Politics

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

Wednesday

29 May 2024

Diane Abbott has been treated abysmally

Diane Abbott should be allowed to stand as a Labour MP at this election. It is a relief that she has belatedly had the Labour whip returned to her after a ridiculously long ‘process’ involving the Labour party and the whips’ office. But to be reinstated the day before parliament is dissolved is an insult. To make things worse, she has been told that she will be banned from standing as a candidate on 4 July – although Keir Starmer has said it is ‘not true’ she is barred from running. There are many problems with the Labour party’s approach here. Firstly, the delay in dealing with her case is entirely

Stephen Daisley

Matheson’s suspension has come at a terrible time for the SNP

The Scottish parliament has voted to suspend former SNP cabinet minister Michael Matheson for 27 sitting days and dock his salary for 54 calendar days. It comes after Matheson was found to have broken the MSP code of conduct on expenses and use of parliamentary resources. Matheson ran up an £11,000 mobile data bill during a family holiday in Morocco and tried to have the taxpayer pick up the tab. Despite initially claiming no knowledge of how such a large bill was incurred, he later said that his sons had run up the charges while using the device’s hotspotting function to stream Celtic football matches. The vote broke down 64

Jawad Iqbal

Labour can’t avoid questions about Diane Abbott forever

The Labour leadership has only itself to blame for becoming embroiled in a bitter and divisive row over the future of Dianne Abbott, the MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington. She was suspended from the party in April last year after writing a letter to the Observer that appeared to play down racism against Jewish people. The party is now facing growing questions about how the disciplinary process around Abbott unfolded. Abbott apologised for her remarks, but was placed under a months-long investigation and lost the Labour whip. She finally confirmed this morning that she would not be allowed to stand again as a Labour candidate, even though the

Iain Macwhirter

John Swinney’s wounds are self-inflicted

John Swinney has said that he will make sure the public sees enough of him over the election campaign. But do they want to? In the latest Survation poll, conducted for True North over the weekend he is now the third most popular leader in this race of also-rans, with an approval rating of -7. Sir Keir Starmer is top and the Scottish Labour leader, Anas Sarwar, is second most popular at -3. This fall from grace may not be unconnected with Mr Swinney’s much-criticised defence last week of his disgraced ‘friend and colleague’ Michael Matheson, of iPad fame. Mr Matheson had been censured by the Holyrood Standards Committee for trying to claim,

Kate Andrews

A stand-off between Labour and the BMA is coming

Junior doctors will be staging yet another walkout in the week running up to the election: five days in total, from 27 June to 1 July. It is the 11th walkout since March last year, as the union insists they will not settle for less than a 35 per cent pay raise. The dates are no coincidence: there is no moment more politically fueled than the run-up to polling day. This gives more weight to the government’s argument that these strikes have always been political in nature, and certainly resulting in political consequence: the NHS waiting list rose by roughly 500,000 after Rishi Sunak pledged to get the waitlist falling,

James Heale

Is Diane Abbott in or out?

11 min listen

The drama in Westminster never seems to end. Last night the Times reported that the Labour party would not allow veteran MP Diane Abbott to represent the party at the upcoming general election. Abbott has reportedly been given the Labour whip back as a middle way, causing something of a backlash. Seeking to clarify the situation, Keir Starmer has today insisted that, ‘no decision has been taken to bar Diane Abbot’ and that ‘she is a member of the parliamentary Labour party.’ What’s going on? Will she be standing? James Heale speaks to Katy Balls and John McTernan, former political secretary to Tony Blair. Produced by Oscar Edmondson.

Brendan O’Neill

The tragedy of Diane Abbott

Here’s the tragedy of Diane Abbott. She entered British politics as a trailblazer for black Britons and now she leaves public life on the sour note of insulting Jewish Britons. She started out as a warrior against racism but ended up seeming to minimise racism. She devoted her political career to standing up for beleaguered minorities and then made the grave moral error of playing down the beleaguering of Britain’s Jewish minority. The moral fall of Diane Abbott tells a broader story about the moral decay of the left How did this happen? How did our first black female MP end up in the eye of a racism storm? How

Matthew Lynn

Daniel Kretinsky may come to regret buying Royal Mail

Foreigners are stripping the UK of its assets. Vulture capitalists are swooping down on our historic companies. We need a strategy to defend jobs and services. We will hear lots of arguments over the next few days about why the Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky should not be allowed to complete his agreed takeover of Royal Mail. And yet, the more interesting question is this: why on earth would he want it? In reality, Royal Mail is a dog of a business, and one that is likely to be very difficult to turn around. Kretinsky may well come to regret his latest acquisition. Royal Mail has been a poorly performing business

Callum Hunter

Could the election be closer than you think?

Yesterday, the firm I work for, J.L. Partners, released a poll showing a 12-point lead for Labour over the Conservatives. This gap between the parties is much narrower than other polling companies are predicting – with several other polls showing a 20 point plus lead for Labour. Our poll still shows that Labour is heading for victory, but it has already been seized on by the Conservatives as a sign that they are still in contention in this election campaign. What explains the difference in these polls? And could the election in fact be closer than many think? To understand how we have arrived at this result, you also have to understand the

Steerpike

Is Apsana Begum next to go from Labour?

It’s a busy day in Labour land, following the mishandling of the Diane Abbott disaster. But now Mr S hears of a fresh row brewing in another of Labour’s London safe seats. In 2019, the Corbynite candidate Apsana Begum was chosen to replace the moderate Jim Fitzpatrick for the Poplar and Limehouse constituency. Her first two years as an MP were dominated by her trial for housing fraud, of which she was cleared in court in July 2021. She subsequently fell out with her constituency party to such an extent that in July 2022, the local branches and their affiliates voted for a full ‘recall’ process to determine who would

Terry Barnes

Victoria’s absurd new minister for men’s behaviour

Australian states like to advertise themselves on car number plates with a catchy slogan capturing what they see as their self-image. My home state of Victoria’s slogan is ‘The Place to Be’. When it comes to identity politics and the state government’s obsession with progressive causes – to the point of being extremist – Victoria is very much Australia’s place to be. To assume, as Allan has, that all men are toxic perpetrators-in-waiting is an insult to the overwhelming majority of men who deplore family violence of any sort Cursed with a conservative opposition that can’t organise a knees-up in a brewery, Victoria is all but permanently governed by an Australian Labor party that, even

Steerpike

Iain Dale quits LBC to run as Tory candidate

It’s the end of an era for over 70 Tory MPs who will quit their seats at the next election – but one media veteran is making a rather interesting move in the opposite direction. Iain Dale, who has worked at LBC since 2010 and has presented a number of shows including Cross Question and All Talk, told listeners on Tuesday night that the show would be his last as he wants to stand for the Tory candidacy in Tunbridge Wells. After an extremely successful broadcast career, it’s quite the decision… The seat is currently held by Greg Clark MP, who announced last week that he will be joining the

Arieh Kovler

Netanyahu’s strategy in Rafah isn’t working

On 7 April, six months after the October massacres in southern Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the public that the country was just ‘one step away from victory’ in its war against Hamas in Gaza. Nearly two months later, Israel hasn’t taken that step yet. The war continues. No more hostages have been released alive. Hamas rockets still fall inside Israel, including a barrage earlier this week that rained down on the suburbs of Tel Aviv. The two leaders of Israel’s war effort haven’t spoken to each other for a fortnight In the meantime, international public opinion has hardened against Israel. Some countries, like Colombia, have broken diplomatic relations.

Steerpike

Has Starmer told the truth about Diane Abbott?

Sir Keir Starmer has made personal integrity front and centre of his election campaign. When asked about his multiple broken pledges two days ago, the Labour leader declared that ‘I think it’s more important to stand in front of the electorate and say, “I’m sorry, I can’t now afford what I said before”… I’m not going to tell you you can have everything and then break a promise’… I think that is basic honesty with the electorate.’ But has Starmer given that ‘basic honesty’ when it comes to the matter of one of his own party’s MPs? On Friday, Sir Keir was asked by LBC’s Nick Ferrari about his party’s

Andrew Tettenborn

Is the West being hypocritical about Georgia’s foreign agents law?

The Georgian parliament has rammed through its new foreign agents law amid massive protests, overriding the veto of pro-western and pro-EU president Salome Zourabichvili. The new law essentially will require all non-commercial organisations operating in Georgia to register as foreign agents and publicise themselves as such if they receive over 20 per cent of their funding from abroad. Its aim is to counter the influence of pro-western NGOs in the country. The Georgian government has a point when it defends the requirement of registration as a transparency measure The proposal has already caused serious unrest, and this will undoubtedly now balloon. You can see why. The government led by ruling

Tuesday

28 May 2024

Steerpike

Diane Abbott banned from standing for Labour

The drama in Westminster never seems to end – and tonight is certainly no exception to that rule. In one of the biggest developments of the week, it transpires that Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour party will not allow veteran MP Diane Abbott to represent the party at the upcoming general election. However, Abbott has reportedly been given the Labour whip back as a middle way. The Hackney North & Stoke Newington MP was the first black woman elected to parliament, serving continually since 1987 and achieving a majority of over 33,000 in 2019 – but Labour’s decision this evening is likely to bring her 37-year political career to end. The

Steerpike

Poll slashes Labour lead to just 12 points

They think it’s all over – but is that actually the case? After a difficult start to the campaign for the Conservatives, many of their own MPs had privately written off their chances at this election. However a new poll out tonight could force the skeptics to think again, with Labour’s lead down to just 12 points. The survey for JL Partners revealed that the Starmer army still retain some 40 per cent of the vote but suggested Sunak and the Tories are coming up on the rails with 28 per cent. The fieldwork for this poll was done on Friday 24 and Saturday 25 May, shortly after the Prime

Steerpike

BBC presenter grovels after Farage jibe

It seems these days that the BBC is doing a better job of creating the news than presenting it. Today’s row is about one of the broadcaster’s stars entering into a spat with Reform’s Nigel Farage — and losing rather spectacularly… The I’m a Celeb finalist was out today helping promote Richard Tice’s party in Dover as he made his first big speech of the election campaign. At a gathering of party supporters and journalists, Farage spoke of immigration problems seen in Europe. Quoting remarks made by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, the Reform founder pointed to ‘the wave of — and I’m using his words not mine — “aggressive, young males” that

James Heale

Police drop investigation into Rayner housing claims

Labour’s election campaign continues to get off to a good start. Greater Manchester Police (GMP) has today confirmed that it will take no further action against Angela Rayner after accusations surrounding her living arrangements. Officers from the force launched an investigation into the party’s deputy leader in April after Tory MP James Daly registered a complaint. It followed reports in the Mail which suggested that Rayner might have lived primarily at her then-husband’s address in Stockport, despite registering to vote under her own – a potential breach of electoral rules. But this afternoon GMP released a 121-word statement which says that after ‘a thorough, carefully considered and proportionate investigation’ they

Katy Balls

Who’s winning the TikTok election battle?

12 min listen

Days into the election campaign and parties are scrambling to get their message out on social media. With both Labour and the Conservatives joining TikTok, who has a stronger message? Katy Balls speaks to Sean Topham, co-founder of Topham Guerin who ran the Conservative’s 2019 social media campaign.