Politics

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

Sunday

Mark Galeotti Mark Galeotti

The fantastical myths that swirl around Vladimir Putin

If there is one man who is probably happiest that Vladimir Putin’s travel schedule has been so heavily curtailed of late, it is probably the Federal Protection Service officer responsible for ensuring the product of the president’s bathroom breaks return to the Motherland. Foreign powers may, after all, go to extreme lengths to test his health. When Putin does travel abroad, it is not just with his own food and drink, his own chefs and his array of bodyguards, it is also with his dedicated porta-potty. This allows his numbers ones and twos to be collected, sealed into special bags, and then put in a briefcase, ready to travel home

Patrick O’Flynn Patrick O'Flynn

The Lee Anderson row shows the Tory party has broken down

What are we to make of the Lee Anderson saga? The very fact that this low-rent furore is dominating our Sunday political discourse speaks volumes. At the end of a week which saw the Commons change its procedures in a bid to placate the threat posed by a mixed bag of Islamist and Corbynista pro-Palestine ultras, the political media has found a compelling talking point with which to divert our attention. Rather than address the fundamental issue – that the Leader of the Opposition and the Commons Speaker gave ground to the mob – here we are agonising about whether Rishi Sunak acted swiftly or harshly enough against his most notorious

Joe Bedell-Brill

Oliver Dowden: ‘Words matter’ in Lee Anderson Islamophobia row

Lee Anderson was stripped of the Tory whip yestereday after refusing to apologise for remarks in which he claimed ‘Islamists’ had ‘control of Khan, and… control of London’. Speaking to Laura Kuenssberg on the BBC, Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden said ‘words matter’, and that Sunak was right to take action. However, Dowden was uncomfortable when asked repeatedly to state whether he himself thought Anderson’s comments were Islamophobic, saying only that ‘they could be taken in that way’. Dowden suggested that Anderson would have kept his job if he had apologised for his comments, and was keen to turn the focus onto concern over a rise in anti-Semitism in the

Freddy Gray Freddy Gray

Nikki Haley’s candidacy is Never Trumpism’s last stand

‘I’m a woman of my word,’ said Nikki Haley after another humiliating defeat last night. ‘I’m not giving up this fight when a majority of Americans disapprove of both Donald Trump and Joe Biden.’  But what, really, is the point? South Carolina is Haley’s home state and she lost by more than 20 percentage points. She lost New Hampshire by 11 points, she came third in Iowa, and, much to Trump’s delight, she lost to ‘none of these candidates’ in Nevada.  Without Trump, Republican voters distrust and detest their party. They haven’t for some time The Republican nomination snoozefest – it’s not a race – will now move to Super Tuesday, on

Thomas Lorman

Viktor Orban is not abandoning Europe

The news that Hungary and China have signed a security pact, following a visit by to Budapest by Wang Xiaohong, Minister of Public Security, has been a long time in the making. In 2012, two years after beginning his second term as Prime Minister, Viktor Orban formally re-orientated Hungary’s economic and foreign policy under the slogan of the ‘Eastern Opening’. Orban understood the frustration that had returned him to power with a two-thirds majority in Parliament. Two decades of integration with western Europe had made plenty of Hungarians prosperous, but not the majority.  The introduction of the free market in Hungary was accompanied by the mass closure of businesses, and

Philip Patrick Philip Patrick

Why are Japan’s trains so much better than ours?

With six more months of train strikes recently announced it is getting hard to imagine a punctual, anxiety-free railway journey in the UK. Over in Japan it’s hard to imagine the opposite. Japan is one of those blessed countries where people understand the value of a modern, reliable, affordable and extensive railway network. In a 2019 global efficiency survey Japan, unsurprisingly, came out on top. And there hasn’t been a strike since the 1970s. If I had to think of one moment that crystallised all that I admire about Japanese trains it would be when I lost my paper ticket and had to negotiate the exit barrier. An immaculately uniformed

Debbie Hayton

The dilemma of being a transsexual Christian

As the Church of England once again tears itself apart over gay marriage, us transsexual Christians have slipped in under the radar. It’s been 24 years since the first transgender CofE priest, Carol Stone, returned to work in Swindon after gender reassignment surgery. Even in 2000, Stone’s parishioners weren’t that bothered about their ‘new’ vicar. I’ve also found my fellow Christians to be mostly welcoming – but that doesn’t mean being a trans Christian is without its dilemmas. In my youth I struggled to reconcile science and faith, but that challenge was easy compared to the rather more profound clash of transsexualism with faith. Nowhere does the Bible say ‘thou

Dominic Dyer

The sinister reality of trail hunting

Will Sir Keir Starmer go further on the Hunting Act than Tony Blair did? While the passing of the legislation in 2004 marked a significant moment in the history of wildlife protection, it was flawed. This wasn’t immediately realised: at the time, many believed that the move by the Labour government would finally bring an end to fox hunting in the British countryside.  But Prime Minister Blair was far from enthusiastic about banning fox hunting, thanks to his fears the issue would generate a growing rift between the Labour party and rural voters. In recent months Lord Mandelson has indicated that Blair felt under pressure to act on this issue, partly due to a

Saturday

Max Jeffery Max Jeffery

Lee Anderson suspended: what now?

Lee Anderson has been suspended from the Conservative party this afternoon after saying on GB News that Islamists controlled Sadiq Khan. Will Rishi Sunak miss having the Ashfield MP in his party? Will Anderson join reform? Max Jeffery speaks to Fraser Nelson and Katy Balls.

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Sunak was right to suspend Lee Anderson

When Lee Anderson was made deputy chairman of the Conservative party, it was on the understanding that he’d explode now and again. Say something outrageous, cause a stir. The unelected Rishi Sunak had a wide conservative coalition to keep together and was mindful that, as a besuited Goldman Sachs alumnus, he may struggle to keep the right of the party (and the electorate) on board. Occasional outbursts from Suella Braverman and Lee Anderson were helpful: they were chaff and flares which would save him from incoming missiles from the right. But Sunak is up against the strong centrifugal forces pulling conservatives further to the right. A great many politicians look

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Will Lee Anderson defect to Reform?

Lee Anderson has been suspended from the Conservative party following comments he made about Sadiq Khan. The former deputy party chairman used an appearance on GB News on Friday to claim the London mayor had ‘given our capital away’ to Islamists, who he referred to as Khan’s ‘mates’. This afternoon a spokesperson for Chief Whip Simon Hart said he had suspended the Conservative whip from Anderson ‘following his refusal to apologise’ for his remarks. Since the programme aired, a number of Tory MPs have expressed their upset at Anderson’s comments. This includes former chancellor Sajid Javid who called them ‘ridiculous’. Meanwhile, Labour has gone on the attack — Khan himself

Jacob Rees-Mogg

Shamima Begum shouldn’t have lost her British citizenship

Parliamentary sovereignty is the bedrock of the constitution, and the courts ought to accept it, even when bad laws are passed. It is not the job of the courts to make the law, but to adjudicate on it. Thus the Appeal Court ruling against Shamima Begum is right, even if the decision of Sajid Javid, as Home Secretary, to strip Begum of her citizenship is wrong and ought never to have been made. This is not because Begum was groomed, trafficked and raped. These are serious considerations, and in all normal circumstances, a 15-year-old treated in such a barbarous way would not be held culpable for her actions. However, extenuating

Steerpike Steerpike

Lee Anderson loses the Tory whip

Oh dear. Lee Anderson has now lost the Conservative whip after refusing to apologise for comments directed at London’s mayor. Appearing on GB News yesterday, the red wall Rottweiler declared that ‘Islamists’ have ‘got control of London’ and its mayor, Sadiq Khan. He told the network that Khan has ‘Given our capital city away to his mates. I don’t actually believe that the Islamists have got control of our country, but what I do believe is they’ve got control of Khan, and they’ve got control of London.’ It triggered a storm of criticism from the opposition parties, with Anneliese Dodds, the Labour chair, labelling Anderson’s comments as ‘unambiguously racist and Islamophobic’.

Freddy Gray Freddy Gray

How badly will Nikki Haley lose in South Carolina?

Will Nikki Haley defy expectations and only lose by 20 points today? That seems to be closest thing to a point of contention as South Carolina heads to the polls for today’s dodo of a Republican primary.  The polls have shown Trump’s enormous lead shrinking in recent days from well over 30 points to around 25. Some well-informed reporters think that Trump’s lead has diminished because of his rude outburst about Haley’s spouse.  ‘Where’s her husband?’ Trump mused in February, in his off-the-top-of-his-head way. ‘Oh, he’s away. What happened to her husband? What happened to her husband? Where is he? He’s gone.’ Making jokes about people’s marriages is one thing; insulting

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Tom Baldwin: ‘There is no such thing as Starmerism’

17 min listen

In this special Saturday edition of Coffee House Shots, Katy Balls is joined by Tom Baldwin, author of a new authorised biography of Labour leader Keir Starmer. Tom tells Katy why Starmer is such a complex character, his struggle to get the leader of the opposition to open up – particularly about his relationship with his father – and why he is not a politician, in the usual sense.  Produced by Natasha Feroze and Oscar Edmondson. 

Max Jeffery Max Jeffery

Max Jeffery, Lisa Haseldine, Christopher Howse, Philip Hensher and Calvin Po

43 min listen

This week: Max Jeffery writes from Blackpool where he says you can see the welfare crisis at its worst (01:29); Lisa Haseldine reads her interview with the wife of Vladimir Kara-Murza, whose husband is languishing in a Siberian jail (06:26); Christopher Howse tells us about the ancient synagogue under threat from developers (13:02); Philip Hensher reads his review of Write, Cut, Rewrite (24:34); and Calvin Po asks whether a Labour government will let architects reshape housing (34:42).  Produced by Oscar Edmondson and Margaret Mitchell.

Mark Galeotti Mark Galeotti

Two years on, the Ukraine war matters more than ever

There are inevitably voices in the West questioning the value of committing more than £5.5 billion a month in support of the war in Ukraine. It looks for now deadlocked at best, and at worst – in light of the recent Russian capture of Avdiivka – a slow defeat. Yet it is important to realise just how the Ukraine war matters to the world outside that country’s borders, even if perhaps not quite in the ways some would suggest. There is much overheated talk about a Ukrainian defeat leading to a direct threat to Nato. Some presume that this means the whole country falling to Vladimir Putin and Russian troops

Andrew Tettenborn

Dartmoor’s mass trespass isn’t what it seems

The largest mass trespass in a generation will take place in Devon today. Hundreds of protesters belonging to the pressure-group Right to Roam will descend on Vixen Tor, a slightly sinister-looking granite outcrop on Dartmoor a few miles from Tavistock. Since 2003, access has been banned. But given that much of Dartmoor is already open to the public, why the stress on this fairly small part, which is not? Those marching on Vixen Tor say the reason is simple: a small part of the high moor where hikers have the right to walk at will is inaccessible because it can only be reached across the Tor, which is privately owned

Anna Arutunyan

Navalny showed there is a better Russia

Everything was angular about him: his brilliant smile, the choppy movements of his hands as he spoke, the western mannerisms he had picked up abroad at Yale. But it was the smile that really stood out. Alexei Navalny didn’t know me, probably didn’t trust me, but his smile was a signal of trust – an open sincerity I’d never seen among Russian politicians. It was the kind of trust that comes from an inner self-confidence, the belief that his country’s laws are for him and for the people, and most of all, the belief in solutions. As a reporter in Russia, it was not the only time I had seen or spoken to him, but when

Friday

Steerpike Steerpike

Watch: Truss turns on the Financial Times

Where would be without Liz Truss? The blonde bombshell hit Washington DC this week to attend the great right-wing jamboree that is the Conservative Political Action Conference. Appearing alongside Trump election mastermind Steve Bannon, Truss told the crowd that she had wanted to cut taxes and the size of the state while in No.10, but ‘the economic establishment in Britain wanted to keep things the way they were – they got me.’ ‘But I have learnt from that, Steve,’ she said. Bannon then interjected: ‘Hold on – was it the Economist that got you, was it the Financial Times of London, the City of London – are they the ones that