Politics

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

Saturday

Steerpike Steerpike

John Major attacks Boris Johnson (again)

Shock! Horror! Sir John Major has attacked Boris Johnson! In a breathlessly reported appearance on the Today programme, the former Tory PM lambasted his successor for his ‘shameful’ handling of the Owen Paterson row, denouncing Johnson’s behaviour as ‘politically corrupt’ and ‘damaging at home and to our reputation overseas.’ Pretty strong stuff. Or it would be, perhaps, if Major hadn’t made a number of similar such comments before. In Johnson’s two years in office, his predecessor has launched at least half a dozen attacks on him over Brexit, the Supreme Court prorogation, the Internal Markets Bill, foreign aid and the Afghanistan withdrawal. Among accusations levied by Major include Johnson whipping up ‘fear and

Wolfgang Münchau Wolfgang Münchau

What is the Bank of England playing at?

Last week, the Bank of England sent a number of confused messages. One was almost shocking: Andrew Bailey said that it isn’t his job to steer markets on interest rates ‘day by day and week by week’. But as economic commentator Matthew C. Klein dryly noted this is literally his job. It is debatable whether the Bank of England needs to manage the entire yield curve (ie, buying and selling bonds in an attempt to set interest rates years into the future) but the central bank should be in charge of the short end. Those opposing an interest rate rise say that central banks should never shock markets. The Bank

Lionel Shriver Lionel Shriver

Lionel Shriver, Kit Wilson, Peter Hanington, Robert Porter

28 min listen

On this week’s episode, we’ll hear from Lionel Shriver on how the Biden Administration’s border policies are a gift for Trump and the Republicans. (00:52) Then Kit Wilson on what we can expect from Mark Zuckerberg’s Metaverse. (09:53) Third, it’s Peter Hanington talking about his love of haikus. (18:48) And finally, Robert Porter’s notes on the bagpipes. (24:32) Produced and presented by Sam Holmes

Patrick O’Flynn Patrick O'Flynn

The Tice is right: is Reform about to break through?

History doesn’t repeat itself but it often rhymes, said Mark Twain. Right now the commentariat is looking for something that will rhyme with the famous Battle of Knutsford Heath of 8 April 1997. In that face-off, Neil Hamilton and his formidable wife Christine were ranged against the white-suited ‘anti-corruption’ independent candidate Martin Bell. Though the Hamiltons gave as good as they got for the cameras, Bell had the last laugh by comfortably winning the formerly impregnable Tory seat of Tatton in the general election held a month or so later. With a by-election now looming in Shropshire North following the sleaze scandal that engulfed departing Tory MP Owen Paterson, leftish

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Sleaze isn’t the biggest danger to Boris Johnson

This week’s events have undoubtedly done the government damage. But I suspect that ultimately its fate will be determined by whether its gamble of raising taxes to put more money into the NHS results in much lower waiting lists — or just grumpy taxpayers. Reducing the backlog will require more capacity. So, it is worrying that the Department of Health doesn’t know how many extra doctors and nurses it will need to clear the backlog. The government is currently miles off even its pre-pandemic target of 6,000 extra doctors by 2024. Optimistic numbers suggest there might be 300 more than in 2019, but others think things have gone backwards. If these

Nick Rosen

A net zero referendum? Bring it on

The left-green axis has been in uproar in recent weeks because several right-wing commentators have suggested holding a referendum on the government’s net zero measures. If the Telegraph, Sun, and Reform party support it, say critics of a referendum, then it’s got to be a bad idea. As an environmental campaigner since the 1970s, I say bring it on. Even if the initial impetus for a referendum came from right-wing groups, net zero will affect our livelihoods and basic freedoms for decades. The way to counter accusations that it is the invention of a woke elite is to widen the debate. What will be the terrain of that debate? And

Ross Clark Ross Clark

‘Climategate’ still matters – but not how the BBC thinks it does

It is 12 years now since a tranche of emails were scraped from the server of the University of East Anglia in what became know as Climategate. An East Anglia climate server was hacked, and the documents were pored over. The story won’t go away, not least because the BBC has just put out two programmes on the subject: a TV drama called the Trick, and a Radio 4 documentary called ‘The Hack That Changed the World’. Both try to establish the same narrative: that the scientists whose emails were leaked were victims of a crime — a massive data theft — and that these brilliant, honest people were then unfairly dragged through

Friday

Steerpike Steerpike

MPs in the dark about Beijing’s threats

Following the killing of Sir David Amess, there has been much discussion in recent weeks about the safety of elected representatives. But while the public conversation has largely focused on radicalised loners, constituency surgeries and online abuse, Steerpike fears that the commentariat have overlooked the dangers still posed by hostile nation states to parliamentarians here in Westminster – particularly those who speak out about China. Earlier this year Mr S reported that MPs who have been sanctioned by Beijing for speaking out on the regime’s human rights abuses have received ‘zero substantive help’ from the Foreign Office. Members of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC)  have been the subject of a number of probing attacks, with

Katy Balls Katy Balls

How did Boris misjudge the Paterson backlash?

15 min listen

Owen Paterson has resigned as an MP after being embroiled in a lobbying row. Allies of the Prime Minister have blamed the Chief Whip, Mark Spencer, for the fiasco, while other Tory MPs are fuming at the Prime Minister’s miscalculation. How did Boris not realise the potential backlash? Katy Balls speaks to James Forsyth and Isabel Hardman. On the podcast, James says: ‘It was really obvious how the press, the public, the opposition, were going to react to the Tory party trying to upend the standards rules and stay a guilty verdict against one of their own MPs. This is not an unexpected reaction to that kind of action.’ The

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Who’s to blame for the Paterson fiasco?

So, how did No. 10, the whips office and the Leader of the House get the Paterson situation so wrong? As I say in the Times this morning, experienced parliamentarians had warned that a Tory-only attempt to change the rules would fail. Graham Brady, the chairman of the 1922 committee of Tory backbenchers, had suggested a week ago that a Speaker’s Commission could be asked to look at changes to the way the standards committee operated. This would have ensured that things were done on a cross-party basis; and with the Speaker in the chair, no party would have had a majority. But this advice was ignored. One government source

Steerpike Steerpike

Six of the worst Zarah Sultana moments

It’s not been a great week for MPs covering themselves in glory. But amid all the malarkey over Owen Paterson and Claudia Webbe, one of their colleagues was embarrassing themselves in a more traditional way: the car-crash television interview. Step forward, Zarah Sultana, whose antics on Wednesday’s Politics Live went somewhat under the radar in light of the conduct of others in parliament. In the programme, the left-wing MP made a number of outlandish claims of the kind that have characterised her brief – but inglorious – political career. These included the suggestion that the fossil fuel industry should be replaced with teachers and carers, that the Democrats lost the Virginia gubernatorial

Katy Balls Katy Balls

The Ruth Davidson Edition

36 min listen

Ruth Davidson is the former leader of the Scottish Conservatives and now sits in the House of Lords as the Baroness of Lundin Links. On the episode, she speaks to Katy about her happy upbringing as an active tomboy despite a near-death car accident at the age of five; her mother’s reaction when she left the BBC to join the Scottish Tories (‘she was appalled’); and gave a punchy defence of Theresa May (‘I absolutely think the Party did her wrong’).

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Less than one hour left: The Spectator’s Brexit butterfly cover as an NFT

There is less than one hour remaining on the sale, and the current highest bid is 4 WETH / $18,000. Those interested in making a bid can click here. Last month we ran an article about digital art and non-fungible tokens (or NFTs) and since then we’ve had readers asking: what about The Spectator’s Brexit butterfly? In almost two centuries of our publication’s history, this is perhaps the best-known of all our covers: ‘Out, and into the world’ with our endorsement of Brexit. The phrase was reprised from our 1975 cover when we were one of only two publications to back Brexit in that referendum (the other was the Morning Star) and

Thursday

Lara Prendergast Lara Prendergast

Superbad: Joe Biden’s plummeting presidency

41 min listen

In this week’s episode: Has the Biden Presidency stalled or crashed? In our cover story this week, Freddy Gray assesses the state of the Biden presidency. With steadily lowering approval ratings, a disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal, and this week’s failure of the Democrats to hold on to the Virginia Governorship, how much trouble is the US’s oldest inaugurated president in? Freddy talks to Lara along with Emily Tamkin, the US editor of the New Statesman and co-host of the World Review Podcast. (00:49)Also this week: Should we welcome or fear the Metaverse? Kit Wilson writes in The Spectator this week about Facebook’s new venture into the Metaverse, a concept that most

Steerpike Steerpike

Claudia Webbe given suspended jail sentence

Well there we are then. Claudia Webbe, the MP for Leicester East, has this afternoon been sentenced to a suspended 10-week jail sentence and 200 hours’ community service for threatening to throw acid at a friend of her boyfriend and send naked pictures of the victim to her family.   Webbe, who was convicted of harassment last month, now faces a recall petition if her appeal against the verdict is not successful. Given her fellow MPs in Westminster seem so keen at present to close loopholes for misbehaving colleagues, Mr S wonders if they will consider the case of those who are convicted in a criminal court but get to remain in Parliament at taxpayers’

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Owen Paterson quits the Commons – what next?

Owen Paterson has resigned as an MP. In a dramatic turn of events, Paterson has in the past 24 hours gone from being spared suspension over a breach of the lobbying rules to facing a fresh vote that many Tories thought he could lose. On hearing the news of the U-turn, Paterson issued a statement saying that he will be stepping down in order to pursue a life ‘outside the cruel world of politics’. He continues to refute the commissioner’s findings against him: I have today, after consultation with my family, and with much sadness decided to resign as the MP for North Shropshire. The last two years have been an indescribable

James Kirkup James Kirkup

Paterson resigns. Johnson is diminished

What are the long-term political implications of the government’s clown show over Owen Paterson? My guess is that voters won’t pay too much attention, but MPs certainly will. And that could matter at least as much. Start with the public. Do voters feel angry that their Prime Minister doesn’t play by the rules — written and unwritten — of politics and government? There’s a lot to be angry about, and ripping up the rules against cash-for-lobbying certainly justifies rage. And maybe in time, the idea of the PM as leader of a privileged clique who don’t play by the same rules as the rest of us will indeed prove harmful to

Steerpike Steerpike

COP’s awkward reliance on coal

It’s day four of COP26 and while the big names have already departed, the speeches carry on. This morning some 190 countries and organisations announced their ‘clear commitments’ to phase out coal power. The new ‘Global coal to clean power transition statement‘ requires signatory states to end all investment in new coal power generation domestically and internationally while rapidly scaling up deployment of clean power generation.  Eighteen countries have made first-time commitments to phase out and not build or invest in new coal power while the energy source will not be used in major economies from the 2030s and 2040s for the rest of the world. No wonder Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng, undaunted from this

Matthew Lynn

The Bank of England’s inflation rate stunt

He isn’t Canadian. He doesn’t dominate the Davos circuit with platitudes about climate change. And he isn’t constantly warning that the British economy will turn into a cross between Ethiopia and Argentina now that we have left the European Union. In many ways, the current Governor of the Bank of England Andrew Bailey is an upgrade on his high-profile predecessor Mark Carney. And yet, in the most important respect, he is turning out to be very similar. He is constantly threatening to raise interest rates, and then backing off at the last moment.  An increase in interest rate from the ‘emergency’ level of just 0.1 per cent was not quite