Politics

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

Wednesday

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Will the government vote to veto foreign press ownership?

At about 4 p.m. this afternoon, the government is expected to break its silence on the UAE-backed bid for the Telegraph and The Spectator. Ministers have until now been quiet, saying they didn’t want to prejudge the inquiry process, but a rebellion from both houses and all parties in parliament has focused ministerial minds. The question is whether ‘foreign powers’, as defined by the National Security Act, should be allowed to own newspapers in whole or in part. And whether parliament should have the power of veto. The test is whether ministers would allow any kind of part ownership on behalf of Sheikh Mansour or another ‘foreign power’ Tina Stowell,

Euan McColm

The undoing of Professor Jason Leitch

Jason Leitch was a calm, reassuring presence in his almost daily TV appearances during the pandemic. But after an unedifying evidence session at the UK Covid Inquiry and revelations that Leitch deleted his Covid WhatsApps, the reputation of the national clinical director is in tatters. Now, he has announced his departure from his Scottish government role and will leave at the end of April. The former dental surgeon was widely regarded as affable and straightforward. His skills as a communicator were huge valuable at a time of great uncertainty. He regularly stood alongside former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon during her lunchtime broadcasts to the nation, offering the scientific rationale for

Steerpike Steerpike

Taxpayers foot SNP minister’s £2,500 chauffeur bill

Dear oh dear. First the SNP’s health secretary attempted to use the public purse to cover his phone bill costs. Now, in a separate matter, the Scottish government’s tourism and trade minister has come under fire for lumping a similarly large bill on taxpayers. Richard Lochhead’s three-day trip to California resulted in a rather hefty expenses bill of £11,750. Responding to a freedom of information request, the Scottish government helpfully broke down how this money was spent. £8,000 plane tickets, £800 accommodation and just under £450 on extra ‘travel and subsistence’ costs illustrate a rather enjoyable stay. But the real zinger was the revelation that Lochhead racked up costs of

The Spectator

What the royals must learn from Kate’s photo blunder

As an object lesson in how to feed conspiracy theorists while trying to see them off, the Princess of Wales’s Mothers’ Day photograph of herself and her three children could hardly be bettered. For weeks since the sudden announcement that she was to undergo abdominal surgery in January, the internet has been buzzing with speculation as to the nature of her undisclosed condition, along with hints that it could all be a lot more serious than the official royal news sources were making out. The fact that the original announcement coincided with the King’s own health problems – an enlarged prostate, followed by the discovery of some form of cancer –

Kate Andrews Kate Andrews

Britain’s recession looks like it’s over

Is the UK already out of recession? It’s a question that won’t be confirmed for months, but this morning’s update from the Office for National Statistics offers a positive hint that Britain’s economic contraction will be confined to 2023. According to the ONS, the economy grew by 0.2 per cent in January – thanks largely to improved services output, which rose by 0.2 per cent, and a bounceback in wholesale and retail trade. Construction output also turned a corner, growing by 1.1 per cent after three consecutive months of contractions. Is this the spectacular economic turnaround that Britain has been waiting for? GDP still fell 0.1 per cent in the

Andrew Tettenborn

Why can’t Ukraine trademark the phrase: ‘Russian warship, go f**k yourself’?

Ukraine’s bravery and daring in the face of Russian aggression marks a stark contrast with European – or at least EU – lethargy and disinclination to take sides. A recent spat over, of all things, European trade mark law is a case in point. In early 2022, a soldier on the desolate Snake Island in the Black Sea famously added to Ukrainian folklore by greeting the Russian cruiser Moskva, which had come to take over the island, with the words ‘Russian warship, go f**k yourself’. This slogan quickly became hot merchandising property. Kyiv understandably decided to put to work to aid the war effort: it applied to register the phrase as a European

Matt McDonald

Biden and Trump heading for US election rematch

The United States is heading for a Donald Trump vs Joe Biden rematch in this year’s presidential election. US leader Joe Biden is the presumptive presidential nominee for the Democratic Party after his victory overnight in the Georgia primary pushed him passed the threshold of 1,968 delegates. Donald Trump also passed the threshold of 1,215 delegates to become the presumptive nominee for the Republican Party, following his triumphs in Georgia, Mississippi and Washington. Biden’s approval rating is lagging behind Trump’s at the same stage of his presidency ‘It is my great honour to be representing the Republican Party as its Presidential Nominee,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social. ‘Fear not, we will not

Debbie Hayton

The NHS puberty blocker ban for children is long overdue

Children in England will no longer be prescribed puberty blockers at NHS gender identity clinics. This is good news: it was never appropriate to halt the normal physical development of young people struggling with the concept of growing up into the men and women that nature intended. Puberty blockers, followed by cross-sex hormones, were a so-called solution that, in my view as a transgender adult, created a very serious problem. A cohort of young people identified as transgender, non-binary or maybe something yet more mysterious. They demanded powerful and life-altering drugs to ward off what they – or their parents – feared might be a mental health catastrophe. All too

Tuesday

Steerpike Steerpike

Robert Jenrick: The Tories have a young person problem

Is ex-immigration minister Robert Jenrick on manoeuvres? He certainly looked the part as he waxed lyrical to a crowd of under 35s at the Onward’s ‘After Hours’ event in a Westminster pub. Jenrick said it was no surprise youngsters are struggling to get on the housing ladder. ‘You’re absolutely right to say that the housing crisis today is also an immigration crisis,’ he crowed to the audience. ‘You can’t have mass migration and an answer to the housing crisis.’ But while the Tory MP has been championing housing and migration issues over the last few years, tonight’s focus was on the Tory issue with younger voters. ‘We are outliers in

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Kemi Badenoch refuses to toe the line – again

It’s been another deeply uncomfortable day for the Tories, where the line to take on an issue of racism has collapsed at the last minute. Unsurprisingly, that collapse has also once again involved Kemi Badenoch. Ministers and Downing Street have spent the day refusing to say the word ‘racist’ when discussing the comments made by party donor Frank Hester about Diane Abbott. To recap, he was reported by the Guardian to have said in 2019 that ‘you see Diane Abbott on the TV, and you’re just like … you just want to hate all Black women because she’s there. And I don’t hate all black women at all, but I

Max Jeffery Max Jeffery

What does Boris want?

11 min listen

Newspapers today reported that Boris Johnson is going to campaign for the Conservatives in Red Wall seats. Responding, Nadine Dorries wrote on Twitter: ‘There’s no thawing of relations, no plans to campaign. Sunak not spoken to Johnson for over a year.’ So are the stories true? What does Boris want? Max Jeffery speaks to Kate Andrews and Isabel Hardman.

Steerpike Steerpike

Badenoch calls for forgiveness over Tory donor’s ‘racist’ remarks

The Frank Hester saga continues after the Tory donor’s ‘rude’ remarks about Diane Abbott came to light on Monday. A Guardian investigation revealed that the West Yorkshire businessman had told colleagues in 2019 that looking at Abbott makes ‘you just want to hate all black women because she’s there’ and that ‘she should be shot’. Now Kemi Badenoch has spoken out on the issue. The business secretary, who is also minister for women and equalities, blasted Hester’s ‘appalling’ and ‘racist’ remarks on Tuesday afternoon — but added that there must be ‘space for forgiveness’. Writing on Twitter this afternoon, she said: Hester’s 2019 comments, as reported, were racist. I welcome

Steerpike Steerpike

Watch: Humza Yousaf slams ‘institutionally Islamophobic’ Tories

It’s a day that ends in ‘y’ which means the leader of the SNP is once again harping on about independence. Today Humza Yousaf addressed a crowd at the the London School of Economics about the economic woes of Brexit and how, surprise surprise, ‘achieving independence’ is the only solution for the people of Scotland. Yousaf started jovially, pointing out that both his host Emma McCoy and interviewer Iain Begg had Caledonian ties. ‘It just reminds me of that famous saying that there are two types of people in the world: Scots and those who want to be Scottish. There is a third, of course,’ he quipped, ‘those who lack

Robin Ashenden

Navalny’s death has left Russia’s opposition in despair

Following the wave of articles that have appeared in the Western press since Navalny’s death come three pieces from émigré Russians. All present a sobering and even chilling picture of Russia’s future now that its leading figure of opposition is gone. The first, published by the Russian-language Meduza on 4 March, was by Shura Burtin, a Russian journalist living in Prague. In his essay, ‘The world doesn’t know how to stand up to evil’, Burtin described his devastation at the news of Navalny’s death: ‘Only in the wake of Navalny’s murder did it become clear how unconsciously we still lived in hope for a “normal” future.’ The dream of a

Eliot Wilson

What Rishi Sunak got wrong about Lee Anderson

Lee Anderson’s defection from the Tories to Reform UK was hardly a surprise. In fact, it seemed almost inevitable. But that Anderson rose to the position he did within the Conservative party to become deputy chairman, before flouncing out, raises questions about Sunak’s political judgement. Anderson became an emblem of the Red Wall, yet is he really representative of voters from the north? Sunak’s superficial reading of Anderson led him to think that he could be a bridge to the Red Wall Anderson’s blunt language has powered his brief career as a Conservative MP. Because he said undiplomatic, unwise or unhelpful things, and because his background was unimpeachably and authentically

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Should the Emiratis be allowed a minority stake in the Telegraph?

How much of The Spectator and the Daily Telegraph should the United Arab Emirates be allowed to own? Tomorrow, the Lords will debate whether ‘foreign powers’ (as defined by the National Security Act) should be allowed to own national publications in light of the RedBird IMI bid for the two titles. The government may table an amendment to the Digital Markets Bill to diminish the chance of a rebellion via Tina Stowell’s amendment. However the vote goes, the debate will be a landmark. The consensus is that blocking the Emirati bid is (as Michael Forsyth put it in the Lords) an ‘absolute no-brainer’. As the Lib Dem MP Jamie Stone put it ‘the

Steerpike Steerpike

Watch: Donelan apologises for tweeting defamatory letter

Michelle Donelan has been no stranger to the spotlight lately. The Science and Technology Secretary was forced last week to retract the false accusations she made about an academic and pay the damages and costs. But she didn’t just fire off a letter of complaint to UK Research and Innovation about its board members. Donelan also decided it would be, er, wise to publicly post the offending letter on Twitter, which itself prompted the libel action. Donelan has this morning admitted that she ‘could have sent the letter in confidence’, telling the Lords’ science and tech committee: ‘I do apologise for not having done so’.  In her first appearance since

Iain Macwhirter

Humza Yousaf’s UN row is entirely of his own making

Humza Yousaf has a gift for landing himself at the centre of crises of his own making. One recalls his advice during Covid for people to ‘think twice’ before calling 999 for an ambulance or his asking a group of Ukrainian women refugees ‘where are all the men’.  More recently there was his Quixotic defence of XL Bully dogs and the futile backing of the former health secretary, Michael Matheson, over his iPad expenses. These were unforced errors he could ill afford. Now Humza Yousaf has managed to confect an extraordinary media storm over an apparently innocuous government donation of £250,000 to a Gaza relief organisation, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). By hurling

Brendan O’Neill Brendan O’Neill

Leave Kate Middleton alone

Well done everyone for ruining Mother’s Day for the Princess of Wales. I hope you’re proud of yourselves. A young-ish mum posts a lovely photo of herself surrounded by her beaming kids and instead of saying ‘Ahh’ you pore over it like lunatic sleuths for signs of villainous photoshopping. End result: mum issues an apology. For doing something sweet. On Mother’s Day. You all need to get off the internet. The obsession with that pic of Catherine and her three children has become unhinged. It’s still on the front pages of the papers. ‘PICTURE OF CHAOS’, screams the Mirror. Oh behave. There’s war in Europe and the Middle East, an

Ross Clark Ross Clark

Who is going to pay for Rishi’s gas power stations?

The problem with intermittency of wind and solar energy is so obvious that you wonder why is has taken the Prime Minister this long to work out that we are going to carry on needing gas-fired power stations to fill in the gaps. In the case of solar energy this is, of course, every evening. Rishi Sunak is quite right that Labour’s plan to decarbonise the electricity grid by 2030 (and apparently save us oodles of money off our bills in the process) is a ‘fantasy approach’. The trouble is, the government’s own approach isn’t a whole lot better.  If we are going to have a grid based on wind and