Politics

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

Friday

17 May 2024

Georgia’s ‘foreign agent’ law protestors won’t go down quietly

Following the introduction this Tuesday of Georgia’s notorious ‘foreign agent’ law by the ruling party Georgian Dream, there has been widespread popular protest in the capital Tbilisi. The law, proposed last year but postponed in the face of public resistance, demands that any non-governmental organisation receiving more than 20 per cent of its funding from abroad must label itself an ‘agent of foreign influence’ or face fines and even imprisonment. While the government claims it’s simply a practical bid to create transparency in Georgian politics, critics, who call it the ‘Russian Law’, feel it’s a leap towards greater union with the Kremlin. They fear the legislation will simply be abused,

Debbie Hayton

Why schools must teach kids about gender identity

Schools in England will no longer be allowed to tell children about gender identity. There will be two sexes: male and female. That is if the government gets its way, following a consultation on the teaching of relationships and sex education launched yesterday. Gillian Keegan said that the draft guidance ‘specifies that the contested topic of gender identity should not be taught’. However, while the Secretary of State for Education might be able to specify what is taught in schools – this will be statutory guidance applicable to all schools in England – Keegan has no hold over what social media influencers upload to their channels. Misinformation proliferates on the internet, and gender identity is no

Thursday

16 May 2024

Katy Balls

Has Starmer scaled down his pledges?

13 min listen

Keir Starmer has unveiled his six election pledges. In a nod to Tony Blair’s 1997 election card, the Labour leader has announced key promises to the public should they win the election. How are the commitments being received, and what will the impact of his speech be? James Heale speaks to Katy Balls and Stephen Bush, Associate Editor at the Financial Times.

Ross Clark

Tony Blair’s Foundation takes Ed Miliband to task over Net Zero

Is Tony Blair, like Margaret Thatcher before him, about to become the voice from beyond the political grave that makes life difficult for his party? Labour’s climate secretary in waiting – Ed Miliband – won’t find a lot of comfort in a paper put out today by the Tony Blair Foundation, Reimagining the UK’s Net Zero Target. The conclusion of the paper, whose authorship is attributed to ‘multiple experts’, is not that Britain should drop its overall target to achieve net zero but that its strategy has become too dogmatic, and revolves around unrealistic targets which, by threatening to make people poorer, are in danger of hurting public support for

William Moore

Veep show: who will Trump pick for his running mate?

47 min listen

This week: Veep show: who will Trump pick for his running mate? Freddy Gray goes through the contenders – and what they say about America (and its most likely next president). ‘Another thought might be buzzing around Trump’s head: he can pick pretty much whoever he wants because really it’s all about him. He might even choose one of his children: Ivanka or Donald Junior. What could sound better than Trump-Trump 2024?’ Freddy joins the podcast. (02:10) Next: Will and Lara take us through some of their favourite pieces from the magazine, including David Shipley’s piece on the issues in the criminal justice system and Patrick Kidd’s article on the C of

Kristina Murkett

The truth about the ‘ban’ on sex education

Increasingly, it feels like the Tories want to distract from their looming defeat by doing everything they can to keep everyone in a constant state of outrage. Their latest target: sex education. There has been much talk over the past couple of days about the government’s plan to ‘ban’ sex education for under nine-year-olds, as well as teaching about gender identity, in an attempt to stop students from being ‘exposed to disturbing content’. Talk of a ‘ban’ is misplaced. Firstly, the government isn’t actually banning anything; it is merely issuing new ‘guidance’. Secondly, any new guidance is completely unnecessary because, well, there isn’t actually any sex education on the curriculum currently

Steerpike

Scottish Greens expel members who believe in ‘biological sex’

If you thought the Scottish Greens couldn’t get any battier, then strap in. Patrick Harvie’s barmy army has ramped up its baffling stance on gender politics and is now expelling party members for declaring that ‘sex is a biological reality’. There really are no words… The eco-zealots have turned on their own membership after a handful of activist members signed the ‘Scottish Green Declaration for Women’s Sex-Based Rights’ in a protest against the party’s position on gender issues. The unofficial declaration asserts that sex is a ‘biological reality’, women have a right to maintain sex-based protections as in the Equality Act, lesbians are same-sex attracted and ‘women and girls have

Tom Slater

Of course it isn’t racist to tell a Japanese colleague you like sushi

Is it racist to tell a Japanese colleague that you like sushi? No, says an employment-tribunal judge, in another welcome blow for sanity. This is the conclusion to a downright deranged claim of racial discrimination lodged by Nana Sato-Rossberg, a linguistics and culture professor, against her employer, the School of Oriental and African Studies (Soas) at the University of London. It revolved around Sato-Rossberg’s alleged treatment at the hands of Claire Ozanne, the former deputy director and provost at Soas. After their very first meeting in 2020, the tribunal heard, Sato-Rossberg told a colleague that she suspected Ozanne would be biased against her. ‘People like me, a non-white female’, Sato-Rossberg said,

Steerpike

May mocks her successors’ books

To the Commons, where Theresa May was the guest of honour for today’s parliamentary press gallery lunch. The former premier was on sparkling form as she spoke of the crisis facing global democracies. Asked by one journalist as to whether populism worked, May retorted: ‘Well, let me I see – how many successors am I on now?’ And it was her successors who were the subject of her ire as the ex-PM scrutinised their literary efforts. May, who recently published her first book Abuse of Power, joked that: I’ve been around quite a few bookshops recently. It’s quite interesting to notice where political titles are categorised, where they’re showed in the bookshops.

Steerpike

Sunak: I will stay in parliament even if we lose

In a year of tough interviews, perhaps the most unusual one the Prime Minister has encountered thus far was today’s shock appearance on ITV’s Loose Women. Instead of finding himself vis-à-vis with the usual lobby culprits, Rishi Sunak was instead surrounded by the show’s formidable panel of Kaye Adams, Judi Love, Janet Street-Porter and Jane Moore. Quizzed by the seasoned presenters, Sunak was pelted with questions about his own experience of sex education (of which he said little), his parenting style and his upbringing. After the government announced its plans to reform sex ed in schools, Sunak told today’s audience that he couldn’t quite remember when or what he was

Brendan O’Neill

The troubling reaction to the shooting of Robert Fico

Just imagine if, following the killing of Jo Cox, some right-wing media outlet had said: ‘Well, she was a divisive figure, and very pro-Remain, so it’s not surprising something like this happened.’ We’d be horrified, right? We would have looked upon such low commentary as excuse-making for murder, as a borderline justification for an utterly unjust act of violence against an MP, a mother and democracy itself. It is hands down the most disturbing thing I’ve heard on a news channel Well, something not dissimilar to this imagined scenario happened for real yesterday – and we need to talk about it. It was on Sky News. They were discussing the

Harry Mount

Why does the National Trust hate itself so much?

In its latest bout of self-hatred, the National Trust has declared that ‘people from the global majority are widely under-represented in the outdoors, accounting for only 1 per cent of National Park visitors in 2019’. That’s despite 15 per cent of the population in England and Wales being represented by the global majority. It’s one of the National Trust’s peculiar, masochistic tendencies that it isn’t happy with its members And so, as part of their Walk Together Pathway, the Trust is training 24 people from the global majority to become ‘qualified walk leaders’. Why on earth do you need to be trained to lead a walk? How many qualifications do

Alexander Kolyandr

Russia and China have never been equal partners

Barely a week after inaugurating himself as president once again, Vladimir Putin has gone to China – his first foreign trip of his new term. He is accompanied by a rarely seen entourage of all the principal ministers of state, the head of the Russian central bank, leading industrialists and top managers of state-controlled companies. Along with all the pomp and grandeur laid on by the Chinese, this cast list provides a handy illustration of the deepening friendship and cooperation between the two superpowers. Moscow and Beijing have a history of ‘eternal friendship’. But Russia and China have never truly been equal partners in their friendship with benefits. Putin and

Steerpike

Independence shouldn’t mean end of Union, claims SNP backbencher

Back to Scotland, where it appears even the SNP’s own politicians have lost faith in the party’s raison d’être. One of First Minister John Swinney’s backbenchers, Emma Roddick, has apparently decided that an independent Scotland shouldn’t mean the end of the Union — despite her party having argued for secession for decades while many separatists now refer to the UK only as ‘these isles’. Mr S accepts the Nats don’t often make sense at the best of times, but this development is staggering even for them. How Roddick — recently sacked from her ministerial role after Swinney’s not-so-radical reshuffle — has come to this conclusion Mr S is not entirely

David Shipley

The criminal justice system is on the brink of collapse

When a vast, complex system fails it first does so slowly, and then all at once. I fear that the justice system in England and Wales is about to collapse. The prisons are effectively full. An average of 1,362 more people are imprisoned each week. What will happen when there’s no room for them? Last week the government announced that prisoners would be released 70 days early, hoping this would hold off disaster. While we were told that only low-risk prisoners would be subject to early release, on Tuesday that story unravelled when HM Inspector of Prisons published a report on HMP Lewes. The inspectors found that the early release

Steerpike

Sixteen times Starmer relaunched his leadership

He’s back and this time he’s got a pledge card. Sir Keir is out this morning in Essex, outlining the bold, dynamic first steps he would take if he wins the next election. Among his exciting new pledges includes a forensic policy to ‘deliver economic stability’ and, er, ‘cut NHS waiting times.’ Truly, riveting stuff. Unfortunately, it’s not the first time that Captain Charisma has relaunched his leadership since his election in April 2020 – as a cursory look below will show…. Steerpike just wants to know when the next relaunch is going to be…

Katy Balls

Starmer channels his inner Blair as he unveils six election pledges

It’s 1997 in Essex today as Keir Starmer unveils six election pledges. In a nod to Tony Blair’s election pledge card from that year, the Labour leader has announced key commitments that he wants to ‘put up in lights’ as his party’s promise to the electorate should they (as expected) win the general election later this year. The commitments are designed to be retail friendly measures that would improve the day-to-day lives of voters. Starmer was keen to talk about Liz Truss Starmer’s promises range from stabilising the economy to cracking down on antisocial behaviour and recruiting 6,500 new teachers. He has also vowed to cut NHS waiting times, set

Steerpike

Listen: Keegan in excruciating muddle over ‘woman’ definition

Who’s been educating the Education Secretary? If ‘what is a woman?’ was an exam question, Mr S is certain Gillian Keegan would’ve flunked the test — given her abysmal performance on the BBC’s Today programme this morning… The Education Secretary was on the airwaves today after she wrote for the Sun on the government’s plans to reform sex education in schools. Speaking to interviewer Emma Barnett, Keegan’s first slip-up came when the discussion turned to the issue of educating children about gender identity, one of the areas on which her education changes will focus. The Education Secretary confessed that she didn’t actually know how widespread the problem is — ‘It’s

Lisa Haseldine

Putin can’t hide how dependent he is on Beijing

Vladimir Putin has arrived in China for a two-day state visit, the first since the start of his fifth term as president. The trip began in Beijing, where Putin met with Chinese premier Xi Jinping for the first of several talks. There remained a distinct sense that once again Putin has come to Beijing with begging bowl in hand The meeting began with the effusive pleasantries that have become a standard part of any interaction between the two leaders. Putin called Xi a ‘dear friend’ once again and said he had chosen to make his first post-inauguration trip abroad to China to return a favour, after Xi travelled to Russia

Nigel Jones

Slovakia is united after the assassination attempt on Fico. It won’t last

Somewhat unfairly, Slovakia is often overlooked and ignored as a quiet and peaceful backwater in the often turbulent turmoil of east European geopolitics. The assassination attempt that almost ended the life of its controversial prime minister Robert Fico yesterday has changed all that. Fico was shot five times in the abdomen and arm. After undergoing emergency surgery, he is now said by doctors to be stable, and likely to survive his life threatening injuries. That unity is unlikely to last long if Fico bounces back from his brush with death The suspected gunman, whose motives are still unknown, was arrested at the scene, and has been named as Juraj Cintula,