Politics

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

Friday

Lisa Haseldine Lisa Haseldine

Ukraine steps up its drone warfare against Crimea

In the early hours of this morning, Ukraine launched 42 unmanned drones at the annexed territory of Crimea, the Russian ministry of defence has claimed. Announcing on Telegram that the attack had been ‘thwarted’, the Russian MoD said nine of the drones had been shot down, while the remaining 33 were electronically jammed and downed ‘before they reached their target’. If the number of drones Russia claims to have been attacked with is correct, this would amount to the largest Ukrainian air attack on Russian-held territory since the beginning of the war. This could amount to the largest Ukrainian air attack on Russian-held territory since the beginning of the war. Mikhail

Gavin Mortimer Gavin Mortimer

Violence is becoming worryingly common on the streets of France

It’s been a brutal month in France but one would barely know it from the reaction of much of the political and media class. Their attention has been focused on a rapper called Médine, who was invited at the start of August to appear at the Green party’s summer conference, which opened in the Channel port city of Le Havre on Thursday.  In the time between being invited and the conference, the 40-year-old rapper of Algerian descent became embroiled in a social media brouhaha after he described the Jewish writer Rachel Khan as a ‘ResKHANpée,’; this is a crass play on words, ‘rescapée’ (survivor) being the word for someone who survived the Holocaust.

Steerpike Steerpike

Trump’s mugshot released following Georgia arrest

The moment we’ve all been waiting for has finally arrived: Donald Trump’s mugshot has been released to the world. With a furrowed brow and scowl, the former President posed for his mugshot at Fulton county sheriff’s office in Georgia in his trademark navy suit and red tie yesterday. Trump was booked by the sheriff’s office in Georgia after announcing his intention to surrender, following his indictment for allegedly attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. At the jail, Trump was formally arrested and will have had to have his fingerprints taken and his height and weight measured. He was released ahead of the trial in October after

Ross Clark Ross Clark

Scotland shouldn’t pay climate reparations

Lucky old Scottish homeowners. Not only are they being told that they could be forbidden from selling their homes if they fail to achieve a ‘C’ rating on an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC); they now have the pleasure of knowing that £24 million worth of their taxes will be going to pay climate reparations. The Scottish government has just made such a handout to charities working on climate issues in the developing world. While First Minister Humza Yousaf didn’t quite use the term ‘reparations’ he did say ‘the countries which are the worst affected by the climate crisis are often those which have done little or nothing to cause it.

Thursday

Lara Prendergast Lara Prendergast

Trumpvision: he’s making America watch again

27 min listen

On the podcast this week:  In his cover piece for the magazine, The Spectator’s deputy editor Freddy Gray says that he was hardly surprised that Donald Trump chose not to participate in last night’s Republican candidates debate. He argues that Trump no longer needs the TV networks and joins the podcast alongside Douglas Murray, who profiles the no-hoper Republican candidates looking to pip Trump to the nomination in his column. (01:21) Also this week:  Mark Millar, the comic book writer and producer behind Hollywood hits such as Kingsman, Kick Ass and a host of Marvel films, writes The Spectator’s notebook. He discusses everything from London’s fading glory to his new Netflix series The Chosen One,

Max Jeffery Max Jeffery

Why is Rishi delaying his reshuffle?

12 min listen

Rishi Sunak is reportedly going to delay a planned major reshuffle. A Cabinet switch-up was expected next month, but it now seems that only ministers like Ben Wallace, who has already indicated that he wants to step down, will be moved from their posts. What changed the Prime Minister’s mind? Max Jeffery speaks to James Heale and Craig Oliver, former director of communications in No. 10. Produced by Max Jeffery.

Freddy Gray Freddy Gray

Is Donald Trump untouchable?

20 min listen

Kate Andrews speaks to Freddy Gray and CEO of Truth Social, Devin Nunes in the week that Donald Trump refused to attend the Republican Fox News debates. Instead, the Presidential candidate who is leading in the polls was interviewed by Tucker Carlson on X, formerly known as Twitter. 

Patrick O’Flynn Patrick O'Flynn

Sunak said he’d stop the boats. He’s failing abysmally

Rishi Sunak has led voters to believe that his new Illegal Migration Act will mean no illegal migrants will be allowed to stay. According to the Prime Minister, this in turn will break the business model of people traffickers, by rendering it pointless for any migrant to pay big sums for a place in one of their dinghies. And thus will he be able to ‘stop the boats’. Mr Sunak seemed to take a partial step back from this bold talk earlier this week when he confessed that he might not be able to stop all the boats by the next general election given the ‘complexity’ of the issue. Now

Steerpike Steerpike

Watch: Khan claims Ulez has been ‘weaponised’ by conspiracy theorists

Following Labour’s shock defeat in the Uxbridge by-election, Keir Starmer suggested that Sadiq Khan ‘reflect’ on his Ultra Low Emission Zone (Ulez) crusade. A month on from that result, how exactly is the reflection going? Tuning into LBC today, Mr S was amused to discover that the London Mayor has found the answer to why Ulez is so unpopular: tinfoil hat-wearing conspiracy theorists. Asked by host James O’Brien, that fearless seeker of truth, if he was surprised by the level of opposition, Khan replied: I didn’t expect for there to be people linking my policies to cleaning up the air with conspiracy theories. I did expect people to have genuine

Lisa Haseldine Lisa Haseldine

How Russia’s media reacted to the Prigozhin plane crash

After Yevgeny Prigozhin’s aborted march on Moscow at the end of June, the Wagner Group leader became a divisive figure in Russia. He was not quite a pariah – on account of his mercenary group’s huge contribution to the war in Ukraine and Putin’s seemingly weak decision to condemn him to barely enforced exile in Belarus – but definitely not a hero either. Therefore it comes as no surprise that, following his sudden demise in a plane crash en route to St Petersburg yesterday, the Russian press has struggled with how to cover the news. Notably, despite Prigozhin’s status for nearly a year as an invaluable contributor to the ‘special military

Philip Patrick Philip Patrick

The Fukushima water is safe. So why does no one trust it?

Japan will today begin releasing tritium-laced water from the Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant into the ocean (weather permitting). Japan’s prime minister Fumio Kishida made the announcement on Tuesday after a meeting with relevant ministers. The Japanese government has stressed the necessity of the plan and its safety, but it has nonetheless escalated an international conflict over the issue. China has responded by imposing an immediate ban on all Japanese seafood imports.  The discharge has been sanctioned by a report from the International Atomic Energy Agency. It is part of a long-term decommissioning plan for the plant that suffered major damage from the March 2011 earthquake. Tritium is not damaging

Euan McColm

Can the new chief executive of the SNP win members’ trust?

As plot twists go, it’s a doozy. Five months ago, Murray Foote resigned as the SNP’s communications director after misleading journalists over party membership numbers. The former editor of the Daily Record stormed off, throwing a grenade over his shoulder. He had only misled journalists because he himself had been misled. A day after Foote’s departure (political cliché level: bombshell), the SNP’s chief executive Peter Murrell took responsibility for the mess and fell on his sword. Now, in a remarkable turn of events, Foote is back in the game. On Monday, he takes up the position of SNP chief executive. He’s the new Peter Murrell. The SNP spin goes that

Steerpike Steerpike

SNP posts record deficit of £800,000

Well, well, well. The SNP’s annual accounts for 2022 are out and it’s not looking good. The party recorded its largest ever deficit of more than £800,000 in the last year of Nicola Sturgeon and Peter Murrell’s reign. As if we didn’t need any more evidence that the Nats aren’t good with their money… While the nationalists spent less than they did in 2021 – a still hefty sum of over £5 million – they didn’t manage to bring in quite enough income. Collecting just £4.25 million, the SNP deficit of £803,659 is up by almost £100,000 from 2021. Party officials received a mere £144,000 cash in hand in 2021 – a

Steerpike Steerpike

Poll: two thirds of public back death penalty for Letby

Lucy Letby this week became only the third woman alive to be handed a whole-life jail term after being sentenced for murdering seven babies and trying to kill another six. But for an outraged British public it seems that sentence is not enough. A new poll for The Spectator by Redfield & Wilton show that 66 per cent of them favour the death penalty as just punishment. Polling of 1,500 people was conducted on Wednesday. It comes at a time when support for capital punishment has risen across the board. Half the public (49 per cent) would support reinstating the death penalty for ‘any murder’, a figure that has risen

John Ferry John Ferry

The SNP ferry fiasco has become even more of a disaster

In retrospect, the computerised boat in the movie Titanic looked more believable than the one Nicola Sturgeon stood in front of the day she ‘launched’ the Glen Sannox ferry, almost six years ago. With its famously painted on windows and oddly delicate looking bulbous bow – one of many parts subsequently replaced as it was found not to be fit for purpose – we can look back now and wonder who they were trying to kid with their fakery. Historians might come to view that day as a microcosm of the SNP’s time in power. Children were bussed in and handed Saltire flags to wave and cheer as the ship

Paul Wood

Prigozhin sent ‘to hell’, but who gave the order?

As the first reports came in that Yevgeny Prigozhin had been killed, I spoke to Marat Gabidullin, who was a senior commander in Prigozhin’s mercenary army and for a time his personal assistant for military affairs. Gabidiullin is living in exile in France and well known as a bitter critic of Prigozhin – he was forced to change addresses regularly, worried that Prigozhin would send someone to kill him. In the past, he described his old boss as brutal, greedy, smart, dangerous, and willing to sacrifice his men by the thousand for profit and power. But now he’s almost wistful at the thought of Prigozhin’s passing. He told me that

Steerpike Steerpike

Sunak rapped over wife’s childcare interest

When your wife is worth £500 million, it can be tough to keep remember all her interests. Back in April, the parliamentary commissioner for standards, Daniel Greenberg, announced a probe into Rishi Sunak. It followed a Liaison Committee meeting in which Sunak did not mention the shares Akshata Murty held in the company Koru Kids, which was set to benefit from changes announced in the budget. Now Greenberg has delivered his report and ruled that Sunak ‘inadvertently’ broke the code of conduct for MPs by not correctly declaring his wife’s financial interest in the childminding company. Greenberg ruled that Sunak ‘confused’ declaring his interests as a minister with registering his interests as

Roger Kimball

Trump’s interview blows the Republican debate away

One of the reasons that Donald Trump is so despised by the beautiful people of America – the people that the New York Times columnist David Brooks memorably evoked when he began a tweet ‘We in the educated class…’ – is that he consorts with so many unbeautiful people: not just working stiffs but B-list entertainers, Nascar enthusiasts and prize fighters.   It is from the world of the last-named agonistic endeavor that I learned a word that perfectly describes last night’s festivities. The word is ‘undercard’. It means that list of ‘minor or supporting contests printed on the same bill as the main event (primarily fighting or racing).’ Fox News, together with

Mark Galeotti Mark Galeotti

Prigozhin’s death has exposed Putin’s weakness

So much is still unclear about the fate of Wagner group head Yevgeny Prigozhin, from whether he really did die in the private jet that plummeted to the ground in Russia’s Tver region to what caused the crash. In today’s Russia, after all, ‘mechanical problems’ could be anything from maintenance issues to the difficulty in flying when a bomb has blown a hole in your fuselage. The odds are, though, that he is indeed dead. Putin himself offered lukewarm praise to the ‘talented businessman’ who nonetheless ‘made serious mistakes in his life’ (one of which may have been reassuring Putin’s guarantees). Three things would follow from this. First of all, that

Amber Athey

The winners and losers of the first Republican primary debate

The first Republican primary debate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin wrapped in the early hours of this morning. Here is the definitive list of the evening’s winners and losers. Winners Vivek Ramaswamy Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy is the only candidate on the stage who spoke to an issue larger than partisan politics: a lack of American identity and purpose. He accurately pinpointed the undercurrent of malaise in the country. Ramaswamy also was the first to raise his hand unapologetically when asked if he would stop sending money to Ukraine and if he would support former president Donald Trump as the nominee even if he were convicted in one of his pending legal cases.