Politics

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

Friday

Steerpike Steerpike

Fact check: is Andy Burnham really not part of the ‘metropolitan elite’?

Andy Burnham is very much the flavour of the month in Labour circles at present. Having left Westminster in 2016 when it became clear he wasn’t going to become leader any time soon, he has undergone something of a renaissance as mayor of Manchester.  In this capacity he gets to govern an overwhelmingly left-leaning city and enjoy the tributes of cooing London based journalists who declare him the ‘king of the north.’ The contrast between Burnham and his struggling leader was most apparent in the aftermath of May’s local elections; whereas the former was re-elected with 67 per cent of the vote and bagged himself a column in a London newspaper,

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Is the NHS about to be privatised?

Is the NHS about to be privatised? That’s the charge from some campaigners as the Health and Care Bill starts its journey through parliament. Certain doctors, mainly on social media, are calling on MPs to scrap the Bill because they claim it will open up the NHS to more privatisation and allow private companies to skim profits off our healthcare system. It’s a big charge, albeit a familiar one, as it tends to pop up whenever there is legislation on the health service. But the strange thing is that it’s very hard to find the evidence for these social media claims in the actual legislation. In fact, these proposals are aimed

Mary Dejevsky

Is London being ‘levelled down’ already?

In his ‘levelling up’ speech in Coventry this week, the Prime Minister insisted time and again that this was no ‘zero sum’ game. Improving the fortunes of the poorer parts of the country would not entail levelling richer parts of the country down, he said: ‘Levelling up is not a jam-spreading operation. It’s not robbing Peter to pay Paul…. It’s win-win.’ Well, maybe. But there was good cause for his defensiveness. One reason advanced for the Conservatives’ dramatic defeat in last month’s Chesham and Amersham by-election was apprehension that such places would have to help pay the bill for, say, regenerating Hartlepool. Yes, of course, there were specific reasons for the

James Forsyth James Forsyth

What is the point of Starmer’s listening tour?

14 min listen

After a year and a half of Zoom speeches held in empty rooms, opposition leader Keir Starmer is heading out on a listening tour to connect with voters. That may be all well and good, but is anyone listening to him? And even if they are, does he have anything worth saying? James Forsyth talks to Isabel Hardman about the struggling Labour leader.

Steerpike Steerpike

Starmer’s youth wing backs Cuban dictatorship

Oh dear. Having squeaked home in the Batley by-election and with the summer recess less than a week away, Sir Keir Starmer probably thought he had made his way over the finish line of the parliamentary calendar. Unfortunately his party’s youth wing have been able to get one last embarrassment in before MPs pack up for their summer hols, with Young Labour today proudly declaring their support for the Cuban dictatorship. The organisation, which represents Labour supporters between the age of 14 and 26, has given its ‘unconditional solidarity to the Cubans in the struggle against imperialism,’ blaming the recent protests against the country’s leadership as a result of the ‘imperialist attacks and

Matthew Lynn

The EU’s Brexit bill doesn’t add up

A dozen hospitals. A hundred million doses of the Pfizer vaccine, and a lot more of the Oxford one. Or even a few trips in one of Jeff Bezos’s new space rockets. Even with inflation, there is still plenty you can buy with an extra three to four billion pounds.  In recent days, it has emerged there is a big gulf between what the European Union insists we owe under the terms of our departure agreement, and what the UK believes is due.  In the EU’s accounts, it put the sum at £40.5 billion. The UK now says it will be £37.3 billion, or £3.2 billion less than the EU reckons.

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Whitty’s lockdown warning will trouble Boris

In a Science Museum webinar yesterday, Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer, warned about the increasing number of people in hospital and said that, if in the next five to eight weeks ‘things are not topping out, we do have to look again and see where we think things are going.’  He added that ‘we’ve still got 2,000 people in hospital and that number is increasing. If we double from 2,000 to 4,000 from 4,000 to 8,000…and so on, it doesn’t take many doubling times until you’re in very, very large numbers indeed.’  If new restrictions are imposed as schools go back, the government will find itself in the worst political position

Wolfgang Münchau Wolfgang Münchau

Germany’s flood disaster could trigger a political upheaval

There is an interesting history to the politics of floods in Germany – and a possibility that history might be repeating itself. The official death toll in Germany has risen to 93 this morning, but 1300 people are still reported missing in the region of Ahrweiler, in western Germany. This is without a doubt the most extreme natural disaster that has hit Germany in living memory. We should not at this point draw any hasty conclusions about the political impact. It is possible that it will benefit the Greens because climate change is back on the political agenda. Historically, floods have benefited incumbent governments. One Green MP overstepped the mark

Steerpike Steerpike

Seven scandals on Cressida Dick’s watch

Cressida Dick has tonight resigned as Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police. Last July, Steerpike looked at her greatest hits… This week it emerged that Cressida Dick wants to continue running the Metropolitan Police, in spite of a string of recent scandals. Dick, who became the Met’s first female commissioner in 2017 will see her contract expire next April, has reportedly indicated to a ‘small number of political and policing figures’ that she hopes to remain in office.  Informal discussions are expected to begin next month, with Home Secretary Priti Patel making the appointment after considering recommendations from the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan. In light of this, and the pictures circulating of Dick

Thursday

Lara Prendergast Lara Prendergast

Nanny Boris: the PM’s alarming flight from liberalism

42 min listen

What are the pros and cons of vaccine passports?(00:33) Also on the podcast: Is it time for restaurant kitchens to ditch their toxic masculinity?(18:00) And finally… Cricket, what does the new tournament, the Hundred mean for the sport?(30:14) With: Fraser Nelson; Melanie Phillips; Olivia Potts; the chef and owner of Darjeeling Express, Asma Khan; Freddie Wilde, an analyst for Cricvis and legendary sports journalist Henry Blofeld. Presented by Lara Prendergast Produced by Sam Holmes

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Is it up to the state to tackle obesity?

21 min listen

The government has been advised by Henry Dimbleby, founder of LEON food chain, to introduce a new tax on sugary and salty foods. While the Prime Minister has distanced himself away from the proposal, it has caused a lively debate in The Spectator‘s office. Tune in to hear Fraser Nelson, James Forsyth and Kate Andrews debate the limits of the state when it comes to our health and our diets; how much obesity is related to class; and whether it really is impossible to find vegetables in Tooting.

Nick Tyrone Nick Tyrone

Why are Labour MPs excusing Cuba’s authoritarian regime?

Thousands have taken to the streets in Cuba this week to protest against the authoritarian government that rules over them. The Covid-19 crisis has exacerbated Cuba’s already bad living conditions, and anger at the government’s handling of the situation reached a point where it could no longer be contained. Cuba’s one-party state has cracked down hard on the protesters, by beating, shooting and imprisoning its own citizens. Last night, Cuban president Miguel Diaz-Canal took a novel step and admitted that his government’s handling of the crisis had possibly not been as brilliant as his people should have expected. ‘We have to gain experience from the disturbances,’ he said during a

Patrick O’Flynn Patrick O'Flynn

In defence of ‘levelling up’

Modern pragmatist political leaders are generally keen to reassure us that there is a unifying philosophy to be found running through their mish-mash of measures. In reality, perhaps they are keenest of all to reassure themselves of it. Tony Blair had the ‘Third Way’ and David Cameron the ‘Big Society’. Boris Johnson has ‘levelling-up’. But despite the largely hostile political class reviews being rolled out on Thursday in response to his speech on the latter, Johnson’s formulation is actually far more readily understandable than those of his predecessors. Many of you will vaguely recall that the Third Way was something to do with synthesising right-of-centre economics and left-of-centre social policy

James Forsyth James Forsyth

The rise of the unwhippable Tories

When the government announced a Commons vote on its decision to cut the foreign aid budget from 0.7 per cent of GNI to 0.5, the expectation was that the vote would be tight. In the end, the government won comfortably: it had a majority of 35. But despite their success, the whips would be wrong to be feeling triumphalist about this, I write in the magazine this week The usual whips’ line — if you keep your nose clean preferment might come your way — is ineffective Twenty-four Tories voted against the government, 14 of which were former ministers. The overwhelming majority of these are either uninterested in returning to

Steerpike Steerpike

Poll: public oppose Matt Hancock’s comeback

Tomorrow will mark three weeks since the Matt Hancock scandal broke. The man himself has been keeping a very low public profile since his resignation as Health Secretary on 26 June but already there is talk about an improbable return to government.  Boris Johnson’s letter accepting Hancock’s resignation ended by claiming ‘your contribution to public service is far from over’ and the latter certainly seems to believe that, judging by a report in the Mail on Sunday which suggested he has appealed to current and former Ministers ‘for advice on how to fight back.’ Hancock’s ‘friends’ are quoted as worrying about how, bereft of a ministerial salary, he will fund his ‘new life’

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Has Boris got cold feet over ‘freedom day’?

A very strange ‘freedom day’ greets us on Monday. Legally, almost all restrictions will be lifted. But practically, ministers are deeply worried by the surge of the Indian variant and the rise of hospitalisations to around 600 a day — a figure that will probably double according to the Bristol University PCCF project (which we at The Spectator find to be the most reliable). Hence this massive fudge: the government abolishing the mask mandate but saying it ‘expects’ people to wear them in shops and crowded spaces nonetheless. The NHS will continue to mandate them in hospitals. Then perhaps the biggest surprise: the vaccine passport U-turn whereby companies are told

Christopher Snowdon

A salt and sugar tax doesn’t make much sense

What is the point of the National Food Strategy? When Henry Dimbleby was hired as Britain’s ‘food tsar’ several years ago, the idea was to develop some blue sky thinking and to have someone look at the issue with a fresh pair of eyes, but when he produced his first report last year, it contained the same generic, flat-pack, bone-headed, nanny-state recommendations that every other voice of the establishment had been calling for. So predictable were his conclusions that the government had already committed itself to implementing most of them by the time it was published and he resorted to moaning about Percy Pigs to give himself an angle. The

Steerpike Steerpike

Can Henry Dimbleby really give health lectures?

Today’s Daily Mail boldly trumpets the ‘war on obese Britain,’ splashing on the latest recommendations from food tsar Henry Dimbleby. The Leon co-founder last year released the first major review of England’s entire food system in 75 years with the second part of the report now released one year on. The Mail estimates his proposals for a £3 per kg sugar tax and a £6 per kg tax on salt will add £3.4 billion a year to families’ shopping bills, with a box of Frosties costing 87p more – not so great for Tony the Tiger – while a jar of Bonne Maman raspberry conserve will go up by 63p. The

Debbie Hayton

Does the Green party care more about trans rights than the environment?

Our planet is in a mess. Ice caps are melting and the glaciers are retreating. This summer in Canada, the mercury has already broken through 49 degrees Celsius, with August still ahead of us. Climate change worries me, and I think it should worry others too. But despite the party’s name, the Green party isn’t devoting its full attention to this issue. Instead, some of its members are preoccupied with rooting out alleged transphobia within the party. This week, co-leader Sian Berry announced that she was standing down over ‘inconsistencies’ within the party. Her statement didn’t name names, and was probably baffling to the ordinary voter, but the cause of her

Linden Kemkaran

Britain is a tolerant country and a few football racists don’t change that

The racist messages sent to England football players in recent days are shameful, but to suggest that the UK is a festering hotbed overflowing with racist thugs is a step too far. Out of the hundreds of thousands of social media posts about the Euro 2020 final, only a tiny number contained racist words. Of course, this doesn’t mean we shouldn’t speak out against such abuse. What happened is indefensible and the culprits should be dealt with by the police. But the frenzied debate the messages have generated risk giving those responsible the attention they crave and which they do not deserve. As well as failing to see the bigger picture here – that Britain, generally