Politics

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

Tuesday

Steerpike Steerpike

Fears over Mandarin shortage in Whitehall

‘China Spy Blitz’ blared the Sun this morning: ‘UK spooks hiring Mandarin speakers in cyber war.’ Spy bosses, the paper reports, are embarking on a recruitment drive, directed at people who speak the language or have grown up within a multilingual family, with MI5, MI6 and GCHQ all increasingly wary about a moment of reckoning with the Communist superpower. Yet while the secret services have woken up to the threat posed by Beijing, others within government appear to still be fast asleep. Newly obtained figures reveal that the number of fluent Mandarin speakers within the Foreign Office (FCDO) has dropped by nearly 10 per cent since 2016. A Freedom of Information request by Mr Steerpike showed

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

What’s behind the social care rebellion?

9 min listen

It has been a challenging week for Boris. Following the Peppa Pig speech, immediately after the Owen Paterson u-turn, the party may be starting to lose patience. This could have implications for the government’s future, shown most recently by the rebellion on the social care bill. Many MPs did a ‘no show’ and the government’s majority fell from 77 to 26. ‘When the majority looks under threat, the personal loyalty disappears quite quickly’ – Isabel Hardman Is the rebellion a reflection of Boris losing support from his party? Or were there other issues to consider? Katy Balls speaks to Isabel Hardman and James Forsyth Subscribe to The Spectator’s Evening Blend email, from

Annabel Denham

The confusion at the heart of social care

Boris Johnson’s majority plunged to just 26 last night, following a rebellion over controversial changes to social care plans. Means-tested, state-funded payments will no longer count towards the £86,000 limit on the amount people will have to pay for their care. Those with initial assets worth less than £186,000, and who have received such help, could be worse off as a consequence. Critics have pointed out that this is likely to disproportionately affect residents in the North or the Midlands because of differential house prices. Johnson’s government isn’t the first to tie itself in knots over the issue of social care funding. Successive administrations have failed to bring about reform

Steerpike Steerpike

SNP Hate-Finder General strikes again

It’s been some months since Mr S last reported on the antics of James Dornan, the SNP MSP and amateur Hate-Finder General. The gaffe-prone Glaswegian managed, in the space of just one week, to get himself embroiled in multiple minor scandals after accusing an Edinburgh bus company had stopped services on St Patrick’s Day because of ‘anti-Irish racism’ (an untrue claim for which he had no evidence) and then for refusing to apologise for claiming Rangers’ players had sung a sectarian tune (another untrue claim based on poorly-doctored footage). Three weeks later he also told the Catholic leader of the Commons Jacob Rees-Mogg: ‘If your God exists you will undoubtedly

Robert Peston Robert Peston

The key difference between Johnson and Starmer

Here is the symbolic difference between Boris Johnson and Keir Starmer. Johnson at the CBI rocked up with a bunch of notes and mid-way through lost track of what he was saying, whereas Starmer turned up three hours early and rehearsed his speech in full twice. There were other important differences. You’d think, given the damage that Brexit did to Labour in the 2019 general election, Starmer wouldn’t touch leaving the EU with a barge pole. But to a business audience that is deeply anxious about the rising cost of trading with the EU, Starmer listed how he would endeavour to negotiate better access to the EU’s market for the

Monday

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Frustration grows with Boris, but the social care cap passes

MPs have approved the government’s social care cap in the Commons. But the vote doing so was narrow, and there seem to have been a lot of Conservative MPs either abstaining (which would be a rebellion against a three-line whip) or absent. Some will have been unwell, and ‘slipped’, as it is known, for other reasons. But some may have agreed with the whips that their car was due to break down or a tooth due to need emergency dental work, thus preventing them from voting against this controversial amendment. Others, like Matt Hancock, gave such rousing speeches in its favour that casual observers might have been forgiven for thinking

Posie Parker Posie Parker

Why the targeting of J.K.Rowling is so terrifying

I know from bitter experience that you don’t have to be a best-selling author to be hounded by the trans ideologues. You don’t have to be an evil witch to be cancelled by the spoiled kids you made famous. You don’t even have to say you think gender identity is a load of poppycock to be accused of transphobia. And yet, once again, J.K.Rowling has been targeted by trans activists. Her crime? To speak up for women’s sex-based rights. The Harry Potter author has revealed that on Friday ‘three activist actors’ turned up on her doorstep. According to Rowling, the trio ‘took pictures of themselves in front of our house, carefully positioning themselves

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Prime Minister’s rambling speech revives Johnson jitters

After three torrid weeks, Tory MPs were hoping for a better start to this one. Alas, it has got off to a rather bizarre start. The kindest thing that can be said about the Prime Minister’s speech this morning to the Confederation of British Industry is that it was peculiar.  The main thrust of the speech was meant to be about green growth as part of the government’s levelling up agenda — with an announcement that new homes and buildings will require electrical vehicle charging points from next year. But the announcements are not what is leading the coverage. Instead, it’s the Prime Minister’s confused manner as he had to stop and start before going off on a

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Is the Prime Minister’s shtick wearing thin?

13 min listen

During the last general election campaign, Boris Johnson’s persona as the improvisational, brash, comedian was endearing to many voters and those in his party. But with multiple weeks of own goals and bad press is this attitude beginning to look careless rather than amusing? ‘People are now looking out for the next banana skin’ – James Forsyth Isabel Hardman talks to James Forsyth and Katy Balls about the PM’s position in the wake Owen Paterson affair and the current migrant crossings in the channel. Subscribe to The Spectator’s Evening Blend email, from Isabel Hardman and Katy Balls, for analysis of the day’s political news and a summary of the best

Kate Andrews Kate Andrews

The gap between Boris and business widens

Boris Johnson kickstarted the Confederation of British Industry’s annual conference this week with a surprising performance. The plan was to emphasise his government’s commitment to regenerating the economy, post-pandemic, with a green agenda. In practice, it was a confused and muddled speech which even the speech-giver (let alone the audience) found difficult to follow. The highlights were dominated by awkward moments: Johnson asking the room early on who had received their booster shots, only to quickly follow up that everyone looked ‘young and thrusting’ – presumably to cover for an insufficient number of hands in the air. A chunk of the speech was dedicated to the PM reminiscing about what he said

Debbie Hayton

Eddie Redmayne shouldn’t regret playing a trans character

Eddie Redmayne was nominated for an Oscar for his performance in The Danish Girl, but now he is having second thoughts about the role he took on. Redmayne played the part of Lili Elbe, a Danish illustrator who is remembered as one of the first recipients of gender reassignment surgery. Highly experimental at the time, the procedure eventually led to Elbe’s death, aged only 48. Now, Redmayne has said he was wrong to play the part he did:  ‘I made that film with the best intentions, but I think it was a mistake.’  Redmayne should not worry about upsetting the trans lobby Why? Redmayne’s response was opaque:  ‘The bigger discussion about the frustrations around casting is because many

Steerpike Steerpike

Boris Johnson’s Peppa Pig disaster

Oh dear. Boris Johnson’s much-trailed speech to the Confederation of British Industry has caused something of a social media storm – but not for the reasons the Prime Minister will have wanted.  In a confused, shambling performance, the Tory premier lost his place repeatedly throughout the speech and spent three minutes riffing on his family trip yesterday to a theme park based on the fictitious children’s cartoon Peppa Pig. He asked the assembled businessmen ‘Hands up how many of you here have been to Peppa Pig World?’ before adding: A pig that was rejected by the BBC, now exported to 180 countries around the world. No Whitehall civil servant could have come

Sam Leith Sam Leith

The paradoxical integrity of our dodgy honours system

We are told that the Prince of Wales had no idea at the time that his underlings were offering to sell honours to random zillionaires. That’s lucky. Instead of being tarred by the sticky brush of corruption, then, he emerges from this minor scandal as a benign old nitwit, shovelled from one place to another by his suited aides, shaking hands and offering tea to this Russian biznizman, that Chinese philanthropist, that Saudi moneybags (‘Mahfouz bin Mahfouz, Sir. Very important chap. Great benefactor.’ ‘Yes, jolly good. Have you come far, Mr Mahfouz?’) I’m inclined to take the denial that he knew what was going on pretty much at face value. It’s

Gavin Mortimer Gavin Mortimer

Who is – and isn’t – welcome in Sadiq Khan’s London?

Right-wing Frenchman Eric Zemmour, who is expected to run for the presidency of his country next year, has been designated persona non grata in London by the city’s mayor.  ‘Nobody who wants to divide our communities or incites hatred against people because of the colour of their skin or the god they worship is welcome in our city,’ said Sadiq Khan in response to a question about Zemmour’s presence in the capital. A noble declaration, one with which few would disagree, but rather incongruous coming from the mouth of Khan. For this is the man who waxed lyrical about Jeremy Corbyn at the Labour party conference in 2017.  A legacy of

Steerpike Steerpike

New Mail editor’s plans revealed

Fear and unease have stalked the corridors of Northcliffe House since the announcement last Wednesday of Geordie Greig’s defenestration as editor of the Daily Mail. A ‘funereal’ atmosphere has lingered over the paper’s staff ever since, with nervy hacks fearing the return of expletive-riddled editorial explosions associated with Greig’s predecessor Paul Dacre. There’s also considerable unease about the decision to combine the editorships of the daily and Sunday papers into a single post. But on Saturday, Greig’s successor, Ted Verity, sought to reassure the Sunday journalists that their future were safe. Addressing the newsroom as his final edition of the Mail on Sunday went to print, the recently-promoted Verity told

Sunday

Matthew Taylor

Sunday shows round-up: NHS waiting lists will continue to grow

Sajid Javid – 5.9 million are on NHS waiting lists This morning the Health Secretary Sajid Javid took to the TV studios in a week where his departmental remit has been very much back in the spotlight. The Austrian government has announced that it will be going back into a nationwide lockdown, and there is heavy speculation that Germany might do the same. Javid told Trevor Phillips that the UK was still following ‘Plan A’ and that a winter lockdown was still very unlikely, but confirmed that things were far from rosy in the National Health Service: SJ: People waiting for elective procedures is around 5.9 million, and as I’ve

Steerpike Steerpike

How ‘Europe’s worst nightclub’ won Brexit

Mr S has been in his fair share of dodgy disco hot-spots but few captured his heart like Klute, the much-loved, much-hated Durham nightclub for generations of local students. With its sticky floors, cheesy tunes and lashings of cheap liquor, it’s no surprise FHM christened the Marmite establishment ‘the second worst nightclub in Europe.’ Klute subsequently inherited that dubious honour after the winner burnt down. But what makes this seedy citadel of student solace of such interest is that the club is owned by Dominic Cummings’s family. The Vote Leave architect even worked, according to various reports, as either a doorman or helping to take in the club’s earnings, during

Saturday

Steerpike Steerpike

Boycott beckons for ‘Genocide Olympics’

Tennis is in the news again and this time it’s not Emma Raducanu’s prodigious feats making the headlines. Chinese sensation Peng Shuai, a onetime Wimbledon doubles champion, has gone missing a fortnight after accusing a former top party official of forcing her to have sex after playing tennis at his home.  Unlike the craven apparatchiks of the International Olympic Committee or the National Basketball Association, the Women’s Tennis Association has threatened to pull tournaments out of China, with the men’s Association of Tennis Professionals demanding clarity from the Beijing authorities. It’s refreshing stuff from a top sports body, with Shuai’s fellow professionals queuing up to join the #WhereIsPengShuai protest. Serena Williams has declared ‘This must be investigated and we

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Katy Balls, Lionel Shriver, Nick Newman

22 min listen

On this week’s episode, we’ll hear from Katy Balls on the political power of Angela Rayner. (00:49) Then Lionel Shriver on the unscientific divisions between the vaxxed and unvaxxed. (06:52) And finally, Nick Newman looks at the differences between British and American cartooning. (15:47) Produced and presented by Sam Holmes