Politics

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

Thursday

22 Aug 2024

Will Israel and Hamas sign a peace deal?

The omens for a ceasefire deal in Gaza between Israel and Hamas are looking alarmingly bleak following the latest shuttle diplomacy by Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state. The US ‘bridging proposal’ aimed at resolving contested issues raised after the three-stage peace formula offered by President Biden on 31 May appears to be dead in the water. Central to the impasse is the insistence by Benjamin Netanyahu that Israeli troops must be allowed to remain in two security corridors in Gaza to ensure that even if the fighting has stopped Israel will retain the ability to watch for and deter any future attempts by Hamas to rearm or launch attacks

Freddy Gray

All hail Harris! Can Kamala bluff her way to the top?

36 min listen

This week: All hail Harris! As the Democratic National Convention approaches its climax, The Spectator’s deputy editor Freddy Gray explores vice president Kamala Harris’s remarkable rise to the top of the democratic ticket in his cover article this week. Freddy joins the podcast from Chicago (1:30). Next: live from the DNC. Freddy and Natasha Feroze, The Spectator’s deputy broadcast editor, have been out and about at the convention talking to delegates – and detractors – of the Democratic Party. What do these Americans think? And does Kamala Harris have ‘good vibes’? (7:56). Then: should misogyny really be classified under anti-terrorism laws? In the magazine this week The Spectator’s economics editor Kate Andrews argues that the

Steerpike

Andrea Jenkyns hits out at ‘classless’ Labour successor

Oh dear. It seems that all is not well in Leeds. Former Tory MP for Leeds South West and Morley, Dame Andrea Jenkyns, has taken to Facebook today to slam the ‘insensitivity’ of the constituency’s new MP, Labour’s Mark Sewards. It seems that cross-party relations are only, er, souring… Jenkyns slammed her ‘classless’ successor for ‘gloating’ about his success, claiming he not only messaged her days after she lost her seat about office space, but actually turned up at her office and ‘upset’ her staff. Taking to social media to vent, Jenkyns fumed: Today, my office manager has just rang me, Sewards has visited my office, my team are still

Cindy Yu

Can Labour crack apprenticeships?

11 min listen

Today’s GCSE results show an exams system that has largely returned to pre-Covid norms. It has also given the government a chance to talk about skills and apprenticeships – something that Bridget Phillipson’s predecessor as education secretary was also keen on. Cindy Yu talks to James Heale and Amanda Spielman, former chair of Ofqual and Ofsted, about the state of the British education system. Produced by Cindy Yu.

Steerpike

Award Taylor Swift for boosting London economy, insist Lib Dems

Just when you think the stunts pulled by Sir Ed Davey’s liberal lot can’t get any stranger, they do. Now the Liberal Democrats are calling for Taylor Swift to receive the ‘Freedom of the City of London’ after her shows filled a ‘blank space’ in the British economy – and the party has even tabled a motion to ‘recognise the cultural and economic impact’ of Swift’s latest Eras tour. Quiet recess, eh? Swift wrapped up the UK leg of her Eras tour this week with an eighth show at Wembley Stadium – breaking a record held by none other than Michael Jackson. Playing to over 1 million fans, the US

Ian Williams

The cracks are appearing in Putin’s relationship with China

Relations between China and Russia are going from strength to strength – or so they say. In reality, the strain is beginning to show. ‘Against the backdrop of accelerating changes unseen in a century, China is willing to further strengthen multilateral coordination with Russia,’ said Xinhua, the Chinese state news agency after a meeting on Wednesday in Moscow between premier Li Qiang and Vladimir Putin. Far more intriguing, though, was what wasn’t said, and which suggests a growing tensions in their ‘no limits’ partnership. First there were the cyber spies. A few days before Li arrived in Russia, Kaspersky, a Moscow-based cyber security company, suggested that Chinese state-linked hackers had

Ross Clark

GCSE grade inflation is finally over

Today’s GSCE results show essentially unchanged performance compared with last year, with 21.7 per cent of pupils achieving grade 7 or above (compared with 21.6 per cent in 2023) and 67.4 per cent achieving grade 4 or above (compared with 67.8 per cent last year). This is still slightly up on 2019, but the Covid bounce in grades which occurred in 2020 and 2021, when exams were not actually sat and pupils were awarded grades based on teachers’ predictions instead, seems to be over. In 2020, 75.9 per cent of candidates achieved grade 4 and above, rising even further to 76.9 per cent in 2021. The pandemic effect lasted into

Matthew Lynn

If Ford can’t crack electric cars, no one can

It had the history, the manufacturing muscle, the capital, and the brand to make it work. When Ford announced plans to create an all-electric SUV, it looked like the moment the major auto manufacturers could finally bring battery-powered cars into the mass market. Until today. The American company has abandoned its plans to build the new electric car, and announced a $1.9 billion write-off on the project citing cost pressures. The trouble is, if the company that more or less invented the mass production of cars a century ago can’t make electric vehicles (EV) work, then it is very hard to believe that any of the Western manufacturers can. If

James Heale

Yvette Cooper has her work cut out on illegal migration

Happy immigration stats day, one and all. The Home Office has this morning released a raft of data on visa numbers and asylum claims up until June. While Yvette Cooper might prefer to talk about the policing aspect of her brief, the numbers today show the challenges of migration. The figures released today covers three main aspects: legal arrivals (visas granted), illegal migration (primarily small boats) and asylum applications being granted for those who do arrive here illegally. The most common nationality on these not-so-small boats is now Vietnamese Take the number of visas being handed out in the first six months of this year. A mixed pattern emerges here,

Steerpike

Now more Scottish Tory leadership candidates drop out

Back to Scotland, where the ongoing leadership contest for the next leader is heating up. Nominations for candidates close today, and any potential contender who hasn’t received the backing of 100 members won’t be able to progress to the next round. Frontrunner Russell Findlay hosted his official launch on Monday, and this morning his main rival Murdo Fraser is making his formal bid for the leadership. But in a rather interesting development, a number of MSPs who had initially thrown their hat into the ring have this week dropped out – and jumped ship to Fraser. And then there were three… On Tuesday, ex-Olympian athlete Brian Whittle announced he had

Freddy Gray

What’s happened to RFK Jr?

Third-party candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr is widely expected to drop out of the US presidential race soon, and possibly endorse Donald Trump. Live from the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Freddy Gray speaks to Ben Domenech, the Editor at Large of The Spectator World, about how this could affect the election. As the DNC approaches its climax, following speeches by the Obamas and vice presidential hopeful Tim Walz, Freddy and Ben also talk internal Democratic politics: who stands to benefit if Kamala wins – or loses – in November? Produced by Natasha Feroze and Patrick Gibbons.

Andrew Lilico

Does the UK really need an immigration deal with the EU?

There is talk, yet again, of the UK and EU agreeing some kind of youth mobility scheme, increasing the opportunities for under-30s from the EU to work in the UK. This has been proposed repeatedly over the past couple of years, especially because of similar schemes being agreed between the UK and Canada and Australia. In opposition, Labour was adamant that it had no interest in such a scheme, seeing it as too close to the return of free movement. But now it is in government, seeking a ‘reset’ in relations with the EU, something has to give. And it appears that a youth mobility scheme – along with the

Steerpike

Scottish Tory leadership race: runners and riders

While contenders in the UK Tory leadership race ramp up their campaigns, north of the border the Scottish Conservative contest is just about to get started. Nominations for candidates to succeed outgoing leader Douglas Ross close on the 22 August at 12pm. Each leadership hopeful will need 100 party members to back them in order to formally stand before voting takes place next month – with the winner to be announced on 27 September. Initially six candidates declared they would run for the top job, however just before nominations closed, ex-athlete Brian Whittle announced he would, er, no longer run – and has now endorsed Murdo Fraser, alongside two other

Steerpike

SNP membership numbers plummet further

Oh dear. It’s not a good time to be an SNP politician, what with the recent electoral wipeout, the party’s muddled stance on the Middle East and party insiders already plotting who their next leader will be. And now it transpires that the party has lost yet more members, leaving its card-carrying supporters at a new low of just over 64,000. Crikey… After the bitter leadership contest that tarnished the reputation of the SNP, membership numbers fell from 125,000 in 2019 to around 72,000 – a staggering drop of 43 per cent. Not that the party was particularly keen to admit it, with then-spin doctor Murray Foote resigning after it

Patrick O’Flynn

Keir Starmer is caving on immigration already

It should come as no surprise that Keir Starmer has already contracted a severe dose of Boris Johnson disease when it comes to immigration policy. This occurs when a prime minister has a general commitment to bring down the overall volume of inward migration and yet makes so many specific exceptions that such an outcome becomes impossible. In Johnson’s case the list of special cases became comically long: Ukrainians, Hong Kongers, Afghans, overseas students and their dependents, social care visas, lower earnings thresholds, not getting round to deporting illegal arrivals to Rwanda or almost anywhere else. As a result net migration rose to levels that led to a ferocious electoral

Kristina Murkett

The problem with compulsory GCSE resits

This morning, students up and down across the country will anxiously open up their GCSE results, with local papers publishing photos of glowing over-achievers and other heartwarming success stories. The national media will, in all likelihood, focus on the number of top grades, and how this fits into recent trends concerning grade inflation as exam boards try to re-stabilise results post-Covid. Yet this hyper-fixation on the number of 7s, 8s and 9s (the equivalent to an old-style A or A*) means we tend to overlook something much more important: the long tail of underachievement in England. We should be far less concerned by how many people do well at GCSE,

Andy Maciver

Does it matter who wins the Scottish Tory leadership race?

Nominations for candidates wanting to stand in the Scottish Tory leadership contest close today. One candidate has already voluntarily dropped out, and it’s not clear if all of the remaining five will receive the 100 votes they need from the membership to progress to the next stage. Already there has been much drama, with some contenders even suggesting the race be paused after revelations about outgoing leader Douglas Ross came to light. Yet as the Scottish Conservative leadership contest descends into internecine warfare, one could be mistaken for believing that at stake is something of importance, something of value. But the uncomfortable truth is: it doesn’t really matter who runs

Jonathan Miller

French politics has become an absurdist farce

It’s the rentrée politique this week in France, the start of the political year, a bit earlier than normal. It promises to be a macedoine of absurdist farce and media frenzy. On Friday President Emmanuel Macron, the principal personality in this drama, will begin to see the leaders of some (but not all) of the 14 or 15 political factions that form the dysfunctional National Assembly. A negligent wager with no upside and unlimited downside – and this from the so-called Mozart of finance His mission is to appoint a prime minister who can cobble together some semblance of a credible, durable government in the EU’s second-largest economy. An economy that already does

Kate Andrews

Can you spot an ‘extreme misogynist’?

Can you tell the difference between an extreme misogynist and a moderate misogynist? Hating women has always seemed, to me anyway, a rather extreme position on its own. The label ‘extreme misogynist’ is surely repetitive. A moderate misogynist is an oxymoron. But then the Home Office announced this week that ‘extreme misogyny’ could be added to the list of ideologies the government monitors to tackle terrorism. I’ve been racking my brain, trying to figure out how the police would tell the extremists from the moderates. Does the extreme misogynist hold women in contempt all week long, while the moderate reserves his disdain for weekends? Does a mild misogynist simply begrudge

Freddy Gray

Can Kamala Harris bluff her way to the White House?

Chicago ‘There are no disasters,’ said Boris Johnson, who was born in America. ‘Only opportunities. And, indeed, opportunities for fresh disasters.’ That quote speaks nicely to the story of the Democratic party’s 2024 election campaign. The first televised presidential debate, in Atlanta, Georgia on 27 June, seemed to have been an absolute disaster. President Joe Biden’s clear and present feebleness had been exposed for all the world to see. His opponent, Donald Trump, became the favourite to win back the White House – then, 16 days later, Trump survived an assassination attempt, and his stock rose even higher. Harris is a pop-up nominee in an age of diminished attention spans,