Politics

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

Thursday

16 Jun 2022

Steerpike

Another Boris diplomatic blunder

Boris Johnson has never been one of nature’s diplomats. Unconventional, irreverent, Brexit-backing and norm-defying, the blonde bombshell’s two-year tenure at the Foreign Office is now remembered as one of the less happy periods of his political life. Still, even cynical veterans of the ambassadorial circuit were left unimpressed with the Prime Minister’s performance at the Trooping the Colour ceremony a fortnight ago. This occasion is treated by overseas plenipotentiaries as the closest thing that the UK has to a national day: the equivalent of Bastille Day in France or the Fourth of July in America – especially so in a Platinum Jubilee year. So the various high commissioners and ambassadors

Marcus Walker

Boris has Gordon Brown to thank for his bishop troubles

Bishops are in the news at the moment. They have outraged No. 10 with their opposition to the policy of deporting potential asylum seekers and other migrants to Rwanda. Government ministers are said to be muttering darkly about evicting the Bishops from the House of Lords, effectively disestablishing the Church of England in revenge. This has been a long time coming, with the Bench of Bishops developing a worrying uniformity of political and theological opinion – all of a soft-left, soft-evangelical manner. The most startling example of this is the way in which a significant majority of Anglicans supported Brexit while one – only one – bishop, out of 113,

William Moore

The death of political authority

37 min listen

In this week’s episode:Why is there a lack of faith in western leaders? Spectator deputy editor Freddy Gray, Callum Williams from the Economist & Harvard professor Barbara Kellerman discuss why the world feel so leaderless. (00:44) Also this week:How do you escape the Church of Scientology? Spectator Columnist Mary Wakefield talks with former scientologist Claire Headley about her life inside the organisation and how hard it was to leave. (15:07) And finally:Should we all give boxing a go?Anil Bhoyrul & James Amos organiser of Boodles Boxing Ball on the strange world of White Collar Boxing. (27:40) Hosted by Lara Prendergast & William Moore Produced by Sam Holmes Subscribe to The Spectator today

Steerpike

Labour frontbencher backs Lisa Forbes

For the past two years Sir Keir Starmer has done his damnedest to distance Labour from the Jeremy Corbyn years. He’s stripped his predecessor of the whip, purged his party of many of his supporters and shifted Labour policy across a swathe of issues. Starmer even mocked Boris Johnson at the despatch box this week as the ‘Conservative Corbyn’; hardly the treatment you might expect of a ‘friend’ as Sir Keir once described Jezza. So there will no doubt be consternation at Labour HQ in Southside at news that Corbyn-era MP Lisa Forbes now intends to make a comeback. Mr S was the first to bring news last month that

Sam Ashworth-Hayes

Asking for a pay rise won’t crash Britain’s economy

The Bank of England has just raised interest rates for the fifth time in the row, warning that inflation is expected to pass 11 per cent by the end of this year. If it had escaped your notice, everything is getting more expensive, and the government is powerless to help. The extent of the Bank’s assistance has been to tell you not to ask for a payrise. Boris Johnson, meanwhile, seems furious that taxes are so high, and will be having stern words with whoever raised them. Even Freddo bars aren’t exempt from the cost of living crisis, shooting up to a frankly outrageous 30p each. Inflation is essentially a problem of

Max Jeffery

What caused Geidt’s flight?

10 min listen

Lord Geidt became the second ethics advisor to leave Boris Johnson’s government last night. It seems like Chinese steel tariffs was the straw that broke the camel’s back, but it is clear that he hasn’t been happy in the position for sometime. Will the Prime Minister be able to find anyone to pick up this poisoned chalice? Max Jeffery speaks with James Forsyth and Katy Balls.

Lisa Haseldine

Is Lithuania next on Putin’s hitlist?

For countries bordering Russia, Putin’s war on Ukraine raises a disturbing question: might they be next? A bill put forward to the Duma’s lower house on June 8 suggests Lithuania is in the country’s sights. If passed, the proposal by MP Evgeniy Fedorov could see Russia potentially try to lay claim to Lithuania’s territory. Bonkers and alarming in equal measure, it seems that, not content with focussing on the war it started in Ukraine, some factions of the Russian government are already setting their sights further afield. Harking back to the dying days of the USSR, Fedorov’s bill argues that the decision to recognise Lithuania’s independence in 1991 was made

Ross Clark

How high might interest rates go?

To nobody’s surprise, the Bank of England has hiked its base rate, and, equally unsurprisingly, it has chosen to do so by a relatively modest 0.25 per cent, bringing rates to 1.25 per cent. In 25 years of its existence, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has never raised rates by more than 0.25 per cent at a time. That stands in contrast to the Fed’s decision to raise rates by 0.75 per cent on Wednesday. If the modesty of the rise was supposed to calm markets, however, it doesn’t seem to have worked. The FTSE100, already down nearly 2 per cent on the day, plunged further on the announcement. The

Steerpike

Which MP’s time is worth the most?

The explosion in new TV channels hasn’t been good news for all broadcasters but it’s certainly benefited one group of people: media-loving MPs. The register of MPs’ interests has today been published and the contrast in hourly pay between different right honourable members makes for fascinating reading. David Lammy, for instance, has made more than £100,000 from LBC since returning to the Labour frontbench – despite his leader’s tough talk on second jobs. Yet Lammy’s most recent entry lists him as receiving £8,172 for just shy of 50 hours of work, which works out as £165 per hour. By contrast, Tory backbencher Philip Davies received £3,000 for 30 hours of

Katy Balls

Lord Geidt reveals what pushed him over the edge

Over twelve hours after Lord Geidt resigned from government, Downing Street has published his resignation letter. In his letter tendering his resignation as the Prime Minister’s independent adviser on minister’s interests, Geidt raises his concerns over partygate – noting how he ‘alluded’ to his ‘frustration’ previously – namely over Johnson’s failure to make any public reference to how his conduct related to the ministerial code. However, he says that despite his misgivings over Johnson’s handling of the episode and whether the fixed penalty notice counted as a breach, he had ultimately concluded that ‘it was possible to continue credibly as Independent Adviser, albeit by a very small margin’. What pushed

Freddy Gray

The death of political authority

Are we living in the age of the strongman – or the weak man? Politics in the 21st century has so far been defined by a global drift away from liberalism, whatever that was, and towards authoritarianism – Xi in China, Putin in Russia, Erdogan in Turkey, Modi in India, Orban in Hungary, Bolsonaro in Brazil and that delightful Mr Duterte in the Philippines. In the 2020s, however, in our supposedly more advanced democracies, the political leitmotif has been one of feeble and failing leadership. Look around the world. Boris Johnson is often accused of being a wannabe dictator – an egomaniac desperate to achieve his childhood ‘world king’ fantasy.

Douglas Murray

The January 6 hearings are partisan political theatre

Is it possible to hold two ideas in our heads at once? If so, I should like to put forward a case study. That Donald J. Trump did something that makes him ill-suited for public office, and that the current January 6 hearings in Washington are partisan political theatre. For anybody who was in outer space at the time, it is worth recalling that 6 January 2021 was the day Trump urged his supporters to join him in Washington to ‘Stop the steal’. The outgoing president could not accept that he was outgoing. He did not agree that he had lost the election two months earlier, and though it is

The Spectator

Portrait of the Week: Knighthoods, Northern Ireland and Mick Jagger

Home The British economy contracted by 0.3 per cent in April after shrinking by 0.1 per cent in March, according to the Office for National Statistics. Wages by April were 2.2 per cent lower in real terms than a year before, and economic inactivity fell by only a smidgen (0.1 per cent) to 21.3 per cent. Kwasi Kwarteng, the Business Secretary, urged the Competition and Markets Authority to see whether a 5p cut in fuel duty, from 58p to 53p a litre, was being passed on quickly enough to drivers. VAT at 20 per cent is charged on the price including duty. The Duke of York, on family advice, took

James Forsyth

Boris Johnson’s loss of authority

There is an uneasy truce in the Tory party. The 148 MPs who voted no confidence in Boris Johnson last week haven’t suddenly changed their minds, but some of them are prepared to give him a year’s grace to try to turn his premiership around. Others are looking for an earlier opportunity to strike, yet they know it is counterproductive to admit that now. They realise that if they are going to persuade the 1922 executive to change the rules to allow another confidence vote within 12 months they will need to argue that the circumstances have substantially changed. While they wait for the moment to attack, it would not

Wednesday

15 Jun 2022

Katy Balls

Geidt of the long knives: what the PM’s ethics adviser’s resignation means

Boris Johnson has lost his second ethics advisor since entering No. 10. This evening Lord Geidt announced his resignation as the Prime Ministers’s independent adviser on ministers’ interests: ‘With regret, I feel that it is right that I am resigning from my post as Independent Adviser on Ministers’ Interests.’ It’s clearly not good news, yet the timing could have been worse There have been rumours for some time that Geidt – who previously served as the Queen’s private secretary – could be on the brink of resigning. He was brought in last April to replace Sir Alex Allan, who quit the role in late 2020 after Priti Patel, the Home

Andrew Willshire

The question Boris’s Rwanda plan critics must answer

There are many reasons to oppose Boris Johnson’s government’s policy of removing migrants to Rwanda. There’s certainly a moral case against this asylum policy, one which the Church of England’s bishops have presented with some force; and there could be a legal case which the Supreme Court will consider in July. But given the lack of achievements of Boris’s government, we should be grateful, at least, that this is a policy that attempts to actually achieve something. For one thing, the Rwanda plan has a definite purpose: to stop the flow of migrants using small boats, often dangerously unseaworthy ones, to cross the English Channel. Even those opposed to the current policy would surely

Steerpike

Hoyle and grandees declare war on booze

First it was drugs, then it was the press. Now Lindsay Hoyle and the grandees on the House of Commons Commission have turned their guns on the demon drink in a bid to restore parliament’s reputation. They are seeking to end the age-old tradition of ‘Thirsty Thursdays’ in the Palace of Westminster, whereby staff enjoy the freedom of the place while their bosses return to their constituencies for weekend meetings with voters. For now changes have been announced today to restrict the access to Strangers’ Bar by the Thames: the favoured watering hole of thirsty MPs who fancy a quick snifter between votes. From tomorrow, the bar will close at

Lloyd Evans

Starmer certainly put more welly into it at PMQs

Last week, Sir Keir was monstered by his critics after a feeble performance at PMQs saw him he fail to trouble a wounded Boris. Even his closest allies were in despair. ‘Put some more welly into it,’ advised his deputy Angela Rayner. Today we saw Sir Keir transformed and unleashed. He was flinging wellies in all directions. The search for his inner populist began with a reference to a film released 45 years ago. ‘The prime minister thinks he can perform Jedi mind-tricks on the country …. The force isn’t with him any more … He’s Jabba the Hut.’ He called Boris ‘the ostrich’ and said he was busy massaging

Steerpike

Coventry council’s Russian misadventure

More than three months on, the ramifications from Putin’s invasion are still being felt across the globe. Sanctions, protests, boycotts – couldn’t happen to a nicer despot. One minor consequence in England though has been the demise of Coventry council’s twin city relationship with Volgograd, formerly known as Stalingrad. The Labour-run authority temporarily cut ties with the city in March, announcing a pause in twinning links ‘with a heavy heart… until such a time that they can resume.’ Now, a Freedom of Information request has discovered that the council spent more than £12,000 in the past five years on the ultimately doomed relationship. Funds were spent on four separate events, including

Andrew Tettenborn

The European court has seriously overstepped over Rwanda

Last night’s abrupt order from the European Court of Human Rights that led to the grounding of the first Rwanda deportation flight delighted progressives everywhere. They will of course say – rather in the fashion of twentieth-century home secretaries calmly refusing to reprieve a condemned murderer – that the law is merely taking its course, and that we should be proud that the rule of law has been upheld. This sounds comforting. It is also wrong-headed. The Rwanda debacle in fact raises very serious questions about the legitimacy of the Strasbourg judges and their interference with national administrations. To remind you of the background, concerted lawfare in the English courts