Politics

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

Wednesday

Constantin Eckner

Will Germany’s ‘Rwanda-style’ migrant plan ever materialise?

Germany’s chancellor is cracking down on asylum seekers – but he is not doing so willingly. The country’s federal government is weighing up a system – similar to the UK’s mooted ‘Rwanda plan’ – for asylum applications to be processed abroad. But Olaf Scholz, who was essentially cornered into the announcement following a marathon session with regional leaders from Germany’s 16 state governments, is sceptical. ‘There are…a whole series of legal questions,’ Scholz said after emerging in the early hours of Tuesday morning from an acrimonious meeting with state leaders. The plan, a 17-page agreement, is an attempt to counter the rise of far-right parties like Alternative für Deutschland (AfD).

Tuesday

Steerpike Steerpike

Starmer loses his first frontbencher over Gaza

Oh dear. Just hours after Keir Starmer was touting Labour as a government-in-waiting, he lost his first frontbencher over the ongoing Gaza conflict. Imran Hussain last night quit as Shadow Minister for the New Deal for Working People, after eight years serving as a party spokesman. Hussain was one of fifteen Labour frontbenchers who have called for a ceasefire between Israel and Palestine. Will others now follow suit? In his resignation letter to Starmer, Hussain said: ‘Over recent weeks, it has become clear that my view on the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza differs substantially from the position you have adopted… I believe the party needs to go further and

Steerpike Steerpike

Eddie Lister’s intriguing inquiry evidence

Shock, horror! Something surprising happened today at the Covid Inquiry. Thus far, much of what we have heard has been predictable or even mundane. Simon Case made a fool of himself? Stop the presses. The civil service thought No. 10 was a shambles? Halt the front page. Nobody liked Matt Hancock? Quick, get the editor. But the appearance today of Lord Udny-Lister – the artist formerly known as Eddie Lister – brought with it some intriguing revelations. Unlike Cummings or Helen MacNamara, Lister does not have an obvious axe to grind. Since quitting as Boris Johnson’s chief strategic adviser, the onetime City Hall aide has largely kept his own counsel

Steerpike Steerpike

Carole Cadwalladr loses for the final time

Oh dear. It seems after repeatedly trying (and failing) to defeat Arron Banks in court, Carole Cadwalladr has now lost for the final time. For the Supreme Court today refused the Observer journalist’s application for permission to appeal the Court of Appeal’s costs ruling in the libel case of Banks v Cadwalladr. Leaving her with a hefty bill to pay… To recap: back in February, the Brexit-backing Banks won a partially-successful appeal of an earlier libel ruling from June 2022 over Cadwalladr’s TedTalk claims that he had a ‘covert relationship with Russia.’ In May, the Court of Appeal subsequently ordered that Cadwalladr had to pay 60 per cent of Banks’

Katy Balls Katy Balls

What did King Charles say?

12 min listen

It was the King’s speech today. King Charles announced that the government would introduce new laws to, among other things, force criminals to attend their sentencing hearings, scrap most jail sentences of less than a year, and sell all new houses as freehold properties. Is it enough for the Tories to turn around their deficit in the polls? Katy Balls speaks to James Heale and Isabel Hardman.

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

All Sunak wants to do is attack Labour

Rishi Sunak wants voters to see the Conservatives as taking difficult, ambitious choices, including on net zero and transport. He told MPs: ‘This King’s Speech is about what this government is about, taking long-term decisions to build a brighter future for our country. It builds on foundations that are far stronger than they were just a year ago.’ He said that the impact for the British people would be ‘more jobs, more investment, and higher growth, more police on the streets with stronger powers to keep us safe, places people are proud to call home, a country strong at home, confident abroad and with a better future ahead for all

Kate Andrews Kate Andrews

After 13 years of Tory rule, is this it?

There were no big surprises in the King’s Speech today. That’s a shame. Rishi Sunak and his ministers like to insist their agenda for the next year is an ambitious one. They’re making ‘difficult but necessary long-term decisions to change this country for the better’, as read out by the King to parliament. Yet the legislation put forward seems miles away from the priorities of voters – not to mention the many problems facing the country. Some of those issues were mentioned at the start of the speech. Lip service was paid to ‘increasing economic growth’ and taking ‘action to bring down inflation’, two of the Prime Minister’s pledges set

Steerpike Steerpike

Watch: Tory MP jokes about Boris and Carrie

From the Lords to the Commons: the state opening of parliament is truly a bicameral affair. Fresh from diadem-spotting in the Upper House, Mr S headed down to the other place after lunch, to hear the Loyal Address. This is the parliamentary procedure used to formally open the debate on the King’s Speech, with the proposer typically a eminent grandee/crusty old windbag and the seconder a rising star/ambitious young so-and-so (delete as appropriate). Today the honour of proposing the first Loyal Address of King Charles’s reign fell to Sir Robert Goodwill, the long-serving, long-suffering Member for Scarborough. In an entertaining speech, Sir Robert told the House of the ups and

James Heale James Heale

Every bill announced in today’s King’s Speech

King Charles has just finished taking part in the state opening of parliament for the first time as monarch. The purpose of today’s King’s Speech was to set out the government’s priorities for the coming parliamentary session, which will be the final one before the next general election. This was Sunak’s chance to draw political dividing lines with Labour, but there were few surprises. It was the longest statement read out by a monarch since 2005 but contained the fewest bills since 2014. Below is a rundown of the 21 planned bills announced today. Criminal Justice Bill This bill will force criminals to attend their sentencing hearings, following the Lucy

Alexander Larman

Charles’s debut King’s Speech was a triumph

The King’s speech was a damp squib – but for that we should blame Rishi Sunak rather than Charles III. Most of the announcements – from tougher prison sentences to cracking down on smoking – were already known about. But while the Prime Minister’s agenda was far from inspiring, today’s pomp and ceremony did give some cause for optimism: Charles’s speech showed that Britain’s monarch is doing a good job in his role. Even before he said a single word today, Charles looked thoroughly at home in the surroundings. It’s hard to believe that this was the first speech that Charles has delivered as ruler, so established does he now

Emma Revell

Why Scunthorpe steelworks needs saving

Scunthorpe is an industrial garden town, or so the signs welcoming you to the town say. It’s written beneath the town’s crest, with a blast furnace on top and the town motto: Refulget labores nostros coelum. The heavens reflect our labours. If, like me, you grew up in Scunthorpe you can easily ignore the steelworks. Visitors might be surprised by the noise or alarmed if the clouds on the east of the town sometimes seem a dusky red but we’re used to it. The steelworks have been there longer than any of us after all. But on your first visit, they are hard to ignore. What sticks in the craw

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

The King’s Speech was all about the next election

‘My ministers’ focus is on increasing economic growth and safeguarding the health and security of the British people for generations to come.’ The King read these opening words, written for him, which set out the government’s final legislative agenda before a general election. Of course, that agenda is being interpreted as a ‘starting gun’ for the election campaign. And the centre of that campaign on the basis of today is going to be security: both economic and for criminal justice.  Presumably the next Conservative manifesto is going to be rather meatier than the content of that speech. It wasn’t a particularly heavy agenda: around 16 bills were in the list

Hina Husain

Why isn’t Canada cracking down on this Indian student visa scam?

Canada’s rift with India continues. It’s been almost two months since Canada’s prime minister Justin Trudeau accused ‘agents of the government of India’ of assassinating Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Nijjar. The two countries have been in a diplomatic stand-off ever since, with trade talks suspended and Ottawa failing to provide any concrete proof behind its claim that Nijjar was killed under direction from Modi. But the possibility that Nijjar’s death was a result of gang activity between warring factions of criminal Sikh gang members in Canada has put a spotlight on the country’s growing Punjabi community and highlighted questions over Canada’s international student visa and immigration fraud. It’s no secret

Ross Clark Ross Clark

Sunak is right to push ahead with new North Sea oil licenses

The green lobby has found another way of attacking the government for giving the go-ahead for new oil and gas licences in the North Sea. They are claiming that Britain doesn’t have enough refinery capacity to turn the crude oil into finished products.  The climate pressure group Global Witness claims that most of the new oil which will come out of the North Sea will be ‘heavy’ – while Britain’s refineries are geared up to handle lighter crude oils. Therefore, the group contends, it is pointless drilling for new oil in the North Sea because it can’t help provide for our own needs in terms of finished products such as petrol,

Michael Simmons Michael Simmons

The Covid Inquiry is exposing lockdown’s dodgy models

Did we lock down on a false premise? Yesterday was Ben Warner’s turn at the Covid Inquiry. He was an adviser, and one of the ‘tech bros’ brought in by Dominic Cummings to advise No. 10 on data. He was present at many of the early Sage – and other – meetings where the government’s established mitigation (herd immunity) plan was switched to the suppression (lockdown) strategy.  In Cummings’s evidence to the inquiry last week, he said that models didn’t play a big part in moving the government towards lockdown. Part of the written inquiry evidence supplied by his data man, Ben Warner’s, supports that too. The inquiry KC was

Steerpike Steerpike

James Cleverly is the Tory grassroots’ favourite

Talk about the fickle nature of politics. Two months ago, Kemi Badenoch was crowned as the Tory members’ favourite, according to the Conservative Home league table of party activists. But now her crown has been stolen by James Cleverly, the Foreign Secretary, who nabs the top spot for the first time with an impressive +71.8 points. Cleverly’s ascent comes after a month in the spotlight, dealing with the ongoing crisis over Gaza. As Paul Goodman, the editor of Conservative Home notes, his rise in standing bears some comparison to Ben Wallace, another military man. Wallace was the longtime favourite for 18 months before his departure in September, having impressed with

Freddy Gray Freddy Gray

Not even America’s legal system can stop Trump

‘I beseech you to control him if you can,’ Justice Arthur Engoron told Donald Trump’s lawyer in court yesterday. To which the only sensible reply is: ‘Good luck with that.’  Nobody can control, or stop, the 45th President – least of all, it seems, the legal system. The trials of Trump will drag on and on in the coming months, all sound and fury, signifying nothing. The Trump train will chug on towards the Republican nomination – and, perhaps, to the White House again.  The legal trials of Donald Trump will only help him politically ‘This is not a political rally,’ said Engoron, who himself seems to be enjoying the theatre a little

Gareth Roberts Gareth Roberts

What did we really learn from Dominic Cummings’s leaked WhatsApps?

It’ll be years before the Covid Inquiry reports back on what we can learn from the pandemic, but already there is one key lesson for us all: don’t write anything on WhatsApp that you wouldn’t want read out in court. The vividly-phrased WhatsApp messages published, and very memorably read aloud, as part of the inquiry have brought some much-needed mirth to our troubled times. There is something inherently very funny about posh people in court quoting bad language and repeating insults like ‘useless f*** pigs’. Hugo Keith KC, lead counsel to the inquiry, is one of those who carries the air of the headmaster’s study around with him. He has

Patrick O’Flynn Patrick O'Flynn

Rishi Sunak’s Oliver Dowden problem

Margaret Thatcher was said to have once remarked that every prime minister needed a Willie. Given that humour was not her natural domain, perhaps she didn’t even intend it as a pun. The Willie she was referring to was, of course, the vastly experienced William Whitelaw who served as her effective deputy – and most famously as ‘minister for banana skins’ – for almost a decade despite being from the patrician and ‘wet’ side of the Tory party. Since Thatcher’s day, it has become fashionable for prime ministers to appoint an official deputy and that position is currently held by Oliver Dowden. But there’s a snag: Dowden is the wrong kind