Politics

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

Saturday

27 Apr 2024

Tory MP Dan Poulter defects to Labour

Rishi Sunak’s good week in politics just came to an end. Buoyed by a successful defence spending announcement and the passage of the Rwanda Bill, there had been rumours that the run-up to Thursday’s local elections would see the announcement of the general election date. But in a shock move, Tory backbencher Dan Poulter this afternoon announced that he is defecting to Labour, citing the depleted state of the health service. The MP for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich previously said he was standing down at the next election but will now sit for the Labour party until parliament is dissolved. In an interview with the BBC, the former health

Steerpike

Humza Yousaf’s five worst moments as First Minister

Scotland’s beleaguered First Minister Humza Yousaf is reportedly considering his position this morning, despite insisting on Friday that he would not resign from the post and intended ‘to win the vote of no confidence’. Hapless Yousaf made his bed on Wednesday morning by U-turning on the Bute House Agreement and ditching his coalition partners – after first U-turning on a key government climate target. Has he been swapping notes with Sir Keir Starmer? The First Minister left in his wake a rather furious septet of eco-activists who now plan to form an unlikely alliance with the Tories, backing Douglas Ross’s no confidence motion in Yousaf. Meanwhile, the Scottish Labour party

Ian Williams

Why was Blinken’s China visit so underwhelming?

It had been billed as an electrifying encounter – the US Secretary of State preparing to confront Beijing with a catalogue of global misdemeanours, ranging from stepped up support for Russian aggression against Ukraine to the intimidation of ships in the South China Sea belonging to US treaty ally, the Philippines, and the systematic breaking of world trade rules by flooding the market with heavily subsidised electric vehicles (EVs) and other renewable tech. ‘Russia would struggle to sustain its assault on Ukraine without China’s support,’ Antony Blinken said on Friday, at the end of a three-day trip that included meetings with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi and with President Xi

Katy Balls

Can Starmer do patriotism?

13 min listen

It was St George’s Day this week, and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said he has ‘no time’ for those who ‘flinch’ at the St George’s flag. But how authentic is his patriotism? Katy Balls speaks to Tom Baldwin, former Labour Party adviser and author of new book England: Seven Myths That Changed a Country – and How to Set Them Straight. Produced by Megan McElroy.

Lionel Shriver

Douglas Murray, Lionel Shriver, Mark Mason and Graeme Thomson

29 min listen

On this week’s Spectator Out Loud: reporting from St Helena, Douglas Murray reflects on the inhabitants he has met and the history of the British Overseas Territory (1:12); Lionel Shriver opines on the debate around transgender care (9:08); following a boyhood dream to visit the country to watch cricket, Mark Mason reads his letter from India as he travels with his son (17:54); and, Graeme Thomson reviews Taylor Swift’s new album (22:41). Produced and presented by Patrick Gibbons.

Patrick O’Flynn

Whisper it, but Rishi Sunak has had a good week

If you have been doing as badly as Rishi Sunak has as prime minister, then it doesn’t take much to register a notable improvement. Yet there is no point in his detractors denying that over the past week he has done just that. First, he got stuck into the issue of Britain’s burgeoning ‘sick note culture’. Left-wing brickbats predictably followed. Lib Dem leader Ed Davey accused him of ‘attempting to blame the British people for his own government’s failures’, while Labour’s Matthew Pennycook complained that he was pursuing a ‘cheap headline’. But headlines are headlines and if they are cheap then so much the better in these cash-strapped days. Most

Michael Evans

How Ukraine will use American aid

The Kyiv government will need to rush to make use of the new batch of American weapons coming to Ukraine. With the much-delayed aid available at last, Ukraine will have to build up its defences to withstand a Russian offensive in the summer, and make enough headway to prove to the US – and in particular a sceptical Donald Trump – that all this taxpayers’ money is being well spent. US officials say the objectives have not changed. But there is less talk of victory for Kyiv But whether the money and weapons will buy victory for Kyiv remains doubtful. Russia’s invading force has been making limited but steady territorial

Friday

26 Apr 2024

Steerpike

Listen: Scottish Green MSP sobs on radio over coalition collapse

If the Scottish Greens are good at anything, it’s making every issue about themselves. While the First Minister of Scotland faces two votes of no confidence next week — one in his own leadership and another in the SNP government — his party’s former coalition partners continue to vent their anger at the breakdown of the Bute House Agreement on the airwaves. As though a scorned lover, Patrick Harvie’s barmy army has used most of the last 36 hours to release embittered statements about their abrupt exit from government. After Yousaf tore apart the coalition deal on Thursday morning, Scottish Green co-leader Lorna Slater told reporters that hapless Humza’s decision

Alexander Larman

The King’s improving health is a relief for the country

Today it was announced that, after a very positive response to his treatment for cancer, King Charles will resume public-facing duties next week. The statement went on to say that both he and the Queen will be making a joint visit to a cancer treatment centre next Tuesday, in a conscious nod to the help that he has been receiving over the most recent months in his illness. He will also be hosting the Emperor and Empress of Japan for a state visit in June, all being well. It concluded that ‘as the first anniversary of the coronation approaches, Their Majesties remain deeply grateful for the many kindnesses and good

Stephen Daisley

Sadiq Khan should be ashamed of his attack on the Chief Rabbi

A while back, Lee Anderson got himself into trouble for claiming Islamists had ‘got control’ of Sadiq Khan. Levelling said charge at London’s Mayor was said to be ‘Islamophobic’ but surely more important is that it was wrong. Khan is neither an Islamist nor under their sway. He is a standard-issue identity-politics progressive, and with that comes a toxic farrago of communalism, victimhood narratives and offence opportunism. It is Khan’s identity-politics progressivism that was on display when he implied that comments by Sir Ephraim Mirvis were motivated by anti-Muslim prejudice. In the space of just 130 words, Khan manages to find offence and wallow in imagined victimhood The row originates

Lisa Haseldine

Germany’s AfD has become its own worst enemy

As the German AfD’s European election campaign kicks off tomorrow, the far-right party’s leadership could be forgiven for counting down to polling day in June with dread. This campaign launch marks the end of a torrid fortnight for the party that is threatening to jeopardise the AfD’s future in Brussels. Two of the party’s top politicians have been embroiled in foreign influence scandals that have plunged the party into crisis. On 19 April, Der Spiegel reported that Petr Bystron, the AfD’s second-choice party list candidate at the European elections, was caught in a sting operation receiving ‘small packages’ of money from a Russian businessman who managed a now-sanctioned Kremlin-backed propaganda

Rory Cormac

How to stop China spying on our universities

Our universities are not safe from the messy realities of spies and geopolitical competition. The most infamous Soviet spy ring in history – the Cambridge Five – was recruited from, obviously, Cambridge University, back in the 1930s. Kim Philby and co. went on to share all sorts of damaging secret information with Britain’s Cold War adversary. There is an obvious solution The threat has evolved, and hostile states like China are now targeting academia to steal sensitive research from the UK’s world class universities. UK-based scholars are at the cutting edge of research into things like artificial intelligence, advanced robotics, and synthetic biology, all of which can be dual use –

Lucy Dunn

Can Humza Yousaf hang on?

11 min listen

Humza Yousaf faces the biggest crisis of his leadership to date – with his fate in the hands of former SNP leadership rival Ash Regan. Will Humza step down before he is pushed? Or is there a narrow gap through which the First Minister can fight on? Lucy Dunn speaks to Fraser Nelson and Katy Balls.

Steerpike

Khan grovels for Chief Rabbi jibe

Dogs bark, cows moo and Sadiq Khan puts his foot in it again. With a week to go until polling day in the capital, you might have thought that the Mayor of London would try to avoid any bad headlines. But there he is, giving another ill-judged interview to Mehdi Hasan. In it, the Mayor implied that the Chief Rabbi’s criticism of Khan’s call for a Gaza ceasefire was influenced by his Muslim-sounding name. Quite the claim to throw around… Khan told Hasan he was ‘disappointed’ when Jewish leaders and ‘friends’ including Ephraim Mirvis condemned his decision to speak out on Gaza, while a similar ceasefire call by Manchester Metro mayor Andy Burnham was ignored.

Kate Andrews

Labour’s plan to renationalise the railways doesn’t add up

Labour’s plan to renationalise the railways is not much of a plan at all. Rather, it is a list of goals: to eliminate ‘fragmentation, waste, bureaucracy’, to ‘bring down costs for taxpayers’ and to ‘drive-up standards for passengers’. All lofty ambitions, all lacking a strategy. What little detail we do have points to significantly more bureaucracy. The party plans to set up two more quangos – Great British Railways and the Passenger Standards Authority – which are unlikely to do much to create the more ‘efficient’ system Labour is promising passengers. Still, the announcement has been popular. And it is likely to stay popular until commuters are forced to reckon

Katy Balls

Can Humza Yousaf hang on?

Humza Yousaf is facing the biggest crisis of his leadership after the First Minister axed his party’s power-sharing deal with the Scottish Greens. Since that decision on Thursday morning, events have spiralled in a way that few in the SNP believe Yousaf was prepared for. The SNP leader has this morning cancelled a speech he was due to give at Strathclyde University on independence. It comes as reports swirl that he is considering his position. An imminent election is still only a remote prospect As things stand, Yousaf is due to face a vote of no confidence in his leadership next week. In a blow to his standing last night,

Michael Murphy

Ireland can’t blame the Rwanda plan for its immigration woes

‘When in doubt, blame Britain’ has, since Brexit, become something of an iron law of Irish politics. So it came as no surprise yesterday to see Michael Martin, Ireland’s deputy prime minister, attribute Ireland’s mounting migration crisis to Britain’s Rwanda scheme. There’s an obvious appeal for the Irish government to blame the Rwanda scheme, when it is under fire over its poorly handled migration policy ‘It is having a real impact on Ireland now in terms of people being fearful in the UK,’ Mr Martin said, adding: ‘maybe that’s the impact it was designed to have.’ Mr Martin claims that migrants are fleeing to Ireland from the UK to avoid being deported

Gavin Mortimer

A tide of Euroscepticism is sweeping France

Britons should be fearful of Tony Blair’s call to the Labour party to ‘reset’ relations with the EU. The former prime minister has advised Keir Starmer that if he wins the general election he must build a closer political partnership with Brussels. Blair told the Sunday Times this was vital in order for the UK to once more be part of ‘the big political union on our own continent’. In France, there is a growing suspicion that the EU is on the brink of what Blair, and his Gallic protegee, Emmanuel Macron, have long dreamed of: a United States of Europe. This is a significant volte-face by the centre-right Le Figaro

Katy Balls

How can Britain back women-led businesses?

28 min listen

Young, female entrepreneurship is on the rise. Two years ago, 17,500 businesses were founded by women aged 16-25, which is 22 times greater than in 2018. Now, 20 per cent of all businesses across the UK are all-female-led. Yet, when it comes to investment, women consistently underperform their male counterparts. Why? And should more be done to support female entrepreneurs? To shine a light on some of these issues is Anneliese Dodds MP, the Shadow Secretary of State for Women and Equalities, and Chair of the Labour Party, Jo Overton, the Managing Director for Customer Propositions and Strategy for Business Commercial Banking at Lloyds Banking Group, and Eccie Newton, the

Iain Macwhirter

How Humza Yousaf could survive

Did Humza Yousaf think it through? When he decided, late on Wednesday night, to pull the plug on the Green-SNP coalition arrangement, did he game-out the consequences? That is the question political Scotland is asking this morning as Yousaf’s job hangs, by common agreement, in the balance 24 hours after he unilaterally ended the Bute House cooperation agreement. So Humza Yousaf could possibly live to fight another day Did he consider the possibility that, by dumping his Green coalition partners so abruptly, he was likely to hand the fate of his administration, effectively, to Alex Salmond, leader of the breakaway Alba party and one of his greatest political foes? For that seems