Politics

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

Monday

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Chris Whitty: tier three alone will not be enough

Chris Whitty made clear at tonight’s press conference with the Prime Minister and the Chancellor that he doesn’t think that the tier three restrictions are enough to get on top of the virus in the worst hit places. He was explicit that local councils will need to go even further in terms of closures in some places. Later in the press conference he said that the government ‘knew full lockdown works’ but it was also aware of the societal and economic harm it does, and the government rightly wants to keep schools open. Taken together, the answers strongly implied that Whitty thinks that in Covid hotspots everything apart from schools

Freddy Gray Freddy Gray

Has Donald Trump already lost the election?

17 min listen

Joe Biden is well ahead of Donald Trump in the polls, but few are willing to say that the three-time presidential hopeful will win November’s election. Are commentators underplaying the Democrat’s chances? Freddy Gray speaks to Tim Stanley, historian and leader writer at The Telegraph.

Steerpike Steerpike

Watch: Labour MP’s pub slip-up

The Labour MP for Chesterfield caused a rush of sniggers in the Commons this afternoon when he told colleagues that:  People don’t generally go to the pub in order to meet their own wife, they will go to the pub to meet with other people… Little wonder fellow MPs started laughing given Toby Perkins’s own love life… 

The Spectator

Full list: How is your area affected by Boris’s local lockdown list?

Boris Johnson has just set out a new three-tier Covid alert system. Much of England will be on ‘medium’ alert, which means measures like the rule of six will be enforced. But those areas including Liverpool will be placed on a ‘very high’ alert, meaning that pubs, bars and betting shops will shut. Here is the full list of which alert levels will be in place from Wednesday across the country: Very High Liverpool City Region Liverpool Knowsley Wirral St Helens Sefton Halton High Cheshire Cheshire West and Chester Cheshire East Greater Manchester Manchester Bolton Bury Stockport Tameside Trafford Wigan Salford Rochdale Oldham Warrington Derbyshire Tintwistle Padfield Dinting St John’s Old Glossop Whitfield Simmondley

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Tory MPs won’t like Boris’s response to Steve Baker’s Covid question

Today’s statement by Boris Johnson was a reminder of how difficult the politics of this second wave is going to be. In the first 50 minutes, there were only two Tory soft balls to the PM. The other questions from his own benches all had a degree of scepticism in them, and some were clearly hostile. Andrew Mitchell, the former Tory chief whip, echoed the Mayor of the West Midlands Andy Street’s complaint that the region had been placed in tier 2. Caroline Ansell, the Eastbourne MP, argued that hyper local restrictions would be better than this new system. Perhaps the most interesting exchange, though, came when Steve Baker – one

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Johnson tightens Covid rules

After weeks of speculation over the government’s new Covid restrictions grading system, the Prime Minister today announced the details. Addressing MPs in the Commons chamber, Boris Johnson confirmed that his strategy was entering a new phase with a three-tier system. Rather than a traffic light system with a green for go, the regional categories are medium, high and very high.  Setting out the measures, Johnson attempted to say that he was striking a middle ground. He pointed to data suggesting the number of cases had quadrupled over the last three weeks as evidence that new steps were needed. However, he made a point of ruling out a national lockdown, at least

Robert Peston Robert Peston

The Covid rules haven’t been simplified

The new three tier ‘Covid alert levels’ unveiled by the PM are supposed to help all of us better understand how and why our freedoms are being restricted, and improve compliance, at a time when both infection levels and suppressive measures are significantly different across England and across the UK. But it is not clear that our understanding will be massively improved – partly because some of the rules remain complicated and confusing, partly because some of them are not exactly intuitive, and partly because some of them seem unfair. Let’s look at just one aspect of the rules, those relating to pubs and restaurants. And to be clear I

Nick Tyrone Nick Tyrone

Keir Starmer needs a Covid plan of his own

It’s clear now that Covid is going to be with us for the long haul. Most sane voices are talking about the remainder of the crisis in terms of years, not months. Yet the government has still not been able to take itself out of short-term mode. They seem to be holding out for a vaccine miracle. Stranger still, the opposition is still in short-term mode on Covid as well. I don’t think this can continue without becoming a large problem for Starmer, both internally within Labour and also in the polls. Starmer’s plan when it comes to the crisis so far is simple to explain. He wants to support

James Kirkup James Kirkup

Why shouldn’t a ballerina retrain?

A ‘story’ covered by several outlets today about a ballerina and a government skills campaign is the latest evidence of how Twitter is making us all more stupid and should generally be ignored. The ‘story’ in short summary: a government campaign to encourage people to consider training to develop skills in ‘cyber’ is using images of people doing jobs, including dancing, to suggest that people who are today doing one thing for a living might one day do something else. (For more on the full range of jobs depicted, see this bit of proper journalism from a BBC reporter.) The ad that’s picked up some attention online shows ‘Fatima’ a

Steerpike Steerpike

Keir Starmer’s bizarre definition of ‘tolerance’

During his regular LBC phone-in, Keir Starmer was asked by one listener for his thoughts on the latest free speech saga. According to reports in the Telegraph, the Brexit activist Darren Grimes has been called in for questioning by the Met police over comments David Starkey made on his podcast. Starmer responded with characteristic indecision when asked whether Starkey’s unpleasant comments warranted police investigation. He told listeners:  I think it does sometimes have to involve the police, unfortunately. When I was director of public prosecutions there was a lot of focus on whether what people say on social media should be policed or not. There’s got to be a level of tolerance, of course.

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Will the three-tier system backfire on Boris?

12 min listen

A three-tier system of coronavirus restrictions is set to be announced today, but the government is still locked in negotiations with local authorities over the financial support they will receive if they are placed at the highest level. With a growing number of Tory backbenchers coming out against harsher measures, could the new system backfire on the PM? Isabel Hardman speaks to Katy Balls and James Forsyth.

Ross Clark Ross Clark

Brace yourselves for a double-dip Covid recession

It says much about the covid ‘traffic light’ system to be announced by the Prime Minister later that the three alert levels are expected to be labelled ‘medium’, ‘high’ and ‘very high’. It is a bit like condom sizes which start at ‘large’, move onto ‘extra large’ and ‘extra, extra large’. It is all very well talking about two week ‘circuit breakers’, but how do we ever get out of a system of restrictions which does not appear to recognise that we could ever be at low risk from covid infection?  People can live without going to pubs and clubs. There will be some people who will not consider it

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Is Keir Starmer heading for a fall?

As Boris Johnson prepares to unveil a new three tier restrictions system, the PM and his ministers are already coming under fire from Tory MPs and local leaders for confusion and a lack of evidence-based decision making. But what of Keir Starmer? The Labour leader has amassed plenty of praise of late. With Labour and the Tories neck-and-neck in the polls, he is credited with making the party seem like a viable option following the Corbyn era. Yet scratch the surface and there are plenty of Labour MPs privately questioning Starmer’s opposition strategy — particularly on coronavirus. While Starmer originally said he would provide constructive opposition, the Labour leader has become more

Robert Peston Robert Peston

How strict will the new Covid restrictions be?

I have a few points to make about the new three tier system to be announced today for restricting our lives and businesses, to suppress Covid-19. 1) Last Wednesday, the government was so worried about the spread of coronavirus in the north of England that it was planning to impose new restrictions on places like Liverpool, Manchester and Newcastle before announcing the three-tier framework. Because of opposition from city mayors and local authorities, that is now not going to happen. The three-tier framework will come first. 2) However, it is probable that there will be new restrictions announced today for Liverpool, if agreement with the Mayor Steve Rotheram is reached in

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Sales of The Spectator surge towards 100,000

When The Spectator returned furlough money during lockdown, we set ourselves a new target. Rather than take the taxpayer subsidy, we decided to try to grow our way of this mess by hitting sales of 100,000. For a magazine that finished last year averaging 83,020 weekly sales, it was ambitious. But in times of crisis, we thought, there should be a bigger demand than ever for original, thought-provoking and wide-ranging comment and analysis. The few days after our furlough announcement brought the largest sales increase in our history and the momentum has continued. I’m delighted to announce that we are now close to hitting that target, with sales averaging 96,817 in Q3

Sunday

James Ball

The real story of Cambridge Analytica and Brexit

In July 2018, Elizabeth Denham – the woman in charge of enforcing the UK’s laws on data protection – appeared on the Today programme, and made a stark allegation. ‘In 2014 and 2015, the Facebook platform allowed an app… that ended up harvesting 87 million profiles of users around the world that was then used by Cambridge Analytica in the 2016 presidential campaign and in the referendum,’ she told the show’s seven million listeners. The UK’s Information Commissioner – who is in charge of enforcing data protection rules – Elizabeth Denham, said this as she announced her intention to fine Facebook £500,000 for its role in failing to protect users’

Matthew Taylor

Sunday shows roundup: Jenrick — ‘None of us’ want to return to lockdown

Robert Jenrick – ‘None of us’ want to return to national lockdown This morning Andrew Marr interviewed the Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick, amid news that the UK’s ‘R’ number (the rate of transmission of the coronavirus) is now estimated at between 1.2 and 1.5, remaining stubbornly above the critical number 1.0. With the Prime Minister poised to announce a new series of restrictions in the Commons on Monday, and despite a warning from the deputy chief medical officer Jonathan Van-Tam that the country was at a ‘tipping point’, Jenrick told Marr that the government was determined not to wind up in the same position as it had been in March:

Steerpike Steerpike

Hancock accused of curfew hypocrisy

Matt Hancock broke his own 10 p.m curfew to continue drinking at a parliamentary bar, according to reports in the Mail on Sunday.  A senior Tory MP told the paper that the Health Secretary continued to nurse a large glass of white wine until at least 10.25 p.m. during a late night tipple that saw Hancock mock the government’s own failings, saying: ‘Drinks are on me — but Public Health England are in charge of the payment methodology so I will not be paying a thing.’  A spokesperson denied the allegations and insisted that Hancock left the parliamentary estate following a 9.42 p.m. Commons vote.  Meanwhile, lockdown rebel Charles Walker and chair of the Commons’ Administration

Patrick O’Flynn Patrick O'Flynn

Boris needs more friends in the north

Replacing Islington’s Jeremy Corbyn with Camden’s Keir Starmer never seemed like the most obvious way for Labour to win back its lost northern heartlands. True, Starmer was not such an extremist as Corbyn, but his classic leftie London lawyer mindset was surely destined to go down like a lead balloon out on the Blue Wall. That was the comforting story the Tories told themselves when he was elected Labour leader anyway. And things may still pan out that way. But something unsettling for the Conservatives is certainly going on right now. As James Forsyth sets out in his latest Spectator piece, the fact that the rise in the incidence of

Saturday