Politics

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

Tuesday

Steerpike Steerpike

Six times Leadbeater promised a high court judge safeguard

Back to the assisted dying bill. It has emerged that the legislation’s requirement for a senior judge to approve whether someone should be allowed to end their life has been removed over concerns about the toll it could take on Britain’s struggling courts. An amendment put forward by Kim Leadbeater, the bill’s sponsor, has now proposed that, instead of having a high court judge investigate each case, a panel of social workers and psychiatrists among others should oversee applications. How curious. It’s certainly quite the turnaround. While Leadbeater has now claimed the changes will ‘make the system even more robust’, prior to her amendment, the bill’s sponsor and her supporters

Peter Sefton-Williams

My false diagnosis exposes a key flaw in the Assisted Dying Bill

Perhaps the strongest argument against the reintroduction of capital punishment is the possibility that mistakes, once made, cannot be rectified. In the 20th century, such errors – even with legal safeguards in place – were not uncommon. Infamous cases, such as those of Timothy Evans and George Kelly, are a testament to that. It is ironic, therefore, that MPs who would strongly oppose capital punishment can, at the same time, enthusiastically support the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill brought before parliament by Labour MP Kim Leadbeater. The same argument applies. If a mistake is made, and a person opts for assisted dying based on incorrect information, that mistake cannot later be rectified.

Thais Portilho

Should Christie’s cancel its AI art auction?

How do you define art? This centuries-old question is constantly brought back to the fore, particularly at times when artists find new ways to create. It was the case with the advent of photography in the 19th century – and it is the case with art where the process is aided or fully executed by AI models today. It displays unforgivable ignorance of the innovative and fascinating ways these artists create with the use of new technology Last week, auction house Christie’s caused a huge stir in art circles, after announcing on social media its first auction offering works exclusively created with AI. Leading the line-up of AI artists are

Patrick West

Why children peddle conspiracy theories

Teenagers today are more likely to believe in conspiracy theories, and that is a very bad thing indeed. This was the unmistakeable message conveyed by a story in the Times yesterday. Citing a report published by the Commission into Countering Online Conspiracies in Schools, it related how ‘conspiracy theories are rife in classrooms’. Young people, we’re told, are more inclined to trust social media influencers than the government when it came to news sources and forming their views of the world. Teachers ‘need urgent support’ to prevent children ‘falling down rabbit holes online’ and succumbing to ‘misinformation’ they discover therein. There is nothing novel in teenagers avoiding mainstream news sources

Oscar Edmondson

Have Kemi Badenoch’s first 100 days been a success?

18 min listen

Kemi Badenoch has been Conservative Party leader for 100 days. Her party is fighting for survival, and she faces an uphill task greater than many of her predecessors: Reform UK surging in the polls, a depleted talent pool of just 121 MPs, and the hangover of 14 years of Conservative rule leaving her hamstrung on issues such as immigration and the economy. Has she managed to transform the party? What will the next 100 days look like? Oscar Edmondson speaks to James Heale and Paul Goodman. Produced by Oscar Edmondson.

Gareth Roberts Gareth Roberts

Andrew Gwynne and the truth about WhatsApp

Labour MP Andrew Gwynne has been sacked from the government, and suspended from the party, for sending ‘vile’ WhatsApp messages. Gwynne, who reportedly wrote that he hoped an elderly constituent who had complained about bin collections would die, is also said to have made antisemitic remarks and jokes about Diane Abbott. He stands exposed of being a callous bigot. Case closed. Gwynne’s career is over. If making horrible jokes in private is a sin, we’re all damned Except, of course, Gwynne – and his Labour colleague Oliver Ryan MP, who was also a member of the WhatsApp group and has been suspended – are not bigots. Yes, their remarks were

Geoffrey Heath-Taylor

It’s time for Badenoch and Farage to talk

Kemi Badenoch has ruled out a pact with Reform. The Tory leader told the Daily Telegraph: ‘Nigel Farage has said that he wants to destroy the Conservative Party. ‘So I’m not…I have been given something very precious. I am the custodian of an institution that has existed for nigh on 200 years…I have to look after this thing. I can’t just treat it like it’s a toy and have pacts and mergers.’ Badenoch should think again. The truth is that many Tory voters are being wooed by Nigel Farage’s Reform party. Pretending otherwise is not going to cut it. Reform MP Rupert Lowe’s rousing recent address at a Reform rally

Monday

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Nick Robinson hacked in crypto-scam

Just what is going on at the BBC? It was only a fortnight ago that Laura Kuenssberg was ‘hacked‘ ahead of the launch of her new show. And now it is the turn of a second Beeb bigwig to suffer the same fate, apparently at the hands of another crypto scam. Nick Robinson, the star of Radio 4’s Today programme, is a longtime user of X, where he is often found tweeting his support for the Corporation in the face of another storm of outrage. But Robinson appeared to be hacked on Monday evening after he posted a message that seemed, er, a little off-message from his usual observations about politics

Tom Slater Tom Slater

Don’t cancel Andrew Gwynne

The police are coming for your WhatsApp groups. And if that doesn’t strike terror into your heart, you’re not using WhatsApp properly.  The hapless former health minister and Labour MP for Gorton and Denton, Andrew Gwynne, hasn’t just been sacked by Keir Starmer for his offensive messages about pensioners, Mossad and Diane Abbott. He’s also been reported to the police by a local councillor, meaning that, right now, Greater Manchester’s finest are weighing up whether to open a file on ‘Trigger Me Timbers’ – the group in which Gwynne inflicted his off-colour, often racially charged jokes on some of his fellow Labourites. Personally, I think we need to draw a bright line between public

Steerpike Steerpike

Second WhatsApp scandal MP suspended

Another day, another Labour drama. Now a second parliamentarian involved in a rather distasteful WhatsApp group has been suspended after former minister Andrew Gwynne was sacked at the weekend over his rather strange message exchanges. It transpires that Oliver Ryan, MP for Burnley, has this afternoon had the whip removed after it emerged he was also in the ‘Trigger Me Timbers’ group chat, with the 29-year-old Labour politician admitting he too made comments ‘which I deeply regret and would not make today’. News broke on Saturday that Gwynne had been sacked from his health minister job and suspended from the Labour party after some rather odd message exchanges came to

The Spectator

The Spectator is hiring: US Online Editor (London)

Join The Spectator’s expanding team as our US Online Editor and work with the best British journalists, authors, critics and cartoonists. As US Online Editor you will work closely with the senior editorial team in the UK and US to commission, edit and publish Spectator articles covering the United States. You will take charge of daily output – which includes covering breaking news and responding to world events – curating the US website and promoting Spectator articles on social media. The Spectator was founded in 1828 and is the most influential magazine in Britain. There’s never been a better time to join us. This role is full-time and based in The Spectator’s London offices. The ideal candidate

Sam Olsen

It’s time for Labour to put Britain first

Less than a month into President Trump’s new administration and the change to international norms is astounding. Well-established practices on tariffs have been upended, alterations to national boundaries called for, alliances challenged, and aid spending thrown to the wind. This is only the beginning for a president determined to rewrite the rule book. His shakeup comes on top of the systematic efforts by China and Russia to reimagine the world order. ‘Right now there are changes – the likes of which we haven’t seen for 100 years – and we are the ones driving these changes together,’ said President Xi to President Putin as far back as 2023. We are,

Steerpike Steerpike

The Labour lawyer love-in with the ECHR

With Sue Gray gone, one might have expected the Labour government’s infighting to have subsided. But there is a new public enemy now: Richard Hermer KC. The Attorney General has caused quite the commotion during his time in the top job, with questions raised over his links to Sir Keir Starmer’s controversial Chagos deal, his legal representation of ex-Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams and his stance on Israel. It’s his commitment to the ECHR, however, that has ruffled feathers in recent days as the government attempts to improve its messaging on migration. Hermer sparked outrage among government figures when, on the same day that it was announced that new small

Michael Gove

Keir Starmer and the lost art of political oratory

31 min listen

From Churchill to Thatcher to Blair to Farage, Parliament has seen some truly fantastic rhetoricians over the years. But last week came the news that – in a bid to improve his own oratorical skill – Keir Starmer employed a voice coach: former actress Leonie Mellinger. Mellinger has been at the centre of a fresh COVID-19 row, as the Prime Minister considered her to be so important that she qualified as a ‘key worker’ in 2020, visiting Labour headquarters in a mask on Christmas Eve 2020 to advise Starmer. It is not an unusual practice to employ a voice coach to improve a politician’s public speaking, and on the podcast

Stephen Pollard

A charity boss cancelled for ‘Islamophobia’ has won an important victory

It sometimes feels as if there is never any good news in the fight to preserve freedom of speech in Britain. At the very moment, for example, when the United States has a president who is ripping up the shibboleths of what Suella Braverman memorably called the ‘Guardian-reading, tofu-eating wokerati’, our deputy prime minister Angela Rayner is reportedly planning to set up a 16-person council to draw up an official definition of Islamophobia. Rayner’s Islamophobia council could be headed by Dominic Grieve, one of the worst people who could hold such a position But it isn’t all gloom. Last week saw a small but potentially very significant legal victory for

Klaus Dodds

The hitch in Trump’s plan for Arctic dominance

There is an ‘icebreaker gap’ between Russia and the United States. For decades, the Soviet Union and now Russia have recognised that icebreakers not only allowe their remote northern settlements to be resupplied by sea but also ensured that the waters north of this vast country were navigable. Moscow can boast that it has a fleet of over 40 vessels, eight of which are nuclear-powered. The latest vessel is called Yakutia and is a sobering example of how sanction-hit Russia has, despite everything, demonstrated a capacity to source parts and equipment for its fleet domestically. Icebreakers perform an essential service for both transit and destination shipping in the Gulf of Finland and along

Steerpike Steerpike

Keir Starmer’s one-line whip wonders

Is Labour on a legislative go-slow? In recent weeks, Mr S has noticed a theme from conversations in the corridors of power. Across the House, MPs are increasingly noticing the number of ‘one-line’ whips they are on in parliament. This refers to diktats issued by the party whips: a one-line whip means that MPs don’t have to turn up to vote if they don’t feel like it, but if they do, they must then vote with the whip. Three-line whips, by contrast, are non-negotiable. So it says something about the state of the Commons right now that nearly half of the sitting days since the general election have been listed as

Steerpike Steerpike

New Labour minister believes people can identify as llamas

Dear oh dear. In the last hour, Sir Keir Starmer has appointed Ashley Dalton MP to replace Andrew Gwynne as health minister – after the latter was sacked and suspended over the weekend over some rather offensive message exchanges. But it would appear that Dalton is not without her skeletons either. Mr S can reveal that the new public health minister has voiced some quite odd views in the past on gender ideology… Dalton has in the past tweeted that ‘trans women are women’ regardless of biology and believes in gender self-identification, writing in 2016: ‘I think people should be able to define their own gender and that society should

Mark Galeotti Mark Galeotti

Has Putin picked up the phone to Donald Trump?

So, did they speak? How often? What about? The very coyness around the question of whether Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin spoke on the phone – Trump says so, maybe more than once, while the Kremlin is neither confirming nor denying – suggests that pre-discussion discussions on the war in Ukraine are indeed already taking place. General Keith Kellogg, Trump’s special envoy for the war, has stated that no peace plan will be unveiled at next weekend’s Munich Security Conference (the Davos of the security set). But in some ways that is disingenuous. As one Foreign Office staffer suggested, ‘It’s not necessarily the time and place for a public reveal,

Ian O’Doherty

Why won’t Ireland take in Palestinian refugees?

Oh, what a tangled web we weave. When Donald Trump made his rather provocative claim that the US would expel all Palestinians from Gaza and turn the region into the ‘Riviera of the Middle East’, international condemnation came thick and fast – matched only by the confusion of world leaders. Did the President of the United States really mean that he wanted to create his very own Mar-a-Gaza, complete with luxurious golf courses and tatty tourist shops, or was there a method to his madness?  Egypt has already insisted that it won’t take a single Palestinian refugee, Jordan has warned the United States that it would consider any such plans an