Politics

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

Saturday

Kate Andrews Kate Andrews

Kate Andrews, Katy Balls and Max Pemberton

24 min listen

Kate Andrews talks crumbly concrete, overcrowded trains, NHS waiting lists, and describes the general air of despair and asks – who broke Britain? (01.15). Katy Balls analyses Keir Starmer’s reshuffle and describes the appearance of a New Labour restoration as the party prepares for power (11.20), and Max Pemberton outlines the worrying increase of Tourettes and tics in children, neglected during lockdowns and possibly damaged for life (17.25). Produced and presented by Linden Kemkaran.

Jonathan Miller Jonathan Miller

French healthcare makes the NHS look like Bedlam

French healthcare has its problems but it makes the NHS look like Bedlam. Recently my GP here thought it would be a good idea for me to visit the radiologist to take a look at my non-performing thyroid gland. I made the booking online using an app called Doctolib. An appointment was available in a couple of weeks. In the UK you’d be lucky to get one in six weeks. There are no diversity, equity and inclusion officers. There are no trans flags painted on the sides of hospitals The privately owned radiography clinic in Clermont Herault is immaculate and spotless. I had a choice of clinics using Doctolib, but

Eliot Wilson

Britain’s shrinking army faces an uncertain future

Old soldiers never die, the song goes, they just fade away. Next year, General Sir Patrick Sanders, Chief of the General Staff and the professional head of the British Army, will step down after less than two years in post. He is 57, and will have served for 40 years. But he is not fading away; rather he leaves under a muted storm, having clashed with the Chief of the Defence Staff, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, and after vainly resisting cuts to the size of the Army. Under current plans, our land forces will shrink to 73,500 by 2025. We have not fielded so few soldiers since 1799. It is

Friday

Steerpike Steerpike

SNP to purge rebel backbencher

Dear oh dear. It appears Fergus Ewing has exposed one painful truth too many. The nationalist veteran is expected to have the whip removed within days after the party’s leadership decided that his backbench criticisms have gone unpunished too long. Ewing — who is rumoured to be the only Spectator subscriber on the SNP benches — will face severe disciplinary action after a series of rebellions, senior party sources revealed to the Times. From voting in favour of a no confidence motion against Green co-leader Lorna Slater to opposing the gender bill to physically tearing up government legislation on Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMAs), Ewing doesn’t exactly, er, toe the party line. It

Katy Balls Katy Balls

India trade deal: is this what Brexit was for?

11 min listen

Rishi Sunak has landed in Delhi ahead of the G20 summit this weekend. He will be hoping to smooth the way for a new free trade deal with India. What does a good result look like for the prime minister? Will the new deal result in increased immigration? Katy Balls speaks to Fraser Nelson and James Heale.  Produced by Cindy Yu and Oscar Edmondson.

Steerpike Steerpike

Martin Selmayr in trouble over ‘blood money’ jibe at Austria

Martin Selmayr, the so-called Beast of the Berlaymont, is no stranger to controversy. During his time as head of European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker’s cabinet and as secretary-general of the Commission, Selmayr became something of a bete noire of Brexiteers, having been accused of wanting to ‘punish’ the UK for leaving the EU. Despite, or perhaps because, of this reputation, Selmayr had a habit of floating to the top of EU politics. But now, it seems, Selmayr may have pushed things too far. Selmayr, who is now head of the European Commission’s office in Vienna, has been rebuked by Brussels for accusing Austria of paying ‘blood money’ to Russia for gas supplies. At

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Could Corbyn thwart Sadiq’s mayoral bid?

Is next year’s London mayoral contest a done deal? When the Tories first started the process of candidate selection, the general sense was that they had little chance of taking the mayoralty from Sadiq Khan. However, as the Labour mayor has faced a voter backlash over his support for Ulez (the ultra low emission zone), the race looks closer than previously thought. What’s more, there is one man who could decide it. Step forward Jeremy Corbyn. The former Labour leader – who is currently banned from standing as a candidate for the party – could deny Khan a third term as London mayor if he decides to run as an

Ian Acheson Ian Acheson

Who’s really to blame for the Wandsworth jailbreak?

There’s fevered speculation about inside jobs or state actors involved in the HMP Wandsworth prison break by terror suspect Daniel Khalife. But as police close in on Richmond park, whether he’s found cowering in a ditch or at a press conference in Tehran, this dramatic escape reveals just how close we are to a full blown crisis across our prison system. Wandsworth has been failing in plain sight in front of helpless officials at the Ministry of Justice for years. Repeated inspections have revealed squalor, overcrowding and chronic staff retention problems with young, inexperienced officers out of their depth. Writing about another filthy jail recently, Chief Inspector Charlie Taylor, rapidly

Steerpike Steerpike

BBC disinformation correspondent accused of embellishing her CV 

Oh dear. Could things get any worse for the fledgling BBC Verify, launched to combat the scourge of fake news? The fact-checking service has already faced criticism for failing to spot the BBC’s own blunders – such as the Corporation’s misfired reporting on Nigel Farage and Coutts. Now though it looks like the service’s star reporter could be in a bit of hot water.  According to the New European, the BBC’s disinformation correspondent Marianna Spring was allegedly caught embellishing her CV when applying for a job in 2018. The paper alleges that five years ago Spring wanted to work as a Moscow stringer for the US-based outlet Coda Story and wrote on her CV:   ‘June

Gavin Mortimer Gavin Mortimer

Why Macron wants to put French schoolkids back in uniform

The details of King Charles’ state visit to France later this month were announced on Wednesday. His Majesty’s deputy private secretary, Chris Fitzgerald said that the occasion state will celebrate the countries’ ‘shared histories, culture and values’. One thing France and Britain haven’t shared for many years is the same view on school uniform. We wear it, they don’t, although they might be about to change.   In an interview on Monday, Emmanuel Macron agreed that school uniform may be the best way to avoid any future controversies about what children wear to schools in France.  He was referring to the furore that erupted last week when his new Minister of

Alexander Larman

When will Elizabeth II get the memorial she deserves?

After the public grief that greeted the death of our longest-serving monarch Elizabeth II a year ago today, it might be expected that there would be a similar display of commemoration to mark the first anniversary of her passing. Instead, the Royal Family have let it be known that there will be no public event to remember her. The King and Queen will hold a private family ceremony at Balmoral Castle, to which all the senior members of ‘the Firm’ will be invited – save, perhaps inevitably, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. The Prince and Princess of Wales will make an appearance in public, but are not expected to issue

Thursday

William Moore William Moore

Broken Britain: what went wrong?

34 min listen

On the podcast:  In her cover piece for the magazine, The Spectator’s economics editor Kate Andrews writes that political short termism has broken Britain. She joins the podcast alongside Giles Wilkes, former number 10 advisor and senior fellow at the Institute for Government, to ask what went wrong? (01:12) Also this week:  In his column Douglas Murray writes about Burning Man, the festival which has left Silicon Valley’s finest stuck in the mud. He is joined by David Willis, who has been covering the festival this year for the BBC, to discuss the schadenfreude of Burning Man. (14:41) And finally:  Travel writer Sean Thomas argues in The Spectator that having a pet is far

Oscar Edmondson

Tories face ninth by-election – are they ruined?

13 min listen

The Conservative MP Chris Pincher has resigned following the Commons decision to refuse his suspension appeal. Follow Nadine Dorries’s most recent resignation, this means the government faces their 9th by-election since Rishi Sunak became Prime Minister – can they come back from this? Also on the podcast, Oscar Edmondson speaks to James Heale and Isabel Hardman about Rishi Sunak’s move to rejoin the EU Horizon Project and the latest on the UK-India trade deal. 

Tom Slater Tom Slater

Why eco zealots love to hate Ryanair

There are many reasons why someone might want to throw a cream pie at Michael O’Leary, the motormouth boss of budget airline Ryanair. Usually, the only satisfying thing about a Ryanair flight is the price. (And even then prices have been going up.) Then there’s his one-note Remoanerism, his contemptuous comments over the years about Brexit-voting Brits. And his contempt for some of his own workers. But that’s not why O’Leary was pied by some activists in Brussels today, as he handed in a petition to the European Commission, calling for flights over Europe to be better protected from air-traffic-control strikes. No, they’re angry – apparently – that his firm exists at all.  ‘Stop the

Freddy Gray Freddy Gray

Is Joe Biden really running again? 

Will President Joe Biden be on the ballot in the presidential election of 2024? It’s a question that Biden seemed to answer four months ago when he announced, in an online video, that he would be running for re-election next year. ‘Let’s finish this job,’ he said. ‘Because I know we can.’  Three-quarters of Americans say they’re ‘seriously concerned’ about Biden’s mental and physical competence to do the job Team Biden must have hoped that, after making that announcement, the doubts surrounding his bid for re-election would go away. As the polls increasingly show Donald Trump cruising towards a re-nomination for the Republican ticket, America appears then to be heading

Madeleine Teahan

Why are so many Catholic schools affected by the Raac crisis?

We now know the names of the 156 schools across the country with crumbling reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac) inside their buildings, resulting in partial or full closure for 104 of those listed. What struck me as I glanced down the list of schools is the frequency of the word ‘Saint’ which, more often than not, means that the school in question is Catholic. A quick count showed that 30 Catholic schools are listed in total — which amounts to about a fifth of schools affected. Given that only 9 per cent of state funded schools and academies in the UK are Catholic, that seems alarmingly high and begs the

Debbie Hayton

When will the Tories clear up the transgender confusion?

Schools are back but teachers are still waiting for the government’s guidance on transgender pupils. Back in March, Rishi Sunak promised that it would be in our hands ‘for the summer term’. Well it’s now autumn and another round of teacher training days – and the summer holidays – have come and gone, and still we are no nearer to any answers. In the mean time, teachers and trans pupils remain in limbo. They are not alone: doctors at Great Ormond Street Hospital have reportedly been advised to ‘stop using gendered language’ such as boy or girl. Without any clear line from the government on this issue, it’s no wonder

Steerpike Steerpike

Blundering mandarins forget £3.6 billion

Oh dear. It seems that Sir Humphrey has messed up again. Perusing parliament’s records this morning, Mr S was struck by a written ministerial statement put down by Kemi Badenoch’s Department for Business and Trade (DBT). The nearly-created ministry came to life back in February, when the old Department for International Trade (DIT) was combined with Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS). The merger went off without a hitch at the time but it appears that no-one remembered to check the books. Among DBT’s responsibilities is guaranteeing Covid loan guarantees. But according to its statement today: Following routine review, it has been noted that at the Department for Business and

Steerpike Steerpike

Tory MP Chris Pincher quits and triggers another by-election

To no-one’s surprise, Chris Pincher has now quit as a Tory MP, preferring to resign now rather than drag out a recall petition over the coming months. For more than a year, everyone could see this coming since the infamous evening at the Carlton Club. Everyone that is, except Tory high command. Pincher lost the party whip back in July 2022, with a by-election likely ever since the Standards Commissioner began an investigation.  So who did the good Tories of the Tamworth Association select to replace Pincher? Eddie Hughes, the incumbent MP for Walsall North. That selection raised the possibility of a scenario whereby Hughes won the Tamworth by-election but

Steerpike Steerpike

Fact check: has Scotland’s NHS improved as much as Yousaf claims?

There might be a health crisis but at least the SNP aren’t short on rose-tinted spectacles. It was always going to be interesting to see how Humza Yousaf approached the health service in his new programme for government – given the massive decline in performance on his watch. But rather than adopt a solemn approach (or even, gasp, apologise for the health service failings), Yousaf struck a somewhat triumphant tone. ‘The National Health Service is already making progress in recovering from the pandemic,’ he declared. ‘We have the best-performing accident and emergency departments in the UK!’ He continued: ‘In the last year, the number of people waiting more than 18