Politics

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

Saturday

Ian O’Doherty

Ireland’s ridiculous racism tsar

The Republic of Ireland has always prided itself on its lack of racism. Take the fact that two of the country’s most popular sons are black or mixed-race. Thin Lizzy’s Phil Lynott was the first truly international Irish rock star, while the brilliant footballer Paul McGrath was, and remains, perhaps the most genuinely beloved Irish person alive. When I was at an under-21s game between Ireland and England many years ago, a small bunch of Irish fans started shouting racist abuse about Trevor Sinclair. They were soon attacked by other Irish fans, who asked the idiots if they would say the same thing to McGrath, who is simply known as

Patrick O’Flynn Patrick O'Flynn

What should the Tory party do about Suella Braverman?

How do you solve a problem like Suella? Rishi Sunak is facing calls to expel Braverman from the Conservative party following her remarks about the LGBTQ+ flag, according to the BBC. The Beeb felt fit to run the story even though it was only able to find one failed parliamentary candidate and one failed council candidate to go on the record making such a call. Braverman’s purported sin was to state opinions about trans issues and the ‘progress Pride’ flag that some on the left of the Tory party, as well as activists in designated left-wing parties, considered disgusting. ‘The Progress flag says to me, one monstrous thing: That I

Jawad Iqbal

England’s football success is an easy win for Keir Starmer

Keir Starmer, a lifelong Arsenal fan, will be in Berlin to watch England take on Spain this Sunday in the Euro 2024 final. The Prime Minister says he wants to ‘mark the occasion’ if England win, prompting speculation that an extra bank holiday may be in the offing. Plans are reportedly underway for a celebration in London on Tuesday, with the squad travelling by open-top bus from Guildhall in the City to a reception at Buckingham Palace. The players could also be invited to Downing Street. Starmer, a lucky general indeed, was even moved to joke that England have not missed a penalty under a Labour government This is manna from heaven for

Kristian Niemietz

Labour’s Yimby plan could lock the Tories out of power for good

As opposition leader, Sir Keir Starmer long struggled to define what ‘Starmerism’ is, other than ‘not Corbynism’ and ‘not Toryism’. Last Autumn, he belatedly stumbled across a policy theme which he has since tried to make his own: ‘Yimbyism’, a positive ‘Yes In My Back Yard’ attitude to development: the antidote to Nimbyism.  Labour’s rhetoric on housing has been confrontational In her first major speech on economic policy, Chancellor Rachel Reeves picked up this ‘Yimby’ theme in order to bolster her pro-growth credentials. Policy announcements include bringing back mandatory housebuilding targets, removing green belt protection from bits that are clearly not green (the ‘grey belt’), and overturning the ban on onshore wind. 

Friday

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Can Labour solve our prisons crisis?

16 min listen

Justice secretary Shabana Mahmood has acknowledged that ‘our prisons are on the point of collapse’. She has announced that, from September, most prisoners serving sentences of less than four years will be released 40 per cent of the way through their sentences instead of the halfway point, which is currently the case. The policy will ease pressure on prisons, but the question remains; could this backfire? Katy Balls speaks to Fraser Nelson and Professor Ian Acheson, former prison governor and former Director of Community Safety at the Home Office. You can listen to Shabana Mahmood on Women With Balls here.

David Shipley

Labour’s prison plan will fix one problem – but could cause plenty of others

Justice secretary Shabana Mahmood has bowed to the inevitable: acknowledging that ‘our prisons are on the point of collapse’, Mahmood has announced that, from September, most prisoners serving sentences of less than four years will be released 40 per cent of the way through their sentences instead of the halfway point, which is currently the case. It’s a policy that will ease the pressure on prisons, but could end up backfiring badly. The plan will ease the pressure on prisons but could end up backfiring The Prison Governors’ Association advocated for this early release policy during the election campaign, and while it may seem that the government has no other

Ross Clark Ross Clark

The trouble with Ed Miliband’s North Sea oil plan

Just Stop Oil continued its campaign by spreading orange paint over road junctions in Westminster this week, but why bother when the organisation seems now to be in power? Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband is said to be weighing up blocking new licenses for oil drilling in the North Sea. Labour has previously said that it wouldn’t allow exploration of entirely new fields but wouldn’t stand in the way of the continued exploitation of existing fields. Yet even this limited exploration now looks in doubt. How is the government going to generate that income if oil and gas companies are not going to be allowed to drill? The Department for

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Britain is still the world’s most successful multi-faith democracy

The swearing-in ceremonies in parliament this week have been rare in that more of them are filmed, posted on social media – and together, give us a flavour of the diversity in the islands, unified by the crown. Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Protestants and Catholics swear loyalty to the King on a holy book of their choice. Torcuil Crichton took the oath on a Gaelic bible, in Gaelic. I’ve found this a moving, quiet and beautiful reminder of the virtue of our democracy, the purpose of the Crown and the strength of our ancient system. British politics has no shortage of flaws and challenges, but we can perhaps claim to be

Freddy Gray Freddy Gray

Eric Kaufmann on DEI, the contagion effect and free speech

49 min listen

The Spectator’s Freddy Gray sits down with author and professor of politics Eric Kaufmann. They discuss the dangers of DEI, why Eric blames the bleeding heart liberals for the woke contagion and why it is possible much worst than originally thought. You can also watch this episode on Spectator TV:

James Kirkup James Kirkup

Is this Westminster’s coolest MP?

Parliamentary oath-taking rarely causes excitement. MPs swearing the oath of allegiance to the Crown after an election is an archaic yet prosaic sight: line up, shuffle in, say the words, shuffle off. Repeat 600-odd times. It’s a bit different this time, because so many of the MPs are first-timers. Nonetheless most of their swearing-in moments go unnoticed to all but friends and family.  Yet one swearing-in has caused a minor ripple, because it wasn’t in English. Torcuil Crichton, newly-elected MP for the constituency of Na h-Eileanan an Iar, formerly the Western Isles, swore his oath in Scots Gaelic and in the Scottish manner – right hand raised, not resting on a holy

Theo Hobson Theo Hobson

What does it mean to have a more secular House of Commons?

The House of Commons has a more secular character than ever before. Roughly 40 per cent of MPs have chosen to swear in using the secular ‘affirmation’ rather than a religious oath. Only 24 per cent took the secular option at the start of the last parliament. The current secular affirmers include half of the cabinet, and of course the PM. This is a good thing, in one respect. It is, on the whole, good for democracy if MPs reflect the attitudes of the nation. And it now seems that over half of the nation are non-religious (though all such measures are made of jelly). It’s hard to say whether

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Starmer’s most radical prisons shake-up is still to come

When Keir Starmer gave his first Downing Street press conference last weekend, he warned that ‘tough decisions’ were coming shortly. The first of these is expected later today. The new Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood is expected to announce plans to ease prison overcrowding in England and Wales. That plan is expected to involve prisoners being released early, including some convicted of violent offences. The proposal is that some inmates on fixed sentences will be released after serving 40 per cent of their sentences, rather than the usual 50 per cent. However, there will be some exemptions – with certain crimes meaning that inmates are not eligible for early release. The

Thursday

Steerpike Steerpike

Watch: Biden calls Zelensky ‘Putin’

Oh dear. It’s a day ending in ‘y’ which means Joe Biden has caused another diplomatic incident. As the gaffe-prone president battles to convince Democrats to stick with him for another four years, the aging octogenarian slipped up again when speaking today at the Nato 75th anniversary summit in Washington DC. This year’s jamboree is partly dedicated to the defence of Ukraine, with world leaders lining up to praise the country’s struggle against Moscow’s aggression. So it was especially unfortunate then that, when introducing President Zelensky, Joe Biden accidentally referred to him as, er, President Putin. Yes, that’s right – when welcoming Ukraine’s head of state, the leader of the

Steerpike Steerpike

Reform members warned of Farage scam

Uh oh. It’s a busy time for elected politicians trying to work their way around Westminster and no party knows that better than Reform UK. For the first time the group now has parliamentarians elected under its own banner, after sweeping up 14 per cent of the vote share last week.  But it’s not all been plain sailing so far. Nigel Farage received groans in the Commons after he used his first speech to attack former Speaker John Bercow, and the appointment of Richard Tice as deputy leader left the unelected Ben Habib rather outraged earlier today. And now Steerpike can reveal the party is desperately trying to stop its

Will Moore

Keir’s reformation: Labour’s radical plans

50 min listen

This week: Keir’s reformation. A week on from Labour’s victory in the UK general election, our cover piece looks ahead to the urgent issues facing Keir Starmer. If he acts fast, he can take advantage of having both a large majority and a unified party. The NHS, prisons, planning… the list goes on. But what challenges could he face and how should he manage his party? The Spectator’s political editor Katy Balls joins the podcast, alongside Lord Falconer, Labour peer and former cabinet minister under Tony Blair (2:53). Next: have smartphones revolutionised home working for women? Our very own Lara Prendergast writes in the magazine this week about the eclectic ways

James Heale James Heale

Has Nato been a success for Starmer?

18 min listen

Keir Starmer is on his first big diplomatic trip to Washington, attending the Nato summit. He has called on member countries to increase defence spending, had a meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky, and enjoyed a dinner with Joe Biden – all in his first week of the job. How is the trip going, are there any tensions arising, and has it been a success for the new PM?  Oscar Edmondson discusses with James Heale and Sophia Gaston, head of foreign policy at Policy Exchange. 

Stephen Daisley Stephen Daisley

What explains Trump’s silence?

As the Democrats go into a very public meltdown about Joe Biden’s fitness to be their presidential candidate in November, there is an unusual sound emanating from Donald Trump: silence. In the 2016 campaign and across four years in the White House, Trump proved himself incapable of message discipline, venting against fellow Republicans on social media and turned press conferences into rambling denunciations of the latest character to displease him. This behaviour regularly handed Democrats and journalists the chance to shift the news cycle from issues difficult for them (e.g. immigration) and onto issues difficult for the GOP (e.g. Trump’s intemperance and Republican infighting). Few presidents have so routinely undermined

James Heale James Heale

Farage reshuffles Reform’s top team

It’s been a busy week for Nigel Farage. After six days of being bombarded with parties, press requests and parliamentary rigmarole, he was this morning sworn in as the Honourable Member for Clacton. Such is the level of attention foisted on the Reform UK leader that even House of Commons staff have reportedly now been told to stop requesting selfies with him. With so much focus on Farage, the inevitable question is: what comes next? This morning, we got our answer. Reform UK has rejigged its top team, in the wake of the election of five MPs last Friday. Farage, unsurprisingly, retains his spot as leader, with Lee Anderson now

Freddy Gray Freddy Gray

What will the Democrats do next?

29 min listen

As speculation over whether Biden will remain in the presidential race continues, Freddy Gray speaks to journalist and founder of News Items John Ellis about what could happen next. How did Democrats end up in this situation and who holds the most power in influencing Biden’s decision? They also look ahead to next week’s Republican National Convention and discuss who is in the running to be Trump’s VP. Produced by Natasha Feroze and Patrick Gibbons.

Ross Clark Ross Clark

How Starmer should deal with Thames Water

Less than a week in to his government and Keir Starmer is already facing an ideological battle within the Labour party – over the nationalisation, or non-nationalisation, of the water industry. News that Thames Water has been put in special measures at the same time that Ofwat has given permission for other water companies to increase bills by an average of £94 over the next five years is going to rekindle the beliefs of many in his party that public utilities do not belong in the private sector. Starmer is not helped by the fact that when he won the Labour leadership in 2020 it was on the promise of