Politics

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

Tuesday

Alexander Larman

Charles’s debut King’s Speech was a triumph

The King’s speech was a damp squib – but for that we should blame Rishi Sunak rather than Charles III. Most of the announcements – from tougher prison sentences to cracking down on smoking – were already known about. But while the Prime Minister’s agenda was far from inspiring, today’s pomp and ceremony did give some cause for optimism: Charles’s speech showed that Britain’s monarch is doing a good job in his role. Even before he said a single word today, Charles looked thoroughly at home in the surroundings. It’s hard to believe that this was the first speech that Charles has delivered as ruler, so established does he now

Emma Revell

Why Scunthorpe steelworks needs saving

Scunthorpe is an industrial garden town, or so the signs welcoming you to the town say. It’s written beneath the town’s crest, with a blast furnace on top and the town motto: Refulget labores nostros coelum. The heavens reflect our labours. If, like me, you grew up in Scunthorpe you can easily ignore the steelworks. Visitors might be surprised by the noise or alarmed if the clouds on the east of the town sometimes seem a dusky red but we’re used to it. The steelworks have been there longer than any of us after all. But on your first visit, they are hard to ignore. What sticks in the craw

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

The King’s Speech was all about the next election

‘My ministers’ focus is on increasing economic growth and safeguarding the health and security of the British people for generations to come.’ The King read these opening words, written for him, which set out the government’s final legislative agenda before a general election. Of course, that agenda is being interpreted as a ‘starting gun’ for the election campaign. And the centre of that campaign on the basis of today is going to be security: both economic and for criminal justice.  Presumably the next Conservative manifesto is going to be rather meatier than the content of that speech. It wasn’t a particularly heavy agenda: around 16 bills were in the list

Hina Husain

Why isn’t Canada cracking down on this Indian student visa scam?

Canada’s rift with India continues. It’s been almost two months since Canada’s prime minister Justin Trudeau accused ‘agents of the government of India’ of assassinating Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Nijjar. The two countries have been in a diplomatic stand-off ever since, with trade talks suspended and Ottawa failing to provide any concrete proof behind its claim that Nijjar was killed under direction from Modi. But the possibility that Nijjar’s death was a result of gang activity between warring factions of criminal Sikh gang members in Canada has put a spotlight on the country’s growing Punjabi community and highlighted questions over Canada’s international student visa and immigration fraud. It’s no secret

Ross Clark Ross Clark

Sunak is right to push ahead with new North Sea oil licenses

The green lobby has found another way of attacking the government for giving the go-ahead for new oil and gas licences in the North Sea. They are claiming that Britain doesn’t have enough refinery capacity to turn the crude oil into finished products.  The climate pressure group Global Witness claims that most of the new oil which will come out of the North Sea will be ‘heavy’ – while Britain’s refineries are geared up to handle lighter crude oils. Therefore, the group contends, it is pointless drilling for new oil in the North Sea because it can’t help provide for our own needs in terms of finished products such as petrol,

Michael Simmons Michael Simmons

The Covid Inquiry is exposing lockdown’s dodgy models

Did we lock down on a false premise? Yesterday was Ben Warner’s turn at the Covid Inquiry. He was an adviser, and one of the ‘tech bros’ brought in by Dominic Cummings to advise No. 10 on data. He was present at many of the early Sage – and other – meetings where the government’s established mitigation (herd immunity) plan was switched to the suppression (lockdown) strategy.  In Cummings’s evidence to the inquiry last week, he said that models didn’t play a big part in moving the government towards lockdown. Part of the written inquiry evidence supplied by his data man, Ben Warner’s, supports that too. The inquiry KC was

Steerpike Steerpike

James Cleverly is the Tory grassroots’ favourite

Talk about the fickle nature of politics. Two months ago, Kemi Badenoch was crowned as the Tory members’ favourite, according to the Conservative Home league table of party activists. But now her crown has been stolen by James Cleverly, the Foreign Secretary, who nabs the top spot for the first time with an impressive +71.8 points. Cleverly’s ascent comes after a month in the spotlight, dealing with the ongoing crisis over Gaza. As Paul Goodman, the editor of Conservative Home notes, his rise in standing bears some comparison to Ben Wallace, another military man. Wallace was the longtime favourite for 18 months before his departure in September, having impressed with

Freddy Gray Freddy Gray

Not even America’s legal system can stop Trump

‘I beseech you to control him if you can,’ Justice Arthur Engoron told Donald Trump’s lawyer in court yesterday. To which the only sensible reply is: ‘Good luck with that.’  Nobody can control, or stop, the 45th President – least of all, it seems, the legal system. The trials of Trump will drag on and on in the coming months, all sound and fury, signifying nothing. The Trump train will chug on towards the Republican nomination – and, perhaps, to the White House again.  The legal trials of Donald Trump will only help him politically ‘This is not a political rally,’ said Engoron, who himself seems to be enjoying the theatre a little

Gareth Roberts Gareth Roberts

What did we really learn from Dominic Cummings’s leaked WhatsApps?

It’ll be years before the Covid Inquiry reports back on what we can learn from the pandemic, but already there is one key lesson for us all: don’t write anything on WhatsApp that you wouldn’t want read out in court. The vividly-phrased WhatsApp messages published, and very memorably read aloud, as part of the inquiry have brought some much-needed mirth to our troubled times. There is something inherently very funny about posh people in court quoting bad language and repeating insults like ‘useless f*** pigs’. Hugo Keith KC, lead counsel to the inquiry, is one of those who carries the air of the headmaster’s study around with him. He has

Patrick O’Flynn Patrick O'Flynn

Rishi Sunak’s Oliver Dowden problem

Margaret Thatcher was said to have once remarked that every prime minister needed a Willie. Given that humour was not her natural domain, perhaps she didn’t even intend it as a pun. The Willie she was referring to was, of course, the vastly experienced William Whitelaw who served as her effective deputy – and most famously as ‘minister for banana skins’ – for almost a decade despite being from the patrician and ‘wet’ side of the Tory party. Since Thatcher’s day, it has become fashionable for prime ministers to appoint an official deputy and that position is currently held by Oliver Dowden. But there’s a snag: Dowden is the wrong kind

Annabel Denham

Snooping on benefit claimants’ bank accounts won’t cut fraud

Another day, another wheeze from a desperate government as it tries to move the polls. Benefit claimants could soon have their bank accounts checked each month to ensure they are not lying about their savings. The law change, designed to crack down on benefits fraud, appears to be the government’s answer to the fact that welfare payments have exploded in recent years. It will reportedly be unveiled in the Autumn Statement, with estimates suggesting it could save the taxpayer £100 million a year. But will it make a difference? The Department for Work and Pensions’ total proposed expenditure for 2023/24 is set to reach £279 billion (almost half of which is pensioner benefits).

Monday

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Braverman has offered nothing to stop homelessness

Landscape architects use the term ‘hostile design’ to describe elements that stop anti-social behaviour. They could be armrests along a lengthy bench aren’t for the comfort of the people who choose to sit there, but to break up the space and make it impossible for someone to lie down and sleep rough. Little studs running along the edge of the bench stop skateboards. Cruder examples include spikes around air vents: not only do these stop rough sleepers from lying down in the warmer space, they also send a very loud message about who is welcome and who isn’t. Subtle or not, armrests and spikes don’t stop rough sleeping. They just

Joanna Williams

The Met’s strange approach to protest

Demonstrations against Israel, some attracting many thousands of people, have become a regular occurrence. We have grown used to the sight of masked protesters draped in Palestinian flags marching in our cities, blocking train stations, and even calling for jihad. The police, meanwhile, seem to be keeping a low profile. Such light-touch policing is not normal. Think back to the 1980s and scenes of officers on horseback charging into striking coal miners. Or, more recently, the way women were dealt with at the vigil for murdered Sarah Everard. Why are pro-Palestine demonstrations being handled so differently? One answer might lie with the police, and their approach to protest. Until yesterday,

Steven Barrett

Is the Met doing all it can to control the Palestine protests?

The Metropolitan police force is falling apart before our eyes. With it is going our sense of safety and security in our capital city, as we watch hate filled marches and what would be, in any other circumstances, criminal activity on London’s streets. The Met commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, recently went on national television and said that the Met was doing all it could to enforce up to the legal line, but it was up to politicians to draw those lines. Is Rowley right to suggest though the Met is doing all it can when it comes to the protests? No. And here’s why.  Since the Thatcher era, successive governments

Steerpike Steerpike

Tory grassroots oppose Sunak’s smoking ban

It’s the King’s Speech tomorrow and all of Westminster can barely contain itself. A new monarch might be on the throne, but the usual pre-briefing game hasn’t changed, with press stories aplenty as to the draft laws that are likely to be included. One bill that is set to be announced tomorrow is legislation to implement the gradual smoking ban announced by Rishi Sunak at this year’s Conservative Party conference.  Much has been made of the public’s support for such a move, but if Sunak hopes it will energise his base, he ought to think again. For polling of 696 members by the Tory news site ConservativeHome suggests that the

Brendan O’Neill Brendan O’Neill

Why won’t Gary Lineker call out the fascism of Hamas? 

One of the most curious things following Hamas’s massacre of the Jews on 7 October was the silence of Britain’s fascism-spotters. You know these people. They see fascism everywhere. Everything from a fiery speech by a Tory politician to millions of ‘gammon’ going out to vote for Brexit reminds them of the 1930s. The minute someone says something they don’t like or votes for a thing they disapprove of, they’re logging onto Twitter to wail: ‘Is this Nazism?!’  It’s striking that someone so interested in contemporary events that echo the evils of the 30s has had so little to say about the worst anti-Jewish pogrom in 75 years?  And yet

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Is Suella Braverman in trouble over rough sleepers?

14 min listen

The Home Secretary sparked fury over the weekend for her comments on homelessness, suggesting that rough sleepers using tents is a ‘lifestyle choice’. Senior cabinet members including the Rishi Sunak didn’t jump to her defence from the comments. What was behind her decision to take such a firm line? Also on the podcast, Katy Balls speaks to Fraser Nelson and Isabel Hardman about the serial rapist cover-up allegations levelled at the Tory party. 

Matthew Lynn

In defence of ‘rip-off’ airline charges

The Conservative party is 25 points behind in the polls. Its backbenchers are scrambling around to find new jobs, and the opposition is already making its plans for government. Rishi Sunak’s grip on the premiership is growing more tenuous with every passing day. But, heck, never mind. It turns out the PM has a cunning plan to restore his electoral fortunes. In the King’s speech tomorrow the government is expected to unveil plans to ban ‘hidden’ charges on air travel. Any of us who have plowed miserably through the expensive minefield of a Ryanair booking will finally have a reason to vote Conservative. It’s hard to believe that anyone booking

Leon Mangasarian

The trouble with Olaf Scholz

German chancellor Olaf Scholz still doesn’t get it. ‘Der Fisch stinkt vom Kopf’ (the fish stinks from its head) is a popular German saying. It’s proven right by Scholz’s abysmal failure to lead since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He’s failing again with Israel, declaring the Jewish state is Germany’s ‘Staatsräson’, or raison d-etat, but never spelling out what this means. Scholz has flopped with his tepid attempts to explain what’s at stake for Germany and Europe in Ukraine and Israel and why Berlin should be the leadership power of the EU. This problem is partly due to Scholz’s nature. If you think you’re the smartest guy in the room

Daniel Rey

Next year’s US election promises a crisis

There’s only a year to go until the most complex and consequential US presidential election ever. Ukraine, the Middle East, geriatric candidates, big-name independents, the criminal charges against Trump, a new House speaker (who must ratify the outcome) who didn’t recognise Biden’s victory in 2020 – the complexity is staggering.  The two main candidates, Biden and Trump, are both unpopular. Biden’s approval rating stands (or rather, squats) at around 37 per cent. Polls indicate he is losing support among two traditional bastions of the Democratic party: African-Americans and young voters. Meanwhile Trump, who has still to secure the Republican nomination, lost the popular vote in his two presidential campaigns. In