Politics Archives

Tuesday

12 Dec 2023

Steerpike

Cleverly takes a swipe at the Spartans

Christmas party season is in full swing and last night it was the turn of the Onward think tank. Old survivors and bright young things gathered in the Georgian splendour of the Royal Society of Arts to hear from star speaker James Cleverly. Though the mood in government is grim, the Home Secretary betrayed little trace of that, listing to assembled wonks, hacks and assorted grandees his colleagues’ achievements in office, including ‘doubling the number of immigration ministers’. But it was a classical allusion that caught Steerpike’s ear when Cleverly sought to channel his inner Boris Johnson with a slight dig at the self-identifying ‘Spartans’ of the European Research Group.

Michael Simmons

Have we really lost hundreds of thousands of workers since Covid?

The jobs market appears to be slowing down, but can we trust the figures? Vacancies have fallen for the longest continuous period on record, according to data published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). But there are still just under 950,000 jobs on offer which is well above the pre-lockdown norm. Meanwhile, despite British workers receiving real-terms pay rises in the three months to October, wage growth seems to have peaked. This will please Bank of England rate setters who feared that spiralling wage demands could worsen inflation. Average weekly earnings (including bonuses) fell slightly to 7.2 per cent on the year, down from 8 per cent. Because of

Katy Balls

What if Rishi Sunak loses his crunch Rwanda vote?

Rishi Sunak faces the most important vote of his premiership this evening when his ‘Safety of Rwanda’ bill has its second reading in the Commons. The bill seeks to finally get migrant flights off the ground by declaring Rwanda to be ‘safe’. If passed, the legislation will also mean that some international laws will have no effect, making a legal challenge – such as the Supreme Court’s verdict last month that the government’s previous version of the Rwanda scheme was unlawful – less likely. However, Sunak’s third way has led to both the right and left of the party voicing concerns and doubts over whether it will pass at second

Steerpike

‘Division will be punished’: Tory MPs urged not to rebel on Rwanda

Can Rishi Sunak persuade wavering Tory MPs not to vote down his Rwanda bill this afternoon? The European Research Group has already delivered its withering verdict: its so-called ‘star chamber’ of legal experts say the bill – which the government hopes will give the green light to send migrants to Africa – offers a ‘partial and incomplete solution’ to the problem of legal challenges being used to delay flights. The New Conservatives group has also waded in to declare that the bill requires ‘major surgery or replacement’. Rishi Sunak is holding a breakfast meeting this morning to try and persuade his MPs not to vote the bill down. Meanwhile, heavyweight

Jawad Iqbal

There’s only one winner in Egypt’s sham election

After three days of voting, the polls close today in Egypt’s presidential elections. The result is expected on 18 December, but voters already know there can be only one winner: president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who has been in power for nearly a decade. The other candidates for the presidency (those permitted to stand against him) aren’t really running to win but are simply there to make up the numbers and help create the impression that voters are being offered a choice. This sham of an electoral process reveals much about Sisi’s iron grip on the country and its main organs of state, including the much-feared security services. After seizing power

Monday

11 Dec 2023

Steerpike

Gary Lineker slips up (again)

Will Gary Lineker ever learn? The BBC Sports pundit is now facing criticism after signing an open letter calling for the government to end the Rwanda plan and create a ‘fair new plan for refugees’. It comes just nine months after he sparked a huge row over describing government rhetoric as being not dissimilar from, er, 1930s Germany. So much for that famed BBC impartiality… Far from being chastened, the left-wing centre forward it at it again. Quote-tweeting Jonathan Gullis MP on Twitter — who criticised Lineker’s impartiality rule breach — the Match of the Day presenter sneered: ‘Jonathan hasn’t read the new guidelines…or, should I say, had someone read

Natasha Feroze

What Sunak really said about lockdown

14 min listen

It was Rishi Sunak’s turn at the Covid Inquiry today. The Prime Minister faced questions on Eat Out to Help Out, his relationship with No.10, tiers and PPE procurement. How did the former Chancellor come across? And how has his tone changed because he is now Prime Minister? Natasha Feroze speaks to Fraser Nelson and Kate Andrews.

Isabel Hardman

Sunak’s strange Covid Inquiry appearance

Rishi Sunak had a strange pandemic. He spent a lot of it in government meetings, the details of which he could not recall, and with people who he always got on with. That was the overall thrust of his evidence to the Covid Inquiry today. The only phrase that came up more than a variation on ‘I do not recall the specific details’ was ‘referring to the Spectator article’ (you can re-read this now vital piece of inquiry evidence here). There was one thing the Prime Minister can recollect in sharp detail from his time as chancellor, though, and that’s that absolutely no one raised any concerns with him about

Sam Meadows

Is Javier Milei abandoning his radicalism already?

When Labour’s Liam Byrne left a note for the incoming coalition Treasury team in 2010 which said ‘I’m afraid there is no money’, it was meant as a joke. When Argentine president Javier Milei sent a similar message in his inauguration speech on Sunday, it was far from comedy. It was an honest assessment of the seriousness of the situation faced by South America’s second-largest economy. Milei won last month’s election thanks to an anti-establishment campaign in which he heavily criticised the country’s political classes and promised drastic change. It was his penchant for cloning dogs and bringing a chainsaw to campaign rallies that earned him international headlines, but it was something

Isabel Hardman

Was Sunak oblivious to No. 10’s Covid dysfunction?

Rishi Sunak has already provided a statement of evidence to the Covid Inquiry, but this morning’s hearing spent more time examining his interview with Fraser in The Spectator last summer. Hugo Keith KC was particularly interested in whether Sunak had a line of communication with Boris Johnson that wasn’t recorded. Keith was referring to a line in the interview which says Sunak tried not to challenge the Prime Minister in public or leave a paper trail because it would be leaked: He tried not to challenge the Prime Minister in public, or leave a paper trail. ‘I’d say a lot of stuff to him in private,’ he says. ‘There’s some

Fraser Nelson

What Sunak really said about lockdown

In the dying days of Rishi Sunak’s leadership campaign, he gave an interview to The Spectator about lockdown which he was grilled on today at the Covid Inquiry. At the time he was speaking candidly as he had nothing to lose: it was clear that Liz Truss would win the Tory leadership contest. Now, he is Prime Minister and has to defend the record of the Conservative government, including decisions he argued against. So he was in a difficult position when the inquiry asked him about he had told me in that interview. When lockdown struck, Sunak had just been made Chancellor and was relatively new to government. There was

Katy Balls

What the ERG verdict on the Rwanda bill means for Sunak

It’s back to Brexit in parliament this week as Rishi Sunak puts his plan B to salvage the government’s flagship Rwanda scheme to a vote in the Commons. The Safety of Rwanda Bill – which declares that Rwanda is a safe place to send illegal migrants and states that international laws including the Human Rights Convention will have no effect – has its second reading tomorrow. The last time a government bill was defeated at a similar stage was in 1986 on Sunday trading. The reason defeat is viewed as a possibility is that both the left and right of the party have issues with the policy: the right says

Steerpike

Key moments: Rishi Sunak’s Covid Inquiry evidence

It’s week nine of the UK Covid Inquiry – and time for the Prime Minister to face the music. Today, Rishi Sunak has his turn in the hot seat, as new polling shows that the public now belatedly disapprove of his lockdown measures. Quelle surprise. Meanwhile his ‘allies’ – including, er, Jacob Rees-Mogg, are cited in the Telegraph as arguing that the Covid Inquiry has already decided that Sunak’s push to reopen hospitality after the first lockdown was harmful. Find the highlights below… Hecklers Today’s session did not get off to the best start for Sunak after he was heckled upon arrival. ‘Lives are more important than money!’ cried one protestor, as other

Jake Wallis Simons

It’s no surprise Palestine marches have drained the Met’s coffers

Much has been made of the supposedly peaceful nature of the weekly Palestine marches. But public order comes at a price. Yesterday, it emerged that the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, wrote to the Home Secretary to request more funds for police officers, pointing out that Scotland Yard was facing a £240 million funding gap because of the demonstrations. Since 7 October, he wrote, more than 28,000 officer shifts had been consumed by policing the protests in London. On top of this, the near-daily stunts mounted by Just Stop Oil – staged presumably when they are taking a break from creating havoc in railway stations for Palestine – have cost

Rory Cormac

Who is watching Britain’s spies?

Parliament’s intelligence watchdog is muzzled, neutered and sick.The Intelligence and Security committee, which oversees the UK intelligence community – MI5, MI6, GCHQ etc – released its annual report this week, and it makes for a sad read. The committee says it is ‘concerned’, ‘perplexed’ and ‘disappointed’ with the government. At one point it is ‘deeply disappointed and concerned.’ The government is deliberately obstructing the committee’s work, it says. The ISC’s most serious complaint is that the government is refusing to let them oversee the whole scope of the Britain’s intelligence community. Intelligence and security activities are increasingly devolved to units within Whitehall departments. They might involve transport security or telecoms security, rather than activities

Gareth Roberts

Why Nigel Farage failed on ‘I’m a Celebrity…’

The coronation of Sam Thompson, Scrappy Doo in human form, as King of the Jungle in this year’s I’m A Celebrity… was an inevitability. It was unthinkable that Tony Bellew – his still, stoic Scouse sparring partner – would not come second. And that Nigel Farage wouldn’t trail in third. When Farage made it through the public votes, all the way up to the final, there was much amused speculation about him coming out on top. The ‘banter’ outcome would’ve seen Farage take the crown, just for the sheer devilment of it. Yes, that would’ve been delicious, the ultimate wind-up of Farage’s many detractors. It was a pleasant daydream to imagine

Stephen Daisley

It’s time to crack down on Yousaf’s foreign affairs freelancing

For those who still believe in that old-fashioned thing called the British constitution, there has come a glimmer of hope from an unlikely source. Lord Cameron has threatened to withdraw Foreign Office support for overseas visits by Scottish government ministers if the SNP continues to disregard protocol on international jaunts. Humza Yousaf raised eyebrows during COP28 when he shook hands and chatted with Turkish strongman Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The SNP leader, who was at the event in his capacity as first minister of the Scottish government, tweeted out a photograph of the meeting and said they had discussed the situation in Gaza. In the same tweet, Yousaf called for an

Kristina Murkett

Teenage teachers won’t fix Britain’s classroom troubles

Teaching in the UK is in trouble. Less than half the number of secondary school teachers required this year, a record low, have been recruited, according to government figures released last week. STEM (science, engineering, technology and maths) subjects are particularly struggling: we only have 17 per cent of our target number of physics teachers and 63 per cent of maths teachers (down from 88 per cent last year). Yet this is a problem across the curriculum: the only subjects where the government met its targets were classics, PE and history. Teach First, the largest teacher training programme in the UK, announced this weekend that in order to tackle this

Sunday

10 Dec 2023

Steerpike

Nigel Farage comes third on I’m A Celeb

It’s been a highly anticipated finale of I’m A Celebrity, not least because of the staying power of Brexit mastermind Nigel Farage — who tonight made third place in the series. For weeks, viewers have been glued to their screens, delighting in seeing the controversial GB news presenter squirm. From eating pig’s anus on pizza to being filmed in the nude, it’s certainly tested Farage’s humility. But while no one could accuse Farage of being camera shy, ITV insiders have complained that the ex-MEP is ‘one of the least interesting campmates ever’. Others have criticised the former Brexit party leader of tactically stripping and wearing his shirt backwards to better

James Heale

Tory tribes gear up for Rwanda clash

The next 48 hours could be among the most important of Rishi Sunak’s premiership. His flagship Rwanda Safety Bill will get its second reading in the House of Commons on Tuesday, with MPs expected to vote on it in the evening. But before that there will be a day of tense meetings in rooms across the parliamentary estate as various Tory tribes gather to discuss the Bill and whether they can support it. Much of the attention is focused currently on the right of the party. A quintet of factions will meet at noon on Monday under the auspices of the European Research Group to hear the conclusions of its