Politics

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

Friday

11 Jul 2025

Tax rises are inevitable

The string of bleak economic updates continues. First we had the dire report by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) into fiscal risks, which showed how we’re hurtling towards financial disaster. Now we’ve got figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) that reveal the economy shrank in May – the second month in a row. The data, released this morning, shows that GDP fell by 0.1 per cent in May after shrinking by 0.3 per cent in April. The ONS said the most notable contractions were in production and construction, while services (the backbone of our economy) managed to grow slightly. The contraction in production (down 0.9 per cent)

David Shipley

What Richard Hermer gets wrong about international law

Our two-tier Attorney General, Lord Richard Hermer, is in the news again. The controversial lawyer and ‘old friend’ of the Prime Minister, has issued new instructions to government lawyers which give him an ‘effective veto’ over all government policy and which also create a network of legal spies within government departments. The Hermer doctrine revealed by these instructions relies on an extreme view of international law, which seeks to limit the power of ministers to govern and parliament to legislate. The Attorney General wrote that: The rule of law requires compliance by the state with its obligations in international law as in national law, even though they operate on different

Kristina Murkett

Every boy needs a strong male role model in their life

Imagine you are the parent of a primary-school aged boy. Outside of family, how many men do you think your son would interact with, compared to women? The answer is unlikely to be balanced. In the UK, 98 per cent of childminders and nursery workers are female – as well as 99 per cent of health visitors, 87 per cent of social workers, 79 per cent of librarians, 96 per cent of speech therapists, 89 per cent of nurses, 58 per cent of GPs, 61 per cent of paediatricians, and 63 per cent of youth club workers. Your son is unlikely to come across many men at school either. 85 per cent of primary school teachers are female; nearly a third of primary schools do not have a single male classroom teacher,

Alan Kessel

Israel’s Sophie’s Choice

As pressure intensifies on Israel to agree to a ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza, the country faces a wrenching national dilemma: one that evokes a harrowing moral and strategic reckoning. With approximately 20 live hostages still held by Hamas, Israel must weigh the sacred imperative of bringing its citizens home against the hard-earned gains of a war fought to dismantle a terror regime. Israel stands alone before a terrible choice: pause now and risk preserving Hamas, or press on and risk the hostages’ lives The stakes are no longer theoretical. Hamas’s senior leadership has been decimated, its command structure shattered. Israeli forces now control more than sixty per

Ross Clark

Streeting only has himself to blame for striking doctors

Just what was Wes Streeting expecting when, shortly after becoming health secretary last July, he offered junior doctors (who now like to be called ‘resident’ doctors to disguise the fact they are still in training) a thumping 22 per cent pay rise with no strings attached, no requirement to accept improved working practices to lift lamentably low productivity? According to Streeting at the time, it was the act of grown-up government, which would result in more mature relations between government and health unions in future. The only way to deal with the BMA’s pay claim is to call its bluff Some hope. Now, the BMA is back, this time demanding

Adam James Pollock

Why Northern Ireland hates Paddington

Soaring crime and a growing air of discontent means that few Brits are happy about the state of their nation. There is one man, however, who seems to enjoy this deteriorating country quite a lot: the Ambassador of Japan to the Court of St. James’s, Hiroshi Suzuki. Paddington’s values have very little to do with what Britishness means in Northern Ireland Suzuki’s cheery social media posts, in which he extols the virtues of the United Kingdom as seen through the eyes of an ardent Anglophile, are wildly popular. From sharing photographs of himself drinking ale in the Turf Tavern in Oxford, to making an origami daffodil to promote St. David’s Day, the

Thursday

10 Jul 2025

Stephen Daisley

Why Ross Greer would be good for the Scottish Green party

Ross Greer is for Palestine, trans rights and riling up the Daily Express, making him the ideal candidate to lead the Scottish Greens. At an event in Glasgow today, the West Scotland MSP put himself forward as a successor to Patrick Harvie, who is standing down after 17 years at the helm of the environmentalist party that occasionally takes an interest in the environment. Under Harvie’s leadership, the Greens have prioritised cultural and identity politics over economics and ecology, helping to push the Gender Recognition Reform Bill through Holyrood and press for free bus travel for asylum seekers (an idea pinched by the SNP-run Scottish government). The pragmatic radicalism on offer

Lucy Dunn

Starmer announces ‘one in, one out’ migrant deal

After days of intense discussions and slightly-less-intense boozy dinners, Keir Starmer has struck a ‘one in, one out’ migration deal with France’s President Emmanuel Macron. The returns deal will allow up to 50 small boat migrants to be sent back to France each week, with the pilot to begin in the coming weeks. At a press conference this afternoon, the Prime Minister defended letting any migrants into Britain at all, telling reporters: ‘We accept genuine asylum seekers because it is right that we offer a haven to those in most dire need. We simply cannot solve a challenge like stopping the boats by acting alone and telling our allies that

Gavin Mortimer

Starmer and Macron won’t fix the Channel migrant crisis

There was a sense of déjà vu to today’s announcement by Keir Starmer that he intends to ‘secure’ Britain’s borders. Standing alongside Emmanuel Macron, the Prime Minister pledged ‘hard-headed aggressive action on all fronts’ to crack the migrant crisis but warned that there is ‘no silver bullet’. The sceptic might argue that the real problem in cracking the migrant crisis isn’t the criminal gangs but the human rights industry Rishi Sunak deployed the same phrase in March 2023 when, as Premier, he stood alongside the French president, and promised to take back control of Britain’s borders. He failed, and few have faith in this new ‘one-in one-out’ scheme. ‘Migrants arriving

William Moore

Keir’s peer purge, how to pick an archbishop & is AI ruining sport?

44 min listen

This week: Peerless – the purge of the hereditary peers For this week’s cover, Charles Moore declares that the hereditary principle in Parliament is dead. Even though he lacks ‘a New Model Army’ to enforce the chamber’s full abolition, Keir Starmer is removing the hereditary peers. In doing so, he creates more room, reduces the Conservatives’ numerical advantage, and improves ‘the sex and ethnic balance’. But 86 hard-working and dutiful peers ‘lacking worldly ambition or partisan passions’ will be lost. Also in the magazine, Sophia Falkner, researcher at The Spectator, sets out exactly what we stand to lose by profiling some of the most capable hereditary peers in the House.

Michael Simmons

Badenoch is right: the benefits bill could cripple Britain

‘We are becoming a welfare state with an economy attached,’ said Kemi Badenoch in a speech on sickness benefits today. She’s right, though anyone who read the Office for Budget Responsibility’s (OBR) dire report this week knows we’re past becoming: we already are. The figures are staggering. The bill for sickness benefits is heading towards £100 billion a year. Soon, one in every four income tax pounds will go just to cover these payments. Meanwhile, a million young people are doing nothing at all –not in work, not in education, not in training. Badenoch called this not only ‘unaffordable and unjustifiable, but immoral’. Again, she’s right. In a fiery speech hosted

James Heale

It’s crunch time for Starmer’s ‘one in, one out’ migrant deal

The entente is still very much cordiale. Talks between Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron are ongoing on the third day of the Anglo-French summit. The key issue is migration: how best to stop the constant flow of Channel crossings that have seen 20,000 arrive here this year already? Like Rwanda, this deal faces numerous practical and political hurdles Both, publicly, are singing from the same hymn sheet, with lashings of Gallic sweetness. In remarks this morning, the French President praised the relationship between London and Paris. Both nations, he insisted, share ‘the same resolve to fight’ people smugglers. The Prime Minister spoke, again, of ‘new tactics’ and a ‘new intent

Oscar Edmondson

The unstoppable Angela Rayner

14 min listen

There is the small matter of the Macron–Starmer press conference today, at which the Prime Minister will hope to announce a new migration deal with France. But we thought we would dedicate today’s podcast to Angela Rayner, with some MPs thinking that the answer to Labour’s woes could be to ‘give it Ange until the end of the season’. As Tim Shipman reports in the magazine, she has undergone quite the political transformation – keeping her head down and away from incoming fire. Downing Street is taking her increasingly seriously. Is she the new John Prescott – or even the next Labour leader? Also on the podcast today: Jake Berry,

Steerpike

Lammy appoints campaign donor to Foreign Office board

Well, well, well. There has been a rather interesting appointment made to the Foreign Office board by David Lammy, as Karen Blackett joins as a non-executive director. This is not the advertising executive’s first brush with the now-Foreign Secretary however – as it transpires that Blackett is actually a Lammy donor, putting a whopping £5,000 towards the Labour MP’s campaign in the run-up to the general election last summer. How very interesting… Blackett has joined the board to help provide ‘strategic direction, oversight, support and challenge for the department with a view to the long-term health, reputation and success of the FCDO’ – and will be paid up to £15,000 a

Freddy Gray

Is Ghislaine Maxwell serving time for Epstein’s crimes?

35 min listen

The FBI has declared there is no client list linked to Jeffrey Epstein—an announcement that pours cold water on years of speculation about a secret roster of powerful figures tied to his sex trafficking crimes. But what does this mean for Ghislaine Maxwell, who remains behind bars for her role in Epstein’s network? Ian Maxwell, British businessman and brother of Ghislaine Maxwell, responds to the FBI’s statement and argues that his sister’s conviction was the result of a deeply flawed trial. Ian describes Ghislaine’s harsh prison conditions, her ongoing legal battles—including a possible Supreme Court appeal—and maintains that she is innocent, determined to clear her name, and still paying the

Steerpike

Watch: Nigel Farage’s bizarre fishing interview

As Sir Keir Starmer’s migration talks with French president Emmanuel Macron drag on, the TV segments on the subject are getting progressively weirder. Take this morning’s GB News piece aboard Nigel Farage’s boat. The Reform UK leader was supposed to be getting quizzed on the noises coming out of the Anglo-French borders deal – which he suggested could look a ‘complete insult’ and a ‘total humiliation’ – but Mr S considered it may have been rather difficult for viewers to follow Farage’s remarks given he spent a portion of the interview, er, catching fish and chucking them back in the sea again. While the presenter attempts to question Farage on

Steerpike

Poll: The Spectator is decision-makers’ favoured read

Like Forrest Gump, The Spectator has an amusing habit of turning up at the right moments in history. Boris during Partygate? There was a copy of our mag in one of the No. 10 snaps. The latest season of Industry? There was a fake front cover proudly on display. And now it seems that this august institution is turning up on the right peoples’ desks in Westminster, Whitehall and beyond… A new report out by Portland Communications polls what 529 decision-makers from the public and private sectors are reading every day. It reports that: Although our panel skewed to the left politically, one interesting finding is how much more influential

Mark Nayler

Keep Palestine out of Pamplona

At this time of year, I’m usually immersed in Pamplona’s San Fermin festival, which burst into life on Sunday and runs until next Monday. The fiesta is famous for its daily bull runs through the narrow streets of the old town – an anarchic, life-affirming tradition in which I have participated six times. Unable to attend this year, I watched Sunday afternoon’s opening celebration on TV from southern Spain, feeling envious of each and every one of the 13,000 people present. But I was angered and saddened by what I saw. One of their members yelled: ‘Stop genocide, free Palestine!’ before lighting the rocket. Pamplona’s mayor chooses who lights the

James Heale

What Jake Berry’s defection to Reform means

Reform UK have today unveiled their latest defector from the Tories. Sir Jake Berry is, arguably, the most senior name to switch parties to date. A Conservative MP from 2010 to 2024, he served as Party Chairman under Liz Truss and was a lead proponent of levelling up as chair of the Northern Research Group. A year after losing his Lancashire constituency, it looks as though he has concluded his future now lies outside the Conservatives. Writing in the Sun, he says Labour and the Tories ‘abandoned the British people’ and share equal responsibility for the state of the country. Berry is the fifth former Tory MP to come across

Eliot Wilson

Grey zone warfare is here. Britain must catch up

The ‘grey zone’ is the kind of ominous jargon beloved of the military, but for once it is well named: a wide range of hostile activities between states which stops short of the threshold of full-scale conflict, including espionage, cyber disruption and disinformation. It is a state which is neither peace nor war, and it is expanding all the time. The House of Commons Defence Committee has just published a report on the subject, Defence in the Grey Zone. It emphasises that, while the vast majority of the population has become insulated from conflict, this kind of activity brings the reality of disruption and violence to our everyday lives and