Politics

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

Saturday

Patrick O’Flynn Patrick O'Flynn

Keir Starmer’s popularity delusion

All year Keir Starmer has been using a reassuring phrase about his inevitable Downing Street tenure in a bid to calm the nerves of those not certain they were keen on it. He debuted it in January, when the Labour leader promised to bring forth ‘a politics that treads more lightly on all our lives’. Starmer used a similar line on the steps of Downing Street on July 5, after becoming Prime Minister, when he pledged to ‘tread more lightly on your lives and unite our country’. Starmer’s lack of warmth or wit as a communicator only serves to enhance the impression of power-mad arrogance This suggested that he understood the

Friday

Freddy Gray Freddy Gray

Harris-Walz interview: what did we learn?

27 min listen

Kamala Harris and Vice President nominee Tim Walz have done their first interview together for CNN. They covered Kamala’s first day in office if elected, Israel-Gaza, Walz’s army credentials and the economy. Harris has been under scrutiny having avoided all media interviews since Biden’s decision to step down. Did she do it justice? Jon Levine the political reporter for the New York Post speaks to Matt McDonald, The Spectator’s managing director about the interview and RFK’s influence in Trump’s campaign.

Stephen Daisley Stephen Daisley

Why are people so shocked that Starmer isn’t perfect?

The 1997 Christmas special of The Mrs Merton Show probably doesn’t feature in many people’s formative political memories, but it remains with me more than a quarter-century later. Caroline Aherne, as the bitchy old biddy who made celebrities squirm, turned her smiling-assassin interview style on Edwina Currie, there to flog a book. After introducing her guest as ‘the female Margaret Thatcher’ and asking to check the back of her head for a 666 tattoo, Aherne invited Horace Mendelsohn, a Stockport pensioner and Mrs Merton regular, down onto the sofa. The old boy proceeded to harangue the ex-minister on her party’s record in office before the two sparred over the new

Brendan O’Neill Brendan O’Neill

Jess Phillips must explain her two-tier NHS Gaza claim

Forget two-tier policing – we need to talk about two-tier healthcare. Jess Phillips, Labour MP and Home Office minister, has reportedly said she was whizzed through an overcrowded A&E unit on account of her pro-Gaza campaigning. If this is true, it raises some truly troubling questions about the NHS.  ‘The doctor who saw me was Palestinian’, and ‘he was sort of like, “I like you. You voted for a ceasefire.”’ It was at an event at the Kiln Theatre in North London that Phillips implied that she received preferential treatment in a publicly funded hospital because of her position on the Palestine question. According to the Daily Mail, she told

Steerpike Steerpike

Police probe senior civil servant over Salmond inquiry

As the SNP conference weekend kicks off, another Scottish story is starting to take shape. It has emerged that detectives north of the border are now investigating allegations that a senior civil servant gave a false statement under oath to an inquiry into sexual misconduct allegations involving Alex Salmond. Edinburgh’s Court of Session was informed today that Police Scotland is now looking into the Scottish government’s head of cabinet, parliament and governance, James Hynd, as part of the investigation entitled Operation Broadcroft. Good heavens… Ex-SNP leader Salmond is taking legal action agains the Scottish government – with the former FM alleging ‘malfeasance’ by civil servants and seeking ‘significant damages’. Salmond claims

Lucy Dunn

Will Priti Patel’s ‘unity’ pitch succeed?

Priti Patel’s Tory leadership launch in Westminster this afternoon was an upbeat affair, featuring mango lassi and a tonne of merchandise. With caps, tote bags and even festival-esque ‘tour’ date t-shirts on offer for enthusiastic supporters, today’s event was excitedly dubbed a ‘political Glastonbury’ by one of her team, already kitted out in pro-Priti gear. Certainly, Patel’s speech took on an optimistic tone. Leading on her 14 years of experience as a Tory MP (including three as Home Secretary) she touched only briefly upon the recent ‘historic defeat’ suffered by her party at the general election. Instead, the Tory leadership hopeful focused on rebuilding trust between the membership, the public

Iain Macwhirter

John Swinney is leading the SNP to oblivion

As the SNP gathers for its conference in Edinburgh this weekend, its membership nearly halved from a peak of 125,691, there is a palpable sense of confusion and drift, laced with anxiety for the future. ‘Horsed’ is how the former SNP MP Stewart McDonald describes the SNP’s likely fate at the 2026 Holyrood election unless something serious is done to arrest the party’s electoral decline. But the SNP is without answers and most importantly without a credible leader after last month’s general election disaster. How, after losing 39 of the 48 seats it won in 2019, is John Swinney still in charge? The SNP makes no apologies for overspending McDonald says the First

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Why has Starmer taken down a portrait of Thatcher?

14 min listen

Keir Starmer’s biographer Tom Baldwin has revealed that the PM has removed a portrait of Margaret Thatcher from No 10. The portrait was originally commissioned by Gordon Brown. Why has he bothered to get rid of it? Elsewhere, the government has more plans for health, and select committees have some surprising new candidates. Megan McElroy speaks to Isabel Hardman and Katy Balls.

Steerpike Steerpike

Jess Phillips: I got better NHS treatment because of my Gaza stance

To the new Labour government, where the spotlight is on Jess Phillips and her rather extraordinary revelation. It transpires that in a recent ‘in conversation’ event, Phillips rather overshared – admitting to skipping a choc-a-bloc NHS queue because of, er, how she voted on a Gaza ceasefire. When that became a secret hack to better healthcare, Mr S can’t quite recall… The MP for Birmingham Yardley, recounting her special treatment at London’s Kiln Theatre, told an enraptured audience of a distressing incident in which she had trouble breathing. Rushed to hospital, Phillips described scenes of chaos in the emergency department, claiming: ‘I have genuinely seen better facilities, health facilities, in

Ross Clark Ross Clark

Why Labour’s four-day week plan could backfire

Employees will have the right to ask their employers to compress their hours into four days a week rather than five, but employers will not be forced to agree. Just what is the point of the government’s latest employment reform, as proposed by Baroness Smith of Malvern, the minister for skills? Surely employees already have the right to ask for a four-day week, and always have had. There is no law I know that prohibits an employee knocking on their boss’ door and asking for a four-day week, a day off to go to the races, to bring their pet gerbil into the office or, indeed, anything else. We have

Steerpike Steerpike

Sue Gray at centre of yet another civil service job row

Another day, another Sue Gray-related drama. Now Sir Keir Starmer’s chief of staff has come under fire over yet another prospective government appointment. It transpires that Gray is reportedly in favour of making Daniel Gieve, a senior civil servant who worked alongside her at the Cabinet Office, Starmer’s principal private secretary – a top job second only in constitutional importance to that of the Cabinet Secretary. Handy having friends in high places, eh? But throwing Gieve’s name into the mix has caused unease in Downing Street. Some have suggested Gray is set on imposing her favourite candidate, while others worry about the civil servant’s close ties to senior Tories. Currently

Karen Pierce

From the archives: the Dame Karen Pierce Edition

30 min listen

Women with Balls has taken a summer break and will be back in September with a new series. Until then, here’s an episode from the archives, with Dame Karen Pierce, who will shortly complete her term as British Ambassador to the United States. Filmed in 2019, when Dame Karen was the UK’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, she talks to Katy Balls about her career ambitions when she was young, using Lewis Carroll to combat the Russians, and what day to day life is like at the UN.

Katja Hoyer Katja Hoyer

Olaf Scholz’s immigration quagmire

Shock quickly turned to anger in Germany when a Syrian asylum seeker was arrested for the brutal knife attack in the city of Solingen last weekend. Three people were murdered and eight more injured by a man who had no right to be in Germany.  Politicians from the coalition government reacted with a flurry of statements, demanding anything from tougher knife laws to quicker deportations of illegal migrants. But many voters want to see more than tweaks to the immigration system before they can begin to feel safe again on Germany’s streets. The message to Scholz is clear: if he wants to toughen immigration policy, he’ll have to do it without the

Amber Duke

The Kamala interview was a missed opportunity

CNN was the lucky winner of the first sit-down media interview with Vice President Kamala Harris since she was pushed to the top of the ticket nearly 40 days ago and, well, it didn’t go great.  It was not a particularly long interview. Dana Bash confirmed nothing was cut, but we still got only about 16 minutes of speaking time from Kamala. This was made more obvious by CNN’s decision to stretch the interview like pizza dough to fit an hour broadcast. They opened with a nearly five minute teaser video that came across like an ad for the Harris campaign, with Bash calling the interview a ‘watershed moment’ in

Thursday

Rupert Christiansen

Alt reich: Is Germany’s far right about to go mainstream?

46 min listen

This week: Alt reich. The Spectator’s Lisa Haseldine asks if Germany’s far right is about to go mainstream, ahead of regional elections this weekend. Lisa joined the podcast, alongside the historian Katja Hoyer, to discuss why the AfD are polling so well in parts of Germany, and how comparable this is to other trends across Europe (1:13). Then: why are traditional hobbies being threatened in Britain? Writer Richard Bratby joins the podcast, alongside Chris Bradbury, the drone support officer at the BMFA, to discuss his article in the magazine this week about the challenge red-tape poses to model steam engine and aeroplane enthusiasts (18:47). And finally: how has sound design changed

Andrew Tettenborn

Starmer may regret an outdoor smoking ban

It’s a curious political world. Few who voted Labour last month actually wanted Labour policies, or for that matter had more than the haziest idea what they were. Now the Labour leadership is returning the compliment. It is increasingly obvious that it has neither much idea what electors want, nor any great desire to provide them with it. Withdrawing the winter fuel allowance, going hell-bent for net zero (whatever the consequences), clamping down on our rights online, the list goes on. The government’s proposed extension of the smoking ban, leaked yesterday, is a further case in point. Most British people have strong views about liberty and minding one’s own business The

Annabel Denham

Is it a surprise that Labour want to ban outdoor smoking?

Anyone surprised by leaked documents showing smoking may soon be banned in beer gardens, small parks, outdoor restaurants, open-air spaces at nightclubs and outside football stadiums hasn’t been paying attention.  For a start, the UK has been on the slippery slope towards tobacco prohibition for nearly two decades: Tony Blair banned smoking outdoors, Theresa May set a target of going ‘smoke-free’ by 2030. Rishi Sunak – a man whose opposition to some of the tougher lockdown measures gave a glimmer of hope that liberalism hadn’t been entirely extinguished in the Tory party – attempted to make a generational ban on tobacco sales his legacy. All of this is a death

Katy Balls Katy Balls

How far will Starmer’s smoking ban go?

19 min listen

Keir Starmer has confirmed that the government is looking at plans to revive Sunak’s smoking ban legislation. They may go even further – reports suggest they will seek to extend the current indoor ban for hospitality venues, to outdoor places such as pub gardens. What’s the rationale behind this, and where could it lead? How popular is the measure with the public? And, following Starmer’s speech on Tuesday about the economic problems the nation faces, is this another thing for business to worry about? Patrick Gibbons speaks to Katy Balls and Kate Andrews.

Steerpike Steerpike

Starmer’s special advisers: a complete guide

Keir Starmer wasted no time on entering 10 Downing Street in appointing his cabinet that same day. But taking longer are the junior ministerial posts – some still vacant – and the appointment of special advisers. Such aides often get a bad rep around Westminster, thanks, in part to the mythology of The Thick Of It. But they play a key role in government, with some even wielding more power than the average minister. As is often the case with plum jobs, demand outweighs supply, with too few posts to share around the Starmtroopers. Here are the appointments so far: Sue Gray – Chief of Staff. Keir’s all powerful pick

Katy Balls Katy Balls

How far will Starmer’s smoking ban go?

When Rishi Sunak announced his plan to create a ‘smoke-free generation’ at conference, some of his own MPs were bemused. It wasn’t just the policy but the timing – were the Tory grassroots the right audience? In truth, Sunak had been in a rush to make the announcement because he feared (and some of his advisers had warned) that if he didn’t do it soon, Labour might beat him to it. So there was little surprise when in Keir Starmer’s first King’s Speech, the bill was resurrected. However, now Starmer and his Health Secretary Wes Streeting plan to go further than Sunak planned. The bill was initially designed to phase