Politics

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

Tuesday

Steerpike Steerpike

Streeting: ignore Trump’s autism claims

To the US, where President Donald Trump has suggested his administration has ‘found an answer to autism’. On Monday, Trump drew links between paracetamol and rising rates of autism across America. US health officials warned that acetaminophen (paracetamol) should be avoided in early pregnancy to avert the development of autism in later life, with Trump insisting at a press conference: ‘Taking Tylenol (paracetamol) is not good. I’ll say it. It’s not good.’ But the scientific evidence doesn’t back up the President’s position – and now in a break from the UK’s love-in with Trump, Health Secretary Wes Streeting has dismissed the controversial claim. Speaking on ITV, Streeting urged voters to

Ross Clark Ross Clark

Is Donald Trump right to link autism with paracetamol?

Donald Trump’s apparent suggestion that people could protect themselves against Covid by injecting themselves with bleach marked a low point in his first administration. It provided his critics with evidence that he was an erratic president trying to ride roughshod over scientific evidence as well as common sense. It is easy, therefore, to dismiss the American President’s announcement that government health warnings will henceforth be printed on packets of Tylenol – a brand name for paracetamol – telling pregnant women to avoid the painkiller for fear it will cause autism in their unborn children as yet another anti-scientific diatribe. The involvement of health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr – a

Theo Hobson Theo Hobson

Is Charlie Kirk a Christian martyr?

This feels deeply inappropriate, I thought, as I started watching Erika Kirk’s hagiographic eulogy. I am watching a grieving widow in order to analyse her performance, and pass judgement on her message. Her husband was brutally murdered just ten days ago – let her grieve. Don’t use her as journalistic material. But anyone who chooses to speak of the most serious matters, in whatever circumstances, is subject to criticism. Being a victim of some terrible act of violence is no exemption. Victim status does not authorise one to tell a nation what the essence of Christianity is, for example, and expect one’s account to be unchallenged. Her forgiveness of her

James Heale James Heale

The secret behind Ed Davey’s stunts

Each new day at Liberal Democrat conference means one thing: another stunt with the party’s MPs. Flower-arranging, morning swims and a marching band have all featured thus far. Most have gone down well with the party’s MPs. They gamely play along whenever Ed Davey’s apparatchiks press-gang them into another photo opportunity. ‘More Orange Order than Orange Book’ was the verdict of one on Davey’s baton-twirling arrival in Bournemouth. Another compared it to a scene from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Such appreciation is not shared by all though. In the run-up to conference, one MP told the i newspaper that the time for such ‘bullshit stunts’ was over. Similar sentiments are

Michael Simmons Michael Simmons

Rachel Reeves has only ugly choices

Rachel Reeves should shift the tax burden away from workers and on to those who take most from the state: our pensioners. That’s the view of the influential Resolution Foundation think-tank, at least. This morning it recommended increasing income tax by 2p on the pound while cutting employee national insurance (NI) contributions by the same amount. Because no one (above the tax-free allowance) is immune from income tax, this would mean £6 billion is raised without an increase in the tax bill for those whose sole income comes from salaried employment. Pensioners who don’t pay NI would end up footing the bill. It’s a suggestion worth listening to because Torsten

Gareth Roberts Gareth Roberts

Private Eye’s shameful Charlie Kirk article

In the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, a peculiar phenomenon has re-emerged: the casket caveat. Instead of simply condemning the dreadful murder of a young man, many eulogies to Kirk are laced with qualifications. Clods of faint praise scattered over a fresh grave. ‘It’s regrettable that he was shot, no matter how much of a bastard he was,’ is the sentiment – or ‘We gather in solemn remembrance of a man who, though admired by many, really had it coming.’ A piece on Kirk’s murder, under the pseudonym ‘Lady Liberty’, drips with insinuations Such weasel words have proliferated since Kirk’s murder, often tarted up as balanced commentary, but reeking of

Monday

Madeline Grant

Has Farage managed to put Boris to bed?

How do you solve a problem like B Johnson? It has troubled the Conservative party since his departure, not least as they presumably do not relish the idea of him going down in history as the last person ever to win them a majority. Interestingly, Labour rarely mentions him, preferring to resurrect Liz Truss again and again. Ironically it has since become clear that they are guilty of many of the things they once criticised Boris for doing; the same love of freebies, a certain economy with the truth, and, inevitably, not knowing that the best time to go was yesterday and the second-best time is today. Zia Yusuf spoke of

Matthew Lynn

Rachel Reeves’s ‘taxi tax’ plans show how desperate she is

It will at least give the cabbies something to genuinely complain about. Amid all the wheezes that Chancellor Rachel Reeves is plotting to fix the ‘black hole’ in the public finances, she is now considering a ‘taxi tax’. Ahead of November’s Budget, it has been floated that VAT may well be applied on all cab rides. But this plan is likely to end up backfiring badly on Reeves – and the government more broadly.  According to reports this week, the Chancellor is likely to impose a blanket 20 per cent rate of VAT on all taxi rides. Right now, taxi firms outside of London do not have to charge VAT

Terry Barnes

Australia could regret its decision to recognise Palestine

When it comes to major decisions certain to anger Donald Trump and Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, seeking safety in numbers is a wise idea. For that’s what the joint decision by Britain, Australia and Canada to recognise a state of Palestine actually is. It isn’t a bloc of Anglosphere nations showing a united front to Trump and Netanyahu; rather, it is their huddling together in an attempt to deflect the wrath of the Israelis and Americans. Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese foreshadowed the possibility of Palestinian recognition several weeks ago, giving him something to announce today in New York as the UN General Assembly yet again deliberates on the

Brendan O’Neill Brendan O’Neill

Forget Palestine – when will Starmer recognise Britain?

Who does Keir Starmer think he’s kidding? There he is in that glossy video imperiously decreeing there should be a State of Palestine, yet he can’t even hold the British state together. Under his half-hearted purview our borders have become more porous, our state machinery has become more enfeebled, and the country has become the laughing stock of the civilised world. Forget playing fantasy states overseas, Sir Keir: fix the one you run. Here’s my question for the PM: when will you recognise the British state? Here’s my question for the PM: when will you recognise the British state? We have become a nation where you risk being branded far

Freddy Gray Freddy Gray

Charlie Kirk and America’s fifth great awakening

Political Islam is a powerful global force. Wahhabism, the Muslim Brotherhood and Shia theocracy are different yet successful strands of the same impulse to govern according to the will of Allah. Political Christianity, by contrast, has in recent decades, even centuries, taken a back seat when it comes to public affairs. With some exceptions, Christians have broadly interpreted Jesus’s message to ‘Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s’ as an injunction not to muddy the holy pursuit of justice with the worldly pursuit of power.  At Charlie Kirk’s memorial yesterday, the world witnessed something different: not just a Christian politics but a political Christianity. Republican party campaigns have long had

Fin de Pencier

After Charlie Kirk, will the right fight or forgive?

Charlie Kirk’s status as a martyr was sealed at his packed memorial on Sunday evening, when an estimated 100,000 people showed up to honour him. Among the crowd was Joseph Moulton, a young right-wing activist from York. He was not far behind President Trump and members of his administration. Moulton is a founding member of Flag Force UK, one of the original groups that inspired the Raise the Colours movement. When Kirk was assassinated, Moulton had just landed in Phoenix, Arizona, at the beginning of a trip to recruit powerful allies that could spread the movement even further. He had meetings arranged with the Turning Point team and was pushing

Tim Shipman

Farage goes after Boris

16 min listen

Nigel Farage has unveiled his most radical immigration plan yet – scrapping indefinite leave to remain for migrants – in a move designed to reverse the so-called ‘Boriswave.’ James Heale explains how this would affect hundreds of thousands already living in the UK, why the party claims it could save £250 billion, and whether any of it is remotely feasible. Meanwhile, Keir Starmer has formally recognised Palestine as a state, a decision hailed by many Labour MPs but criticised by others as diplomatically reckless. And, to round off a busy political Monday morning, the government has approved a second runway at Gatwick – but will it really boost growth before

Steerpike Steerpike

Labour MP backs claim that Farage’s migrant policy is ‘racist’

Labour might have recognised Palestinian statehood and green-lighted a new Gatwick runway, but Nigel Farage has once again managed to steal the show. This morning the Reform UK leader held a London press conference in which he announced his plans to abolish indefinite leave to remain, make foreign nationals ineligible to claim benefits and introduce an English standards test – which would be retaken every five years. Crikey! Reform has planned its headline domination well, with Farage and his head of policy Zia Yusuf taking aim at ex-prime minister Boris Johnson and the ‘Boriswave’ of immigration that came after Brexit. Ashfield MP Lee Anderson has also written in the Daily

Patrick West

The danger of defining ‘Islamophobia’

Many people have been warning for some time about the perilous consequences of introducing an official definition of ‘Islamophobia’ to this country, specifically in regard to its potential to curtail free speech and reintroduce de facto blasphemy laws. But it’s taken a leading KC – an adviser to the Attorney General, Lord Hermer, no less – to remind us of a further danger: the likelihood that it will deter police from investigating Muslim suspects or offenders for fear of accusations of racism. As reported in the Daily Telegraph today, Tom Cross KC has said it was ‘reasonable’ to Suppose that such a definition would in practice be relied on in

Ross Clark Ross Clark

Gatwick expansion won’t happen any time soon

How refreshing to hear transport secretary Heidi Alexander approve plans for a second working runway at Gatwick Airport, taking on the ‘eco warriors’ she has previously attacked for blocking airport expansion. Just the one thing, though. Does she really think she has heard the last from them? If she thinks she is going to drive this plan through so that planes will be taking off on the second runway by the time of the next election, as she seems to think, then she is going to be disappointed. Indeed, Sadiq Khan has already threatened legal action against the expansion. This is going to end up in the courts, and sadly

Jonathan Sacerdoti

What will Keir Starmer’s Palestine declaration achieve?

Keir Starmer has justified Britain’s declaration of Palestinian statehood by insisting that it will keep open the path to a two‑state solution and ultimately lead to peace. He has emphasised that Hamas could play no role in such a state, and seems to assume the move would position Britain as a key player in shaping the future of the Middle East. Is any of this accurate? Hamas welcomed the move, as did Husam Zumlot, the PLO representative in London, who went on television to say that Starmer’s declaration (made in concert with Canada and Australia) was simply recognition of an already existing fact. He even described historic Palestine as ‘the

James Heale James Heale

Reform thinks Boris Johnson is finished

This morning Nigel Farage will unveil Reform’s latest policy. The party plans to abolish the status known as indefinite leave to remain (ILR), which allows those who have lived here for more than five years to receive benefits and apply for citizenship. All migrants with permanent residency will have to reapply for visas under stricter criteria, including higher language and salary requirements. Foreign nationals will be barred from accessing benefits. Reform claims this will save £234 billion – though the think tank which produced those figures now suggests a revision is necessary. The announcement aims to address concerns about the party’s fiscal probity. Farage has previously said that plans to

Neal Pollack

America pays tribute to Charlie Kirk

In an exhilarating, often exhausting and unprecedented moment in American history, thousands of mourners gathered in an Arizona football stadium on Sunday afternoon to honour slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Attendees included dozens of members of Congress, half the cabinet, President Donald Trump, Vice-President J.D. Vance and the former shadow president, Elon Musk. They remembered Kirk as a husband, a father, a friend, a devotee of freedom of speech, a lover of classical Greek and Roman philosophy, and, perhaps most significantly, a warrior for the Christian God – belief in whom animated Kirk’s every utterance and action. Kirk’s memorial – or, as many speakers called it, ‘revival’ – was perhaps

Gavin Mortimer Gavin Mortimer

Macron is abandoning France’s Jews by recognising Palestine

France will today officially recognise the state of Palestine at the United Nations General Assembly in New York. In justifying his decision, Emmanuel Macron said that recognition ‘is the best way to isolate Hamas’, adding: ‘Now is the time to act – not tomorrow, not in ten years. If we don’t move, the conflict will only deepen, and the hope of peace will vanish.’ Some are cynical about the timing of the President’s decision. ‘Emmanuel Macron is into performative politics,’ says Pierre Lellouche, who was a (Jewish) minister in Nicolas Sarkozy’s government. ‘He’s going to New York to make people forget the chaos reigning in France’. Macron’s declaration flies in