Politics

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

Tuesday

3 Sep 2024

Inside the 1922 hustings for Tory leader

This evening Tory MPs filed into parliament’s Committee Room 14 to hear from the six hopefuls aspiring to lead their party. Each candidate had up to ten minutes to make a final pitch to colleagues, followed by questions. Robert Jenrick went first, followed by Kemi Badenoch, Tom Tugendhat, Mel Stride, Priti Patel and, finally, James Cleverly. ‘Tired’ is how one describes his performance Jenrick has spent the summer campaigning heavily on migration and the ECHR (European Convention on Human Rights), so opted to focus much of his speech about the economy and public services: ‘Making the NHS work for our constituents’ was a theme in his remarks. Three of the

Steerpike

MPs hail benefits of ‘Swiftonomics’

Taylor Swift’s ‘Eras’ tour took the country by storm and it seems Swiftmania has also taken a firm hold of UK politicians. So much so that, barely a day into the return of parliament from recess, an early day motion was tabled to, er, hail the impact of ‘Swiftonomics’ in Britain. Crikey. You couldn’t make it up… The rather curious entry on the parliament website came to Mr S’s attention after new Lib Dem MP Tom Gordon took it upon himself to heap praise on the ‘economic impact of Taylor Swift’s Eras tour’. The secret Swiftie has lauded the ‘estimated boost of nearly £1bn’ to the UK economy, gushing that:

Katy Balls

Is the UK still a ‘staunch ally’ of Israel?

16 min listen

The fallout continues from the UK’s decision to suspend some arms sale licenses to Israel. Defence Secretary John Healey insists the UK remains a ‘staunch ally’ of Israel, yet the decision has been criticised by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as ‘shameful’. What has the domestic reaction been to the government’s decision, and who is it designed to please? Patrick Gibbons speaks to Katy Balls and Michael Stephens, associate fellow at RUSI. Produced by Patrick Gibbons.

Andrew Lilico

Labour’s flirtation with price fixing won’t end well

Almost everyone is aware of the concept of peak hours pricing. If you buy a train ticket to travel during rush hour it costs more than at other times. Few people object to this. Indeed, most of us think it helps. It means that people who don’t need to travel in that period will pick another time instead, so there’s space on the train for the people that do need to travel then. Peak hours pricing is just one very simple example of what economists call ‘dynamic pricing’ or ‘surge pricing’ – a system in which the prices paid vary according to how much demand there is. Dynamic pricing has

James Heale

Tom Tugendhat’s pitch: I’m a proper conservative, honest guv

Tom Tugendhat finally launched his leadership campaign today with a big speech in Whitehall – the third he has made in as many weeks. After previous efforts on the riots and public sector reform, today was Tugendhat’s last chance to hammer home his main message before the first ballot of MPs tomorrow: I’m a proper conservative, honest. To this end, he offered more red meat than a butchers, pledging (again) to potentially leave the ECHR, increase defence spending to three per cent of GDP and commit the party to 100,000 net legal migrants if he wins. He offered more red meat than a butchers, pledging (again) to potentially leave the

Katy Balls

Britain’s arms crackdown on Israel could end up pleasing no one

Is the UK still a ‘staunch ally’ of Israel? Defence Secretary John Healey insisted so on the broadcast round this morning. But his claim is coming under scrutiny following the government’s decision to suspend 30 out of 350 arms export licences to Israel, thereby affecting equipment which includes parts for fighter jets, drones and helicopters. Foreign Secretary David Lammy revealed the news on Monday, telling the Commons that it was ‘with regret’ that he had concluded for certain arms exports ‘there does exist a clear risk that they might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law’. It comes as part of a review by

Ross Clark

Why is it so hard to buy a petrol car?

Is it really any surprise that car manufacturers have started refusing to sell us petrol cars? According to Robert Forrester, chief executive of dealership Vertu Motors, anyone trying to buy a petrol car at the moment is likely to be quoted a delivery date into next year. As I wrote here last December, unless electric vehicles (EVs) enjoyed a sudden rush of popularity, the inevitable result of the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate would be that car manufacturers would be forced to withdraw from the UK market. The reason was coming down the road at us like a three-ton electric SUV. Under ZEV, which began on 1 January this year,

Patrick West

Robert Jenrick is wrong about the culture wars

To some people, the culture wars don’t matter. They are an irrelevance, an indulgence. A distraction from the material, bread-and-butter concerns of ordinary people, like paying the bills or finding an affordable place to live. This sentiment was echoed by Robert Jenrick, the Conservative leadership contender. As reported in the Times yesterday, Jenrick told a meeting of young activists that he didn’t want his party to ‘go down a rabbit hole of culture wars’, and that the public were more concerned about the cost of living and public services than gender issues. The culture war is not an idle luxury. It is timely and necessary While it’s true that politicians should focus

Steerpike

Lib Dem MP’s bizarre motion on the Wiggles

One might expect politics to showcase quality over quantity but this isn’t always necessarily the case. Take the curious example of Liberal Democrat politician Max Wilkinson, who was one of the party’s 72 MPs voted into parliament in July’s national poll. In a notable move, the new MP for Cheltenham ousted Lord Chancellor Alex Chalk in the general election – removing the former justice secretary from his seat by 7,200 votes. But is Wilkinson living up to his constituents’ expectations? Possibly – if they happen to find themselves particularly concerned with, um, the Wiggles. In a rather bizarre move, it transpires that the new MP has tabled an early day

Alexander Larman

Prince Harry isn’t coming back any time soon

The Duke of Wellington famously suggested that the Battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton. To this day, something happens in the hallowed cloisters of the nation’s most famous public school that brings out qualities in its pupils that no other educational establishment can muster. I refer, of course, to those redoubtable souls who continue to maintain friendships with Prince Harry, after everything that has happened over the past few years. Quasi-abdication, Oprah, Netflix, Spare – none of it matters in their eyes. The Duke of Sussex is, to them, a cracking example of a Top Bloke, and long may he be defended. Harry’s return would

Matthew Lynn

Von der Leyen’s quest for gender parity is a pointless distraction

The EU’s three largest economies are stuck in a deep structural slump. The budget is a mess, with money running out. And the bloc is rapidly losing competitiveness. Meanwhile, populist parties committed to overthrowing the organisation are coming closer to power all the time. You might think that the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, had enough serious problems to deal with it. Yet somehow she is finding time for something else: aiming for gender parity. There’s just one problem: jobs for the girls won’t rescue the EU. It is hard to see how carving out lucrative jobs for a handful of women is going to fix

Steerpike

Boris blasts Lammy for ‘abandoning’ Israel

It’s certainly not been a quiet return to parliament. On Monday afternoon, Labour’s David Lammy announced that Britain would be suspending 30 of 350 arms export licenses to Israel – after concluding there was a ‘clear risk’ of a number of weapons being used to violate international humanitarian law. But while the Foreign Secretary has insisted that ‘this is not an arms embargo’, it seems not everyone is entirely convinced by the move… One former prime minister has this morning taken to Twitter to blast Lammy’s decision. Boris Johnson popped up on social media to rage that: ‘Hamas is still holding many innocent Jewish hostages while Israel tries to prevent

Jake Wallis Simons

Britain’s arms crackdown on Israel has come at a dreadful time

The Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis is a moderate man and chooses his words carefully. So his statement about David Lammy’s suspension of 30 export licences to Israel was striking in its tone, if not surprising in its content. The Foreign Secretary’s timing did feel a bit rum ‘It beggars belief that the British government, a close strategic ally of Israel, has announced a partial suspension of arms licences, at a time when Israel is fighting a war for its very survival on seven fronts forced upon it on the 7th October, and at the very moment when six hostages murdered in cold blood by cruel terrorists were being buried by

Alexander Horne

What is the point of David Lammy’s partial arms embargo on Israel?

The government has suspended 30 (out of around 350) arms export licences to Israel. The Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, acknowledged that the ban will affect the sale of ‘important components that go into military aircraft, including fighter aircraft, helicopters and drones, as well as items that facilitate ground targeting.’ The UK restrictions do not seem a productive way of convincing Netanyahu and his more hawkish allies to end the war Lammy’s decision to suspend these arms exports licences under the Export Control Act 2002 did not come out of the blue and is not a huge surprise. During parliament’s summer recess, there were reports that Lammy might stop the sale of ‘offensive’ arms to Israel.

Katy Balls

Why Neil O’Brien’s support for Robert Jenrick matters

What is the most significant development in the Tory leadership contest in the past week? The race is heating up ahead of Wednesday’s first knock-out round, with numerous launches in recent days. Yet it’s a development on Sunday that could be the most significant. The Sunday Telegraph reported that Neil O’Brien is endorsing Robert Jenrick. The ex-minister supported Jenrick’s main rival Kemi Badenoch two years ago. But the Tory MP also has a history of being a canary in the coal mine for the Tory party – offering an early indicator of potential danger and failure for various leaders. O’Brien has often been just ahead of Tory mainstream thinking In

Eliot Wilson

The truth about Jeremy Corbyn’s ‘Independent Alliance’

Jeremy Corbyn has teamed up with four other MPs elected as independents at the general election to form an ‘Independent Alliance’. This, the former Labour leader was quick to point out, makes the new group the joint-fifth largest in the Commons, sharing that accolade with Reform UK and the Democratic Unionist Party. But in the battle for attention in parliament, Corbyn and his colleagues are going to be disappointed. What is the point of the Independent Alliance? Labour’s majority of nearly 180 means that Corbyn’s alliance won’t give Keir Starmer sleepless nights, even if the group has already reached out to the seven Labour MPs who were suspended from the parliamentary

Debbie Hayton

Why are a record number of Brits applying to change their gender?

The number of people applying for a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) has reached a new record. Government figures revealed that there were 1,397 applications in 2023-24 and, of those, 1,088 were granted. Labour has vowed to simplify the process of changing gender, meaning that the numbers could rise further. Almost 200 applicants for a Gender Recognition Certificate were under 25 Is this something to celebrate? Or should we be worried? These are already big numbers for a life-changing process that was originally envisaged to serve a vanishingly small group of people. The stats from 2023-24 aren’t a one-off: since the pandemic, the numbers have been growing year-on-year. To put it

Robin Ashenden

A tribute to the glorious heyday of smoking

When the revolting news broke that Keir Starmer – whingeing lovechild of Oliver Cromwell and Captain Mainwaring – could be about to ban smoking in parks, public restaurants and beer gardens, I couldn’t help but think elegiacally of my own lifelong love/hate-affair with the pernicious weed, and to nicotine glories past. I was 13 when I started smoking in earnest and had been impatient to develop the habit long before that. Back then everyone smoked, and they did it everywhere too – on buses, in trains, on the underground and at the cinema. We were a tobacco culture: chat show guests would puff away languidly, the former prime minister Harold Wilson had

Monday

2 Sep 2024

Isabel Hardman

David Lammy partially suspends arms sales to Israel

David Lammy has just announced that Britain is suspending 30 arms export licenses to Israel. The Foreign Secretary told the House of Commons that after a review of international humanitarian law, he was left with no choice but to conclude that there was a risk of a number of weapons being used to commit or facilitate the violation of the law. He said: It is with regret that I inform the House today that the assessment I have received leaves me unable to conclude anything other than that for certain UK arms exports to Israel, there does exist a clear risk that they might be used to commit or facilitate

Isabel Hardman

Rayner and Badenoch row on first day back

It was the Commons at its best: the whole House, united in agreement on one key matter. MP after MP took a stand against the critics to support a colleague. All of them wanted to praise Angela Rayner’s dancing while on holiday. They were back in the Commons after recess for Housing, Communities and Local Government questions, and despite the cross-party unity on the Secretary of State’s boogieing, the session was pretty spicy. For one thing, Kemi Badenoch was on the opposite benches, and used the session as a second leadership launch. She deployed her characteristic charming turn of phrase when asking Rayner questions, including telling the minister that she