Politics

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

Friday

Jonathan Campbell-James

Could the Chagos handover put the Diego Garcia military base at risk?

The decision to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius has taken many by surprise. After years of painful negotiations, the speed with which the Labour government concluded a deal seems striking. But while the terms of the treaty to settle the future of the Chagos appear to have been thrashed out quickly, it’s a decision that could come back to bite in the years and decades to come. This could spell trouble in the years ahead The Foreign Office statement frames the agreement as a resolution of all outstanding differences with Mauritius, but one which also protects the continued operation of the strategically-important joint US-UK military base on Diego Garcia.

Steerpike Steerpike

Cleverly and Jenrick slam CCHQ machine

Who would want to work in Conservative Campaign Headquarters? The election this year was certainly not Tory high command’s finest hour, with rows over stitch-ups and misallocated resources neatly topping off the party’s worst election result in history. So with discontent high among both MPs and members, it is no surprise that Tory leadership contenders are lining up to criticise their own party establishment, according to a series of leaked recordings given to Mr S. First up, Robert Jenrick, who is keen to present himself as the candidate most keen to overhaul the party machine. He wants to scrap the CCHQ-approved candidates’ list so that any member can stand and

Gavin Mortimer Gavin Mortimer

It’s time to break the stranglehold on the migrant crisis debate

John Major and Nicolas Sarkozy are grandees of their respective centre-right parties. But the days when the Conservatives and the Republicans dominated the political landscape of Britain and France are long gone. The fortunes of both parties have dwindled as the migrant crisis has deepened. Neither the Tories nor the Republicans confronted the phenomenon with the courage that their electorate demanded. They paid the price at the ballot box. But while one grandee has woken up to this fact, the other remains in denial. Major’s recent interview with the BBC underlined his misreading of the crisis confronting Europe. The former Tory PM, who governed the country between 1992 and 1997, spoke sympathetically

Steerpike Steerpike

Labour in fresh ‘cash for croissants’ storm

It’s a day ending a ‘y’ – so there’s another Labour scandal brewing. After the ‘passes for glasses’ row about Lord Alli’s role in Downing Street, the party has been plunged into another row about claims of ‘cash for access.’ The Sun today reports that companies have been offered breakfast with the Business Secretary in return for £30,000. Party apparatchiks invited bosses to a top Manchester restaurant for the ‘rare chance’ to ‘gain insight’ from Jonathan Reynolds in return for sponsorship of the meal. Talk about ‘cash for croissants’… Attendance at the exclusive event was limited to just ten tickets. ‘Distinct benefits’ include a photo with the minister (yours for just £15,000),

Steerpike Steerpike

Boris and Liz in Chagos Islands’ blame game

Mauritius is getting the Chagos Islands – and a lot of Tories ain’t happy. Tom Tugendhat calls it a ‘shameful retreat’; Robert Jenrick bemoans the ‘dangerous capitulation.’ The Telegraph calls it a ‘national scandal’ while the Mail splash screams it is ‘Starmer’s surrender.’ So with the Tory tribes raising a hue and cry, who better to articulate patriotic harrumphing than Boris Johnson? As part of his book tour, the former premier was grilled last night by Camilla Tominey on GB News. Asked for his reaction to the decision, Johnson called it: Crazy. I mean do, I urge viewers of GB News to get out your maps, get out your atlases,

Richard Ekins and Tom Grant

Handing over the Chagos Islands is a grave mistake

The British government’s decision to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius is a profound strategic error, rooted in a misunderstanding of international law and a failure to protect the UK’s vital national interests. Surrendering sovereignty over the Islands will have a deleterious effect on British and allied interests just as international strategic competition intensifies. It will undermine the overwhelmingly strong legal case for the UK’s continuing sovereignty in relation to a number of other crucial British territories. The government’s decision erodes sound legal principle for the sake of short-term point-scoring in an irrelevant diplomatic game. The government has blundered – Parliament and the public must hold it to account.

Charlotte Henry

Israel’s enemies always underestimate its sheer bloody-mindedness

From sunset on Wednesday until sunset today, Jews around the world celebrate Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year. It comes after a hellish 12 months for Israel and the Jewish diaspora at large. It started with Hamas’s brutal terror attack of 7 October and ended with an Iranian missile barrage on Tuesday night. There is undoubtedly more to come as Israel tries to push back Hezbollah, bring about an end to the near daily rocket attacks and allow displaced citizens from the north to return home. The plight of the remaining hostages looms large I was in Israel just a few weeks ago. In the run up to arriving at

Stephen Daisley Stephen Daisley

Britain should just join the United States

Ruth Cadbury is hard at work campaigning for Kamala Harris ahead of November’s presidential election. It’s what you might expect from a Democrat politician, except that Cadbury is British, a Labour MP, and New Hampshire falls a little outside the boundaries of her Brentford and Isleworth constituency. She’s not the only British politico heading Stateside to drum up support for the Democrats. Former Tory cabinet minister Robert Buckland has been knocking doors for Harris in Massachusetts and Connecticut, while Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton is off to pound lawn signs for Harris in Pennsylvania. Critics point out that Cadbury and Cole-Hamilton are parliamentarians and say they ought properly to

Thursday

Katy Balls Katy Balls

MPs to be given historic vote on assisted dying

Keir Starmer is pressing ahead with his promise to give MPs a free vote on assisted dying laws. This evening, the Labour MP Kim Leadbeater has said she will use her private member’s bill this month to give terminally ill adults a choice at the end of life to shorten their pain and suffering. The bill will be considered later this month, on 16 October, by MPs. The development comes after Downing Street refused to get drawn into reports last month that a vote could be fast-tracked through the Commons and take place before Christmas. It follows that there was always likely to be a vote on this issue in

Steerpike Steerpike

Starmer’s friend revealed as Mauritius’ chief legal adviser

There was national outrage this morning at the news that Sir Keir’s Labour has decided to cede sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius – but perhaps Brits shouldn’t be so shocked by Starmer’s move. It transpires that the Prime Minister is friends with Philippe Sands KC, who also happens to be Mauritius’ chief legal adviser – and a longtime campaigner for the country to control the land. How very curious… As revealed by Guido Fawkes, Sands has slaved away in international courts to successfully convince the lefty lot to give away the strategically important cluster of islands in the Indian Ocean. In January, the legal adviser informed parliament that:

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Israel’s revenge, farewell Fraser & the demise of invitations

37 min listen

This week: Israel’s revenge and Iran’s humiliation. As the anniversary of the October 7th attacks by Hamas approaches, the crisis in the Middle East has only widened. Israel has sent troops into southern Lebanon and there have been attempted missile strikes from the Houthi rebels in Yemen and from Iran. Is there any way the situation can de-escalate? And how could Israel respond to Iran? Former BBC foreign correspondent Paul Wood and defence and security research Dr Limor Simhony join the podcast (1:03). Next: it’s the end of an era for The Spectator. This issue is Fraser Nelson’s last as he hands over the reins to Michael Gove. Having spent 15

Steerpike Steerpike

Police Scotland slammed over leaked Isla Bryson memo

The end of Nicola Sturgeon’s premiership was mired in controversy over her plans for trans rights, her botched gender reform bill and the rather disturbing revelation that trans rapist Isla Bryson had been housed in a women’s prison. And now it has emerged that Police Scotland even considered logging Bryson as female on the sex offenders’ register. Good heavens… Bryson, who was jailed for raping two women while known as a man, changed gender while waiting to stand trial. In a rather shocking move, the rapist was subsequently sent to Scotland’s female-only Cornton Vale prison by the Scottish Prison Service while awaiting sentencing. The blunder came to light at the

James Heale James Heale

Tugendhat clashes with Cleverly over Chagos Islands

With less than a week to go until MPs vote in the Tory leadership race, a row has blown up over an unlikely cause. A quarrel in a far away country is causing a rupture between the two men whom most colleagues think could be next to go out: Tom Tugendhat and James Cleverly. Both are fishing in the same waters for votes on the centre and left of the party. Of the two, Cleverly was perceived as having given the better speech yesterday at Tory conference. But the government’s decision to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius could revive old fears about Cleverly’s judgement. Following the announcement this

Cindy Yu Cindy Yu

Should we be optimistic about the next ten years?

30 min listen

Loyal listeners will know that as well as our concise daily political analysis, Coffee House Shots often delves deeper into the issues of the day. We don’t shy away from fierce debates on controversial issues. The most legendary of these debates have been between our former editor Fraser Nelson and economics editor Kate Andrews. As a parting gift to listeners before Fraser passes on the editor’s pen, Cindy Yu hosts a final contest between these two worthy debaters on whether we should be optimistic about the next ten years. Has there ever been a better time to be alive, as Fraser argues? Or should we be concerned about the growing

Steerpike Steerpike

Why is the police probe into Nicola Sturgeon taking so long?

As Scots look ahead to the 2026 Holyrood election, support for the Scottish National Party continues to plummet. One scandal that the Nats won’t want looming over them when Scotland heads to the polls is Operation Branchform: the long-running police probe into the SNP’s funds and finances. Mr S can confirm that the investigation into the party – and its former first minister Nicola Sturgeon – is still ongoing, despite Scotland’s Crown Office receiving the latest Police Scotland report a two months ago. Talk about dragging it out. Sturgeon’s husband, Peter Murrell, was charged with embezzlement of party funds this year, after an investigation was launched in 2021 into a

Ross Clark Ross Clark

You can’t deal rationally with the rail unions

The idea that the government had somehow managed to draw a line under the rail strikes by offering drivers and other staff a fat pay rise with no conditions attached even managed to fool the former Tory rail minister Huw Merriman, who declared in August: ‘I can understand why the new government have decided to cut a deal to end the uncertainty and move on with goodwill.’ There are more than 60 metro systems around the world that run without drivers Goodwill? That didn’t even last a day as Aslef celebrated the award of a pay rise for drivers by announcing a further round of strikes on LNER, this time

Eliot Wilson

Britain’s half-hearted support for Israel helps no one

When Iran launched almost 200 ballistic missiles at targets across Israel on Tuesday, there were fears that it would ignite a wider regional conflict. That a wider war has not (yet) erupted is partly due to the fact that most of the missiles were intercepted by Israel and what the Israeli Defense Forces’ (IDF) spokesman called ‘a defensive coalition led by the United States’. The United Kingdom was part of that coalition. But what role did the UK really play on Tuesday night? And how does that support square with the Labour government’s hostility towards Israel? Defence Secretary, John Healey, reiterated that ‘the UK stands fully behind Israel’s right to

James Heale James Heale

Britain could regret handing over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius

The United Kingdom will shortly be ceding sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. Under the terms of a new treaty, there will be a 99-year-lease for Diego Garcia, the tropical atoll used by the US government as a military base. It follows two years of negotiation over the strategically important cluster of islands in the Indian Ocean. Both sides have vowed to finalise the treaty as quickly as possible. Given the Chagos Islands’ strategic access to the Indian and Pacific Oceans, a backlash is inevitable The announcement today follows Keir Starmer’s call with his Mauritian counterpart Pravind Jugnauth. A Downing Street spokesman said that: ‘The Prime Minister reiterated the

John Armstrong

The baffling decision to defund a national academy for mathematics

The government has shocked the mathematics community by announcing that it is withdrawing £6 million in grant funding from a new Academy for Mathematical Sciences.  The impetus for creating this Academy came from a 2018 review chaired by professor Philip Bond. His review recommended how to maximize the benefits of mathematical sciences to the UK economy and to wider society. It drew on responses from a host of universities and all the learned societies in mathematics and was advised by a board of mathematical luminaries. Its number one recommendation was the creation of this new academy – which would improve links between academia, government and industry.  Investing in mathematics is one of the

Matthew Lynn

Andrew Bailey should be wary of helping Labour

Business confidence has plummeted back to the levels last seen in the wake of Liz Truss’s unfortunate mini-budget. Hiring has slowed down as employers worry about all the new rights Labour is about to award their staff. Consumer confidence has fallen, as people worry about the tax rises that will be imposed in the ‘Horror Budget’ set for the end of the month. And the economy, which was growing at a decent clip when the Conservatives left office, has now stalled, with zero growth in the latest quarter. The new Chancellor Rachel Reeves was facing a spluttering economy. But, hey, never mind. It turns out that the Bank of England