Politics

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

Friday

Steerpike Steerpike

Starmer’s local media round: the lowlights

It’s been another bad week for the government, with rows over farmers, ships and businesses too. So what better time for Keir Starmer to manfully undertake his media duties, sitting out this morning for a grilling with local BBC news stations? This annual ordeal can prove somewhat merciless – as Liz Truss famously found to her cost in 2022. Faced with six of the best, how did the current PM compare? First up was BBC Merseyside, where Starmer answered a question about energy bills by talking about, er, anti-social behaviour orders. The host immediately interrupted to point out that ‘we’ve drifted off the topic.’ Next, it was a trip to

Steerpike Steerpike

Republicans rage against state of UK free speech

‘Two countries separated by a common language’ is how transatlantic relations are often defined. But these days it really does seem like some in Washington are struggling to understand what is going on this side of the pond. Mr S has previously noted how British-based networks like the Center for Countering Digital Hate have enraged Congressional Republicans with their demands for a big tech crackdown. Now it seems that some on Capitol Hill are broadening out their critique still further. Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee have today criticised the UK’s Online Safety Act in the UK as part of a ‘tsunami of censorship headed towards America’. According to Congressman

Ross Clark Ross Clark

Falling retail sales shows how fragile the UK economy is

Until a few weeks ago it seemed as if the government had inherited if not a golden economic legacy then an improving economic picture. But this morning’s figures for retail sales show just how faltering the economy is. During October the volume of retail sales fell by 0.7 per cent. Worst-affected was textile and clothing sales, which plunged by 3.1 per cent. Online retail suffered along with physical stores. Not only that, the figures for September were revised downwards from 0.3 to 0.1 per cent growth. Comparing year on year, sales volumes were still up 2.4 per cent. Sales in the three months to October were also up, by 0.8

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Is Keir Starmer really going to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu?

Benjamin Netanyahu faces arrest if he enters Britain. That is the welcome the Israeli leader will receive should he fancy another trip to the UK any time soon. It comes after the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Thursday issued arrest warrants for Israel’s prime minister, along with former Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant and Mohammed Deif of Hamas, who is thought to be already dead. Justifying the decision to issue warrants for the two Israeli politicians, the court said they shared criminal responsibility for ‘the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts.’ Downing Street has confirmed

Ross Clark Ross Clark

Labour’s promise to cut energy bills looks more foolish than ever

After reneging on its manifesto pledge to not raise National Insurance, Labour is starting to struggle with another promise: to cut energy bills by £300 a year. This morning Ofgem has announced that its Energy Price Cap will rise in January so the average household will be paying £21 a year more. Together with the £149 rise in the price cap in October it means that average bills will soon be £170 higher than they were when Labour came to power.  Together with the loss of Winter Fuel Payment – either £200 or £300 depending on your age – it means that pensioners will be worse off to the tune

Coffee House

Full list: how will the cabinet vote on assisted dying?

There is a week to go until MPs vote on Labour MP Kim Leadbeater’s assisted dying private members’ bill. Cabinet Secretary Simon Case wrote to ministers last month to say that, while they ‘need not resile from previously stated views when directly asked about them, they should exercise discretion and should not take part in the public debate’. Below is The Spectator’s list of ministers in favour of the change, along with those against and past statements from their cabinet colleagues. They include the 22 full cabinet ministers plus the other four (Campbell, Jones, Hermer and Dodds) who attend weekly meetings: In favour: Likely to vote in favour: Likely to vote against:

Fabian Hoffmann

The missile Putin actually used to hit Ukraine

This week, Russia launched a missile attack on Dnipro, Ukraine, reportedly using a new medium-range ballistic missile named ‘Oreshnik’, as confirmed yesterday by President Putin. Putin stated that the missile attack was a response to Ukraine’s use of western-built missile systems inside Russia, including US-supplied ATACMS ballistic missiles and British Storm Shadow cruise missiles. Before this confirmation, speculation arose that Russia might have launched an intercontinental-range ballistic missile. This claim was initially reported by President Zelensky the morning after the attack, who noted that the missile’s flight path characteristics matched those of an intercontinental-range ballistic missile. While Putin unveiled the Oreshnik as a novel addition to Russia’s arsenal, it is likely

Yuan Yi Zhu

The ICC has destroyed its own credibility 

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants against Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity (a third warrant was issued against a Hamas commander, believed to be dead). In so doing, the ICC has undermined – perhaps fatally – its own credibility, as well as prospects for a peace settlement in Gaza. The process which led to the warrants was compromised from the very beginning, when the ICC’s Prosecutor, Karim Ahmad Khan KC, who is currently being investigated for alleged sexual misconduct (he denies the allegations), convened a ‘Panel of Experts in International Law’ to provide support

Katy Balls Katy Balls

The Claire Ainsley Edition

42 min listen

Claire Ainsley is a stalwart of left-wing politics. Formerly an executive director at social change organisation the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, she is currently leading a project on the renewal of the centre-left at the Progressive Policy Institute. Her first book, The New Working Class: How to Win Hearts, Minds and Votes, brought her to the attention of the Labour leadership. Not long after Keir Starmer’s successful leadership bid, she was invited to join him as Executive Director of Policy, a position she held for over two years. On the podcast, Claire talks to Katy Balls about her journey on the left, from a Labour-supporting family to radical university politics and then

Gavin Mortimer Gavin Mortimer

Why Jaguar’s rebrand is doomed

Jaguar’s disastrous makeover has left many people wondering if it isn’t April Fool’s Day. It’s not, of course. After 89 years of success with pale, stale males, Jaguar – which is relaunching as an electric-only brand – has decided a new clientele is in order. Jaguar is gambling on attracting a younger, urban Progressive customer Its logo, written as JaGUar, ‘seamlessly blend(s) upper and lower case characters in visual harmony’, the company claims. Jaguar’s managing director, Rawdon Glover – who gives his pronouns on LinkedIn as ‘he/him’ – declared that ‘the time for us to take small, conservative steps has gone’. Jaguar wants new customers, who will ‘be younger than before, affluent, urban,

Thursday

Limor Simhony Philpott

The ICC’s vendetta against Israel has gone too far

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants against Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the country’s former defence minister Yoav Gallant. An ICC warrant was also issued for Hamas leader Mohammed Deif, who was killed by Israel in July. The judges decided that there are ‘reasonable grounds’ that the trio are responsible for war crimes. The ICC must end its vendetta against Israel The court’s decision marks a new low in international efforts to portray Israel as a uniquely evil country. Placing leaders of a law-abiding democracy alongside murderous terrorists risks equating Hamas’s pursuit of a genocidal aim with Israel’s need to defend itself following the 7 October

William Moore William Moore

Streeting vs Starmer, medical misinformation & the surprising history of phallic graffiti

43 min listen

This week: Wild Wes. Ahead of next week’s vote on whether to legalise assisted dying, Health Secretary Wes Streeting is causing trouble for Keir Starmer, writes Katy Balls in the magazine this week. Starmer has been clear that he doesn’t want government ministers to be too outspoken on the issue ahead of a free vote in Parliament. But Streeting’s opposition is well-known. How much of a headache is this for Starmer? And does this speak to wider ambitions that Wes might have? Katy joins the podcast to discuss, alongside Labour MP Steve Race. Steve explains why he plans to vote in favour of the change in the law next week

Ben Domenech

Why Matt Gaetz backed out of the race to become Trump’s attorney general

In Washington, you don’t name anyone disruptive or potentially transformative to your administration without dealing with flack from the Senate. They like things straightforward, predictable, vetted, established and preplanned — and Donald Trump’s cabinet of outsiders is anything but. The Brett Kavanaugh nomination was widely considered to be dead even among his most emphatic supporters (reportedly even the president himself) before his stunning performance before the Senate Judiciary Committee righted the ship. Now, several members of the incoming Trump 47 team faces a certain onslaught from Democrats and potentially wavering support from some Republicans. So getting the cabinet the president wants will require the expenditure of political capital, as it always does with

Steerpike Steerpike

Police drop probe into Allison Pearson

At last, an outbreak of common sense from Essex Police. After a mounting backlash – with Boris Johnson, Elon Musk and Nigel Farage expressing their dismay – the boys in blue have decided to drop their investigation into Telegraph journalist Allison Pearson. The Crown Prosecution Service advised that no charges should be brought against Pearson after reviewing the case, with Essex Police concluding that no further action would thus be taken. At last… The announcement today comes ten days after two police officers called at Pearson’s home at 9.40am on Remembrance Sunday to tell her she was under investigation and invited her to a voluntary interview. She was told, however,

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Starmer’s Streeting problem

18 min listen

A vote on assisted dying was supposed to be one of the easiest reforms for Keir Starmer’s government. To many, including the Prime Minister himself, a law allowing terminally ill patients to choose to die would be a self-evidently progressive and historically significant change. But he has faced unexpected pushback from his Health Secretary, the very cabinet member who would have to enforce the legislation. Streeting has not only said that he will be voting against but that he is doing so because he fears the bill could harm existing health services. Where does Starmer go from here? Could we be looking at a reshuffle? Also today we had the

Steerpike Steerpike

Starmer’s spinner squirms on Netanyahu arrest

It’s a day ending in ‘y’ – so it’s more bad news for the government. This afternoon the men and women of HM Loyal Press Gallery trooped over to No. 10 for their lobby briefing with Starmer’s superannuated spinners. Unfortunately, it seems, no-one in the ever-expanding comms team had actually worked out a line on the International Criminal Court’s decision to issue an arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu. Whoops! A spokesman for the Prime Minister insisted that the government ‘respects’ the ‘independence’ of the ICC but that it is now a ‘domestic legal process’. So, what exactly does said process entail? It turns out that, er, no-one is exactly sure.

Michael Evans

Here’s what Putin wants from Ukraine

Donald Trump is still two months away from becoming the 47th president of the United States, and yet his return to the Oval Office in January has already provoked a flurry of policy U-turns by the White House and rising expectation, even in Moscow, of a deal to end the war in Ukraine. Elements of a potential settlement reportedly agreeable to President Putin emerged on Reuters today based on kite-flying suggestions by Russian officials. While there is nothing particularly new in the broad outline of Moscow thinking, the fact that Russian officials are pushing it out in some detail reflects an awareness in the Kremlin that with Trump in power, the

John O'Neill

Can anything stop benefits spending hitting £120bn?

The Office for Budget Responsibility’s (OBR) forecasts on Budget day included the startling figure that spending on health and disability benefits is set to pass £100 billion in five years’ time. Figures from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) today, which are based on a broader range of benefits and recipients, put the amount even higher: £120 billion.  The DWP’s figures include housing benefit for health and disability benefit recipients. In real terms, spending on this definition is forecast to rise by 20 per cent (or £18 billion) over the next five years. The share of government spending that goes on these benefits will be at a record level this year,

Freddy Gray Freddy Gray

The ‘experts’ who enabled RFK Jr’s rise

22 min listen

The nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr to be secretary of health and human services in the second Trump administration has horrified ‘experts’. A left-wing Democrat who admires the late Venezuelan Marxist dictator Hugo Chavez, hates big business, rails against the ultra-processed food that Donald Trump likes to eat and wants climate sceptics jailed.  But in the magazine this week Matt Ridley explains how the experts who now bash him have contributed in putting him where is, and that official Covid misinformation has contributed to his rise. So what could he do in office? Will he release these Covid files? Matt joins Freddy to discuss. 

Charles and David Goodhart

GDP has lost its usefulness as a measure of real growth

Paul Samuelson, the famous American economist and author of the bestselling textbook Economics, gave the now quaintly old-fashioned example of the pitfalls in GDP accounting by pointing out that if a man married his maid, GDP would fall. The example was dropped after the third edition. A more relevant example today would be if a middle aged person stops working full-time to look after an elderly relative at home. The GDP economy loses part of the contribution of the middle aged person plus the demand of the elderly person for care in a private care home. Yet in most cases that elderly person is much happier staying in their own