Politics

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

Wednesday

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London Labour youth wing calls for the abolition of Israel

Pro-Palestine rallies were held across the country at the weekend amid the deteriorating situation in the Middle East. Onetime Labour leader turned independent backbencher Jeremy Corbyn was the star attraction at the London shindig, waving a rose to his adoring fans just yards away from a ten foot inflatable caricature with devil horns and maniacal red eyes. While the suspended MP enjoyed a rapturous reception, he probably did his bid for re-admittance to Labour little good after being introduced to the stage by comedian Alexei Sayle who called his successor Keir Starmer ‘a little shitbag’. Elsewhere on the same day, London Labour’s youth wing did their bit to help their party’s current embattled leader

Ross Clark Ross Clark

Does getting Covid-19 protect you against reinfection?

How well does prior exposure to the SARS-CoV-2 virus protect you against reinfection? It has been a hotly-debated subject since the first trickle of reported cases of reinfection with the virus began to be reported last spring. Now, a study involving 16,000 students from South Carolina has attempted to quantify the protective effect of natural infection. The students involved in the study, which is published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, were each swabbed for a PCR test last autumn, as a condition of being allowed to return to campus. They were swabbed again this spring in similar circumstances.  Out of 16,101 students, 2,021 were found to be infected in

James Forsyth James Forsyth

The Australian trade deal is about more than just trade

What happens with an Australia trade deal won’t just reveal how serious this country is about free trade but also how committed it is to helping democratic countries stand up to China. China is Australia’s largest trading partner but since Australia called for an independent inquiry into the origins of coronavirus, Australian-Chinese relations have severely deteriorated. Beijing is now trying to use this economic relationship to get Canberra to fall into line.  China has imposed huge tariffs on Australian barley and on wine for the next five years, while technical reasons have been found to bar most Australian timber and beef from the country. If in these circumstances the UK failed

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Revealed: George Eustice’s new nickname

George Eustice has not enjoyed an easy time since being elevated to the Cabinet last year. The environment secretary has had a lot on his plate with the Brexit fall out, pesticide squabbles, a department dominated by Goldsmith allies and near-endless rows about free trade deals impacting Britain’s food. This week a Cabinet row over talks with Australia has exploded out into the open with Eustice’s faction concerned about the consequences for British farmers if trade secretary Liz Truss secures a tariff-free deal. Not for nothing is a new nickname for the hapless minister now doing the rounds: George Useless. Tory MPs have been heard uttering the phrase in exasperation, with Tory

Jake Wallis Simons Jake Wallis Simons

British cops shouldn’t support Palestine – or Israel

Picture the scene. A female police officer — hi-viz police jacket, regulation black hat, facemask slipping from her nose — punches the air, proclaiming: ‘free, free Palestine!’ Her words are met with cheers from the crowd at the anti-Israel rally in central London that she was supposed to be policing. Actually, you don’t have to bother picturing the scene. Just watch the video clip below to see a perfect symbol of the toxic blend of state authoritarianism and hard-left politics that is creeping across British institutions today. After I posted the video on Twitter, the Metropolitan Police said it was ‘reviewing the footage’ and would provide an update ‘shortly’. One

Ross Clark Ross Clark

What Greenpeace’s ‘Wasteminster’ stunt won’t tell you

Greenpeace has been responsible for many a fatuous stunt over the years, but its latest video has a point. It shows an animated Boris Johnson making a speech outside 10 Downing Street, boasting about his government’s environmental achievements, like banning plastic straws. Meanwhile, plastic waste starts to rain out of the sky, engulfing the Prime Minister as well as all of Downing Street, the Cabinet Office and much of the Foreign Office, too. This immense pile, we are told, is the quantity of plastic waste which we are dumping daily on developing countries. I’ll take Greenpeace’s word for it that the size of the pile is accurate. But whether our

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Neil Ferguson’s Indian variant optimism: ‘the curves are flattening’

Amid much gloom in Westminster over the threat posed by the new Covid Indian variant, Mr S was intrigued to hear a counter blast of optimism this morning from an unlikely source – Professor Neil Ferguson.  The epidemiologist appeared on Radio 4’s Today programme in which he said that this new strain appears to be less transmissible than some have previously feared as the ‘curves are flattening a little’ according to the ‘most recent data.’ Presenter Nick Robinson asked: Transmissibility is this key thing that you’re looking to get the answer to. When do you think you will have that answer and is it really a case as we were hearing earlier on the

Patrick O’Flynn Patrick O'Flynn

Andy Burnham is Labour’s king over the water

There are few things so perilous for an under-performing opposition leader as the emergence of a ‘king over the water’. This is typically someone who is a member of the same party with an impressive track record but who isn’t currently in the Commons and is therefore not subject to the patronage wielded by the leader. As the leader flails, the king over the water is deemed to have acquired miraculous powers. Each new poll recording the leader’s unpopularity launches a thousand new daydreams among party members fondly imagining how the king over the water would reshape things in ways they yearn for. Keir Starmer is now faced with just

Tuesday

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Watch: Penny Mordaunt savages Angela Rayner

Oh dear. Labour’s unofficial collector of titles Angela Rayner popped up in the Commons today to attack the government over its supposed ‘Covid cronyism’. Ministers such as Priti Patel have been accused of improperly helping to secure PPE contracts last year.  Unfortunately for Rayner her opponent at the dispatch box was none other than the redoubtable Penny Mordaunt. Mordaunt savaged Rayner’s claims in a brutal exchange: I would suggest to [Ms Rayner] that an Essex MP is perfectly entitled to forward an offer of help from the Essex Chamber of Commerce to help in a pandemic. MPs do it all the time, it’s part of our job, but [Ms Rayner] already knows

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Should Starmer let the cameras in?

11 min listen

Keir Starmer is reportedly thinking about giving access to a camera crew in order to create a fly-on-the-wall documentary about his leadership of the Labour party. Is this a good idea? Isabel Hardman talks to Katy Balls and James Forsyth.

Robert Peston Robert Peston

The fatal flaw in the Covid travel restrictions

Here are two Covid questions, thrown up by the rate at which the Indian variant is infecting parts of the UK. First, does it show that the traffic light system, which was designed to prevent the UK from importing new strains and variants from abroad, is unfit for purpose? The delay of one to two weeks in moving India from the amber to red category – which I’ve been banging on about for a month – is relevant, and looks like a serious government mistake. But isn’t there a more fundamental flaw in the system? Ministers keep pointing out that with India in the amber category the UK should have

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Through the Keirhole: Starmer plots TV drama

Pitch: a struggling politician eager to make his mark. He’s 10 points behind in the polls, leading a fractitious party and struggling to prove he is the charismatic, dynamic and likeable leader his country needs. From where does he seek salvation? That time-honoured tradition of the fly on the wall documentary. Such an outlandish proposal could soon be all too real, according to the Times today which reports a production company is in talks with Sir Keir Starmer about the proposal. Broadcasters have been asked if they would be interested in showing the programme which some Labour sources believe could be an ‘effective way to broadcast Starmer’s personality to a larger slice of the

James Kirkup James Kirkup

MPs are finally engaging with the gender identity debate

I used to write a lot about sex and gender here. I don’t do so quite as much these days for a few reasons, one of which is that the issues involved are now better recognised and better handled by people whose job it is to deal with the complexities of policies and conflicts of rights and arguments. An example of that came at the weekend when Baroness Falkner, the new chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, told the Times that women should not be penalised or abused if they believe that transgender women do not become female by dint of their professed identity. ‘Someone can believe that

Matthew Lynn

Boris must stand up to farmers – and back the Australia trade deal

Farms will be devastated. The countryside will be ruined. And we will all be forced to eat weird food that will probably kill us. As the government tries to finalise a free trade deal with Australia, there are already reports of fierce rows over the future of agriculture played out against a backdrop of a angry backlash from the farming lobby.  It’s time for the government so face up to these critics. True, farming is not crucial to the future of the British economy, and neither, as it happens, is trade with Australia. But the principle is important – and if the UK doesn’t embrace free trade then leaving the EU

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Greens team up with Tories to kill the ‘progressive alliance’

There has been much talk in recent years about the prospect of a so-called ‘progressive alliance’ coming together to lock the Conservatives out of power. During the Brexit era commentators such as Neal Lawson and Polly Toynbee excitedly speculated on the electoral success a cross party coalition comprising Labour, the Liberal Democrat and Green parties could enjoy, based on their shared mutual values. Zoe Williams claimed of such a tactic: ‘when it works, it often looks more like a landslide’ while Caroline Lucas wrote an article titled ‘progressive alliances are the future of British politics.’ So as the dust settled on this month’s local elections Mr S was intrigued to see how such high minded

Kristian Niemietz

How much credit does the NHS deserve for the Covid vaccine rollout?

Who should we thank for our Covid vaccines? For many, the answer is straightforward: the National Health Service.  ‘Thank you NHS’, says a profile sticker shared by thousands of Brits on Facebook. But while Britain’s undoubtedly successful vaccine programme owes a great deal to the efforts of NHS staff, is it right to thank the NHS itself? Left to its own devices, would the NHS have delivered in quite the same way? And how much should we credit Boris’s vaccine task force – rather than the health service – for the vaccine rollout? I am a critic of the NHS – but not for the sake of it. I criticise it

Monday

Robert Peston Robert Peston

Full easing of Covid restrictions on 21 June looks unlikely

The prospect of the final easing of lockdown restrictions in England going ahead precisely as planned on 21 June is close to nil, according to ministers and officials. ‘It is clear some social distancing will have to be retained, not everything we’ve set out for 21 June is likely to happen,’ said a government adviser. ‘But it is also possible some of the easing we’ve done today will have to be reversed.’  Neither he nor a minister would be drawn on precisely which parts of the planned unlocking may have to be delayed, or which aspects of unlocking that’s already happened would need rolling back. Even 10 per cent less

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Could 21 June be delayed?

12 min listen

As England moves into the next phase of its lockdown easing today, the Indian variant threatens to throw the final phase off schedule. Could the government delay 21 June? Isabel Hardman speaks to James Forsyth and Katy Balls.

Ross Clark Ross Clark

Is Britain facing a jobs crisis?

The ONS recorded a sharp recovery in economic growth in March. The Bank of England has already increased its forecast for the growth of the UK economy in 2021. Now comes more evidence of rapid growth. The quarterly CIPD/Adecco Labour Market Outlook, published today, shows a sharp rise in the number of organisations that are hiring extra staff or are expecting to do so over the next few months. The survey, which goes out to 1,000 employers in the private, public, and voluntary sectors, found that 36 per cent of employers are planning to increase staff levels over the next three months. Nine per cent said they are expecting to

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Whitehall blows £57,000 on gender-neutral toilets

Mr S was intrigued to read in yesterday’s Sunday Telegraph that public buildings will have to have separate ‘ladies’ and ‘gents’ lavatories in the future. The move – which has already infuriated campaigners who want more gender-neutral facilities –  will see building regulations and planning guidance amended to ensure separate ‘ladies’ and ‘gents’ facilities are installed in new buildings or those being developed.  Communities secretary Robert Jenrick is reported to be behind the changes which could see unisex lavatories, shared by men women, seeing the installation of partitions to ensure the privacy of occupants. A source close to Jenrick told the newspaper:  It’s a necessity for women to have access to their own provision of