Politics

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

Saturday

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The mystery of Downing Street’s cinema

As a former court room, the No. 9 Downing Street briefing hub has seen its fair share of drama – and none more so than this past year. Some £2.9 million was lavished on turning the site into a state-of-the-art stage for press conferences, amid plans to televise government briefings with the parliamentary lobby. But all that changed in April when, following the departure of Dominic Cummings and Lee Cain, the idea was scrapped, with Allegra Stratton moved from lobby briefings to the COP26 beat. But what to do with the newly-restored press room, newly decked out in royal blue and Union Jacks aplenty? For the last six months the former Privy Council

Henry Hill

The British Army is becoming an American auxiliary force

What are the armed forces for? This is the question that hangs over every defence review, and one that recent governments have been averse to answering. The problem is this: since the end of the Cold War, defence has gradually slipped further and further down the political priority list. At the same time, ministers and senior officers have been reluctant to publicly scale back their ambitions for what the military should do. As a result, instead of making decisive cuts to certain capacities in order to maintain others, we have gradually shrunk all the services to the point where they face serious operational difficulties. Britain boasts two aircraft carriers, for

Max Jeffery Max Jeffery

Douglas Murray, Henry Eliot, Sam Holmes

21 min listen

On this week’s episode, we’ll hear from Douglas Murray who says that the case of Kyle Rittenhouse shows nothing in America matters more than your identity. (00:55) Next, Henry Eliot wonders, what makes a book a classic? (08:30) And finally, Sam Holmes tells us about his time as a Hamleys Christmas elf. (16:31) Produced and presented by Max Jeffery Subscribe to The Spectator today and we’ll send you a bottle of Johnnie Walker Black Label worth £30www.spectator.co.uk/voucher

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Is Macron weaponising the migrant crisis?

15 min listen

The migrants that tragically lost their lives in the English Channel has caused Anglo- French relations to further deteriorate. There is a theory however, that it suits Macron’s agenda to be in a perpetual war with the Brits. Could this be the case when migrants are still in the hands of the traffickers? ‘These people-smuggling gangs are becoming more sophisticated in their operations’ – James Forsyth Meanwhile, sports shops such as Decathlon on the French coast have stopped selling dinghy boats in an attempt to try and curb the number of people crossing. Also on the podcast, is the term ‘migrant’ offensive? According to Priti Patel it is. All to

Friday

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SNP latest: ‘future of our planet’ demands indyref2

It’s the SNP’s second annual national conference this weekend and already the organ-grinders are turning out their favourite hits. The National – a self-described newspaper in breach of the Trade Descriptions Act – has again combined the stridency of Pravda with the editorial values of the Beano. Adoring coverage of the conference was kicked off with its opening day headline: “‘Shameful’ Tory plan for ‘Union division’ in the army” – a ‘story’ about the British Army being, er, proud of Britain. Elsewhere Kate Forbes, the neophyte nationalist, has insisted that independence, not health or education, will dominate the four-day rally – because God forbid the state of public services be of interest

Tom Goodenough Tom Goodenough

The ridiculous rehabilitation of Azeem Rafiq

Has Azeem Rafiq been forgiven yet? He’s certainly working on it. After finding himself on both sides of a racism scandal, the former Yorkshire cricketer’s rehabilitation PR operation has been nothing if not swift. As the story broke last week that Rafiq had sent messages mocking Jewish people, he apologised immediately: ‘I am incredibly angry at myself and I apologise to the Jewish community’. The following day, in an interview with the Jewish Chronicle, Rafiq apologised again: ‘My genuine feeling is that I deserve the flak. I f***ed up’. ‘It’s for the Jewish community to decide whether you guys accept my apology,’ he added. Is this really how apologies now

Steerpike Steerpike

Maverick MSP lauds St Andrew as a nationalist icon

All too often, the massed rows behind Nicola Sturgeon at FMQs can resemble a scene from one of Stalin’s party congresses. Row after row of poker-faced nationalists dutifully banging their desks at the latest edict from on high, interjecting occasionally with the latest pre-approved attack line or standard softball question to the Dear Leader: an army of grey-suited cyber-men, without the heart. Yet the counter-argument to such a model of uninspired conformity can be found in the form of John Mason MSP, the maverick member for Glasgow Shettleston since 2011. Over the past decade, the nationalist nut has been more of a fixture in the national headlines than Rod Stewart or

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

What is the Nu variant?

10 min listen

A new Covid variant dubbed ‘Nu’ has been discovered in South Africa and the UK has already put travel restrictions in place. Though early tests have shown that Nu is more transmissible, we don’t know conclusively if it is any more deadly or can evade vaccines. ‘We don’t know yet, whether this variant is more severe or not.’ – James Forsyth With people already worrying if this, if handled poorly, could lead to another Christmas lockdown, Isabel Hardman talks with Fraser Nelson and James Forsyth about their Nu perspectives. Subscribe to The Spectator’s Evening Blend email, from Isabel Hardman and Katy Balls, for analysis of the day’s political news and

Brendan O’Neill Brendan O’Neill

The snobbery of Extinction Rebellion’s Amazon blockade

Every week brings fresh proof of what a bunch of bourgeois snobs Extinction Rebellion are. The latest exhibit is their blockading of Amazon’s main distribution centres. The eco-loons and their apologists are dressing this up as a principled stand against venal capitalism. Pull the other one. This is just a noisy middle-class moan about the greedy masses and all the ‘crap’ we’re planning to buy on Black Friday. Yes, not content with irritating deliverymen, builders and other productive members of the working classes by plonking themselves on the M25 and other major roads a few weeks ago, now XR is trying to stop us from getting the things we’ve ordered

Jonathan Miller Jonathan Miller

Macron can’t blame Boris for the Channel migrant tragedy

Boris Johnson yesterday wrote to French president Emmanuel Macron suggesting escalated measures to stop the deadly human traffic between Calais and Kent. As voters in both France and Britain asked themselves how this terrible tragedy could have happened, the letter might be read as a nudge to the French, who have not merely been turning a blind eye to people smuggling, but essentially forcing migrants into the embrace of the passeurs by bulldozing shantytowns. ‘As I set out in a letter to you this summer, I have long been profoundly concerned that any morning, we could wake to the news of a serious tragedy involving widespread loss of life in the Channel,

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German euthanasia clinics refusing unvaccinated customers

Irony has been declared many times in this pandemic but now, from Covid-riddled Germany comes the final proof: you can’t kill yourself now unless you’ve been vaccinated. As European countries battle to limit the spread of the virus, Verein Sterbehilfe – the German Euthanasia Association – has issued a new directive, declaring it will now only help those who have been vaccinated or recovered from the disease. In a statement, the association said: Euthanasia and the preparatory examination of the voluntary responsibility of our members willing to die require human closeness. Human closeness, however, is a prerequisite and breeding ground for coronavirus transmission. As of today, the 2G rule applies in our association, supplemented by

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Mind the gap: striking Tube drivers on up to £100,000

Bob Crowe may have passed on but his spirit lives on. The militant Marxist’s Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) trade union is on a 24-hour strike today in a dispute over changes to drivers’ rotas as Sadiq Khan seeks to bring back the night Tube. Union heavies on the Jubilee, Victoria, Piccadilly, Central and Northern lines started a 24-hour walkout at 4.30 a.m. in a move that has brought much misery and strife to London’s long-suffering commuters. According to RMT general secretary Mick Lynch, the Tube strike action is solely down to ‘management failure to recognise and address the anger of their staff at the imposition of damaging and unacceptable

Robert Peston Robert Peston

Was Boris Johnson’s blunt letter to the French a mistake?

Boris Johnson may well be right that the best deterrent to migrants and refugees crossing the channel in flimsy, life-endangering dinghies would be for the UK and France to agree a ‘bilateral readmissions agreement to allow all illegal migrants who cross the Channel to be returned’. The question is whether he was well advised – or advised at all – to put that blunt request in a letter to the French president that he immediately put in the public domain via Twitter. The French government appears to have been blindsided and to have taken immediate offence. And Macron’s nose also seems to have been put out of joint by Johnson’s

Stephen Daisley Stephen Daisley

Priti Patel and the progressive language police

There was an exchange in the House of Commons on Thursday afternoon that ought to be a scandal but won’t. It ought to be a scandal because it involves a Cabinet minister undertaking to do something that, in any other context, would bring waves of condemnation from across the House. It won’t because the scandalous thing the minister pledged to do is endorsed by Good People with Good Intentions and could only be decried by Bad People with Bad Intentions. The minister was Priti Patel and she was being questioned about the deaths of 27 migrants who attempted to enter Britain via the English Channel. The SNP’s Brendan O’Hara said

Thursday

Cindy Yu Cindy Yu

Can Priti solve the migrant crisis?

15 min listen

The 27 migrants that tragically lost their lives whilst trying to cross the English Channel have sparked urgent appeals for Priti to resolve the migrant crisis. However, there is still no stopping some migrants attempting to flee their homes. ‘By 8.30 this morning, three more boats had arrived on the coast, even after the news had broken’ – James Forsyth How can this problem be solved within the confines of international law? And what are the migrants’ motivations for leaving their homes? Is it economic? Fear of persecution? Also on the podcast, Katy and James reflect on The Spectator’s Parliamentarian Awards last night. Read more about the event and hear

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Boris Johnson is preparing to fight the wrong election

The next election won’t be like the 2019 campaign. It will be far tougher for the Tories. Ministers were struck by a recent presentation by the Tory strategist Isaac Levido to the cabinet a fortnight ago, in which he stressed that the next election would be much more like 2015 than 2019. Levido’s argument was that the three key factors which led to the Conservative victory two years ago were Brexit, Jeremy Corbyn and Boris Johnson — but the next election campaign would be a far more traditional affair. To win, as I write in the magazine this week, the Tories will have to show that they have delivered on their

Lara Prendergast Lara Prendergast

The Covid revolts: Europe’s new wave of unrest

33 min listen

In this week’s episode: Just who is protesting new Covid rules in Europe? In The Spectator this week we have three articles that cover the riots and protests all over Europe about new covid policies. Two of them report the scene on the ground in different countries. Lionel Barber and Nick Farrell write respectively about the situations in Holland and Italy and talk on the podcast about why this is happening now and how much more it could escalate. (00:45) Also this week: Is China having its own hand and the #MeToo moment? A spotlight has been shined on China in recent days, due to the troubling series of events

Steerpike Steerpike

Britain’s worst council leader given gong

For months now, Mr S has chronicled the tribulations of Susan Aitken, who is the first SNP leader of Glasgow City Council and appears determined to be the last, too. She has presided over a waste crisis in which refuse-strewn streets have become a familiar sight even in the city’s leafier suburbs and which threatened to embarrass locals on the world stage ahead of COP26.  Challenged on this, Aitken insisted Glasgow needed only ‘a spruce up’. When that didn’t work, she trained her fire on her critics, detecting in the concerns of the GMB union ‘a real echo of the language that some far-right organisations have used’ and telling Sir Keir

Patrick O’Flynn Patrick O'Flynn

Boris must act to prevent a repeat of the Channel migrant tragedy

The tragic drowning of more than two dozen people in the English Channel yesterday should remind us that closing down this irregular migration route has become a multi-purpose moral duty. Not only does the British state have a responsibility to do so to preserve its social contract with its citizens and the integrity of the nation, but also to protect lives. The large-scale loss of life that took place was the proverbial accident that had been waiting to happen. There has been a spate of smaller-scale drownings in recent weeks and it was only a matter of time before a fully laden, sizeable inflatable capsized or sank. Boris Johnson reacted

Steerpike Steerpike

Theresa May’s risqué joke

Boris couldn’t make it but fortunately there was one Tory premier at last night’s Spectator parliamentarian awards. Former Prime Minister Theresa May appeared to be having the time of her life at the star-studded bash, rocking a fabulous blue number and waltzing up on stage to win Backbencher of the Year to the strains of ABBA’s ‘Dancing Queen.’ Collecting the award from her former colleague Robert Buckland, May noted drily: ‘Thank you to all those of my parliamentary colleagues who ensured that I was on the backbenches – some of you are here tonight. Looking in no direction…’ But while that line prompted some laughs, it was what followed which