Politics Archives

Thursday

28 Aug 2025

Angela Rayner and the spite of Labour

As a snapshot of our country, you’ll be pressed to find anything quite so resonant as the one which depicts a leading member of our Skankerati sitting in an inflatable off the southern coast of the UK with tattoo and vape in attendance. There has been much debate of late about the very large numbers of other people bobbing about in the English Channel – and the possible value they might be to our benighted economy. We could ask the same question about Angela Rayner. On paper she is a huge cost to the Exchequer, one which would easily outstrip even a fairly successful Albanian drug dealer. Henceforth, then, it

James Heale

The left’s fightback against Labour has begun

If there is a hallmark of Keir Starmer’s leadership, it is a willingness to bash the left. For five years, he has repeatedly sided with his moderate factions to make Labour electable. Corbynites have been purged from parliament and the party machine. Principles and policies have been changed to meet the electorate’s approval. Last summer’s election result appeared to vindicate the Prime Minister’s strategy. But with Starmer’s authority crumbling, the British left is aiming to reassert itself and wreak its revenge from outside, rather than inside, the Labour party. ‘This Labour government is here to appease Reform. We are here to defeat Reform’ Three groups pose a threat to Starmer.

Madeline Grant

How long can Miliband’s net zero wheeze last?

The current head of energy policy in this country is Muppet-made-flesh Ed Miliband. While he makes a speciality of eye-catching policy announcements; notably playing a tuneless rendition of ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’ under a wind turbine, he is proving less capable of any form of actual policy implementation. His absolutism is increasingly bringing him into conflict with colleagues in other departments. Each time one of his ideas comes to the moment where practicality is involved, it dies. One is reminded of Thomas Huxley’s remark about Samuel Wilberforce when he fell off his horse: ‘His head finally came into contact with reality and it has proved fatal.’ And so it proved yesterday, as

Wednesday

27 Aug 2025

Freddy Gray

Can the Democrats save themselves?

17 min listen

Freddy Gray speaks to Semafor journalist David Weigel about the Democrat’s summer meeting in Minnesota which was cut short following the tragic shooting at a school today. They discuss what we know about the shooting so far, how the Democrats can reset their stance on law and order, and whether they can unify their stance on Gaza.

Matthew Wilcox

Church of England abuse survivors have been failed – again

The Church of England’s abuse Redress Scheme was set up to help survivors of abuse, but a serious data breach last night led to the email addresses of dozens of survivors being unwittingly revealed. More than 180 people were openly copied into an email update about the project sent by a law firm tasked with administering the scheme. The Church of England has expressed ‘profound concern’ about what happened. These words offer little comfort to those caught up in this latest debacle. The Church of England has expressed ‘profound concern’ about what happened One survivor told The Spectator they had opened the message expecting long-awaited details on how the compensation programme would

Steerpike

‘Cash for questions’ Tory MP cleared

‘Tory gain!’ is a cry heard less and less frequently these days. But in a rare piece of good news for the current HM Opposition, Tory MP George Freeman has today been cleared of ‘Cash for Questions’ accusations by the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner. The former Science Minister referred himself to the watchdog back in June following reporting by the Sunday Times. Always good to try and get ahead of the story… The paper alleged that Freeman inquired to a company that paid him £5,000 per month as an advisor ‘what to ask about’ in Parliament and to ‘help him get the wording right.’ But the Standards Commissioner gave Freeman the all

Gawain Towler

Elon Musk is wrong about Nigel Farage

Elon Musk, the tech titan who has revolutionised space travel and electric cars, has once again waded into British politics with the subtlety of a Cybertruck crashing into a late summer vicarage garden party. His latest intervention came via a tweet endorsing Advance UK, the fledgling splinter group led by Ben Habib, former Reform UK deputy leader and Brexit party MEP. ‘Advance UK will actually drive change,’ Musk declared, dismissing Nigel Farage as ‘weak sauce who will do nothing.’ This was in direct response to Tommy Robinson’s call for supporters to rally behind Habib’s outfit, while urging figures like Rupert Lowe to join. But make no mistake: this isn’t really

James Heale

Labour goes on the Farage offensive

12 min listen

As James Heale writes online for the Spectator today, ‘two issues continue to plague the government’: how best to attack Nigel Farage. and how to frame an incrementalist approach to policy ‘when the national mood favours radical change’. Nick Thomas-Symonds, the Cabinet Office minister responsible for UK-EU relations, attempted to tackle both today as he came to the Spectator to set out Labour’s Europe strategy. Labour are pursuing ‘pragmatic alignment’ – what they argue is greater co-operation when beneficial to the British interest. But what does this mean? James joins Michael Simmons on the podcast to unpack the speech. And, on a day when Reform have claimed another defector (this

James Heale

Reform’s new MSP is a portent of the future

Another red-letter day for Reform as the party unveils its second defector at Holyrood. Graham Simpson, a Conservative member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP), has today crossed the floor to join the ranks of Nigel Farage’s ever-expanding army. He is Reform’s second ever MSP, after Michelle Ballantyne’s short-lived spell from January to May 2021. Simpson, though, is likely to last longer, by fighting his Central Scotland seat at the upcoming election in May next year. At a press conference, Simpson told assembled journalists that he was joining Reform ‘to create something new, exciting and lasting that puts the needs of people over the system.’ He is expected to play a

Steerpike

Labour: Farage wants Britain to fail

Following Farage’s deportation declaration yesterday, Labour have gone on the attack. In a speech today on the future of EU relations, Europe Minister Nick Thomas-Symonds hit out at Farage, declaring he wants Britain to fail. Speaking at The Spectator, he told the assembled great and the not-so-good of HM Press Gallery that: Aside for his pension packet, Nigel Farage can’t bring himself to have any relationship with the EU. Unable to recognise what is actually the best choice for working families across Britain but also because Nigel Farage wants Britain to fail. His model of politics feeds on it. When British businesses fail, when family bills go up, he offers

Gavin Mortimer

France has lost control of its borders

The cynic might wonder if Keir Starmer and his government aren’t a little relieved that France is once more on the brink of political chaos. Now they have a convenient excuse for why waves of small boats continue to land on English beaches. Starmer’s Gallic counterpart, Francis Bayrou, has called a vote of confidence in his government on 8 September. Lose and he will be out, and Emmanuel Macron will be searching for his fifth Prime Minister in 21 months. A source in the British government has said that the turmoil in Paris could undermine the ‘one in, one out’ migrant treaty recently signed by the two countries. ‘We still

James Heale

Labour’s latest Farage attack? Brexit

As recess draws towards its close, two issues continue to plague the government. The first: how best to attack Nigel Farage, riding high on a wave of migration outrage? The second: how to frame ministers’ modest protest, at a time when the national mood favours radical change? Today, it was the turn of Nick Thomas-Symonds to answer both. The Cabinet Office minister, who handles the brief of UK-EU relations, came to The Spectator to set out Labour’s Europe strategy. Thomas-Symonds’s argument for Labour’s reset is one of pragmatic alignment – pursuing greater co-operation when beneficial to the British interest. After unveiling the long-awaited EU reset in March, he now plans

Ross Clark

Should we worry about Britain’s ‘hottest summer on record’?

So, according to the Met Office, Britain is reaching the end of what will ‘almost certainly’ be the warmest summer on record. The average temperature across Britain up until 25 August was 16.13 Celsius, compared with 15.76 Celsius for the previous record-holder, 2018. There is still a week to go, of course, and it is a week which, on average, you would expect to be one of the coolest weeks of the summer, coming as it does right at the end. But let us assume that the Met Office is right and 2025 really does grab its place in the record books. So what? It has also been a largely

Edward Howell

Can Kim Jong-un be persuaded to meet Donald Trump?

Hours after his first bilateral meeting with Donald Trump earlier this week, the South Korean President Lee Jae-myung admitted that he feared that his one-to-one would become a ‘Zelensky moment’. Although the reality was far from the case, it made for somewhat vomit-inducing listening. As Lee showered Trump with praise for his handling of North Korea during his first term, Trump’s ego ballooned one sentence at a time. Monday’s episode was a clear example of how Trump likes diplomacy to be done, but for all Trump and Lee’s calls for talks with Kim Jong-un, both leaders will face the obstacle of North Korea’s recent affirmations of its lack of interest

Stephen Pollard

It’s time to stop treating Anna Netrebko as a pariah

When I learned that the Royal Opera House had booked Russian soprano Anna Netrebko to sing Tosca in the new production which opens its 2025/26 season next month (and, later in the season, Turandot), I felt a surge of anger. How could they be so callous, so blasé, about the boycott of Russian artists with close ties to the Kremlin. How shameful for Britain that our internationally renowned opera company should treat Ukraine with such contempt. And how damning that its decision to hire Netrebko should be subject to an open letter organised by Sergiy Kyslytsya, Ukraine’s first deputy foreign minister, and signed by hundreds of Ukrainian writers and artists,

Brendan O’Neill

Migrant protests and the twilight of luxury beliefs

There are dark whispers on the internet about Britain’s coming ‘race war’. The protests outside migrant hotels prove the ‘native English’ have had a gutful of these ‘invaders’, say nefarious actors on X. Others foresee a civil war: a showdown between a haughty left and a resurgent right over the very soul of the kingdom. I see something different: a class war. ‘Racists’, some shouted at the little people. Well, they’re uneducated oiks who like to wave the flag of their country – they must be racist, right? Okay, maybe not a ‘war’. It’s not the Russian Revolution, or even a rerun of the Battle of Orgreave. But the class

Tuesday

26 Aug 2025

James Kirkup

Farage is right: paying illegal migrants to leave is a good idea

Nigel Farage’s latest immigration plan contains a proposal that deserves to be taken seriously. Reform UK’s ‘Operation Restoring Justice’ promises mass deportations, detention camps, and the withdrawal from international treaties. Those elements will raise both legal and moral challenges. But another part of the package is something that deserves attention and credit: a scheme to pay £2,500 to people who agree to leave Britain voluntarily. To some, the idea will look like bribery. Why should taxpayers reward people who have broken the rules? That is the instinctive reaction of many voters and the line taken by some politicians. Yet in policy terms, the idea is a good one. Removing people

Steerpike

Angela Rayner in storm over council tax

Power, said Henry Kissinger, is the ultimate aphrodisiac – but it also seems to improve your property prospects too. Angela Rayner is back in the headlines, having just purchased a new £800,000 property in Hove. She is under fire amid questions about her two residences: a grace and favour flat in Admiralty House and her constituency home in Ashton-under-Lyme. The Deputy Prime Minister has declared the latter to be her primary residence. This means that the council tax on her SW1 base is paid for by the British taxpayer to the tune of £2,034 a year. Worse still, the cost is set to rise to £4,068 due to a new

Steerpike

Corbyn’s party seeks a new name

The magic grandpa is back in town! Jeremy Corbyn’s new leftwing outfit – ‘Your Party’ – is seeking a rebrand, ahead of its long-awaited launch. The outlet has so far got off to a rocky start, after co-leader Zarah Sultana shocked some involved by launching it late one Thursday night. But now, in a bid to shed their (already) chaotic image, ‘Your Party’ is now seeking a new name, with suggestions being submitted online. Cue the inevitable deluge of suggestions… ‘Votey McVoteface’ and ‘Party McPartyface’ were quickly pitched alongside the ‘Tooting Popular Front’. The ‘Judean Peoples’ Front’ has been touted, not to be confused with that awful bunch over at the Peoples’ Front of

Oscar Edmondson

Farage finally unveils his deportation plan

13 min listen

Today James Heale has been on quite the magical mystery tour. Bundled into a bus at 7.45 a.m. along with a group of other hacks, he was sent off to an aircraft hangar in Oxfordshire where Nigel Farage finally unveiled his party’s long-awaited deportations strategy. The unveiling of ‘Operation Restoring Justice’ was accompanied by some impressive production value, including a Heathrow-style departure board and an enormous union flag. The headlines of Farage’s mass deportation initiative are as follows: Reform will leave the ECHR and disapply the Refugee Convention for five years if elected in 2029; a new British Bill of Rights will be introduced, with all government departments required to