Politics

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

Thursday

2 May 2024

Steerpike

John Swinney launches SNP leadership bid

Back to Scotland, where the SNP remains in a state of disarray. After hapless Humza Yousaf rather badly mishandled the ditching of the Greens from government, he was forced to announce his resignation when he realised he would lose a confidence vote in his leadership. And now, after a period of 72 hours in which almost all of Yousaf’s cabinet ruled themselves out of the running, one candidate has finally put themselves up for the top job: John Swinney. Deputy first minister under Nicola Sturgeon and onetime SNP leader himself while the party was in opposition, Swinney is quite the veteran Nat. A close confidant of Sturgeon, the current backbencher

Theo Hobson

What does the faith school shake-up mean for Anglicans?

Why do faith schools excite such passions? Obviously people care a lot about religion, and education, but there’s something else at work too. Schools are microcultures, bubbles, little versions of society, in which the secularism of our culture can be shut out, defied. It sounds like a strange exaggeration, but if a religion has its own schools, it has a small but vital link to the old era of its cultural dominance. The shake-up overturns the current rule, that a new faith school can only select half of its pupils on religious grounds Is this why Roman Catholics like Melanie McDonagh are so happy with the government’s decision to allow

Steerpike

Tory members prefer Farage to Sunak

Happy local elections day, one and all. As voters head to the polls across the country, the talk in Westminster is how bad the result is going to be for Rishi Sunak. His party is tipped to lose around 500 councillors, with mayors Andy Street and Ben Houchen among the potential casualties. Faced with the loss of so many seats, it is no surprise that Tory plotters are talking about a leadership challenge. So it is with exquisite timing then that new polling by FindOutNow for Labour Together offers little comfort to the Prime Minister, with his own party activists saying they would prefer a different leader. More than half

Leo McKinstry

It’s time to abolish Police and Crime Commissioners

When the idea of having Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) first arose it seemed so promising. These would be locally elected candidates, tough and charismatic and they’d be given the power needed to transform the country. Bureaucrats have taken control of British policing, said David Cameron at the time, and cops should be dealing with anti-social crime not fining motorists. PCCs were the local heroes who would revive proper policing, and hold bad police to account. At the Conservative conference in 2011, the then Home Secretary, Theresa May, declared that the commissioners would be ‘powerful public figures’ of ‘the highest calibre’ who would ‘make the police truly accountable to the

Tom Goodenough

London deserves better than Sadiq Khan

By any measure, Sadiq Khan deserves to lose the London mayoral election. Khan has been terrible for the capital, yet Londoners are stuck with him. Barring a near miraculous upset by the Tory candidate Susan Hall, Khan will almost certainly win re-election today. Surely one of the world’s great cities deserves better? Instead of going to war on the gangs that plague London’s streets, Khan has picked a softer target: the police Under Khan, London’s streets have become more dangerous and unpleasant. Knife crime is terrifyingly high. Shoplifting is rife. Traffic is dreadful. Pavements have become dumping grounds for unwanted bikes. Housing costs have soared. The ‘nighttime economy’ has collapsed. Jews

Freddy Gray

Why Trumpists think the real conspiracy is RFK Jr

A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. Winston Churchill’s description of Soviet Russia in 1939 could also apply to the independent candidacy of Robert F. Kennedy Jr in the presidential election of 2024. What we can say with certainty about RFK Jr is that, in a year when the American electorate is deeply unhappy about having to choose once again between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, he has the opportunity to win over an enormous number of disgruntled voters. At first glance RFK appears to outflank Trump along the wackier fringes of US politics He’s currently polling at up to 15 per cent. That makes him the biggest

Katy Balls

Survival plan: is Rishi ready for the rebels?

Ever since Rishi Sunak became leader of the Conservative party, he has been preparing for this week. Entering 10 Downing Street without winning a general election or even the Tory membership vote, he owes his position entirely to Conservative MPs. At any moment, they could decide to replace him as they did Boris Johnson. This bank holiday weekend, as the results of the May elections roll in, has always had the potential to be his moment of greatest vulnerability. The results will show how the Tories are performing now compared with the local elections of 2021 when a triumphal 30ft giant-sized Boris balloon in Hartlepool came to symbolise his political

The Spectator

Why Sunak should stay

In the end, the Tories did just as badly as predicted in the local elections. They lost about half of the council seats they were defending as well as ten out of the 11 mayoralties up for election and did not even come close in London. It’s a disaster, but one consistent with the opinion poll picture painted with such devastating regularity over the last year or so. Any Conservative now tempted to depose Rishi Sunak should study the pantomime playing out in Holyrood. The Tory motto, now, is to remember that there is always someone worse off than you are – and that person is usually in the Scottish Parliament.

Wednesday

1 May 2024

Lucy Dunn

Can Ben Houchen save Rishi Sunak?

12 min listen

Tomorrow, voters go to the polls for the last set of local elections in this parliament, alongside 11 mayoral elections in England, 37 police and crime commissioner elections in England and Wales plus the London Assembly elections. Could Ben Houchen, Tees Valley Mayor, help turn Rishi Sunak’s fortunes around? You can read James Heale’s assessment of the key battlegrounds here. Also on the podcast, a look at rumours that Labour are in talks to water down their employment policies. Lucy Dunn speaks to James Heale and John McTernan, former adviser to Tony Blair.

Steerpike

Scotland’s Crown Office still hasn’t received Murrell’s charge sheet

News just in: Scotland’s Crown Office has still not received a report from Police Scotland about the SNP’s former chief executive Peter Murrell — almost a fortnight after he was rearrested and charged with embezzlement. Talk about taking things slowly… The husband of former first minister Nicola Sturgeon was taken into police custody for the second time on 18 April as part of the police probe into SNP finances — and charged with embezzling funds from his own party. Yet two weeks on, there has been little sign of the case progressing. Shortly after the police force announced that it had charged the former SNP chief, it transpired that Murrell

Lloyd Evans

Lindsay Hoyle is a hooligan

How does it feel to wake up and discover that you’re a socialist? We got the answer at PMQs where the TV cameras were trained on Dan Poulter – or ‘Doctor Dan’ as he likes to be called – who recently quit the Tories and joined Labour. But his awakening seems to have poisoned his mood. His cheeks were pale, his eyes lifeless and dull as he glared at his former colleagues across the aisle. There was more absurd behaviour from the SNP’s Stephen Flynn. Why not celebrate with a cheeky smirk? He looked like a man whose knee operation has just been transferred to Wales. And he seems to

Jason M. Brodsky

The Gaza student protestors have emboldened America’s enemies

For the past few weeks, protests have rocked college campuses across the United States over Israel’s war against Hamas. Last night, police raided Columbia University to remove students occupying one of its buildings, while violence has broken out between protesting groups at UCLA in California. It is only when Israel is defending itself against rapists and murderers that there is this degree of frenzied hysteria across universities The pro-Palestine demonstrators portray themselves as defenders of human rights and social justice – viewing Israel through the warped lens of anti-colonialism and intersectionality. But in reality they have been amplifying the messaging of US-sanctioned terrorist organisations like Hamas. These entities have the blood of Americans, Israelis, and Palestinians on

Iain Macwhirter

The war on Kate Forbes

Kate Forbes has yet to throw her hat into the ring for the SNP leadership race, but already the campaign is underway to block her. As in last year’s election, when Forbes ran close against Humza Yousaf, she is being attacked for her religious beliefs and opposition to transgender ideology. Forbes is being portrayed on social media as ‘the candidate for the 19th Century’ The SNP leadership is turning into another ‘witch hunt,’ according to the SNP MP Joanna Cherry. The reason? Forbes has the temerity to be a practicing Christian and a member of the deeply conservative Free Church of Scotland. She says she would not have voted for

Isabel Hardman

Do Tory MPs really believe Rishi Sunak can win the election?

Could Rishi Sunak be about to win the next general election? That suggestion, made at Prime Minister’s Questions today by one of his backbenchers Bill Wiggin, was so unrealistic that the ministers sitting next to Sunak, including Scottish Secretary Alister Jack, couldn’t stop themselves from giggling. Mind you, Wiggin seemed to think that a primary factor in an election victory would be the number of potholes which had been repaired in his own constituency. Scottish Secretary Alister Jack couldn’t stop himself from giggling Wiggin’s question was one of many written with tomorrow’s local and mayoral elections in mind, and was probably more interesting than the exchanges between Sunak and Keir

Steerpike

Scots favour a Kate Forbes premiership

Back to Scotland, where it’s set to be another turbulent day. The SNP continues its slow-motion implosion while leadership frontrunners Kate Forbes and John Swinney ponder about standing for the top job. To add insult to injury, Scottish Labour’s motion of no confidence in the Scottish government will be voted on this afternoon. As the nationalist psychodrama ensues, what exactly do Scots makes of it all? The SNP establishment has hailed former deputy first minister Swinney as its candidate of choice, with Holyrood cabinet ministers and Westminster group leaders coming out to support the Nicola Sturgeon ally. Meanwhile Forbes – onetime rival to First Minister Humza Yousaf in last year’s

Steerpike

Watch: Monty Panesar stumped on George Galloway’s Nato pledge

If you thought the last you’d hear of George Galloway’s Workers Party of Britain would be the Rochdale by-election, you were sadly mistaken. ‘Gorgeous George’s’ group is back in the limelight after former England cricketer, Monty Panesar, announced that he would be the party’s candidate in Ealing Southall at the upcoming general election — even revealing ambitions to one day be Prime Minister. Panesar is just part of an eclectic bunch trying to be recruited by the Workers Party. While Galloway claims he’s held secret talks with several Labour MPs keen to jump ship, it has also been announced today that Craig Murray — the pro-indy blogger jailed for contempt of

Ross Clark

Falling migration might not be something for the Tories to celebrate

The good news for the Conservatives is that immigration is down. It looks as if the net migration figures will not be returning to the 745,000 measured in 2022 in the immediate future. Now the bad news: this decline isn’t so much thanks to a drop in small boat arrivals – although they did fall from 45,774 in 2022 to 29,437 in 2023. It is more to do with a sharp decline in the arrival of skilled workers, especially in the healthcare sector. In the first three months of 2024, the number of visas granted to skilled workers, health and social care workers and students fell to 139,100, from 184,000

Patrick O’Flynn

Rwanda could still be Rishi’s saving grace

There is an old Rowan Atkinson joke about the secret to good comedy timing in which Atkinson says the word ‘timing’ at just the wrong moment. Timing is important in politics too. As Harold Macmillan observed of Anthony Eden’s brief and unhappy premiership: ‘He was trained to win the Derby in 1938. Unfortunately, he was not let out of the starting stalls until 1955.’ Timing is just as crucial when it comes to political stances, too, as it is for personnel matters. When William Hague made his controversial ‘foreign land’ speech in 2001 or when Michael Howard asked the electorate ‘are you thinking what we’re thinking?’ about immigration in 2005,

James Heale

Poll shows Khan’s lead slashed in London

Could Labour really lose London? A new poll out today shows that Sadiq Khan’s lead over Susan Hall is down to just ten points, ahead of the capital’s voters going to the polls tomorrow. The survey from Savanta for the Centre for London gives Khan 42 per cent of the vote, followed by Hall on 32 per cent and then Liberal Democrat candidate Rob Blackie in third with 10 per cent. It points to the race tightening, with Khan’s lead dropping three points since the last Savanta poll. The findings are a striking contrast with a separate YouGov poll which gives Khan a massive 22-point lead. How best to explain

Melanie McDonagh

Why Gillian Keegan is right to scrap the free school cap

The other day a nice Albanian builder came round. He was in an upbeat mood because his son had been admitted to Cardinal Vaughan, a London school for which the optimum Ofsted rating of ‘outstanding’ probably doesn’t suffice. The school has got one of the best heads in England in Paul Stubbings, a choir, the Schola, which is- as excellent as any in the country and a reputation for tough discipline and good pastoral care which draws parents like bees to a jam pot. The upshot is, as the nice builder observed, there were 1,000 applicants for that year’s places. Now, he wasn’t religious himself, from a Muslim family in