Politics

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

Monday

Steerpike Steerpike

COP commences with chaos

‘COP26: no time for delay’ scream the signs at Euston station. But for hundreds of desperate delegates yesterday it proved to be a cruel irony after dozens of rail services to Glasgow were cancelled thanks to a fallen tree and severe weather sparked rail chaos. Members of HM lobby took to their WhatsApp group to complain about the chaos, with Britain’s hacks forced to engage in an undignified game of Planes, Trains and Automobiles to race across the country to reach the UN eco-jamboree. The i paper‘s Paul Waugh had his Glasgow-bound train turned back at Milton Keynes while Red Lion regular Eleanor Langford was one of many forced to board domestic flights, as

Joanna Williams

EastEnders isn’t the place for a lecture on climate change

Soap operas are cultural punctuation points. Big plot lines unite colleagues, neighbours and distant family members in shared conversation starters. Den and Angie’s Christmas divorce? Brookside’s before-the-watershed lesbian kiss? Tony Blair’s support for the wrongly-imprisoned Deirdre Barlow? I was there for it, along with millions of others. I even got caught up in Rob’s coercive control of Helen over in Ambridge. But not any more. When drama gave way to a continual stream of awareness-raising, I got bored. And if ratings are to be believed, I’m not alone. Now soap’s directors and script editors are fighting back: unfortunately with a plan to ratchet up the political messaging still further. They

Robert Peston Robert Peston

Has COP26 already flopped?

‘There is no chance of stopping climate change next week,’ the Prime Minister told me in an interview for ITV News. ‘There is no chance of getting an agreement to limit climate change to 1.5 degrees’. Standing in Rome’s magnificent ancient Colosseum, he warned that the cost of this failure, if not somehow rectified, would be far worse than the recent pandemic: ‘The Romans thought they were going to go on forever…Then wham, the middle of the fifth century, they hit a complete crisis, uncontrolled immigration, you have the Dark Ages. The lesson is things can go backwards… for a long time. Unless we fix climate change, unless we halt

Sunday

Matthew Taylor

Sunday shows round-up: All countries must ‘stand up and be counted’ at Cop 26

Alok Sharma – All countries must ‘stand up and be counted’ at Cop 26 The much anticipated Cop 26 is getting underway in Glasgow, and there is a lot riding on the government having a successful couple of weeks. The Prince of Wales has already given an address on climate change to the G20 summit in Rome this morning, in hope of inspiring fruitful negotiations as governments aim to keep global temperature rises below 1.5 degrees. The President-Designate of Cop 26, Alok Sharma, joined Trevor Phillips and imposed that this conference was a critical juncture, adding that getting satisfactory agreement would be ‘tougher’ that at the Paris talks of 6

Saturday

Steerpike Steerpike

COP kicks off with another eco-quandary

At long last, COP26 is finally here. Tomorrow, the world’s largest eco-jamboree will begin in Glasgow, with some 20,000 to 25,000 delegates expected to attend. For Alok Sharma et al, it must have felt at times that the ‘last chance’ to save the Earth was being damned by the gods themselves, with strikes, pestilence and vermin all plaguing the rat-infested city in recent months.  And there was one last biblical surprise for long-suffering civil servants yesterday: torrential rain in north west England and Scotland forced the cancellation of all trains from London to Glasgow. This prompted the latest eco-quandary for attendees: should they fly there instead? Ministers have been advised

Damian Reilly Damian Reilly

Why Boris wins

Although it’s deeply unfashionable to say so – particularly if you work in the media – I like Boris Johnson tremendously. I’m sure I’m not alone. I like him chiefly because he’s unfailingly funny. Every time I hear him on the radio or see him on the television, he says or does something that brightens up my day. Most recently it was his comments after President Macron’s hissy fit over AUKUS – ‘donnez-moi un break’ – but he’s been doing it for years. I believe there are two types of people in the world: people who are funny and people who are not. It goes without saying people who are

Max Jeffery Max Jeffery

Max Jeffery, Kate Andrews, Maggie Fergusson

16 min listen

On this week’s episode, we hear from Max Jeffery on his first impressions visiting Israel. (00:45) Then Kate Andrews on her difficult relationship with Newcastle Football Club. (04:58) And finally, Maggie Fergusson’s review of the new book Blacksmith: Apprentice to Master: Tools and Traditions of an Ancient Craft. (10:53) Produced and presented by Sam Holmes

Patrick O’Flynn Patrick O'Flynn

Has Andy Burnham found the key to beating Boris?

They were queuing up to eclipse Keir Starmer this week. Rishi Sunak – already ahead of Starmer in the polls when it comes to who would make the better prime minister – came brimming with barbs designed to make the leader of the opposition look like a chump on Budget day. In the event, Starmer did that to himself by getting hit with a Covid sicknote and shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves took his place, securing rave reviews from leftist commentators in her leader’s absence. But the most significant and damaging eclipse of Starmer occurred far away from Westminster and was therefore the least noticed. Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, the

Katja Hoyer Katja Hoyer

Why did neo-Nazis patrol the German border?

Just after midnight last Sunday, around 50 vigilantes gathered in east Germany to ‘patrol’ the country’s border with Poland. They were there to stop illegal immigrants, armed as they did so with batons, a machete, a bayonet and pepper spray. They were discovered by local police forces, but a certain nervousness from the authorities was palpable as they pleaded with residents in the eastern border regions to not take the law into their own hands. While the array of confiscated weapons suggests a well thought out plan, these ‘patrols’ are by no means coherent. The largest single group was reportedly stopped by the police in the border village of Groß Gastrose

Friday

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Britain’s fish fight with France risks triggering a new low in EU relations

Another day, another troubling development in UK/ EU relations. Earlier this week, a British trawler was seized by France and another fined. Now, France’s prime minister has written to the EU asking for its backing for further measures against the UK because of the refusal of various fishing licenses. The letter asks for support because, Jean Castex says, it must be demonstrated that ‘leaving the Union is more damaging than remaining in it.’  It isn’t only fishing which is causing tensions The UK, for its part, has summoned the French ambassador over the issue. Britain has made it clear it will carry out ‘rigorous enforcement processes’ on EU vessels fishing in UK waters if the French carry

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Will the Tories cut taxes before the next election?

The Tory party has reached a fork in the road, I say in the Times today. One path involves sticking to the spending plans, hoping to cut taxes before the next election and getting rid of the new perception of them as tax raisers. The other drags them into ever more spending, led by big increases in public sector pay, and ends with them going to the country as a high-tax party. In his Budget speech and his address to Tory MPs, Rishi Sunak made clear that his preference was for the former approach, which should cut taxes before the country goes to the polls again. But sticking to even the spending

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

The Treasury’s big NHS gamble

How can the government really promise to clear the NHS backlog when it isn’t investing in the necessary staff to carry out the treatments? That’s the question many in the health service are asking after this week’s Spending Review. Sure, the Chancellor announced a £5.9 billion commitment on capital spending, which will increase bed capacity, set up more diagnostic centres and improve technology and data systems, but these don’t make sense unless you have the people working in them. The government had led the health world to believe that it would offer some kind of financial clarity on workforce in the Spending Review. In its response to this petition on cancer

Cindy Yu Cindy Yu

Should the NHS be prescribing e-cigarettes?

11 min listen

The new year is fast approaching and if your resolution is to quit smoking, the taxpayer will now cover the cost for your new vape. Opinions differ on the podcast as to whether this is a good idea. Cindy Yu talks with Isabel Hardman and James Forsyth about this new scheme as well as looking at Labour’s reaction to the Budget and our growing tensions with France.

John Ferry John Ferry

Nicola Sturgeon is flailing in response to the Budget

The big tax and spend budget. More Gordon Brown than George Osborne. Sunak’s spending spree. However you wish to describe it, one thing is clear: Rishi Sunak’s budget marks a radical departure from previous Conservative chancellors. And while it might have ruffled the feathers of some Tories, it’s also causing problems for the SNP. In some ways the break from Tory convention is no surprise. Calls by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 2020 for rich countries to spend their way out of the pandemic – and then further calls this year to shell out to boost recovery – signalled a new economic orthodoxy that Sunak has tapped into. Austerity is

Steerpike Steerpike

The tragic embarrassment of Sir Nick Clegg

If you thought Nick Clegg’s career reached its nadir with the ‘I’m sorry’ video then think again. The former Deputy Prime Minister is re-enacting the stunning success of his political career out in Silicon Valley where he’s paid £2.7 million a year to sell his soul to Mark Zuckerberg, Sheryl Sandberg and the rest of the Facebook – today rebranding as Meta – cabal. Whereas Sir Nick is all too familiar for us here in Britain, Americans were not au fait with the former Lib Dem leader when he was appointed as vice president of the social media behemoth back in 2018. But all that has changed in the last month, with Clegg

Cindy Yu Cindy Yu

Podcast special: turning the red wall green

51 min listen

These days the Conservative party is not just associated with the colour blue – it’s also the winner of the red wall seats; the pursuer of a green agenda. But do these new identities, achieved under Boris Johnson, all fit together? In particular, critics often label tackling climate change as a middle class pursuit, not what ‘real people’ around the country are concerned with. And indeed, the Treasury and BEIS have put the costs of net zero at £70bn a year, so what does that mean for the less well off in society, especially those in the Tories’ new constituencies in the red wall? This discussion was recorded at Conservative

Damian Thompson Damian Thompson

Did a ‘mafia’ of liberal cardinals pressure Benedict to resign?

30 min listen

In this episode of Holy Smoke, I interview Julia Meloni, author of The St Gallen Mafia: Exposing the Secret Reformist Group Within the Church. It’s the first detailed study of the self-described ‘mafia’ of liberal cardinals who worked tirelessly to prevent and then undermine the pontificate of Benedict XVI. The book contains many disconcerting revelations, and also well-sourced speculation that the group’s founder, the Jesuit scholar Cardinal Martini of Milan, may have visited Benedict shortly before his own death in order to pressure him to resign. By 2013, when that happened, Martini was dead, but he had given his blessing to a St Gallen candidate: his fellow Jesuit Cardinal Bergoglio

Mary Dejevsky

Don’t blame boomers for destroying the planet

A new charge has been added to the long list of ways in which we baby-boomers have supposedly blighted the prospects of the millennials. Along with our reluctance to downsize (despite the lack of decent retirement homes), the gold-plated pensions in our bank accounts (hollow laughter to that), and the future bequests we are squandering (less on cruises than on extortionate ‘social care’), is now this: ‘we’ trashed ‘their’ planet. At least as infuriating as the charge itself is how many of my fellow boomers go along with it. This is in spite of recent research, from King’s College London, showing that older people are just as concerned about climate