Politics

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

Tuesday

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Can Kemi Badenoch control her party?

Donald Trump’s decision overnight to pause US military aid to Ukraine has sent politicians across the world into a tailspin. Here in the UK, political leaders are still grappling with the fallout from Friday’s disastrous meeting between the US president and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky. Keir Starmer has pitched himself as a ‘bridge’ between the two sides but the decision to halt aid, along with an escalating war of words, highlights the limits of his role. Meanwhile, Kemi Badenoch has a fight on her hands controlling her MPs as there appear to be a series of mixed messages coming from her shadow cabinet and party on Trump and Ukraine. The Tory

Steerpike Steerpike

Assisted dying panel rejects Down’s Syndrome safeguard

The western world might be collapsing but here in Westminster it is business as usual. In one of parliament’s dusty old committee rooms, Kim Leadbeater’s Assisted Dying Bill continues to slowly make its way through the legislative process, one agonising line at a time. But if you hoped that this exercise would be a Socratic discussion of open minds, you might be left somewhat disappointed. Virtually all of the amendments proposed have been struck down by the pro-Bill majority on the committee, by near-identical margins. Today it was the turn of the amendment on Down’s Syndrome. The committee voted by 13 to 8 to exclude specific provision on the face

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Where does Trump’s suspension of Ukraine aid leave Europe?

13 min listen

Overnight President Trump made another extraordinary move in his ongoing attempt to broker a deal between Ukraine and Russia, suspending all U.S. military aid to Ukraine. Katy Balls talks to James Heale and geopolitical analyst Mark Galeotti about how serious this development is and where it leaves Ukraine’s European supporters. Produced by Natasha Feroze and Cindy Yu.

Steerpike Steerpike

JD Vance accused of ‘disrespect’ to British troops

As if transatlantic relations could not get any worse. Barely 72 hours after the Oval Office bust up, the Trump administration announced that the US had suspended all military aid to Ukraine – a move that caught much of Whitehall off guard. Now UK politicians of all stripes have hit out at JD Vance, after the Vice-President made some rather ill-judged comments on Fox News… Speaking to the broadcaster, Vance insisted that ‘if you want to actually ensure that Vladimir Putin does not invade Ukraine again, the very best security guarantee is to give Americans economic upside in the future of Ukraine’. But the VP didn’t stop there. Going on, Vance remarked: ‘That is

Harvey Proctor

Operation Midland’s guilty men were never held to account

On March 4, 2015, I sat in the bedroom of my home, an old farmhouse overlooking the rolling beauty of the Vale of Belvoir, sipping tea with my partner, Terry. It was an ordinary early morning – until an unexpected knock shattered its peace. Through the glass, I saw the police. My first thought was that something was afoot at Belvoir Castle, where I worked as Private Secretary for the Duke and Duchess of Rutland. But as I opened the door, my world collapsed. A police officer handed me a search warrant. Subsequently, I now know it was an illegal warrant. Then, like an invading force, around 20 Metropolitan Police

Steerpike Steerpike

Tory MP: Trump is a ‘Russian asset’

Graham Stuart is perhaps not the best-known Tory backbencher, but the former energy minister has catapulted himself into the national limelight with his remarks this morning. Stuart, the longstanding MP for Beverley and Holderness since 2005, took to X today to float the idea that President Donald Trump is an, er, ‘Russian asset’.  He wrote on the social media site that: ‘We have to consider the possibility that President Trump is a Russian asset. If so, Trump’s acquisition is the crowning achievement of Putin’s FSB career – and Europe is on its own.’ Even Tom Clancy might blush at that plot line… It comes after the Trump administration announced last night that

James Heale James Heale

Keir Starmer’s bridge to Trump is crumbling 

So it turns out he wasn’t bluffing after all. Six weeks after taking office, Donald Trump has made two big decisions overnight: pausing all American aid to Kyiv and imposing 25 per cent tariffs on Canada. Both will cause consternation in Whitehall – but it is the situation in Ukraine which is of most immediate concern. Less than 24 hours after Keir Starmer unveiled his ‘four-point plan’ in parliament, it already risks falling apart. Speaking in the Commons, the Prime Minister said yesterday that the West must keep military aid flowing to Ukraine. Asked by Stephen Flynn about the prospect of a pause in contributions, Starmer replied ‘As I understand it,

James Hanson

Nigel Farage will regret his anti-Zelensky comments

‘I just thought Reform cared about national borders and sovereignty’. So sighed the journalist Julia Hartley-Brewer at the end of her recent interview with the party’s deputy leader, Richard Tice. He’d been trying to argue that Donald Trump was right to cut Ukraine out of peace talks with Russia. A normally polished media performer, I have never seen Tice look so uncomfortable as he was when being grilled by Hartley-Brewer on ‘how much of Britain would you give away if we were invaded?’. This week, it was Nigel Farage’s turn to appear hostile to Ukraine on national radio. Discussing Friday’s showdown in the Oval Office on LBC, he took the

Julian Hughes

What would George Orwell make of the assisted dying debate?

George Orwell would have plenty to say about the language used in the assisted dying debate. As Orwell wrote in his essay ‘Politics and the English Language’: ‘When you make a stupid remark its stupidity will be obvious, even to yourself’. He continued, ‘political language … is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind’. Never has this been truer than in relation to the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which is back for debate in parliament today. Dignity in Dying, the organisation that campaigns in favour of assisted dying, would certainly trouble Orwell. In 2006, after just

Gavin Mortimer Gavin Mortimer

Is Macron a ‘danger for peace’ in Ukraine?

Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron are in competition to be the de facto leader of the European response to the diplomatic crisis between Donald Trump and Ukraine’s president Zelensky. The cynic might wonder if Macron isn’t perhaps making the most of the fallout to boost his standing after a calamitous few months. The French president’s reputation has not recovered from his decision last June to call a snap election; the result was political chaos and three prime ministers in six months. Few French have confidence in their president to handle the situation Ukraine effectively Domestically, France is a disaster zone. Lawlessness, immigration and an ailing economy are just three reasons

Robin Ashenden

Why should Zelensky be grateful to Trump?

A consensus seems to be forming, in certain quarters, that the debacle at the White House meeting on Friday – which played out before an incredulous world – was in large part Volodymyr Zelensky’s fault. Ukraine’s president is certainly paying a heavy price: overnight, Donald Trump has halted military aid to Ukraine. “We are pausing and reviewing our aid to ensure that it is contributing to a solution,” a White House official has said. Aside from the Republican politicians racing to side with Trump following the White House row, there have been voices nearer home. Presenter of the Triggernometry podcast Konstantin Kisin, who initially sided with the Ukrainian leader, tweeted out after

Monday

Michael Simmons Michael Simmons

Trump announces 25 per cent tariffs on Canada and Mexico

‘He was bad on trade, very bad on trade,’ said Donald Trump ‘with due respect’ to Ronald Reagan in a broadcast from the White House. As the President went on, the Fox News coverage included a ‘Dow Watch’ ticker, which showed the markets in freefall. Trump was speaking to confirm that 25 per cent tariffs would be imposed at midnight on Tuesday on Canada and Mexico, with an additional 10 per cent tariff for China (which has already had 10 per cent tariffs imposed). This means new barriers for America’s three largest trading partners. ‘The tariffs, you know, they’re all set. They go into effect tomorrow,’ Trump said. In response

Mary Dejevsky

Peter Mandelson has become a liability

Well, that didn’t take long, did it? Less than a month after presenting his credentials to President Trump, His Britannic Majesty’s Ambassador in Washington was being accused by an MP in the House of Commons of ‘freelancing on US TV’. The UK armed forces minister, Luke Pollard, had earlier distanced himself from comments made by Lord Mandelson, saying ‘that’s not government policy’.  Both were referring to a typically mellifluous performance by Mandelson on ABC’s popular Sunday politics talk-show, This Week. The presenter was another master of fluent politics-speak, George Stephanopoulos, one-time spokesman for the Clinton White House turned media pundit, and the conversation flowed with amicable ease.  So where had

Steerpike Steerpike

‘Struggling’ Rayner gets her third aide

When you’ve got a majority of 167, how do you keep control? The answer, it seems, is jobs for the boys (and girls). Another round of government appointments made a week ago has seen yet more new MPs promoted. Alex Barros-Curtis, Joe Morris and Jack Abbott are among the 2024 intake who ascended the first rung on the ministerial pecking order by being named parliamentary private secretaries (PPS). But it was the appointment of Mark Ferguson as a bag carrier at the Ministry of Housing which caught Steerpike’s eye. The Gateshead Central MP gushed on LinkedIn that he is ‘especially excited to serve our Deputy Prime Minister and my friend Angela

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Starmer: Zelensky is a ‘hero’

Keir Starmer was careful in his Commons statement about Ukraine to distance himself from what happened in the Oval Office on Friday, while also insisting that Britain needs to maintain a strong relationship with the US. He told MPs that Friday’s public spat between Volodymyr Zelensky, Donald Trump and JD Vance was ‘something nobody in this house wants to see’, but added: ‘I do want to be crystal clear, we must strengthen our relationship with America – for our security, for our technology, for our trade and investment’. He also repeatedly disagreed with any MP who suggested drawing back from the relationship with Trump. Later in the session, he said

Ross Clark Ross Clark

Angela Rayner is exercising her ‘right to switch off’ Britain’s growth

It was reported over the weekend that the government has dropped ‘the right to switch off’ from its Employment Rights Bill. Such a right, it has been widely asserted, had appeared in Labour’s manifesto for last year’s general election, promising that employees would be granted a legal right to ignore their boss’s emails outside their contracted working hours. However, it was left out of the bill as originally published last autumn, and neither has it been introduced as an amendment. But it seems that we were not really paying attention. It is true that Angela Rayner, in an interview with the Financial Times in May, made the suggestion that the

Owen Matthews

‘Europe plus’ won’t save Ukraine

Days after the disastrous White House showdown between Volodymir Zelensky and Donald Trump, Sir Keir Starmer has done an undoubtedly impressive job in quickly rallying western leaders to Kyiv’s cause. The ‘Europe Plus’ partnership suggested by Starmer will be a ‘coalition of the willing’ to protect Ukraine that includes major non-European players such as Canada and, crucially, Turkey.  But make no mistake over the nature of Europe Plus’s new role. It is not, as some more excitable commentators have called it, a ‘mini-Nato.’ Europe is not taking over responsibility for its own security. A new European world order is not being built before our eyes. Behind the grand verbiage and

James Heale James Heale

Priti Patel attacks Nigel Farage over Zelensky comments

During the early days of the Gaza crisis, there was an unofficial refrain doing the rounds in the Foreign Office: ‘Foreign policy doesn’t win votes – but it can lose them.’ In recent days, the same could be said of Ukraine’s peace negotiations. The drama between Presidents Trump and Zelensky which played out in the Oval Office on Friday horrified Westminster. Both Keir Starmer and Kemi Badenoch were quick to signal their support for Zelensky, aware that – three years after the war with Russia began – public support for Ukraine remains rock solid. It poses a difficulty for Nigel Farage That poses a difficulty for Nigel Farage. The Reform

Steerpike Steerpike

Lee Anderson attacks ‘pathetic’ Ben Habib

There’s a drama a day in Westminster. Today’s bust-up is between Reform MP Lee Anderson and the party’s former deputy leader Ben Habib who accused him of plagiarism. Following the jibe, the Ashfield MP took to Twitter to brand Habib a ‘pathetic little man’ trying to ‘smear’ Reform. And you thought Mike Amesbury was punchy… Early this morning Anderson posted online a long list of Labour failures – with the Reform MP claiming Sir Keir Starmer’s army would ‘never have been elected if voters had been told the truth’. While the politician’s post was lauded by his supporters, Habib was quick to spot a rather disgruntled reply from an account that had posted the exact same tweet several weeks before. ‘Does Reform

Ed West Ed West

Why Britain isn’t standing up for Canada

In May 1940, days after the Dunkirk evacuation, the Churchill defender Andreas Koureas recalls how the great British war leader was, ‘informed by the Canadian Prime Minister, Mackenzie King, of more dreadful news. Roosevelt had no faith in Churchill nor Britain, and wanted Canada to give up on her. Roosevelt thought that Britain would likely collapse, and Churchill could not be trusted to maintain her struggle. Rather than appealing to Churchill’s pleas of aid – which were politically impossible then anyway – Roosevelt sought more drastic measures. A delegation was summoned for Canada. They requested Canada to pester Britain to have the Royal Navy sent across the Atlantic, before Britain’s