Politics

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

Saturday

Cindy Yu Cindy Yu

Biden’s muddle on Chinese arms for Russia

Will China send arms to support Russia? That was the possibility that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken raised at the Munich Security Conference, accusing Beijing of considering doing so. China has officially rejected this claim and, as of last night, so has President Biden. ‘I don’t anticipate a major initiative on the part of China providing weaponry to Russia,’ Biden told ABC, seemingly directly contradicting his right-hand man on foreign policy. Is this just another case of Sleepy Joe misspeaking, a comment that will have to be walked back by his team in the hours to come? After all, Biden has form. He has previously pledged to defend Taiwan

Kate Andrews Kate Andrews

How is the government helping Ukrainians in Britain?

14 min listen

Today marks one year since Putin sent the Russian army into Kyiv. Since then, what has been the experience of the Ukrainians who fled their homes and came over to the UK? Svitlana Morenets, a staff writer at The Spectator speaks to Kate Andrews about the year reporting on her war-torn country from Britain. Also joining the podcast is Matt Downie, chief executive of Crisis UK whose work involves helping those 4000 Ukrainians who arrived on the Homes for Ukraine scheme and are now at risk of homelessness. 

Lloyd Evans Lloyd Evans

The secret truth about Dom: The Play

‘Who wrote it?’ asks the Times, of Dom: The Play. I’ll let you in on a secret: it was me. If you’re selling a product, you need to advertise what you’re flogging, rather than its creator. That’s why, when my satire about Dominic Cummings launched at The Other Palace in Victoria this week, I withheld my name from the poster and the programme. Simple reason: my name doesn’t shift tickets. And a poster without the waffle is likely to cut through better. As a result, our poster has the show’s emphatic title in crimson letters beneath three shots of Dom’s face taken from different angles. This has a decent chance

Jawad Iqbal

The many missteps of Humza Yousaf

The apparently irresistible rise of Humza Yousaf, the SNP politician seen as the frontrunner to succeed Nicola Sturgeon as Scotland’s first minister, reveals much about the dearth of talent at the very top of Scottish politics. Yousaf is a politician with almost no discernible achievements to his name despite almost a decade in senior ministerial roles. If truth be told — cruel as it may sound — many will consider Yousaf a serial political incompetent who has made a name for himself in Scottish politics for all the wrong reasons.  Even so, Yousaf certainly takes himself seriously enough. There he was on Monday launching his leadership campaign in Clydebank, a

Harry Mount

Humza Yousaf and Anas Sarwar’s debt to private schools

Humza Yousaf, the favourite to succeed Nicola Sturgeon as Scottish First Minister, has been ticking all the right boxes in his campaign so far. Last week, he declared: ‘As your SNP First Minister, and as someone from a minority background myself, I will stand up and champion equal rights for all.’ I don’t imagine he’ll be championing the rights of Scottish public-school boys, though. But that is exactly what Yousaf is.  Yes, the 37-year-old Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care is the first non-white, first Muslim cabinet minister in the Scottish government. But he’s also an old boy of Hutchesons’ Grammar School, Glasgow, one of the oldest public schools in Scotland,

Robin Ashenden

What happened to the Russia I loved?

For three and a half years, between Autumn 2018 and 2022, the most thrilling words I could say to anyone – especially myself – were ‘I live in Russia.’ I had read about the country since I was a child – obsessively from my mid-twenties onwards – and it was Holy Land for me. Other people I knew had flirted with the place on study-courses, temporary work-placements or backpacking, yet always with an end in sight. But I had a child growing up in Rostov, in southern Russia, had put down roots, integrated into its society and planned to grow old there. For the rest of my life, I thought,

Mark Galeotti Mark Galeotti

Has Prigozhin pushed his luck too far with Putin?

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the businessman behind Russia’s Wagner Group mercenaries, is hardly a man to keep a low profile. He is at his loudest and most vitriolic, though, either when he feels he has the upper hand over his (many) enemies or when he is on the ropes. He’s pretty outspoken these days, and no one thinks it’s because he’s winning. For months, many of the small gains made by the Russians had been thanks to Wagner and its use of expendable soldiers recruited from the prison system. This had given Prigozhin a degree of latitude and license and, true to form, he had used that to prosecute his personal vendettas,

Friday

Steerpike Steerpike

Second Tory MP in party deselection battle

Some late-night Friday drama in the West Midlands. The selection committee of the Stafford Conservative Association have tonight passed a motion to prevent incumbent MP Theo Clarke from being their candidate next time around. Clarke was elected in 2019 and resigned her role as a government trade envoy last July in protest at Boris Johnson’s leadership. She returned on Monday from six months of maternity leave. In a statement tonight she said: I have only returned from maternity leave this week and I have been very disappointed by the abuse that i have received since i announced I was having a baby. The selection committee have made their decision and

Steerpike Steerpike

Why was EU chief due to meet King Charles?

There’s been a sense of deja vu in Westminster in recent days, with a Tory leader under pressure on Europe from the right of his party. As Rishi Sunak tries to finalise a new deal on the Northern Ireland protocol, Tory Brexiteers have been questioning the wisdom of the Prime Minister’s strategy. But now there is a brand new element: the royals. After excited chatter earlier that Sunak could unveil his deal tomorrow that no longer appears to be the case. Reports have emerged from Sky and the Times tonight that the government was planning to have the King host Ursula von der Leyen at Windsor before Sunak unveiled his

Svitlana Morenets Svitlana Morenets

Why Ukrainians won’t settle for a ceasefire

Growing up as a Ukrainian means being acquainted with death when you are too young to know much about life. When I was a teenager, I saw dozens of coffins being brought to my hometown from Vladimir Putin’s war in the Donbas. Now, I am seeing my friends go to war – and, like so many thousands of Ukrainians, die. One was buried last month: Maksym Burda, a 25-year-old wedding photographer. Another friend went to war this week. This friend, an artist, had just five weeks of accelerated training: now he’s an infantry soldier in one of the hottest spots on the Dobas front. He has been provided with a

Gavin Mortimer Gavin Mortimer

How Putin is fomenting Europe’s migrant crisis

‘Watch the Sahel,’ warned Tony Blair in an article marking the first year of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Because of Russian influence, the region ‘will be the source of the next wave of extremism and migration to Europe,’ the former PM forecast in the Daily Telegraph.  As the increased numbers crossing the Mediterranean from Africa to Europe in 2022 demonstrated, the next wave of migration has started. Frontex, the EU’s border agency, reported recently that last year migration across the Central Mediterranean ‘rose by more than half to well over 100 000 detections’.  This mass movement of people is creating tension, not only in Europe. Earlier this week, the president of

Steerpike Steerpike

Civil war engulfs the SNP as leadership race turns toxic

For many years, it seemed like the SNP were immune from the normal rules of politics. Their unity was unshakeable, its leader unquestioned. Message discipline was rigid; disputes played out privately, away from the cameras. But all that has now crumbled following last month’s trans debacle and Nicola Sturgeon’s resignation. The race to replace her began just a week ago but already the debate has turned toxic, with all three candidates for First Minister today being embroiled in various spats and brawls. The day began with SNP grandee Alex Neil attacking frontrunner Humza Yousaf on the front page of the Scottish Daily Mail, claiming that he asked for an excuse

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Is a deal on the Northern Ireland Protocol imminent?

Rishi Sunak hoped to end the week with a new agreement on the Northern Ireland Protocol. Instead, the Prime Minister delayed his plans to announce a fresh agreement in the face of concerns from the DUP – and members of the European Research Group. As I say in this week’s politics column in the magazine, the rebellion against Sunak’s plan started before any MPs have seen the final text. Downing Street insist nothing is agreed – though others accuse Sunak of having been sitting on the main thrust of a deal now for weeks. After DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson warned Sunak there was no need to rush, a consensus has

Nigel Jones

Justin Welby is wrong: Russia should be punished for its war in Ukraine

As the world marks the grim first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin should give thanks that there appears to be at least one of what Lenin called ‘useful idiots’ left in the West. Step forward – after removing your foot from its usual place in your mouth – the Archbishop of Canterbury, the most Reverend Justin Welby. Fresh from presiding over a schism in the worldwide Anglican Communion over gay marriage, the Archbishop is now favouring us with his deeply misguided views on Putin’s aggression and its possible consequences. It may not sit well with Welby’s milk and water theology Welby has said that ‘when the time comes’

Stephen Daisley Stephen Daisley

It’s not game over yet for Kate Forbes

Kate Forbes’ campaign to succeed Nicola Sturgeon has been largely written off by political rivals and the media. Her Christian faith is said to make her unsuitable to lead a progressive party like the SNP and to be the First Minister of a modern Scotland. Not least her admission that, while she doesn’t seek to roll back any existing rights, she wouldn’t have voted for same-sex marriage had she been an MSP when the legislation was before Holyrood. She also believes children should be born within wedlock and is sceptical of efforts to change the law on gender recognition. Game over, say people in the know.  However, a new poll of SNP

Stephen Daisley Stephen Daisley

Can gender rebel Ash Regan win the SNP leadership race?

Ash Regan is the latest MSP to launch a bid for the SNP leadership. The former Holyrood minister, who quit Nicola Sturgeon’s government over gender recognition reforms, addressed party members and journalists at the Hilton in North Queensferry this morning. Her pitch was red meat to the rank and file, abandoning referendums as the mechanism to achieve independence. Instead, she argued, 50 per cent plus one vote for the SNP and other nationalist parties in any Scottish or UK election would be grounds to enter negotiations with Westminster for Scotland’s secession. She noted that this was once a widely-held view inside the SNP and even among some of its Unionist

Steven Fielding

What does Starmer really stand for?

Keir Starmer is no longer a leader under pressure – at least for now. When he set out his ‘Five Missions for a Better Britain’ yesterday during a speech in Manchester he did so from the vantage point of a huge Labour lead in the opinion polls and an election victory seemingly in the bag. A few days ago, he consigned his troublesome predecessor Jeremy Corbyn to history by confirming he would not be allowed to stand at the next election. Starmer dominates his party like no Labour leader since Tony Blair in his pomp. But when Blair became prime minister, everybody thought they were clear what Blairism was about.

Robert Service

Putin’s fatal miscalculation over Ukraine

It is a full year since Vladimir Putin started his latest war against Ukraine, and only optimists expect that the next anniversary will occur in peacetime. There is little comfort to be taken from the twin possibilities of victory or defeat for the Ukrainian forces. If they win, Russia will remain a potent threat on their borders even though Putin would be likely to fall from power. And if Ukraine loses, it will sink back into the corruption and maladministration that plagued the country before 2022 – with the additional curse of a Russian colonial oppression. Many people had assumed that such invasions could no longer be perpetrated by one

Thursday

Steerpike Steerpike

Poll: public demand frugal living for MPs

With inflation and strikes gripping the nation, it seems that the public are not in a generous mood when it comes to the perks afforded to our political class. Following Labour’s much-hyped ‘GPC files’, Mr S has done some polling and the results don’t make good living for those in Westminster who enjoy a life of largesse. Given a set of four options, 40 per cent of the public would put the Foreign Secretary up in a basic hotel for a conference overseas for two nights – though thankfully with their own room. Just 14 per cent would select the kind of five-star accommodation which Rishi Sunak stayed in for