Politics

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

Saturday

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Tory MP in new ‘cash for questions’ row

Just how many of the 121 Tory MPs elected last summer will be there by the end of this parliament? Already, Patrick Spencer has lost the whip after being charged with two counts of sexual assault. And now, George Freeman finds himself in hot water after the Sunday Times reported allegations about his second job as a £60,000-a-year paid adviser to eco-innovators GHGSat Limited. The former Science Minister reportedly submitted queries to ministers about the sector the firm operates in, potentially handing the company a commercial advantage. He also asked a director at the environmental monitoring company to tell him ‘what to ask about’, in exchanges that may have breached

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Lord Falconer’s selective constitutional memory

Good old Charlie Falconer. For more than 15 years now, the noble Lord has been trying, desperately, to ram assisted dying through parliament. Kim Leadbeater’s Bill represents his eighth attempt at legalising suicide following previous efforts in 2009, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2019, 2022 and 2024. Now, with a narrow majority of just 23 MPs backing Leadbeater’s legislation, Falconer clearly senses the victory that has eluded him for so long… The New Labour grandee penned a piece in the Times last week headlined ‘Assisted dying will end the anguish. We won’t let wreckers derail it.’ It concluded that MPs had ‘decided the law must change. The Lords will scrutinise and improve

James Heale James Heale

Why Keir Starmer is worried about Wales

Keir Starmer’s address to the Welsh Labour conference this morning was exactly the kind of speech we expected. With eleven months to go until a difficult set of devolved elections, the Prime Minister fell back on the greatest hits to play to the party faithful. Labour is the party with the ‘interests of working people at their heart’ and ‘it always will be’, Starmer said. The Senedd elections next May risk producing a ‘backroom stitch-up between the Tories, Reform and Plaid’ with ‘working families left to pick up the bill.’ He reeled off various achievements: the minimum wage increase, workers’ rights, the carer’s allowance and, most significantly, a ‘record uplift to

Charlotte Henry

Why Jews aren’t enjoying Glastonbury

I’ve never been to Glastonbury. As more of a heavy metal girl, it’s not really my music scene and, frankly, I don’t believe in camping. Did it once. Not happening again. That said, I do quite enjoy watching the festival from the comfort of my own home. There are always some bands I already like performing and you can discover some exciting news artists too. Frankly, it’s hard to avoid. The coverage tends to dominate almost every aspect of the BBC and it is well underway for this year. Almost every Jewish music lover I know has been dreading this weekend for weeks Unfortunately, but entirely predictably, Glastonbury is set to

Kristina Murkett

Bridget Phillipson can’t be trusted to fix Britain’s schools

If relationships between Ofsted and schools are already frayed, then we may officially be about to reach the end of the rope. Headteachers are now threatening to quit as part-time inspectors unless Ofsted delays and revises its changes to how schools and colleges are graded in England. Ofsted relies on around 900 part-time inspectors, who are mostly serving headteachers and senior leaders, to assist its 300 officers in carrying out thousands of inspections each year. The new Ofsted ‘report card’, set to be brought in this September, is a rushed botch job which promises semantic tweaks rather than actual reform. Ofsted was tasked with creating a new system that would

Julie Burchill Julie Burchill

Tom Skinner and the triumph of Essex Man

As a teenager, my first husband was an Essex Man. It ended badly – all my fault – but I still retain a fondness for the breed, who I associate with self-made can-do stoicism and optimism; the opposite of, say, Islington Man. An Essex Man is being spoken of as the one to give the ghastly ‘Sir’ Sadiq Khan a run for his money In recent decades, the county has become known as a glitzy, new-money Cheshire-on-Colne, due to the popular television show The Only Way Is Essex, a ‘scripted reality’ show in which a mutating cast of likely lads and luscious-lipped ladies make out and break up at bars

Nigel Jones

Oxfam’s Gaza propaganda

An astonishing email from Oxfam, one of Britain’s oldest and biggest humanitarian charities, dropped into my inbox this week. Dramatically titled (in blood scarlet) ‘Red Lines for Gaza’, it demanded that if I am as outraged by the ‘horrors that Israel is inflicting on Palestinians in Gaza’ as Oxfam is, and I want to do something about it, I should scrawl a red line across the palm of my hand and send the image to the charity. They will then use it to make a striking design for their campaign on the Gaza issue in the coming days. The email simply assumed that I must share Oxfam’s one sided, extreme

Octavius Black

The dark side of LinkedIn

I’d always assumed that LinkedIn is Instagram for people with lanyards. A place for earnest self-congratulation, polite emoji applause, and lightly airbrushed career updates: ‘Humbled to be speaking at Davos’; ‘Thrilled to have joined Deloitte’; ‘Grateful to my incredible team for smashing Q4 targets.’ That sort of thing. Sanitised, self-serving and safely anodyne with an easy trade: a like for a like, a ‘repost’ for a ‘funny’. Instead of an apology, I received a torrent of replies ranging from ‘you had it coming’ to ‘stop making a fuss’ So when I posted something mildly provocative, I expected at worst a few furrowed brows and an awkward silence in the comments.

Steve Baker

Steve Baker on how to organise a successful rebellion

25 min listen

As Labour rebels appear to have forced concessions from Keir Starmer over welfare this week, former Conservative MP Steve Baker joins James Heale to reflect on his own time as a rebel, and to provide some advice to Labour MPs. Steve, an MP for 14 years and a minister under Theresa May, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, tells James about the different rebellions he was a part of (from Brexit to Covid), explains how to organise a successful one and reveals how he has lost close friends when he has made the decision to compromise. He also blames Labour’s problems on their ‘bombs not benefits’ approach, explains why the current

Friday

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Tories fume at council by-election results

It seems that all is not well with the once-mighty Tory ground game. After a thumping set of election defeats last month, a worrying new trend has developed for the Conservatives. They are not only losing more wards in council by-elections; they now seem unable to field candidates, even in seats still represented at Westminster by the surviving 120 Tory MPs. Hardly a healthy sign… Three weeks ago, the party was unable to field candidates for two by-elections in King’s Lynn and West Norfolk – a seat still held in the Commons by the Tory James Wild. Then, this week, the party could not find someone to stand for a

David Shipley

Why does Lord Hermer think two-tier justice claims are disgusting?

Lord Hermer, the Attorney General who personally authorised the prosecution of Lucy Connolly for a tweet, has broken his silence on the claims that we have a two-tier justice system, and he’s angry. Hemer is also very wrong, as an investigation into Palestine Action demonstrates. Hermer, like much of the British regime, prefers convenient pretence over honesty The Attorney General was interviewed for Starmer’s Stormy Year, a new Radio 4 programme assessing how the government’s first year has gone. When the discussion turned to last August’s riots, Hermer became audibly angry, describing the two-tier claim as ‘frankly disgusting’. He seemed rather confused about where the impression of double standards has

Peter Frankopan

Peter Frankopan, Tim Shipman, Francis Pike, Hermione Eyre and George Young

42 min listen

On this week’s Spectator Out Loud: Peter Frankopan argues that Israel’s attack on Iran has been planned for years (2:00); just how bad are things for Kemi Badenoch, asks Tim Shipman (13:34); Francis Pike says there are plenty of reasons to believe in ghosts (21:49); Hermione Eyre, wife of Alex Burghart MP, reviews Sarah Vine’s book How Not To Be a Political Wife: A Memoir, which deals with Vine’s marriage to ex-husband Michael Gove (28:46); and, George Young reports on the French sculptors building the new Statue of Liberty (34:45).  Produced and presented by Patrick Gibbons.

Michael Simmons Michael Simmons

Revealed: the dodgy data undermining Universal Credit

As Sir Keir Starmer offers concessions to 126 rebels to water down his welfare reform bill, a scandal that undermines the entire Universal Credit system goes ignored. The Spectator has seen figures revealing that the HMRC data feed which powers Universal Credit payments to low-paid workers may be so error-strewn that as many as one in four claimants has been underpaid, overpaid or not paid at all. When Universal Credit was introduced 11 years ago to modernise benefits, it required a robust data system to drive it. HMRC’s answer was the ‘Real Time Information’ (RTI) system – hailed at the time as the most significant overhaul of the tax system since

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Four lowlights from Starmer’s Observer interview

Next Friday marks a year since Labour came to power. To celebrate the occasion, Sir Keir Starmer has done a bizarre sit down interview with the Observer in which our hapless premier admits that, er, he basically has got all of it wrong. Quelle Surprise. Across 3,700 words the Hon. Member struggles, manfully, to walk the balance between contrition and resolution. For those who cannot face another Starmer long-read, never fear, here is Mr S to bring you the lowlights…. Renouncing ‘island of strangers’ speech: The top line from the piece is Starmer regretting a speech he made less than six weeks ago. He tells Tom Baldwin ‘That particular phrase,

Oscar Edmondson

Welfare U-turn: is Keir in control?

15 min listen

Keir Starmer has performed a screeching about-turn on his flagship welfare reforms, all in the hope of quelling the rebellion from more than 120 MPs who have been promised ‘massive concessions’ over concerns about disability benefits. These include moderating the bill to make it easier for people with multiple impairments to claim disability benefits, and offering to protect Personal Independence Payments (PIP) for all existing claimants for ever – to ensure there would be no detriment from the reforms for existing claimants, a key concern of the welfare rebels. But new claimants will be affected, as ministers desperately try to stop ever-spiralling disability and sickness welfare spending climbing to £100

James Heale James Heale

The knives are out after Labour’s welfare debacle

If the Labour party were a cinema, then it would currently be showing a double billing: Groundhog Day and Knives Out. For older heads, the Welfare Bill has echoes of the 2015 vote on Universal Credit; newbies MPs are now experiencing what it is like to be in a full-on government briefing war. Plenty of fall-guys are cited in today’s newspapers: from Alan Campbell and the whips’ office to Morgan McSweeney and the political operation in No. 10. The most immediate loser from the welfare U-turn is Rachel Reeves. Both politically and fiscally, the Chancellor is now in a tight spot The most immediate loser from the welfare U-turn is

Matthew Lynn

The welfare state has become absurdly dysfunctional

Britain’s 12.9 million pensioners are better off financially than they have ever been, and certainly compared with the rest of the country. Their winter fuel allowance has been restored. The triple lock looks completely secure. And with the stock market close to record highs, any savings they have will be in a healthy state as well. There is just one snag. More of them are paying tax than ever before – and that is emblematic of a bloated welfare system that has become completely dysfunctional.  Another 420,000 people over the state pension age will have to pay some income tax in 2025-26, bringing the total to 8.7 million, according to

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Half of Labour members want Reeves sacked

It never rains but it pours. Rachel Reeves really isn’t having a good time at the Treasury. First, there was the £1bn winter fuel U-turn. Then, came the £1.5bn welfare concessions. And now, some new polling has dropped which makes for grim reading for the Chancellor. LabourList has this morning published the latest findings from its most recent poll of Labour members. Reeves is the runaway favourite to be sacked in the next reshuffle, with 46 per cent of the 1,304 respondents supporting her removal. Next up in the sack race stakes is Liz Kendall on 42 per cent, following the outcry over her proposed changes to disability benefits. Bronze

Gavin Mortimer Gavin Mortimer

Starmer’s ‘one in, one out’ migrant plan will fail

Britain and France believe they have found a solution to the small boats crisis. According to reports, Keir Starmer and President Emmanuel Macron have agreed to implement a ‘one-in, one-out’ system whereby Britain will return to France illegal migrants who have crossed the Channel in small boats. Britain, for its part, will accept migrants who have a legitimate case for joining family already resident in the UK. A government source told the Times: ‘It’ll start as a pilot but it’s to prove the point that if you pay for your passage on a boat, then you could quite quickly find yourself back in France.’ Under the scheme, Britain and France would

Druin Burch

The flaw in Wes Streeting’s AI NHS app

Speaking at Blackpool Football Club earlier this week, Wes Streeting announced his latest bid to modernise the NHS: bold new additions to the NHS app. Artificial intelligence would be used to empower people, turning them into experts on their own conditions, while another feature would ‘show patients everything from their nearest pharmacy to the best hospital for heart surgery across the country, with patients able to choose based on their preference’. These features will reportedly be introduced within the next three years, with an extra £10 billion allocated by Rachel Reeves in her spending review to fund NHS technology. How exactly will NHS providers be ‘inspired’ by patients being offered choice?