a third term as Tees Valley mayor will also have calmed some nerves. But there are few other glimmers of hope. Keir Starmer has won key bellwether councils, such as Redditch, Thurrock and Hartlepool suggesting that Labour is

Katy Balls

Labour triumphs in Blackpool as Tories suffer heavy losses

Keir Starmer is celebrating significant gains in the local elections as the Tories attempt to put a gloss on a night of tricky losses. The prediction – that the Tories will lose about half of the council seats they’re defending – looks on track so far. Labour comfortably won the Blackpool South by-election with a 26 per cent swing and it has also taken several key councils, including Rushmoor which has been Tory-run for the last 24 years. A Gaza backlash has seen Labour lose Oldham while the Conservatives have suffered a string of council losses, coming within 120 votes being beaten by Reform in Blackpool. This may be a

Thursday

2 May 2024

Steerpike

Boris Johnson forgets his ID to vote

With millions of voters heading to the polls today, how many will forget to bring along suitable photo ID? One of the more noteworthy, it seems, is, er, Boris Johnson who was reportedly turned away from a polling station earlier today after failing to bring acceptable identification. According to Sky News, which broke the story: Polling station staff were forced to turn the former prime minister away after he initially failed to comply with legislation he introduced while he was in Downing Street. Mr Johnson, who introduced the Elections Act requiring photo ID in 2022, was attempting to cast his ballot in South Oxfordshire, where a police and crime commissioner

Lara Prendergast

Survival plan: is Rishi ready for the rebels?

34 min listen

This week: Survival plan: is Rishi ready for the rebels? Ever since his election, Rishi Sunak has been preparing for this weekend – where the most likely scenario is that dire local election results are slow-released, leaving him at a moment of maximum vulnerability. He has his defences ready against his regicidal party, says Katy Balls: the Rwanda plan, a welfare reform agenda and a 4p NI cut (with hints of 2p more to come). And while the rebels have a (published) agenda they do not – yet – have a candidate. Katy joins the podcast alongside Stephen Bush, associate editor of the Financial Times. (02:12) Next: Lara and Gus take

Stephen Daisley

Holyrood needs Kate Forbes

There are a number of very good reasons that Kate Forbes is not standing for SNP leader. Chief amongst them is that she’d lose again. John Swinney is not Humza Yousaf. He has been an MP or MSP continuously since 1997, led the party through four difficult years in the early 2000s, and spent seven years as Alex Salmond’s right-hand man then eight at the side of Nicola Sturgeon. He is liked across the factions and respected for his decades of service to the party. There is probably no one who could beat him. Another calculation that Forbes will have considered is that her party is careening towards a general

Gavin Mortimer

Von der Leyen can’t buy her way out of the migrant crisis

Elections have a wonderful way of focusing a politician’s mind. So it is with Rishi Sunak and the Tories, who are hoping their Rwanda Bill will be their salvation come the general election. In Brussels, the EU also knows that the migrant crisis will be a significant factor in deciding the outcome of Europe’s elections next month. The omens, or rather, the polls aren’t good. The EU is bracing itself for what it describes as a ‘sharp right turn’ next month The EU is bracing itself for what it describes as a ‘sharp right turn’ next month. Certainly, the polls in France and Holland, to name but two of the

Philip Patrick

Japan won’t forgive Joe Biden for his xenophobia gaffe

Joe Biden just threw a particularly nasty insult the way of Japan, a close ally of the United States, at a campaign event. The president accused the Japanese, along with China, Russia, and India, of being ‘xenophobic’ in their reluctance to admit large numbers of immigrants, and of damaging their economies as a consequence: ‘Why is China stalling so badly economically, why is Japan having trouble, why is Russia, why is India, because they’re xenophobic. They don’t want immigrants. Immigrants are what make us strong,’ he told a Washington fundraiser on Wednesday. The insult is being especially keenly felt over here in Tokyo The insult is being especially keenly felt