Politics

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

Wednesday

16 Nov 2022

The contours of the next election have been set

Since the 2008 financial crash, British politics has been moving faster and faster, and becoming less stable. This frenzy reached its apogee with Liz Truss’s 44-day stint in No. 10 which had enough drama for a ten-year premiership. One of the challenges for Rishi Sunak is to calm things down and to return politics to a more normal pace. It will be a good sign for the government if the World Cup dominates newspaper front pages for the next month. However, there is one area where Sunak needs politics to move faster than normal. Jeremy Hunt’s Autumn Statement is the kind of fiscal event that you would expect at the

Freddy Gray

Is Donald Trump the Jeb Bush of 2024?

Donald Trump has been running for president for at least a decade. His campaign did not start on 16 June 2015, when he descended that golden escalator in that eponymous tower in New York. It began on 19 November 2012, days after President Barack Obama had defeated Mitt Romney, when Trump registered a trademark application for the phrase he pinched from Ronald Reagan: ‘Make America Great Again.’ After he won the White House in 2016, Trump did not cease pursuing re-election. After he lost in 2020, ditto. The fundraising – the key part – and therallies have kept going and going. On Tuesday night, at his home at Mar-a-Lago, Florida,

Isabel Hardman

Labour rains blows on Raab over bullying claims

Once again, the Tories went into Prime Minister’s Questions in a defensive crouch over the behaviour of one of their ministers. Shortly before the session, Rishi Sunak tried to soften the blows that were due to rain down on Dominic Raab over allegations about his behaviour towards civil servants. The Prime Minister, still overseas, announced there would be an independent probe into the claims that had been made. This at least meant Raab, who was standing in for him in the Commons, could say the government takes bullying seriously. But it didn’t stop the session from being dominated by Labour attacks on the matter. Raab’s problem is that when his

Lisa Haseldine

How Russia responded to the Polish missile incident

Yesterday, during the largest wave of missile strikes conducted by Russia since February, a shell flew six kilometres over the Ukrainian border into Poland, killing two people. Before any facts had been established, there was confusion in the Russian media whether to report on the story with outraged protestation or excitement. To begin with, Russian commentators reacted with glee. TV presenter and known Kremlin mouthpiece Margarita Simonyan gloated on social media, referencing recent Ukrainian shelling on the Russian border and taunting ‘Now Poland has its own Belgorod region, what did you expect?’. Nevertheless, several hours after the news broke, a statement came from the Russian Ministry of Defence denying responsibility

Steerpike

Commons staff warned of World Cup ‘malicious actors’

‘It’s coming home!’ England fans may cheer next week in Qatar but there’s one thing Commons’ bosses don’t want coming back with them: malicious viruses that could put parliament’s internet system at risk. Security chiefs on the Westminster estate have issued strict guidance to those football fanatics heading off to the oil rich Arab country this week. Messages have been posted on the Palace of Westminster’s intranet, warning staff that ‘as someone who works for parliament, the information stored on your devices is valuable and potentially of interest to malicious actors.’ Researchers and secretaries are urged to ‘not take any parliamentary-issued devices with you’ with disposable burner phones and new

Steerpike

The curious rehabilitation of Sir Simon McDonald

First it was Suella Braverman, then it was Gavin Williamson, now it is Dominic Raab. Three ministers have been in the crosshairs of Westminster’s press pack these past three weeks. The first survived, the second resigned and now it is the turn of the Deputy Prime Minister to experience life at the centre of a media storm. The questions facing Raab are of personal conduct, with anonymous briefings aplenty about his allegedly aggressive demeanour, treatment of staff and aversion to Pret sandwiches. One person though who is more than happy to go public with his views is Sir Simon McDonald, the Permanent Secretary at the Foreign Office between 2019 to

The Spectator

Who has lost the most money in human history?

Billion-dollar losers Sam Bankman-Fried, the 30-year-old founder of FTX, saw his wealth plummet from $16 bn to zero when the company collapsed. Other big fortunes lost: – Masayoshi Son, founder of Softbank, lost paper wealth of around $70 bn (in today’s money) during the dotcom crash of 2000-2. The company later floated and now he is reckoned by Forbes to be worth $22.8 bn. – Yasumitsu Shigeta, founder of mobile phone company Hikari Tsushin, lost a paper fortune of $42 bn in the dotcom crash, but thanks to a partial recovery in shares he is now worth $3.4 bn, says Forbes. – John Rockefeller, the oil magnate and America’s richest man

Joanna Rossiter

Just Stop Oil aren’t like the suffragettes

What do Just Stop Oil protesters have in common with the suffragettes? Their antics of blocking motorways and chucking tomato soup at famous paintings might lead you to think there are few parallels. But Helen Pankhurst – great-granddaughter of Emmeline – thinks they do share some common ground. Both groups, Pankhurst suggests, are on the right side of history. In an article for the Guardian, she claims that ‘the climate crisis is a feminist issue’. ‘I have absolutely no doubt that in 100 years’ time (climate activists) will be seen as the real heroes,’ she says. Like Just Stop Oil, the suffragettes targeted museums, sports events and public buildings to raise

James Forsyth

Nato to meet amid uncertainty over missile that hit Poland

Uncertainty still surrounds what happened with the missile that struck the village of Przewodów in Poland, around four miles from the Ukrainian border, which killed two farm workers last night. President Joe Biden has said that the missile’s trajectory means it is ‘unlikely’ it was fired from Russia. At the moment, it is unclear whether it was a missile fired by Russian forces in Ukraine, one knocked off its course by a Ukrainian interception – or a Ukrainian air defence missile gone astray. There are reports this morning that the initial US verdict is that it was probably a Ukrainian air defence missile. But there is no getting away from the

Steerpike

Raab hits back at his critics

Another week and another minister under pressure. But rather than hand in his resignation notice like Gavin Williamson, Dominic Raab has chosen to come out swinging against his critics. Facing questions about his conduct, the Deputy Prime Minister, Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice (as he likes to be called) has drafted a public letter, confirming there are two formal complaints lodged against him. One was made during his time at the Foreign Office; the other during his first tenure as Justice Secretary. He has now requested that Rishi Sunak begin an independent investigation into the claims and promises to cooperate fully with the outcome. Raab says he

Mark Galeotti

The decline and fall of Sergei Lavrov

First came the claims that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was admitted to hospital in Bali on arriving for the G20 summit. No, we were then told by spokeswoman Maria Zakharova – it was ‘the ultimate fake’. Then local accounts emerged, saying that he popped in ‘for a check-up’. But does any of it matter? On the face of it, it should. Vladimir Putin, true to form, havered as to whether to attend the summit, apparently deciding less than a week beforehand not to, both for security reasons but also because he knew that he would hardly get a warm welcome. The prospect of being publicly shunned and taken to

Charles Lipson

Trump’s pox upon his party

Donald Trump has some well-proven abilities – the ability to cost Republicans winnable elections for the House and Senate, the ability to undermine citizens’ confidence in election outcomes (without providing solid proof the elections were stolen) and the ability to foment some of America’s worst, anti-democratic elements. Trump’s status as party leader contributed to Republicans’ anemic showing in 2022. He was hardly alone in dragging down the party, but he contributed to the losses in two ways. First, the candidates he pushed over the finish line in the primaries disappointed in the general election. His only clear-cut victory was the endorsement of J.D. Vance in Ohio, who won the Senate

Amber Athey

Trump announces 2024 bid

Former US president Donald Trump last night announced his candidacy for the 2024 election at his Florida resort in Mar-a-Lago in a swanky ballroom. The room was adorned in gold and Trump had a row of American flags at his back as he said he would run for president for the third time. Trump earned some ire from the GOP base last week when he attacked Florida governor Ron DeSantis and Virginia governor Glenn Youngkin, but this has not released his grip on the Republican Party. He opened his speech with a promise: ‘America’s comeback starts now.’ It’s ‘Make America Great Again’ …again. ‘This is not a task… for a

Jake Wallis Simons

The troubling rise of the Israeli far-right

Something troubling has happened in Israel. The previous government, before it collapsed earlier this month, had been remarkable for its glorious diversity, both political and ethnic. Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid shared a rotating prime ministership, presiding over a coalition of parties spanning the entire political spectrum. It was the first administration to include Arab parties; when I met him last year, Issawi Frej, the country’s first Arab minister, told me that he firmly rejected Amnesty’s ‘apartheid Israel’ slur, and envisioned a role for himself in building on the Abraham Accords. Now here was a country that it felt good to defend. The Jewish diaspora loved all this, hailing Israel

Tuesday

15 Nov 2022

Svitlana Morenets

The missile strike on Poland will be a test for Nato

Since the start of the war, there has been a risk of Ukraine’s neighbours being caught in crossfire – especially when Russia turned to a missile-based strategy. This now seems to have happened, with two rockets hitting the Polish village of Przewodów, nearly six miles from Ukraine’s border, killing two farm workers. The stakes are obviously high: if Russian missiles struck a Nato member for the first time, that has implications. US president Joe Biden has said it is ‘unlikely’ that the missile was fired from Russia while Turkey said it must ‘respect’ Moscow’s fervent denial that Russia (which had just fired 100 missiles at Ukraine in a third wave of attacks) had anything

Isabel Hardman

Is there anything we don’t know about Hunt’s Autumn Statement?

What does Jeremy Hunt want us to know about the Autumn Statement? The Chancellor is in the final hours of writing the economic announcements for Thursday, and today he had his last Treasury questions in the Commons before he gives his long speech. Hunt has been rolling the pitch more assiduously than an MCC groundsman over the past few weeks, with endless briefings about black holes, tax rises and unpopular spending cuts. Today, he was talking again about how ‘difficult’ things were going to be. He said: ‘Despite the difficulty of the package I will be announcing, I will sadly not be drinking any whisky as I do so.’ Hunt

Cindy Yu

Why is the workforce shrinking?

11 min listen

Figures released today show that the number of people in employment has dropped by 50,000 since September, despite a national worker shortage of 1.25 million. Does this shed some light on the recession? Are these shortages simply because of disputes over pay or could the NHS waiting list be to blame? Also on the podcast, as public sector pay stagnates, how many will be lost to the private sector? Cindy Yu speaks to Fraser Nelson and James Forsyth. Produced by Cindy Yu and Oscar Edmondson.

Lisa Haseldine

Russia receives the cold shoulder at Bali’s G20 summit

In the warmth of the Balinese sunshine, Russia has received an unsurprisingly frosty reception at the G20 summit. We are barely a few hours into the summit and the tension is already acute. The source of this tension, of course, is Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This is the first G20 held since the beginning of the Ukraine war earlier this year. Ahead of the summit, some member states were already questioning whether Russia should still be allowed to retain its membership of the group. Meanwhile, in light of the war, Ukraine was invited to participate in this year’s summit as a guest. Perhaps in anticipation of this, it was announced

Ross Clark

The case for letting council tax rise

We have now been primed for so many tax rises that Thursday’s autumn statement will inevitably come as some form of relief. Whatever Jeremy Hunt announces is sure to be milder than the possibilities fed to us over the past few weeks. But there is one suggested tax rise which is far too mild, and far too reasonable. Local authorities, it has been floated, may be allowed to put up their council tax bills by up to 5 per cent without having to put it to the public in a referendum (a referendum which, needless to say, would swallow up a good slice of any extra revenue gained). If the

Freddy Gray

Will Trump run?

‘I don’t think anyone knows,’ someone close to Donald Trump told me at the end of last week. ‘My guess is he does but that’s just a guess.’ My question, of course, was ‘Is Donald Trump still going to announce?’ — despite the mid-term disappointments for his movement and the increasing certainty among Republican analysts that the party cannot win with him as its public face? He’s expected to announce at 9 pm Eastern Standard Time – 2 am tomorrow, BST – after he declared yesterday on his Truth Social media platform that ‘Hopefully, tomorrow will turn out to be one of the most important days in the history of