Politics

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

Tuesday

25 Feb 2025

Why Brits keep getting a tongue lashing from Team Trump

So much for the Special Relationship. Since Donald Trump took office in January, Brits have been taking quite a tongue-lashing from the US president’s team. Keir Starmer, who touches down in Washington on Thursday to meet Trump, has been nicknamed “two-tier Keir” by the president’s consigliere Elon Musk over his handling of grooming gangs. JD Vance, the vice president, also seems to have it in for Brits: Vance has mocked Rory Stewart (not something we need help with but thanks anyway, Veep); ‘The problem with Rory and people like him,’ wrote Vance, ‘is that he has an IQ of 110 and thinks he has an IQ of 130’. Vance spluttered

Monday

24 Feb 2025

Steerpike

‘Orwellian’ Commons in MPs’ bar crackdown

Happy freedom day! Yes, that’s right – after more than a month closed, the Strangers’ bar in the Palace of Westminster has today finally re-opened. Peers and MPs piled in to celebrate the return of their beloved watering hole. But, alas, already there are reports that Strangers’ will no longer be the fleshpot, following allegations of a spiking incident. First, there was PoliticsHome reporting that new rules means that the bar will now have a maximum capacity of 50 with a doorkeeper using a tally counter and unaccompanied guests being kicked out after 15 minutes. And this evening Mr S brings more sad news: pass readers are going to be

Gavin Mortimer

France’s National Rally has lost its way

Jordan Bardella flew to America last week on a trip he had long boasted about. The president of the National Rally – and all his party – had been a little put out that the only French politicians invited to Donald Trump’s inauguration were Eric Zemmour and Sarah Knafo of the right-wing Reconquest. It was with relish, then, that Bardella boarded a flight to Washington to attend the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). Here was his party’s chance to announce itself to America, while rubbing shoulders with the representatives of the new zeitgeist: JD Vance, Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico, Giorgia Meloni, Argentine President Javier Milei, Blighty’s own Nigel

Owen Matthews

How the Ukraine conflict has changed the nature of war

Three years ago today, Russian tanks rolled over the Ukrainian border in a massive surprise attack. Russian unit commanders and soldiers were told to prepare for a three-day campaign – and indeed by the end of the day parachute units were fighting for control of the vital Hostomel military airport just a few miles from the centre of Kyiv. But over a thousand days later, many of the fundamentals of war and politics have been changed forever. For one, Europe found its conscience. In the run-up to the full-scale Russian invasion, some European countries – including Britain – were training Ukrainian infantry units in scattered partisan warfare and supplying man-portable anti

James Snell

Why the Foreign Office shouldn’t save Brits abroad

One of the perils of working in or even travelling to the Middle East and Central Asia is that there is a high risk of being taken hostage by autocratic states or terrorist groups. Peter Reynolds, 79, and Barbie, his 75-year-old wife, are the latest Brits to find this out the hard way. The couple, who have been running projects in Afghanistan for 18 years, were detained by the Taliban in Afghanistan on 1 February. Their children have heard nothing from them for a fortnight. The grim reality is that they might be left languishing as hostages for some time. A former colleague of mine at the New Lines Institute, Elizabeth Tsurkov, has been a hostage of either

James Heale

Ukraine war, three years on

13 min listen

Today marks three years since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. From early fears of a swift Russian victory to the Kharkiv offensive and the slow war of attrition that has played out since, each stage of this war has been hard to predict. None more so than this stage, with the USA drastically changing tack and tearing up the transatlantic alliance by pursuing back-channel peace talks with Putin. Europe has been left scrambling. Where do we go from here? And with an isolationist USA, the breakdown of the European consensus on Ukraine and the UK’s armed forces being hollowed out, who is left to defend Europe? James

Martin Narey

In defence of short jail sentences

Mike Amesbury, the former Labour MP who has been sent to prison for ten weeks for punching a constituent in the street, is rather unlucky: the truth is that very few first-time offenders get locked up. It’s probable that those convicted of similar offences in the future may still be imprisoned. But the use of short prison sentences for non-violent offences, however numerous and persistent, are under threat. Very few first-time offenders get sent to prison David Gauke’s Sentencing Review, which is due to be published in full over the coming months, is likely to make it harder for magistrates to hand out short jail sentences. Shabana Mahmood, the Justice

Ross Clark

Is Britain’s ‘net zero economy’ really booming?

If you live opposite the vacant site in Northumberland that was supposed to become the Britishvolt ‘gigafactory’ pumping out batteries for the electric car industry, or near the Vestas wind turbine plant on the Isle of Wight where half the 600 workers have been told they face redundancy, you might just struggle to believe that Britain is in the midst of a net zero jobs boom. Yet that is the striking claim that is being made by CBI Economics and the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU). The net zero sector, it says, grew by 10.1 per cent last year, added £83.1 billion in gross value added (GVA) and accounted

Steerpike

Ex-Reform Wales leader accused of taking Russian bribes

Uh oh. The ex-leader of Reform UK in Wales has appeared in court after being accused of accepting Russian bribes. Nathan Gill, 51, is facing eight counts of bribery alongside one count of conspiracy to commit bribery – to make statements, it is alleged, that would benefit Russia in the European parliament. Good heavens… Initially a Ukip member, Gill became a Brexit party MEP between 2014 and 2020. The ex-Reform leader has been accused of receiving money from the Ukrainian politician – and his co-defendant in the case – Oleg Voloshyn in return for making specific statements on at least eight occasions. The court heard that Gill’s remarks, made both

Steerpike

Energy bosses lose faith in Miliband’s net zero goals

When it rains for the Labour lot, it pours. Now Ed Miliband is in the firing line after a new global survey revealed a sharp fall in confidence about net zero among top energy bosses. The Energy Industries Council polling found just one in six energy chiefs believe the world can achieve net zero by 2050 – compared to nearly half of bosses who thought the same last year. Dear oh dear… Miliband’s Tory counterpart Andrew Bowie was pulling no punches about the results, telling the Daily Mail: When nearly half of senior energy executives lose faith in it, the government’s energy policy isn’t working. Instead of backing British industry,

James Heale

Reform fancies its chances in Mike Amesbury’s seat

This afternoon Mike Amesbury was sentenced to ten weeks in prison. The ex-Labour MP for Runcorn and Helsby was handed a custodial sentence at Chester Magistrates’ Court for assaulting a man in his constituency last October. Deputy Chief Magistrate Tan Ikram said the immediate custodial sentence was ‘necessary both as a punishment and a deterrent’. The sentence means a recall petition will be triggered in Runcorn and Helsby, unless Amesbury chooses to appeal.A recall petition means voters in the MP’s seat have six weeks to sign requesting a by-election; if 10 per cent sign the by-election goes ahead, but if the threshold is not met, the MP can stay in

Patrick West

Sam Fender is right about white privilege

Teaching working-class young men that they benefit from ‘white privilege’ is having a detrimental effect on a generation of boys, leading to feelings of negativity and worthlessness, and driving them into the hands of dangerous influencers such as Andrew Tate. This is the claim made by Sam Fender, the best-selling, 30-year-old musician from North Shields. As the singer told the Sunday Times yesterday, this teaching has resulted in boys from poor white backgrounds being ‘made to feel like they’re a problem’, with those from ‘nowhere towns’ being ‘shamed’ and told they weren’t underprivileged because of their skin colour. Consequently, this constant disparagement is leading many to seek consolation in misogynist

David Christopher Kaufman

Hamas’s hostage shows evoke a haunting comparison

Another weekend, another grotesque spectacle in Gaza. Hamas released its latest handful of Israeli hostages as part of the fragile ceasefire agreement which is expected to expire next week. As on many Saturdays before, Hamas paraded a trio of Israelis – Omer Shem Tov, Omer Wenkert, and Eliya Cohen – onto makeshift platforms emblazoned with multilingual propaganda declarations and decorative nationalistic flags. The Hamas production feels like nothing less than a slave auction in America’s South As cheering crowds looked on, the trio were then forced onto the stage, made to smile and wave as heavily-armed militants milled about, before finally being led to freedom by the Red Cross officials

Tom Slater

The British police are deeply hostile to free speech

Are you angry about bin collections? Potty about potholes? Incandescent about the behaviour of your local council or councillors? Well whatever you do, don’t post disparaging things about them on the internet. Unless you want a visit from the police, that is. Yes, saying critical things about your elected local representatives is the latest thing that can get you in trouble with Britain’s speech police, if the experience of Helen Jones in Stockport is anything to go by. She was paid a visit by Greater Manchester Police last week, after she called on a local councillor to resign. The local councillor is Labour’s David Sedgwick, who has been implicated in the infamous

Steerpike

Kemi calls for probe into BBC Hamas film

To the BBC, which has received a rather scathing letter from Tory leader Kemi Badenoch over a controversial documentary on Palestine. The Conservative party leader blasted the BBC 2 film released last week – titled ‘Gaza: How to Survive A Warzone’ – which was narrated by none other than, er, the son of a Hamas official and has questioned whether licence fee payers’ cash has been paid to the terrorist organisation. Dear oh dear… The documentary sparked outrage last week after it emerged that the father of its child narrator was a Hamas deputy minister. Initially the broadcaster pointed blame at production company Hoyo Films for not disclosing the Hamas

James Heale

Germany’s results are a relief for Starmer – for now

Over beer, pretzels and sausages, guests gathered last night at the German ambassador’s house in Belgravia to watch the federal election results come in. The fact that the mood scarcely changed after the 5 p.m exit poll hinted at the prevailing sense of relief. Across London, similar sentiments were likely shared in Downing Street. The Christian Democrats, came top on 28.6 per cent, a result at the lower end of expectations. But barring any unforeseen circumstances, it means the CDU will provide the next Chancellor in Friedrich Merz. He will now work to build a stable coalition in the 630-strong Bundestag, potentially with Olaf Scholz’s SPD, who came third on

Sam Leith

AI needs to be regulated

On Tuesday, the government’s consultation on AI and copyright comes to an end. There doesn’t seem to be much hope that Sir Keir and his tech-dazzled colleagues will pay much attention to it, though: long before it came to an end they made clear that their preferred plan was to change copyright law so that big tech will be able to train their models for private profit on the copyright work of artists, writers and musicians without permission or compensation. Sir Kazuo Ishiguro and Jeanette Winterson are the latest to raise their voices in opposition – joining a united chorus of the Society of Authors, which also opposes this reverse

Constantin Eckner

Can Friedrich Merz fix Germany?

Sunday’s federal election in Germany was historic for more than one reason. After the collapse of the so-called ‘traffic light’ coalition under chancellor Olaf Scholz, it was only the fourth time a snap election had been held in post-war Germany. And just like in 1983 and 2005, a Christian Democrat will be taking over the chancellor’s office. Friedrich Merz and his alliance of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Christian Social Union (CSU) emerged as the winners with 28.5 per cent of the votes on Sunday. For Merz, it seems likely that his incredibly long wait to be chancellor is over. Over 20 years ago, he lost an internal battle

Elisabeth Dampier

Germans won’t get the right-wing government they voted for

Germany is still a divided country – at least when you look at its electoral map. After this weekend’s federal election, the east of the country is coloured in the light blue of the hard-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), while the west is dominated by the black of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), with scattered green and red spots that show where the Greens and the Social Democratic party (SPD) have maintained their left-wing hold on the cities. One third of all voters were undecided just one week before the election. That shows how many voters felt dissatisfied with all the parties. As expected, the CDU did best in the

Irwin Stelzer

Does Trump really need Starmer’s bridge to Europe?

This week, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is heading to Washington to establish himself as a ‘bridge’ between the US and the EU, and to breathe new life into the Anglo-American Special Relationship. There is much to discuss between the historic allies. Starmer has announced that a ‘security guarantee’ from America is the only way there can be ‘a lasting peace agreement … the only way to effectively deter Russia from attacking Ukraine again.’ Trump is negotiating an agreement with Putin, and leaving it to the Europeans to defend the continent while America attends to other business in the Pacific, Greenland, Panama, the Middle East and any other places Trump