Read about the latest UK political news, views and analysis.
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Freddy Gray speaks to Sergey Radchenko a Cold War historian and Wilson E. Schmidt Distinguished Professor at the Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and visiting professor at Cardiff University. They discuss a recent speech by Henry Kissinger who believes that Ukraine should made territorial concessions to Russia – is he right?
Britain’s ‘party elite’ – perhaps better-termed ‘Covid elite’ – were hiding in plain sight throughout the pandemic. Even before the parties, trysts and suitcases of wine were exposed, we knew politicians and government officials were leading radically different lives to everyone else during last year’s extended lockdown. Trips abroad for ministers when it was illegal for the rest of us to leave the country, protection from ‘ping-demic’, an ‘event research programme’ full of trial parties that happened to align with Whitehall’s favourite freebee events. It wasn’t hard to document because no one was trying to hide it. The laws were written to provide ministers with loopholes and get-out-of-isolation clauses, so
The loudest sound at Westminster today has been the silence of most Tory MPs. A few such as Tobias Ellwood have demanded that Boris Johnson should go. Others have defended the PM publicly. But most Tory MPs have chosen to say nothing. Indeed, because only 13 Tory MPs wanted to contribute to the statement the PM made about the Sue Gray report, the chair had to call opposition MP after opposition MP, rather than going from one side of the House to the other as he normally does. What does this silence of the majority of Tory MPs mean? It tells us that while backbenchers might not be prepared to move
How humbled is Boris Johnson by the publication of Sue Gray’s report into partygate? Speaking in the Commons chamber, the Prime Minister attempted to strike a solemn tone at the first of three events today which have been dubbed a ‘masochism strategy’ of taking pain in the chamber, a press conference and then appearing before Tory MPs at a meeting of the 1922 Committee. Johnson told MPs: ‘I am humbled and I have learned a lesson’. He went on to point out how ‘the entire senior management has changed’ including a new chief of staff, a new director of communications and a new principal private secretary. He described Starmer as ‘Sir Beer
It’s a helicopter day at Westminster. I’m writing this at my desk, which is about 200 metres from the House of Lords. My office is full of the racket made by a chopper flitting about over the Palace of Westminster and Whitehall, providing aerial camera shots of politicians – mainly the PM – moving around the place. The reason today is the Sue Gray report, but helicopter days are relatively common at Westminster. The drone of the rotors is the easiest way to tell that this is a Big News day, when journalists spend more than the usual amount of time talking about extraordinary events and major developments. As with
Sir Keir Starmer used Prime Minister’s Questions today to show how hard it is going to be for Boris Johnson to move on from the Sue Gray report. The Labour leader acknowledged as he opened that there was going to be a statement on that inquiry right after this session, and so he was going to focus on the cost of living. It underlined that even if the Prime Minister manages to keep his backbenchers sufficiently calm to ‘survive’ the Gray report, that survival is not going to be followed by a swift recovery of his political fortunes. Long-time critic of the Prime Minister William Wragg asked a zinger of
Politics’ longest-running farce is at a close. Sue Gray, that pillar of Whitehall officialdom, has today delivered her report into whether Boris Johnson did indeed break lockdown rules during the pandemic. And while there will no doubt be some relief for those in No. 10 that Gray’s inquiries didn’t investigate any further parties to those previously reported, some of the details contained in her findings do make for excruciating reading. Below are six of the lowlights from the Sue Gray report…. 1. The Met torpedoed Gray’s probe Few institutions emerge well from partygate but the Metropolitan Police probably came out worst. Constantly derided for being too opaque, too slow to act
Sleaze is the watchword in Westminster at the moment. Morale amongst staff on the parliamentary estate was already low before the latest partygate shenanigans. Recent embarrassments about outside interests, dodgy MPs, drinking on the estate and historic sex offences have taken their toll. Few of the twenty-somethings who work in the Commons have a good word to say about our elected members at present, whether it’s Neil Parish watching porn or Liam Byrne getting just a two day suspension for bullying his staff. Parish fiddles while Byrne roams, indeed. Will anything change as a result? Some of those in parliament have had enough. Mr S has been told that a new grassroots organisation is
The investigation into Downing Street lockdown parties by the civil servant Sue Gray has been published. You can read the full report below: ALLEGED GATHERINGS: REPORT On 8 December 2021 the Prime Minister asked the Cabinet Secretary to carry out an investigation into allegations reported in the media relating to gatherings in No 10 Downing Street and the Department for Education during November and December 2020. On 17 December 2021 the Cabinet Secretary recused himself from the investigation as a result of allegations concerning an online quiz held by his private office in the Cabinet Office on 17 December 2020 in 70 Whitehall. It was at this point that I
Well, it’s finally here. After five months of waiting, Sue Gray has today released her report into the parties that went on in Downing Street during Covid. Her 60-page report is currently being pored over by hacks, spinners and MPs across parliament, ahead of Boris Johnson’s appearance at Prime Minister’s Questions today. But initial attention has focused on the nine pictures which Gray released as part of her inquiry (many more images of the lockdown shindigs were reportedly taken). And the early conclusion is one of surprise at just how anodyne the gatherings seem to be, in light of the frenzied speculation about what they would depict. Far from Bacchanalian orgies that resemble
In the past few minutes, Sue Gray’s final report into lockdown-breaking parties in Downing Street has been published. It makes for grim reading. The report is just 37 pages long, along with photos of the events that the senior civil servant was tasked to investigate. The key line is where Gray says that ‘the senior leadership at the centre, both political and official, must bear responsibility for this culture’ of believing that events were permitted when they were not in line with the rules. She writes: ‘Whatever the initial intent, what took place at many of these gatherings and the way in which they developed was not in line with
I’m starting to get a bit annoyed about partygate. Well no, that’s a lie. I’m angry in theory. On paper I’m fuming. In real life? Meh. This whole saga has trundled on for so long now I’ve just stopped caring. I’m probably annoyed about something else. Train timetables or maybe the fact that broccoli is £1.60 in M&S. Given how miserable the rest of us were during lockdown, those making the rules should really have done the polite thing and followed them. But then when you read the details of ‘partygate’, you can’t help but think that they weren’t really enjoying themselves. A Colin the Caterpillar cake in between meetings? ‘Wine time
Today, Nicola Sturgeon becomes the longest serving First Minister in the history of devolution. Surpassing Alex Salmond’s seven years, six months and five days. It’s a long time to be in charge: a full generation by some definitions. Certainly time enough to make your mark on a country with devolved powers unparalleled in the democratic world. But what difference has Sturgeon made in her time in office: 1. Life expectancy for Scots men and women has seen the sharpest fall in 40 years – accelerating in the time Sturgeon’s been in power. Scottish men born today can expect to live 77 years, the lowest of any UK country (it’s 79
Pigs may fly, Hell may freeze over, and a month may pass without a Conservative MP revealing the moral decay at the core of the party. Yesterday, former MP Imran Khan was sentenced to 18 months in prison for sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy. In Westminster, meanwhile, rumours circulated that a senior MP had sexually assaulted colleagues. Yet another member was bailed after being arrested in a rape investigation. These stories shouldn’t be confused with the unnamed Conservative MP who was arrested over rape allegations in 2020 before the investigation was dropped or the former government whip Charlie Elphicke who was jailed for sexual assault in 2020. Neither should they
Last night’s must-see TV show was Bury Boris – the Movie. In anticipation, the BBC released a trailer for a Panorama edition about parties in Downing Street. It’s a thrilling two-minute watch. It opens with a shot of a dodgy skinhead in a sleazy overcoat being released from Wormwood Scrubs. Or is it an international money-launderer being secretly filmed at Davos? Or perhaps a premiership star on his way to court for kicking his dog. But hang on. There’s a caption. ‘Lee Cain’s leaving do’. The date is November 2020 and a farewell bash is being held in Downing Street. Over this, we hear a tense, familiar voice. ‘Can you
A £10 billion package of help with fuel bills and the cost of living targeted at those on lowest incomes could be announced as soon as Thursday, I am told. No final decisions have been made, but the prime minister wants to reset his administration before the Queen’s Jubilee parliamentary recess and after the publication tomorrow of Sue Gray’s report into Downing Street parties – which is expected to be damaging to the PM’s reputation. The rise of energy costs would mean that in England alone, just under 10 million households would suffer from ‘fuel stress’ The expected acceleration of new Treasury support for the poorest follows today’s announcement by
Prices are rising at the fastest pace for 40 years. Real wages are falling rapidly. The cost of servicing the government’s vast debts is escalating, and companies are struggling to keep up with the rising price of raw materials. Still, not to worry. Fortunately, a quarter of a century ago Gordon Brown wisely decided to hand over management of inflation to a supremely competent group of expert technocrats, so that we could have stable prices and steady growth forever – or indeed an ‘end to boom’n’bust’ as Brown would have inevitably put it. Oh, but hold on. It turns out it is not quite going to plan. In fact, while
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Sue Gray’s report into Downing Street parties during lockdown is set to be released on Wednesday morning. The tone Boris Johnson takes will be vital to his political future. What will he say? Katy Balls speaks to James Forsyth and Isabel Hardman.
The Financial Times story on Rishi Sunak looking at a possible windfall tax on energy firms captures how difficult such a tax is for any government, especially a Tory one. Because it begs questions why, when electricity suppliers suffered unsustainable losses in autumn and winter, when under the price cap they suffered huge and unsustainable losses – what you might call a reverse windfall – they were allowed to go bust. If you believe in capitalism and competition, you believe in swings and roundabouts: windfall profits in good times are the obverse of extreme losses in the bad. Kwasi Kwarteng repeated that mantra as failing electricity suppliers would not be
Partygate is inevitably dominating in Westminster today – and will do so again tomorrow when the Gray report is likely to be published. But the attention on partygate should not obscure today’s Foreign Affairs select committee report on the handling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan. It is devastating, and should lead to a period of deep reflection in King Charles Street – and across Whitehall – of how badly things went wrong. The nature of the Afghan withdrawal shames our country: it was more scuttle than orderly evacuation. There are many shocking things in the report. But perhaps the most shocking is how the UK government failed to plan for