Politics

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

Thursday

William Moore William Moore

McMafia: inside the SNP’s secret state

40 min listen

On the podcast: gangsterism or government?  The Covid Inquiry has moved to Scotland and, in his cover story for the magazine, our editor Fraser Nelson looks at the many revelations uncovered by Jamie Dawson KC. Fraser describes how civil servants were enlisted into what he calls an ‘SNP secret state’ and how SNP corruption is threatening devolution. Joining us to discuss is the Coffee House Scots team: Times columnist Iain Macwhirter, The Spectator’s data editor Michael Simmons and The Spectator’s social media editor Lucy Dunn who coordinates our Scotland coverage. (01:26) Also this week:  With the UK army chief raising the prospect of conscription in the event of war with Russia, spare a thought for Germany

James Heale James Heale

The Plot: part II

14 min listen

Rishi Sunak seems to be facing his own ‘plot’. But unlike in Nadine Dorries’ now infamous book, it’s not a secret cabal orchestrated by Dougie Smith hoping to depose him, but a mysterious rebel group, backed by Tory donors, who have been funding the polling we’ve seen in the Telegraph recently. The news today is that they have added Will Dry – Rishi Sunak’s former pollster – to their ranks. Is this plot a serious and organised threat to Rishi’s premiership? James Heale speaks to Katy Balls and Paul Goodman, editor of Conservative Home.  Produced by Oscar Edmondson. 

Ross Clark Ross Clark

The Covid Inquiry is finally hearing some enlightening evidence

The Scottish leg of the Covid-19 inquiry has, like the hearings in London, become bogged down in matters such as the deletion of WhatsApp messages on ministerial phones. But, with a slightly less attention-seeking counsel for the inquiry, it also seems to be getting to some of the nuts and bolts which should have been discussed in London. A few of the most revealing pieces of evidence so far have been presented by Mark Woolhouse, Professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology at the University of Edinburgh and adviser to the Scottish government during the pandemic. Here are some of the highlights of his oral and written evidence. Woolhouse was deeply critical

Steerpike Steerpike

Sturgeon’s separatist scheme confirmed by Covid probe

No wonder so many SNP politicians deleted their WhatsApp messages: they really are rather damning. In today’s Covid hearings, former Nicola Sturgeon aide Liz Lloyd is being grilled by the bulldog-like Jamie Dawson KC. If the Dear Leader’s liberal cussing wasn’t bad enough, the Inquiry has now unearthed some startling admissions… Throughout the pandemic, the-then First Minister sought to present herself as a unifying ‘national’ figure above petty party politics. But back in November 2020, Sturgeon discussed a UK government proposal with one of her closest confidants. She begrudgingly admits that ‘on this, I (reluctantly) think there’s merit in UK-wide position’. Whatever happened to fostering constructive cross-party relations… Sturgeon’s natural

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Why Sunak’s critics won’t stop plotting

Simon Clarke’s call this week for Rishi Sunak to go didn’t exactly inspire others to follow. Instead, it’s had a unifying effect on the Tory party. ‘He’s given us all a common cause to rally behind: uniting against him,’ says a former cabinet minister. After the publication of Clarke’s Daily Telegraph op-ed declaring that ‘it is now beyond doubt that whilst the Prime Minister is far from solely responsible for our present predicament, his uninspiring leadership is the main obstacle to our recovery’, Clarke has received criticism from all sides. The Tory WhatsApp groups are filled with MPs venting that ‘it simply burns the party to direct it all at

Steerpike Steerpike

Sturgeon’s foul-mouthed Boris-bashing revealed

If there’s one thing that both Covid Inquiries have reliably provided, it’s expletives. Use of foul-mouthed language was popular among Boris Johnson’s top team, but members of the Scottish government were prone to the odd swear word or ten. And today’s Covid hearing has revealed that some obscenities came from, um, none other than the Dear Leader herself. This morning’s hearing in Edinburgh heard from former Sturgeon aide and self-confessed close confidant of the former first minister, Liz Lloyd. Lloyd is unusual in the fact she did actually retain all her WhatsApp messages (and even handed them over to the inquiry ahead of time) – although she may now be wishing she

Arash Azizi

Airstrikes won’t stop the Houthis’ Red Sea attacks

It was less than two weeks ago that the US and UK introduced a new element to the multi-faceted conflict in the Middle East. On 12 January they carried out joint strikes against the Houthis, a militia that controls Yemen’s capital Sanaa and large parts of Yemeni territory and is recognised as the country’s government by its main backer, Iran. The UK and US strikes came in response to weeks of Houthi attacks on ships passing through the Red Sea. The militia claimed its attacks were in response to Israel’s assault on Gaza but in practice it was targeting any and all shipping in the area as well as US

Jawad Iqbal

Is Saudi Arabia softening its booze ban?

Saudi Arabia, an Islamic nation where drinking alcohol is strictly forbidden, is to get its first official liquor store. There’s just one catch: only foreign diplomats will be able to buy booze there. The store in the capital Riyadh’s Diplomatic Quarter will remain off-limits to Muslims and, needless to say, ordinary Saudis. For a handful of lucky diplomats, the shop’s opening will spell an end to having to import alcohol via a diplomatic pouch or sealed official package. Yet the purchase of their favourite tipple won’t be straightforward. They will need to apply for clearance through a mobile app administered by Saudi officials. There will also be strict limits on how much

Freddy Gray Freddy Gray

Could Dean Phillips be President?

New Hampshire Joe Biden likes to say that ‘democracy is on the ballot’ in 2024. Yet Joe Biden was not on the ballot on Tuesday in New Hampshire. In his absence, a 55-year-old former congressman called Dean Phillips, who started his campaign just ten weeks ago, won 20 per cent of the vote. Biden still won easily as more than 65 per cent of Democratic voters wrote his name in. But the President’s ducking of New Hampshire, and Phillips’s sudden emergence, says a lot about the sorry state of Democratic politics and the gnawing fear that Biden is going to lose to Donald Trump in November. Dean Phillips’s hair is

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Why Labour’s tax attacks on the Tories are working

This week tens of millions of workers will receive their pay slips for the month of January and with them a tax cut. National Insurance is going down, so take-home pay is rising. Polls show that voters think Labour is more likely to cut tax than the Tories, a surprise weapon for Starmer The NI tax cut is meant to signal a ‘gear shift’ – as the Prime Minister told this magazine last month – when it comes to taxation. Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt have hinted that more cuts may follow in the spring Budget. Will voters be grateful? In the past, the governing party has benefitted from pre-election

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

McMafia: inside the SNP’s secret state

After years of scandal and intrigue, the Scottish National party has not lost its ability to shock. The UK Covid Inquiry has moved to Edinburgh for three weeks and in the process has exposed Nicola Sturgeon’s government to some robust scrutiny. The verbose, preening Hugo Keith has been replaced with Jamie Dawson, a more incisive KC. What he has uncovered has been a revelation. That Sturgeon deleted her WhatsApp messages is bad enough. The ability to learn from the decision-making process is vital, so for a senior minister to wipe records like these can be seen as a conspiracy against the public. But as we have learned this week, the

Wednesday

Steerpike Steerpike

Downing Street aide defects to the dark side

So, who is the Conservative Britain Alliance? Westminster is virtually swamped these days with an alphabet-spaghetti-esque collection of different acronyms, ranging from the CGG and CSG to the the NRG and ERG. But the CBA is both the newest and most secretive entity of them all, with little known about the Alliance, other than its name and tendency to commission polls that are unhelpful to No. 10. But tonight a little more light has been shed on the group. First, Sir Simon Clarke did an interview with the BBC in which he admitted that even he did not know who was behind the group. And now, the Alliance has unveiled

Steerpike Steerpike

Simon Clarke breaks his silence

Well, that was quick. Less than 24 hours after Simon Clarke called for Rishi Sunak to resign and tweeted ‘I have no further comment to make’ he has, er, issued a further comment. The former Levelling Up Secretary broke cover tonight after taking a battering from colleagues over his call for the Prime Minister to go. In an interview with the BBC’s Chris Mason, Clarke doubled down on his position but acknowledged that not all his colleagues would agree with him: I totally respect the strong views that something like this evokes. No-one likes the guy who’s shouting “‘”Iceberg!” but I suspect that people will be even less happy if

Lucy Dunn

The political motives behind the SNP’s Covid strategy

What motivated the Scottish government to take a more cautious approach to lockdown? Deviations from the UK government’s approach meant that those living north of the border often had to live with harsher restrictions compared to those in England, decisions that were widely assumed to be made on the basis of scientific advice. But now the Covid Inquiry has disclosed conversations that took place at the heart of government — and revealed how top academics were left confused by the SNP’s strategy. Mark Woolhouse, professor of infectious disease epidemiology at Edinburgh University, told the inquiry on Wednesday that he ‘did not understand’ the Scottish government’s ‘very, very cautious’ pandemic strategy

Stephen Daisley Stephen Daisley

Replacing Sunak won’t rescue the Tories

Sir Simon Clarke’s call to replace Rishi Sunak leans heavily on Tory MPs being in denial about the scale of defeat that could be heading their way. He quotes Alan Clark on the ‘defence mechanism of the psyche’ that allowed Conservatives to disbelieve the landslide thumping forecast ahead of the 1997 election, even though ‘every single device for measuring popular opinion was pointing consistently in the same direction’. Sir Simon points out that Sunak trails Sir Keir Starmer in almost 500 constituencies and warns his colleagues that the price of failing to move against the prime minister will be far greater than the headlines that would come from yet another Tory regicide. 

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Sunak dodges Tory revolt on council cash crisis

Rishi Sunak sidestepped another Tory rebellion this afternoon with the announcement of an extra £500 million in funding for councils in England. A group of more than 40 Conservative MPs had joined colleagues from other parties to warn of a crisis in local authority funding that was threatening even deeper cuts to services and council tax hikes in an election year. In a written ministerial statement, Michael Gove said this extra money, which is to cover rising costs in adult and children’s social care, was coming because ‘the government has also listened to the sector and to the issues raised by members of this house’. The Levelling Up Secretary wrote

Lloyd Evans Lloyd Evans

Has Rishi Sunak already given up?

Sir Keir’s spin doctors have been enjoying clips of Tony Blair’s performances as opposition leader. In the mid-1990s, Blair took aim at John Major with this, ‘I lead my party, he follows his.’ At today’s PMQs, Sir Keir tried the same judo-throw on Rishi Sunak. ‘I’ve changed my party. He’s bullied by his,’ he said. Less smooth, somehow. The session was dominated by facile insults and awkward name-calling. Sir Keir wants to depict Rishi as a pampered globalist who spent the 2008 financial crash in the banking sector, ‘making millions betting on the misery of working families.’ At the same time, noble Sir Keir was putting ‘terrorists and murderers’ in

Steerpike Steerpike

Foreign Office blows £110k on KCL counter-terrorist courses

It was ten days ago that Mr S brought news of the latest controversy to embroil our ancient seats of learning, after a lecturer at a leading London university allegedly suggested Douglas Murray should be ‘suppressed’. Tom Tugendhat, the security minister, was subsequently forced to order a review into the Home Office’s use of external courses after it was claimed that the training sessions, put on by the security studies department of King’s College London (KCL), amounted to ‘indoctrination’. But now some diligent digging in the House of Lords has revealed just how much these courses have been costing the British taxpayer. Dean Godson, the Tory peer and director of

Mark Galeotti Mark Galeotti

Who shot down the plane carrying Ukrainian PoWs?

It will prove to be a terrible and tragic irony if it turns out that Kyiv shot down a Russian transport aircraft today that was transporting Ukrainian prisoners of war ready to be exchanged. Around 11 a.m. local time this morning an Il-76 transport aircraft crashed in a fireball near the Russian village of Yablonova in the Belgorod Region, some 35 miles from the Russian-Ukrainian border. Everyone on board was killed. It appears that, perhaps alongside a military cargo, the plane was carrying 65 Ukrainian PoWs – if the claims of the Russian defence ministry are to be believed. As is always the case in this war, multiple and contradictory explanations

Oscar Edmondson

Does Simon Clarke’s intervention matter?

12 min listen

Tory MP Simon Clarke called for Rishi Sunak to resign last night. In a piece in the Telegraph, he wrote that the Prime Minister was ‘uninspiring’ and ‘does not get what Britain needs.’ Will other Conservative MPs also demand Sunak resign, or will they unify around their leader? Oscar Edmondson speaks to Katy Balls and James Heale.