Politics

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

Friday

19 Jul 2024

Steerpike

SNP government didn’t prepare well for pandemic, report says

Uh oh. The Covid inquiry has been ticking along in the background for the last two years, and finally its first report has been published. A shock to no one, it transpires that neither the UK nor Scottish governments come out of it particularly well. It appears both were rather unprepared for a pandemic – and the damning review suggests they proceeded to respond to the ‘wrong’ one. How very interesting… The findings reveal that former Dear Leader Nicola Sturgeon’s government ‘did not act with sufficient urgency’ – and when it did, it seems it responded ineffectually. The report noted that the officials tasked with planning for a pandemic did

Katy Balls

Tories divided over leadership contest rules

There had been hope that the Tories would announce the rules and timetable for the party’s leadership contest before the week was out. Then, next week, would-be candidates could seek the required number of nominations to stand and spend the summer recess wooing members as they pleased ahead of knockout rounds in September when parliament returns. However, it has not come to pass. Instead, as things stand, the Tory party can’t agree on a timetable – which doesn’t bode too well for the next task of uniting behind a new leader. Tory MPs in the ‘go now’ camp worry that a long contest means the party will not be able

Ross Clark

Why is British retail so sluggish?

Is the retail sector ever going to recover from Covid-19? The rest of the economy seems to be purring quite nicely at the moment, with GDP up 0.7 per cent in the first quarter (not adjusting for population growth). But the good times have yet to reach the retail sector, where sales volumes fell by 1.2 per cent in June. This followed a surprise 2.9 per cent rise in May, but over the second quarter as a whole sales were down 0.1 per cent. Compared with the second quarter of 2023, sales were down 0.2 per cent. Overall, sales were 1.3 per cent lower last month than they were in

Freddy Gray

Donald Trump sounds sombre – and strange

Nobody can blame Donald Trump for a being a little reflective – given the events of the last few days. But his big speech in Milwaukee last night was, as his rather unkind critics were quick to point out, curiously ‘low-energy’. He was sombre and slow. He looked almost too sad to read out from the teleprompter. He at times seemed to struggle to hold back the tears. Donald Trump can do funny and he can do angry. But sombre Donald Trump is a different man altogether Normally, at rallies, Trump revs up the crowd. This time the crowd tried again and again to rev him up. They laughed at

James Heale

Trump returns with a sedate RNC speech

Milwaukee, Wisconsin The Republican National Committee could not have hoped for a better convention. For three days, the party has exhibited a near-faultless display of unity. It is the first convention in 20 years where polls suggest the Republicans are on course to win the White House, producing an air of expectation and excitement. Activists are enthused and candidates are bullish, all the while Democrats tear themselves apart over Joe Biden’s fading re-elections hopes. Less than a week after the assassination attempt which almost took his life, the stage could not have been set for Donald Trump to make his first speech to the Republican faithful. The tragedy for Trump

Brendan O’Neill

When did Trump supporters become fans of cancel culture?

A rock band’s tour cancelled after one of the band members made a tasteless joke. A working-class cashier sacked from her job at the behest of an online mob who were horrified by something she said on Facebook. A schoolteacher suspended after being dogpiled for a daft remark she made online. Has the left-wing digital mob been on the rampage again? Actually, no – this time it’s right-wingers who are furiously demanding the scalps of everyone who offends them. So this is what we have to look forward to if Trump ousts Biden? There has been a frenzy of cancellation in the wake of the attempted assassination of Donald Trump.

William Atkinson

Why Priti Patel will struggle to win the trust of Tory members

Jonathan Gullis is a happy man. ‘Good news!’ the ex-Tory MP for Stoke-on-Trent North wrote following reports that Priti Patel, the former Home Secretary, is to run for the Tory leadership. ‘Priti can unite the Conservative Party, take the fight to Starmer’s Labour, and win back the trust of voters’, Gullis claimed. That’s quite the prospectus, for a party in such a shattered state. If reports in the Daily Telegraph are correct, Patel has been ‘urged to run’ by fellow MPs and already has ‘a campaign team funded by ‘high-profile Tory donors”. She plans to launch her bid for the top job by the end of next week. In standing

Thursday

18 Jul 2024

Isabel Hardman

Starmer accuses Tories of ‘dereliction of duty’

Keir Starmer used his press conference at the end of the European Political Community summit to further cement his narrative that the Tories have broken everything and that the situation is much worse than he had thought before entering government. This line is, Labour strategists believe, essential to the party having a chance of securing a second term, much as the Tories won the 2015 election with their campaigning in their first few months of governing in 2010. He accused the previous government of a ‘dereliction of duty’ on immigration, saying: ‘We’ve had a Home Office who has been dedicated to a gimmick that didn’t work.’ The argument about the

Freddy Gray

How much pressure is Biden under?

26 min listen

As more Democrats call for Joe Biden to pull out of the presidential race, Freddy Gray is joined by Damon Linker and Jacob Heilbrunn to discuss what could happen next. Who is influencing his decision and how transparent are top Democrats being with the public? They also discuss potential contenders to replace Biden, including Vice-President Kamala Harris; how well could they do against Trump? Produced by Patrick Gibbons and Natasha Feroze.

Isabel Hardman

Pat McFadden and Ed Davey probed at Post Office Inquiry

At what point does a minister decide they are being lied to? That was the question Pat McFadden and Ed Davey had to consider as they gave evidence to the Post Office Inquiry. Both were confronted with evidence of Post Office figures assuring them nothing was wrong when subpostmasters and their MPs were raising concerns – and of their own officials repeating those assertions as fact, rather than checking for themselves. At one stage, one of the lawyers asking questions took Davey to a document written by the Post Office, and then asked him to compare it to a briefing then prepared by his officials: The entirety of the information

Ben Domenech

The intellectual journey of JD Vance

For someone who is not yet 40, the path JD Vance walked to become the next potential vice president of the United States is a long and winding journey from the holler to Silicon Valley to the halls of the US Senate. It encompasses four different names – from James Donald Bowman to James David to James Hamel to James David Vance – and movement through a variety of worlds and circumstances, with very distinct cultures and influences. If the vice presidency is itself a very boring job in the realm of politics, tasked with worthless drudgery, Vance is far more interesting than the role requires. And his intellectual journey

Oscar Edmondson

Keir Starmer: ‘We want to reset relationships with EU’

14 min listen

Keir Starmer is at Blenheim Palace today for the gathering of the European Political Community, the forum created by Emmanuel Macron in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. While the new Prime Minister met with many world leaders last week in Washington for the Nato summit, this is his first time he has played host since entering 10 Downing Street. And he used his opening address to call for a ‘reset’ of relations with the EU, but what will that look like? Oscar Edmondson speaks with Katy Balls and Charles Grant, director at the Centre for European Reform. Produced by Oscar Edmondson.

Matthew Lynn

Ursula von der Leyen only cares about power

The Green New Deal will be watered down. There will be a drive to roll back rules and regulations. And there will be far tougher control of the borders. The President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen secured the support of the bloc’s parliament today by promising a radical overhaul of the policies of the last four years. There is just one problem. This is the same leader who implemented all the policies she has just ditched. Von der Leyen has been exposed as a politician who believes in nothing It is all changing in the EU. The Green New Deal, a Europop version of Bidenomics, is going

William Moore

Is Donald Trump now unstoppable?

37 min listen

This week: bulletproof Trump. The failed assassination attempt on Donald Trump means that his supporters, more than ever, view him as America’s Chosen One. Joe Biden’s candidacy has been falling apart since his disastrous performance in the first presidential debate last month. Trump is now ahead in the polls in all the battleground states. The whispers in Washington are that the Democrats are already giving up on stopping a second Trump term – and eyeing up the presidential election of 2028 instead. Freddy Gray, deputy editor at The Spectator, and Amber Duke, Washington editor at Spectator World, join the podcast to discuss. (02:45) Next: meeting the mega MAGA fans. The Spectator’s political correspondent James Heale

Steerpike

Will the Scottish Tories form a new party?

To Scotland, where the Scottish Conservatives are facing problems of their own. North of the border, a leadership contest is looming after outgoing leader Douglas Ross announced his resignation mid-campaign. Since then there have been animated discussions about who his successor will be. And while contenders for the UK party are already making their mark, their Scottish counterparts look set for a fiery leadership race too. Current justice spokesperson Russell Findlay MSP is seen by many as the obvious choice, and his colleague Rachael Hamilton has warmly endorsed him – but others in the party have expressed support for potential rival candidate Murdo Fraser. The MSP for the region of

Katy Balls

Will Keir Starmer’s EU ‘reset’ pay off?

Keir Starmer is at Blenheim Palace today for the gathering of the European Political Community, the forum created by Emmanuel Macron in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. While the new Prime Minister met with many world leaders last week in Washington for the Nato summit, this is his first time he has played host since entering 10 Downing Street. As European leaders arrive, the Labour leader has been glad-handing his new counter parts. So far, we have seen a warm embrace for Hungary’s Viktor Orbán and the sparks of a bromance with a grinning Macron. The EU will want something in return for any removal of barriers

Ross Clark

Keir Starmer is deluding himself about the EU

‘We cannot let the challenges of the recent past define our relationships of the future,’ declared the Prime Minister ahead of today’s meeting of the European Political Union at Blenheim Palace. The meeting, he added, ‘will fire the starting gun on this government’s new approach to Europe’. The subtext to this is: the grown-ups are back in charge, and from now on we are going to have a far more constructive relationship with the EU. Keir Starmer has even promised a renegotiation of Britain’s trading relationship with the EU, which is supposedly going to make life easier for our exporters. Keir Starmer has even promised a renegotiation of Britain’s trading relationship

Steerpike

Watch: David Lammy refuses to apologise for calling Trump a ‘sociopath’

David Lammy is in the firing line over comments he made in the past about Donald Trump. The Foreign Secretary was quizzed this morning on BBC Breakfast about his past attacks on the presidential candidate – particularly when Lammy called Trump a ‘neo-Nazi sympathising sociopath’. What a charmer… Instead of showing contrition, the Foreign Secretary opted to go on the defensive – telling presenter Naga Munchetty: ‘You’re going to struggle to find any politician who has not had things to say about Donald Trump in his first term.’ He went on: You would have struggled with our last foreign secretary David Cameron, who described him as a xenophobe and a

Michael Simmons

Is the great worker shortage finally coming to an end?

British workers have just experienced their highest pay rises for two years. With inflation remaining at the Bank of England’s target, the average worker has now seen their real term pay increase between March and May this year by just over 2 per cent – a level not seen since 2022. However, in cash terms there are clear signs that the heat has firmly left the labour market with pay growth beginning to slow. This is good news for the new government and rate setters at the Bank of England who will need to decide next month whether it’s time for the first interest rate cuts. Doubts about a cut

Freddy Gray

Joe Biden has caught covid at the worst possible time

Talk about timing. Joe Biden has caught covid, the White House has announced. The president, who was touring Las Vegas, ‘is experiencing mild symptoms,’ press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement. ‘(Biden) will be returning to Delaware where he will self-isolate and will continue to carry out all of his duties fully during that time.’ Biden has been vaccinated and boosted against covid, Jean-Pierre added. Will Donald Trump call Joe Biden to wish him well? In the 21 days since the now infamous debate with Donald Trump, Biden has kept a busy schedule. He has tried and largely failed to allay public concerns about his health. This latest news will not