Politics

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

Monday

Mary Dejevsky

Peter Mandelson has become a liability

Well, that didn’t take long, did it? Less than a month after presenting his credentials to President Trump, His Britannic Majesty’s Ambassador in Washington was being accused by an MP in the House of Commons of ‘freelancing on US TV’. The UK armed forces minister, Luke Pollard, had earlier distanced himself from comments made by Lord Mandelson, saying ‘that’s not government policy’.  Both were referring to a typically mellifluous performance by Mandelson on ABC’s popular Sunday politics talk-show, This Week. The presenter was another master of fluent politics-speak, George Stephanopoulos, one-time spokesman for the Clinton White House turned media pundit, and the conversation flowed with amicable ease.  So where had

Steerpike Steerpike

‘Struggling’ Rayner gets her third aide

When you’ve got a majority of 167, how do you keep control? The answer, it seems, is jobs for the boys (and girls). Another round of government appointments made a week ago has seen yet more new MPs promoted. Alex Barros-Curtis, Joe Morris and Jack Abbott are among the 2024 intake who ascended the first rung on the ministerial pecking order by being named parliamentary private secretaries (PPS). But it was the appointment of Mark Ferguson as a bag carrier at the Ministry of Housing which caught Steerpike’s eye. The Gateshead Central MP gushed on LinkedIn that he is ‘especially excited to serve our Deputy Prime Minister and my friend Angela

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Starmer: Zelensky is a ‘hero’

Keir Starmer was careful in his Commons statement about Ukraine to distance himself from what happened in the Oval Office on Friday, while also insisting that Britain needs to maintain a strong relationship with the US. He told MPs that Friday’s public spat between Volodymyr Zelensky, Donald Trump and JD Vance was ‘something nobody in this house wants to see’, but added: ‘I do want to be crystal clear, we must strengthen our relationship with America – for our security, for our technology, for our trade and investment’. He also repeatedly disagreed with any MP who suggested drawing back from the relationship with Trump. Later in the session, he said

Ross Clark Ross Clark

Angela Rayner is exercising her ‘right to switch off’ Britain’s growth

It was reported over the weekend that the government has dropped ‘the right to switch off’ from its Employment Rights Bill. Such a right, it has been widely asserted, had appeared in Labour’s manifesto for last year’s general election, promising that employees would be granted a legal right to ignore their boss’s emails outside their contracted working hours. However, it was left out of the bill as originally published last autumn, and neither has it been introduced as an amendment. But it seems that we were not really paying attention. It is true that Angela Rayner, in an interview with the Financial Times in May, made the suggestion that the

Owen Matthews

‘Europe plus’ won’t save Ukraine

Days after the disastrous White House showdown between Volodymir Zelensky and Donald Trump, Sir Keir Starmer has done an undoubtedly impressive job in quickly rallying western leaders to Kyiv’s cause. The ‘Europe Plus’ partnership suggested by Starmer will be a ‘coalition of the willing’ to protect Ukraine that includes major non-European players such as Canada and, crucially, Turkey.  But make no mistake over the nature of Europe Plus’s new role. It is not, as some more excitable commentators have called it, a ‘mini-Nato.’ Europe is not taking over responsibility for its own security. A new European world order is not being built before our eyes. Behind the grand verbiage and

James Heale James Heale

Priti Patel attacks Nigel Farage over Zelensky comments

During the early days of the Gaza crisis, there was an unofficial refrain doing the rounds in the Foreign Office: ‘Foreign policy doesn’t win votes – but it can lose them.’ In recent days, the same could be said of Ukraine’s peace negotiations. The drama between Presidents Trump and Zelensky which played out in the Oval Office on Friday horrified Westminster. Both Keir Starmer and Kemi Badenoch were quick to signal their support for Zelensky, aware that – three years after the war with Russia began – public support for Ukraine remains rock solid. It poses a difficulty for Nigel Farage That poses a difficulty for Nigel Farage. The Reform

Steerpike Steerpike

Lee Anderson attacks ‘pathetic’ Ben Habib

There’s a drama a day in Westminster. Today’s bust-up is between Reform MP Lee Anderson and the party’s former deputy leader Ben Habib who accused him of plagiarism. Following the jibe, the Ashfield MP took to Twitter to brand Habib a ‘pathetic little man’ trying to ‘smear’ Reform. And you thought Mike Amesbury was punchy… Early this morning Anderson posted online a long list of Labour failures – with the Reform MP claiming Sir Keir Starmer’s army would ‘never have been elected if voters had been told the truth’. While the politician’s post was lauded by his supporters, Habib was quick to spot a rather disgruntled reply from an account that had posted the exact same tweet several weeks before. ‘Does Reform

Ed West Ed West

Why Britain isn’t standing up for Canada

In May 1940, days after the Dunkirk evacuation, the Churchill defender Andreas Koureas recalls how the great British war leader was, ‘informed by the Canadian Prime Minister, Mackenzie King, of more dreadful news. Roosevelt had no faith in Churchill nor Britain, and wanted Canada to give up on her. Roosevelt thought that Britain would likely collapse, and Churchill could not be trusted to maintain her struggle. Rather than appealing to Churchill’s pleas of aid – which were politically impossible then anyway – Roosevelt sought more drastic measures. A delegation was summoned for Canada. They requested Canada to pester Britain to have the Royal Navy sent across the Atlantic, before Britain’s

James Heale James Heale

Can Starmer stick to his promises to Ukraine?

14 min listen

Along with the French President Emmanuel Macron, Keir Starmer seems to be spearheading Europe’s diplomatic efforts to secure a lasting peace deal for Ukraine in light of the new American administration’s animosity towards Zelensky. Among the proposals being discussed are a peace-keeping force in the country, as a part of efforts to show the Trump administration that Europe is taking responsibility, as it were, for its own security. But will Starmer really get the Americans on board? And if not, does he risk over-promising to Ukraine? James Heale talks to Kate Andrews and Katy Balls. Produced by Cindy Yu.

Brendan O’Neill Brendan O’Neill

What’s the real reason some on the right hate Volodymyr Zelensky?

Perusing the Zelensky-bashing of the Very Online right, I found myself thinking: ‘This reminds me of something.’ The branding of Ukraine’s president as a ‘welfare queen’ who is draining America’s coffers. The libelling of Ukraine as a uniquely corrupt nation whose thirst for war threatens to damn all of mankind to disaster. The shameful blaming of Ukraine for its own invasion, as if Russia had no choice but to violently rebuke its uppity, vexing neighbour. Ukraineophobia and Israelophobia are both blights on the body politic Then it struck me: Ukraine is to the cranky right what Israel is to the mad left. Their Zelensky Derangement Syndrome creepily mirrors the frenzied

Steerpike Steerpike

Farage blasts Zelensky over Trump meeting

The extraordinary scenes that came from the White House on Friday were the talk of the weekend – and relations between Volodymyr Zelensky and Donald Trump remain under the spotlight this week too. As Sir Keir Starmer prepares to address MPs this afternoon on Ukraine, Reform leader Nigel Farage has this morning offered up his thoughts on the fall out between the two presidents – after their meeting last week took a rather unexpected turn… The mood of the Friday meeting between the Ukrainian president, Trump and JD Vance turned rather sour after the Vice-President hit out at Zelensky’s attitude – eventually accusing him of being ‘disrespectful’. Trump insisted that

Matthew Lynn

The fatal flaws in Trump’s crypto reserve plan

President Trump was very bullish about his decision over the weekend to create a ‘crypto reserve’. It will legitimise crypto currencies, he said. It will turn the United States into the global hub for trade. And it will build the national wealth. In effect, the American government will build up a stock of Bitcoin and other digital currencies, much like the gold held in Fort Knox. But Trump’s promise is too good to be true: it is a dangerous scam. Trump’s crypto reserve will be wide open to market manipulation by the tech tycoons around him ‘I will make sure the US is the Crypto Capital of the World,’ Trump

Steerpike Steerpike

Watch: Mandelson says Kyiv should back Trump plan

Oh dear. It has only been 22 days since Peter Mandelson formally became Britain’s Ambassador to Washington – and he is already causing controversy. As European talks over Ukraine negotiations raged over the weekend, up popped the Labour peer on ABC to offer his take on things. In response to comments by Marco Rubio, the Secretary of State, Mandelson insisted that: We need a very radical reset and it has to consist of the United States and Ukraine getting back on the same page and President Zelenskyy giving his unequivocal backing to the initiative that President Trump is taking to end the war and to bring a just and lasting

Sam Leith Sam Leith

The ‘goodies and baddies’ era of world politics is over

It’s hard to overstate just how shocking, how grotesque and shaming, was President Trump’s outburst against Ukraine’s President Zelensky in the Oval Office. Pop went the last soap-bubble of hope any of us had that US diplomatic policy for the next four years would cleave to anything other than the mad king’s personal whims and grievances. “Goodies and baddies” is exactly how liberal democracies do see the world The personal stuff – the petulance and bullying – is priced in with Donald Trump. But the wider drift of what’s happening is, in a way, more alarming. Historians and international policy experts seem to agree that we’re at an inflection point: the chapter

Rod Liddle Rod Liddle

Why was there so little fanfare after David Johansen’s death?

We were twice transported back to the early 1970s this weekend, our memories snagged on the deaths of Roberta Flack and David Johansen. One of the two was afforded quite a send off by the media, the other wasn’t. I think they got it the wrong way around. Flack, who died aged 88 on 24 February, was a soul/pop crossover artist with a luxurious contralto range and a canny judge of what made a hit record. She had two big solo hits in the UK with “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face”, written by Ewan MacColl and “Killing Me Softly With His Song”, a Gimbel/Fox/Lori Lieberman confection written

Jawad Iqbal

Keir Starmer has had his best week since becoming Prime Minister

Even Keir Starmer’s fiercest detractors (and there are a fair few) must concede that he has had a very good week on the international stage: the best by a long chalk since he entered Downing Street. The Prime Minister, derided by critics as a political plodder, lacking in ideas and charisma-free, is a leader transformed. The new Starmer is a man with a mission, imbued with the confidence to lead. This was very much in evidence when he met US President Donald Trump for talks in Washington earlier this week. Starmer approached the discussions in the manner of the barrister he used to be, carefully mastering his brief and solely focused on

Tina Stowell

The copyright battle is only part of the AI war

Artificial intelligence (AI) really is the next industrial revolution. In fact, it’s already started, and the technology’s capability is developing faster than anything we’ve seen before. Its benefits mean there is so much more to be excited, than fearful, about. But such is the extent of the technology’s power and potential, it is essential we don’t allow it to be controlled only by a small number of Big Tech companies. The approach the EU has taken is not the answer The entrenched incumbents of Silicon Valley have developed some fantastic products and services over the years that we wouldn’t want to be without. But that didn’t give them the right to

Sunday

Alexander Larman

King Charles offers his support to Zelensky

This weekend marks perhaps the most turbulent 48 hours that Ukraine’s President Zelensky has ever experienced – and, given the events of the past three years, that is saying an awful lot. After his already notorious reception in Washington at the White House in Friday, and rather more emollient greeting by Keir Starmer in Britain yesterday, he has now visited Sandringham to see King Charles after attending a summit of European leaders at Lancaster House. Doubtless he is running on a mixture of adrenaline and righteous anger at his enemies – whether those of long standing or more recently acquired – but he is almost certainly in need of reassurance

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Starmer has his work cut out bringing peace to Ukraine

Keir Starmer today attempted to make the debate about Ukraine’s future one primarily held by Ukraine and European countries. This came after Donald Trump had suggested at the end of last week that it was for the US and Russia to decide. In his press conference after the summit of European leaders in London, the Prime Minister said work was now beginning on a deal to end the war with Russia, led by European countries to then be discussed with the US to ‘take it forward together’.  He also dismissed suggestions that the US was an ‘unreliable ally’, and suggested that America was at least not opposed outright to the

Steerpike Steerpike

Watch: Starmer rejects SNP call to cancel Trump state visit

Well, you can’t say they don’t try. With Europe still reeling from Donald Trump’s oval office bust-up with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday, over in Scotland the SNP have piped up to make their feelings known about the American President. Never ones to miss a chance to try and stay relevant, the party’s leader John Swinney took to the airwaves to insist that Prime Minister Keir Starmer retract the invitation of a second state visit for Trump to the UK. ‘I cannot see how a state visit can go ahead for President Trump to the United Kingdom, if President Trump is not a steadfast ally of ours in protecting