Politics

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

Tuesday

John Keiger John Keiger

Emmanuel Macron’s future looks bleak

The single headline across the front page of the centre-left daily Libération said it all: ‘La Gifle’. But much more than a slap in the face, Emmanuel Macron has taken a heavyweight sock in the jaw. With only 245 seats for his ‘Ensemble!’ grouping, the French president is a country mile from having a parliamentary absolute majority (289). Then there is the drubbing his lieutenants took with the ousting of three ministers, the president of the national assembly and the leader of his parliamentary LREM party. All lost their seats. Sunday’s legislative results are a full-frontal humiliation for Macron personally, ideologically, politically and institutionally. Held in opprobrium, his globalist liberal

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Is Labour in trouble over the rail strikes?

11 min listen

The first day of strike action has begun with large parts of the country’s railways, as well as London’s underground lines, shut down. But where workers are trying to put pressure on the government and Network Rail over higher pay, it seems like the Labour party is in more trouble. Disagreement over the party’s position on strike action (after all, it was set up to represent the unions in parliament) are playing out publicly, even on the front bench. Katy Balls talks to James Forsyth and Isabel Hardman. Produced by Cindy Yu.

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Should Starmer be worried about the rail strikes?

Sir Keir Starmer has ended up in a very Starmer-esque pickle over the rail strikes this week. Yesterday he instructed Labour frontbenchers not to join picket lines, and said at the weekend that the strikes should not go ahead, having stayed rather quiet on the matter until then. This has annoyed many of his MPs, some of whom receive funding from the RMT, and others who believe Labour should be on the side of striking workers. Some of his frontbenchers have ignored the instruction and joined the pickets anyway. Now he has to decide whether to discipline and even sack those frontbenchers. The Tories meanwhile have been pursuing an aggressive

Olivia Potts Olivia Potts

With Olia Hercules on #CookForUkraine

22 min listen

On a slightly different episode of Table Talk, chef and food writer, Olia Hercules joins Olivia Potts for a second time on the podcast to talk about #CookForUkraine. Created with Russian friend and food writer Alissa Timoshkina, #CookForUkraine encourages people to post and share Ukrainian recipes and celebrate the comfort of food during this difficult time. On the podcast, Olia tells Olivia about the personal cost of the war on her and her family, how she grappled with guilt when cooking at the start of the war, and the ways we can offer support to the besieged cities in Ukraine. For more information about Olia, visit her Patreon account here.

Patrick O’Flynn Patrick O'Flynn

Boris versus the unions

In politics, a leader sometimes needs to be ruthless and mean, patiently soak up the public opprobrium directed his way and wait until most people see that his stance was correct and necessary. When it comes to the state of the economy, and the pressures of inflation in particular, this is where we have got to.  Simon Clarke, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, appears to understand this. He has offered no concessions to trade unions and public sector workers demanding higher pay to insulate themselves against price rises, both current and future. Instead, this week Mr Clarke told the public sector plainly that they won’t be getting wage rises to

Steerpike Steerpike

Carry on Carrie: Day IV

It’s a tribute to the geniuses within Downing Street that they’ve managed to take a three-month-old story about a four-year-old incident and make it one of the most-discussed issues in British politics. The story is, of course, a report by the Times that Boris Johnson tried to appoint his then-lover Carrie Symonds as his chief-of-staff at the Foreign Office in 2018. It follows up similar claims made by Lord Ashcroft in his biography of the PM’s wife. The story was mysteriously removed from later editions of the the Times newspaper on Saturday, as well as being absent from its website. Following an intense backlash, No. 10 yesterday said in a

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Boris Johnson’s strike gamble

It’s day one of the RMT’s planned strike action after last-minute talks between train operators and Network Rail failed. The union has been demanding a pay rise of at least 7 per cent in the face of inflation – as well as opposing planned redundancies. The dispute is just a taste of things to come from various parts of the public sector. It’s easy to see how people fed up with travel disruption could look unsympathetically at the unions and those who appear to be supporting them The government line is that big percentage point pay rises are the wrong course of action as they will make the current economic picture

Steerpike Steerpike

Millions more blown on parliamentary pantomime

Whether it’s crumbling rooftiles, weekly fire alarms being activated or bacteria in the water supplies, the creaking Palace of Westminster is all too often a perfect state-of-the-nation parable. Everyone agrees that the place needs fixing: the question is, should MPs move out to allow restoration projects to happen unencumbered? It’s currently costing an extra £2 million a week to keep the Houses of Parliament functioning while MPs decide what to do: in 2018 they voted for a ‘full decant’ to leave while works went on but in 2020 that decision was subsequently overturned, meaning that millions spent on new temporary sites has likely gone to waste. Some £70 million for

Gus Carter Gus Carter

Is Britain heading into a wage-price spiral?

Are wages about to spiral out of control? Boris Johnson certainly thinks there’s a risk. Last week he warned that the economy was ‘steering into the wind’ and that the UK could be entering a 1970s-style malaise. With inflation shooting up to 9 per cent – and expected to go higher still – rail workers are embarking on the first of three days of industrial action today, demanding a minimum pay rise of 7 per cent. Network Rail has offered just 2 per cent, with the potential for an extra 1 per cent on top if they can meet productivity targets later this year. Barristers too have voted for a

Steerpike Steerpike

Tories beat inflation with glitzy ball

The cost-of-living crisis might be gripping the country but there was no sign of that at the Tories’ summer party last night. Held in the sumptuous setting of Kensington’s Victoria & Albert Museum, the party put aside its various troubles for one night at least – not least claims about a potential conflict of interest for party co-chair and V&A trustee Ben Elliot. Well-heeled attendees such as property tycoon Nick Candy and his wife singer Holly Vallance were forced to run the gauntlet after dozens of workers from the Public and Commercial Services Union and John McDonnell turned up to picket the event. Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries was booed upon her

Monday

Sam Ashworth-Hayes Sam Ashworth-Hayes

Boris should scrap the Ministerial Code

Last week, Boris Johnson’s ethics advisor – a role that must sit alongside Vlad the Impaler’s anger management therapist in the annals of doomed job descriptions – resigned. Downing Street so far hasn’t commented on whether Lord Geidt will be replaced, with a spokesman saying only that Johnson will ‘take time’ to consider the decision. Well, here’s a hint: you don’t respond to the failure of a chocolate teapot by buying a second one. And while you’re at it, scrap the Ministerial Code too. For all the Westminster rigmarole currently focused on them, neither of these institutions is particularly old. The Ministerial Code dates back to 1997 and Tony Blair’s

Steerpike Steerpike

Nicola Sturgeon’s women problem

It seems that Scotland isn’t the only thing failed by the SNP. Britain’s greatest grievance-merchants are (rightly) being hauled over the coals today for their treatment of Patrick Grady’s male victim, after Ian Blackford told a room of MPs last Tuesday that the disgraced sex pest had their ‘absolute full support.’ One of those who expressed support for Grady was fellow nat Amy Callaghan who is now, apparently, ‘truly sorry’ after telling the meeting that the SNP should be ‘rallying together around’ Grady. And all it took was a leaked recording and a public outcry — truly, the definition of contrition. Don’t worry though: it’s not just men that the SNP

Philip Patrick Philip Patrick

Why won’t David Beckham criticise Qatar?

David Beckham has come under fire for failing to speak out about human rights abuses in Qatar. Amnesty International said his recent walkabout interview with Gary Neville in Doha was a missed opportunity.  ‘It’s a shame the film makes no mention at all of Qatar’s long history of labour abuses, its shocking criminalisation of homosexuality or in fact any other human rights issue,’ a spokesman for Amnesty said. So should Beckham – who signed a controversial deal in 2021, worth millions, to act as an ambassador for the World Cup in Qatar – have piped up? On the face of it, it’s hard to argue with Amnesty. The organisation has

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Will the government hold their line on strike action?

11 min listen

Today begins a chaotic week for commuters who face major travel disruptions as rail staff stage the biggest walkout in 30 years. Union leaders have accused the government of ‘inflaming tensions’, as Grant Shapps has refused to negotiate with the unions over pay, conditions, job cuts and safety. Also on the podcast, what could be the outcome of Thursday’s two by-elections? Isabel Hardman is joined by Katy Balls and James Forsyth.

Steerpike Steerpike

Finding freedom: BBC exodus continues

Will the last BBC presenter to leave please turn out the lights? Lewis Goodall of Newsnight is the latest star to leave W1A, joining the Beeb tribute act over at Global Radio, owners of LBC. In recent months, other stars to have made such a journey include Emily Maitlis, Jon Sopel, Andrew Marr, Eddie Mair and producer Dino Sofos. Such a move means, in the words of the Guardian’s Jim Waterson, ‘More money, more editorial freedom, less scrutiny.’ Departing the BBC means that Goodall is, at last, free to share his political views Departing the BBC means that Goodall is, at last, free to share his political views that have

Sam Leith Sam Leith

How Meghan Markle can shake off the bullying allegations

She must be fit to be tied, the Duchess of Sussex. I know I would be. It was reported yesterday that a Palace investigation into allegations that she bullied junior members of staff during her early unhappy years in the Royal Family is to be ‘buried’. We’re told that the results of the investigation will lead to ‘changes to the royal household’s HR policies’ – but that these changes will also not be either acknowledged or specified. Well.    Damaging accusations that the little princess behaved like a right little princess have been seeping into the public domain since 2020. Two personal assistants, it was reported, left the Palace in a

Gavin Mortimer Gavin Mortimer

How Marine Le Pen silenced her critics

‘Stillborn’ is how Le Figaro describes Emmanuel Macron’s presidency after his Renaissance party failed to win an absolute majority in the National Assembly. On a wretched day for Macron, his coalition party won 245 seats in the lower house, dozens short of the number needed to secure the majority that would have allowed him to push through his reforms in his second term. Jean-Luc Melenchon’s left-wing NUPEs took 131 seats. But the biggest surprise of the night was the success of Marine Le Pen’s National Rally. They won 89 seats, a result beyond the wildest dreams of Le Pen, whose party had only eight MPs in the last parliament. ‘We

Steerpike Steerpike

Is there a Carrie ‘cover-up?’

It’s another good day not to be in Downing Street. Spinners there will be bracing themselves for questions today about the curious case of a story about Carrie Johnson which featured in Saturday’s edition of the Times. The report – by veteran scoop-getter Simon Walters – claimed that Boris Johnson tried to make his then-mistress his £100,000-a-year chief of staff at the Foreign Office in 2018. It featured on page five of the paper’s first edition but was pulled from subsequent ones; the story was also published on Mail Online but removed shortly afterwards. It’s not the first time No. 10 has been accused of trying to kill stories that

Susanne Mundschenk Susanne Mundschenk

Marine Le Pen is the big winner in France’s anti-Macron election

Emmanuel Macron has lost his absolute majority. The surprise winner was Marine Le Pen and her party, Rassemblement National, while the left alliance, Nupes, confirmed their place as the second-largest group, albeit with a less spectacular showing than the media and polls predicted. The latest results, as published by the interior ministry, counted 245 seats for Ensemble, 131 seats for Nupes, 89 seats for Le Pen’s Rassemblement National and 61 seats for Les Républicains. The results are a disaster for Macron, and raise many questions about how he can govern with two extreme parties on the right and the left as the strongest opponents in the National Assembly. This vote

Jonathan Miller Jonathan Miller

Macron’s nightmare is complete

French president Emmanuel Macron has been humiliated by voters, weeks after being re-elected by an unenthusiastic electorate. The hyper-president with ambitions to lead Europe looks like he will not even be able to lead France. His legislative project, headlined by pension reform and raising the retirement age, appears doomed. France looks more ungovernable than ever. There’s a possibility that parliament might be dissolved within a year and new elections held. It is a ‘nightmare scenario’ for the president, admitted Le Monde this morning. The result of the election is much worse for Macron than almost anyone anticipated. For the first time in the fifth republic the president has failed to