Politics

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

Tuesday

22 Jul 2025

What’s left of the Tories?

The Commons is closing down for the summer, but Kemi Badenoch has treated us to a shadow cabinet reshuffle. At the beginning of the year, Badenoch’s team were keen to stress stability, dismissing talk of an early reshuffle. But, as so often in politics, events have forced her hand. Ed Argar, the shadow health secretary, had a health scare earlier this summer. He has today stepped back from the frontbench to focus on his recovery. Badenoch is therefore using his departure as the chance to make what she calls ‘a few changes to my frontbench.’ The headline is that Sir James Cleverly, former foreign and home secretary, is returning to

Lucy Dunn

Doctors’ strike on as Streeting fails to win over the BMA

Despite Health Secretary Wes Streeting’s efforts, the British Medical Association (BMA) has announced this afternoon that the doctors’ strikes are on. From 7 a.m. this Friday until 7 a.m. next Wednesday, medics across England will stage a walkout – the first of Keir Starmer’s premiership – over pay disputes. The announcement by the doctors’ union comes after Streeting wrote to members today in an 11th-hour attempt to halt the strikes and conduct more talks about improving working conditions. It was to no avail, however, with resident doctors deciding today that Streeting’s offers simply ‘did not go far enough’. Resident doctors decided that Streeting’s offers simply ‘did not go far enough’

Svitlana Morenets

Ukraine’s anti-corruption institutions are under attack

The war for Ukraine’s future is being fought not just on the battlefield, but also within its democratic institutions. Today, one of those battles was lost. The parliament passed a bill that destroys the independence of Ukraine’s key anti-corruption bodies. If signed into law, it would effectively dismantle their ability to investigate all senior officials in the country without interference. The new legislation will allow Ukraine’s prosecutor general to take control over National Anti-Corruption Bureau (Nabu) and Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (Sapo). Volodymyr Zelensky appointed Ruslan Kravchenko to this post just a month ago, and now he will be able to access case files of any criminal proceedings on high-level

Steerpike

Ex-Unite boss under fire over private jets and million-pound hotel project

Well, well, well. It would appear the former Unite the Union boss Len McCluskey is not immune to the temptation of free gifts. An internal report has revealed that the trade unionist enjoyed private jets and freebie football tickets arranged by a company in charge of building a multi-million pound hotel for the organisation. Alright for some! The Unite report notes that the Corbynite ‘overruled’ advice from staff and union lawyers when he signed the contract with the Flanagan Group firm – which is run by the former union boss’s ‘good friends’ – with the company going on to overcharge Unite at least £30 million for the Birmingham hotel and

James Heale

Farage unveils first defection in Wales

This afternoon, Nigel Farage unveiled his party’s first defector in the Welsh parliament. Laura Anne Jones was first elected to the Senedd in 2003 and has been a card-carrying Conservative for more than 30 years. But today she has crossed the floor, citing the dire state of the country and the urgent need for change. This has been a defection long in the making. A number of senior former Welsh Tories now work for Farage’s party; conversations have been going on for months about potential defectors. Polls suggest that Reform is on course to win around 30 of the 96 seats in next year’s elections for Cardiff Bay. After a

Ian Acheson

Farage is right: our police must be tougher

A few years ago, I was encouraged to apply for a role within the College of Policing for an advisory body on a revamped code of ethics for police officers. When asked what sort of qualities the code should embody, my answer was succinct: ‘moral and physical courage.’ I didn’t make the cut, of course, and was sent a rejection letter that said the days of insolent corner boys like me were over, thanks very much. I was put in mind of this yesterday when Reform announced its new agenda on crime and policing. The party’s leader Nigel Farage said that thousands of new police officers will fill the streets,

Steerpike

DVSA bosses celebrate ‘progress’ as car test waits worsen

The ability of Britain’s quangos to sugarcoat their rather unflattering performance figures will never fail to amaze Mr S. The Driver and Vehicle Standards Authority (DVSA) is just the latest example. The organisation’s chair and chief executive have both issued glowing reports of the company’s ‘progress’ thus far, using an exciting range of buzzwords to distract from the fact that wait times for driving tests have risen to, er, a staggering 22 weeks. Talk about a car crash, eh? The average waiting time for a practical car driving test is 22 weeks across the UK, as of the end of May this year. The figures vary across the country –

Jonathan Sacerdoti

Will one final push by Israel destroy Hamas?

For more than 650 days of war in Gaza, one swathe of territory remained mostly untouched by Israeli ground manoeuvres: the dense, urban core of the central camps – Nuseirat, Deir al-Balah, Maghazi, and Bureij. That pattern has now decisively changed. On Sunday morning, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) issued evacuation orders for southern Deir al-Balah. Within 24 hours, the area was under sustained air and artillery assault, with Gazan sources reporting the advance of Israeli tanks near the Abu Holi junction, adjacent to Salah al-Din Road. Though precise details of the strikes remain unclear, what is beyond doubt is that Israel is now expanding its war effort into one

James Heale

James Cleverly returns to Tory frontbench in shadow cabinet reshuffle

Former home secretary James Cleverly is expected to make a return to the Tory frontbench as Kemi Badenoch reshuffles her shadow cabinet. Cleverly has been content sitting on the backbenches since losing the leadership race in November, but with the Tories’ poll rating dropping to 17 per cent, the Braintree MP is returning to the fray. Badenoch is using Argar’s departure as the chance to make what she calls ‘a few changes to my frontbench’ The full list of changes will be announced this afternoon, with Kevin Hollinrake likely to move from shadow levelling up secretary to party chairman. The 61-year-old Yorkshireman has proven his worth in recent months on

Ross Clark

Why don’t we let Thames Water go bust?

Hurrah! We are going to get a new water regulator. Sir John Cunliffe’s independent water commission has recommended that Ofwat be abolished and replaced with a new body which also incorporates the drinking water inspectorate. It will be yet one more opportunity for a quangocrat to take a plumb job, while Ofwat’s bosses are pensioned off generously, no doubt. But what are the chances of getting rid of Thames Water, Southern Water or any other failing water company? Water companies which get into financial trouble should be allowed to go bust That doesn’t seem so likely. Rather, Cunliffe has pitched his report as an attempt to rebuild confidence in the

Euan McColm

Why won’t Anas Sarwar champion Sandie Peggie?

When nurse Sandie Peggie complained about the presence of a trans-identifying man in the women’s changing room at Falkirk’s Victoria Hospital, she was treated as a dangerous bigot. A witch-hunt saw her suspended from the job to which she had devoted thirty years of her life and she faced horrifying allegations of placing patients in danger. Today, Peggie is not only a household name in Scotland, she’s fast becoming a national hero. An industrial tribunal called by the nurse – started in February, paused, then resumed last week – has heard how doctors and management turned on her while rallying round Dr Beth Upton, a man who claims to be

Michael Simmons

Britain is broke

Britain is continuing to chuck billions onto our mounting pile of debt. Figures just released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that last month the state had to borrow just under £21 billion. That was £6.6 billion more than in June last year and the second-highest June borrowing total since records began 32 years ago. The ONS confirmed the surge in borrowing was a continuation of the fiscal doom loop this country now finds itself in. ‘The rising costs of providing public services and a jump in the debt interest we have to pay on inflation-linked gilts outweighed increased revenue brought in from tax hikes. Interest due on our debt

Eliot Wilson

How much is the defence deal with the EU going to cost Britain?

The UK-EU summit in London in May was proclaimed as a ‘new chapter’ in the post-Brexit relationship. Only now are we finding out the true cost. Perhaps the British government should not have so eagerly chased a scheme that was bound to work to our disadvantage The EU’s Security Action for Europe (Safe) – a fund of €150 billion (£130 billion) to provide loans for member states to undertake urgent, large-scale defence procurement projects – was a key talking point at the meeting. The programme is a sensible one, aimed at boosting the European defence industry’s production capacity. However, it is now clear that the UK will need to pay

Lucy Dunn

Can Wes Streeting avert the junior doctors’ strike?

In just a few days, doctors across England will stage strikes for five days. Hospitals are preparing for staff shortages from Friday until next Wednesday, hoping that bulked-up locum rates will attract enough ‘scabs’ to mitigate the walkouts. But now the BMA has taken aim at NHS bosses, warning that the decision not to cancel all routine appointments between 25 and 30 July will mean consultants are ‘spread too thinly’, leaving patients at risk. The Health Secretary’s refusal to budge on pay makes any other package a harder sell During the last round of industrial action – which spanned 44 days across 2023 and 2024 – 1.5 million appointments were

David Shipley

The women of Epping don’t need Tommy Robinson’s help

The people of Epping have a message for Tommy Robinson: stay away. The far-right activist is currently mulling joining protestors in Essex who have taken to the street outside a hotel used to house asylum seekers. While there have been violent clashes between police and demonstrators – and a number of arrests – many of those who have gathered have done so peacefully. They deserve to be listened to. Yet the arrival of Robinson would make it easy for politicians to cast these locals as far right – and ignore them. The people of Epping have a message for Tommy Robinson: stay away Even Robinson doesn’t seem able to make

Monday

21 Jul 2025

James Heale

The Liaison Committee summed up Starmer’s woes

If you want a sign of how badly things have gone wrong for this government, compare Keir Starmer’s third Liaison Committee grilling with his first. Back in December, it was all stonewalling and smiles, as the Prime Minister gently dead-batted questions in front of a (largely) sympathetic crowd. Seven months on, the audience remains the same: 18 of the 26 select committees in the Commons are chaired by Labour MPs. But now the tone has hardened considerably. Today’s session focused on poverty and international affairs. Normally, these might be regarded as areas in which a redistributive social democrat premier would excel. But after the benefits U-turn a fortnight ago, Starmer

Madeline Grant

Sausage King Starmer’s bad afternoon on the grill

Sir Keir Starmer has a sausage problem. Stop sniggering at the back. Not only was there his infamous slip demanding that Hamas ‘return the sausages’, but there is also the fact that he increasingly resembles a great British banger: pink-skinned, spitting and whistling when grilled and filled with all kinds of rubbish. Sir Keir has become the Sausage King of Westminster and today – at the House of Commons liaison committee – he was due a spell on the barbecue. Part of the problem for the Sausage King is that he’s managed to wind up a fair few of the select committee chairs who make up the grilling committee: quite

Steerpike

Lowe brands Farage a ‘stinking hypocrite’ over crime policies

Reform UK has dominated headlines this morning, as the party kick off their six-week campaign on crime. During a central London presser this morning, Nigel Farage told journalists that his party will halve crime in Britain if it gets into government – insisting that all foreign criminals will be deported and serial offenders would have life sentences imposed. Strong stuff, eh? But one right-winger in particular remains pretty unimpressed with the party’s latest law and order policies. Rupert Lowe, formerly of the Reform parish before he was ousted earlier this year, has taken aim at Farage on Twitter – attacking his ex-party leader for their use of the police force

Andrew Tettenborn

What Suella Braverman’s plan for quitting the ECHR gets right

This morning’s paper on leaving the ECHR from Suella Braverman and the Prosperity Institute doesn’t say much that hasn’t been said somewhere before. It reiterates the fairly obvious political case for a UK ECHR exit. It talks about the erosion of sovereignty over immigration, policing and vast swathes of social policy; the baneful ‘living instrument’ doctrine that means we have now effectively given a blank cheque to a self-selecting and unaccountable bench to second-guess our democratic process in ever more intrusive ways; the Strasbourg court’s arrogation of powers, such as the right to order interim measures never contemplated in 1950; and so on. The paper then goes in detail through

Lucy Dunn

Scottish Greens publish Holyrood candidate list amid party infighting

As the 2026 Holyrood election looms, parties are scrambling to get their candidate lists finalised. Today the Scottish Greens have released their regional list names – with some rather interesting selections amid party splits. One of the most significant decisions sees the current MSP for the North East region, Maggie Chapman, demoted on the list as her rival Guy Ingerson secures the top spot. While Chapman is second on the list, party insiders have admitted they are not expecting to elect two MSPs in the area – which would mark the end of the eco-activist’s five-year career in frontline politics. Attempts were made to oust outgoing co-leader Patrick Harvie from