Politics

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

Sunday

10 Dec 2023

Lucy Dunn

Wes Streeting’s ‘tough love’ approach to saving the NHS

The NHS faces an institutional and structural problem in the way it works, Wes Streeting believes. ‘Unless it changes, it’s not going to survive.’ The shadow health secretary’s ‘tough love’ philosophy suggests NHS bosses are very much mistaken if they expect much more generous health spending under a Labour government. Instead, Streeting has slammed the health service for using winter crises as an ‘excuse’ for funds. Streeting’s interview in today’s Sunday Times comes as the health service is facing record high waiting lists of over 7.5 million and record waiting times (with 3.2 million waiting over 18 weeks for care). More junior doctor strikes have been announced as medics remain unhappy with

Joe Bedell-Brill

Sunday shows round-up: Robert Jenrick says the Rwanda bill won’t work

Speaking to Laura Kuenssberg after resigning on Wednesday, former immigration minister Robert Jenrick was disparaging in his assessment of the government’s new Rwanda legislation. Explaining his resignation, he said he couldn’t be the minister guiding the bill through parliament. Jenrick implied he had a better understanding of the issue than the Prime Minister, and that a ‘political choice’ had been made to bring forward a bill which wouldn’t do the job. Jenrick claimed that under the proposed legislation, the Rwanda scheme would be bogged down by migrants’ potential legal claims and would not act as an effective deterrent. Michael Gove: ‘this bill is the robust measure required’ In defence of

Steerpike

SNP probe investigates £95,000 Jaguar

It’s safe to say that it’s not been a great year for the SNP. For 2023 ends as it began – with questions being asked about the long-running investigation into the party’s finances. And while a luxury campervan sparked headlines earlier this year, attention has now alighted on the purchase of a luxury £95,000 Jaguar car. Can’t beat buying British, eh? As part of Police Scotland’s ongoing probe, the cops are investigating the purchase of a top range electric vehicle. It is alleged to have been bought by Nicola Sturgeon’s husband Peter Murrell – the SNP’s former chief executive – from a dealership in Edinburgh in October 2019. A car of the same description as the Jaguar, registered in 2019, was photographed on the couple’s

John Keiger

The French elite have realised that Marine Le Pen might win

You can tell that French elections are in the air because legal proceedings are being taken against a leading figure of the French right. So it was with François Fillon of the Républicain party, a key contender in the 2017 presidential elections, whose hopes of winning were dashed during the campaign by legal investigation into alleged misuse of parliamentary funds, subsequently ending his political career. So it is now with Marine Le Pen of the Rassemblement National, as France gears up for the 9 June 2024 European parliament elections, for which her party is the clear front-runner. This week, French investigating magistrates scheduled a hearing for 27 March 2024 to determine whether Marine Le Pen, the Rassemblement

Gavin Mortimer

Does Macron want to make France more multicultural?

Emmanuel Macron will address France in the coming weeks in what is being billed as a ‘Message of Unity’ speech. According to Le Monde, the president is aware that the country is in turmoil but he believes he can make France great again. ‘The role I have assigned myself is to hold the country together,’ Macron is quoted as saying. ‘Between denial and over-dramatisation, there is room for lucidity that involves examining the country’s problems but also not letting it fall apart.’ Those problems are many, from a cost of living crisis to violent crime and much in between. The French have a reputation for not looking on the bright

Mark Galeotti

An election campaign is still dangerous for Putin

It was elaborately staged precisely to try and look unstaged. After a medals ceremony at the Kremlin for Heroes of the Fatherland day, Vladimir Putin joined an oh-so-unchoreographed gaggle of participants. One, Lt Colonel Artem Zhoga, appealed for him to stand for re-election. Although Putin admitted he had had second thoughts, he accepted ‘that there is no other way,’ and would indeed be running. This is, it is fair to say, not much of a surprise. Nor will it be a surprise if Putin wins in March. But that doesn’t mean there won’t be upsets along the way. Rig an election too much and too obviously and this defeats the

Angus Colwell

‘Rizz’, ‘vibes’, and what we lose with Very Online language

Welcome to our language: ‘rizz’. Here’s the OED definition: colloquial noun, ‘defined as ‘style, charm or attractiveness; the ability to attract a romantic or sexual partner’. It was announced on Monday as the Dictionary’s word of the year, and it’s here to stay sadly, because that’s how language works. That’s why we don’t speak like George Eliot characters. Rizz became popular the way all words do nowadays: they start somewhere opaque online, then filter effortlessly into real life. As a 23-year-old, I hear it semi-frequently, although I kind of wish I didn’t. What does it mean for a word to go ‘viral’? It means that everyone starts using them, and

Ed West

The Tories aren’t being honest about foreign marriages

Western liberalism was built on the principle of marrying out. Our beliefs about the freedom of the individual ultimately stem from the Catholic Church’s ban on cousin marriage, which helped create a worldview that was open, trusting and opposed to both clannishness and xenophobia. The medieval Church’s insistence that marriage be consensual was revolutionary and strange; back in the 13th century a romantic poem, The History of William Marshal, has the protagonist coming across an eloping couple who have defied their parents to seek true love. Our hero then robs them, and since the story was commissioned by Marshal’s sons to glorify him, we can assume that public opinion might have thought this

Sean Rayment

Could killing Yahya Sinwar end the Gaza war?

Somewhere beneath the rambling town of Khan Yunis, Yahya Sinwar, the murderous leader of Hamas in Gaza, is awaiting his fate. The terrorist leader, who orchestrated the October 7th atrocity and the deaths of 1,200 innocent Israelis, knows that his days are numbered. Either the 61-year-old Palestinian will die from the impact of a 500 lb satellite guided Joint Direct Attack Munition bomb exploding above the fetid hole in which he is hiding or his life will end in a hail of bullets fired by Israeli commandos, with orders to kill and not capture the Hamas leader. While his death should be rightly celebrated, it will also give the Israelis

Ross Clark

Net zero has doomed Europe’s car industry

The decision of the European Commission to delay, for three years, tariffs on car exports between Britain and the EU is the harbinger of a more constructive relationship between the two. But is it going to save the European car industry? Probably not. It is net zero targets, not Brexit, which are condemning mass-market car production in Europe to possible extinction. Until this week’s decision, car manufacturers faced a cliff edge. Unless they could show that at least 45 per cent of a vehicle, by value, had been made in Europe, that vehicle would face a 10 per cent tariff if exported from Britain to the EU or vice versa. What might have

Saturday

9 Dec 2023

Steerpike

Will Tory plotters sink Sunak?

After months of tedium, Sunday newsrooms everywhere rejoiced at Robert Jenrick’s resignation on Wednesday night. Finally, a return to the greatest hits: Tory splits and fevered speculation of a leadership contest. Leading the way is the Mail on Sunday which brings news of yet another food-themed conspiracy. Boris Johnson saw off the ‘pork pie plot’ but Rishi Sunak is reportedly facing the ‘pasta plotters’ who are ‘cooking up a scheme’ to oust him at a Covent Garden Italian eaterie. Penne Mordaunt for leader, anyone? The paper declares tonight that a ‘determined cabal of MPs and political strategists’ have been meeting at the legendary Giovanni’s restaurant, a stone’s throw away from

Stephen Daisley

The SNP should have listened to Kate Forbes

Kate Forbes has called on the Scottish Government to accept Friday’s judgment on its controversial gender legislation. The Gender Recognition Reform Bill introduces ‘self-identification’, an approach which removes medical experts and other safeguards from the process, and lowers the age at which a person can change their legal sex to 16. It was passed overwhelmingly by the Scottish Parliament last December but blocked from becoming law by Scottish Secretary Alister Jack under a never-before-used power contained in the Scotland Act. Jack had received legal advice that the legislation would not only affect Scotland but equalities law across the UK. The SNP-Green Holyrood government petitioned for judicial review and yesterday the

Steerpike

Watch: Naga Munchetty’s X-rated jibe at Boris

Pity the poor staff and stars of Have I Got News For You. Having propelled Boris Johnson to fame in the early noughties, HIGNFY has spent much of the past three years desperately trying to rectify its mistake. The likes of Carol Vorderman or Clive Myrie are among those who have taken pops at the former premier, who seems to be a particular target of the show’s ire. Further proof of this was offered on Friday when Naga Munchetty made an X-rated dig about the onetime Tory leader. The BBC Breakfast star – who has previously had her own brush with the Corporation’s censors – cited evidence heard by the Covid Inquiry, quoting one news

Steerpike

Labour MSP lodges Taylor Swift motion

They say that politics is showbiz for ugly people. And up in Holyrood they’re doing little to dispel that impression with the latest initiative put forward by Labour MSP Monica Lennon. She’s using a parliamentary motion to raise awareness of an important issue. What is it? Scotland’s tanking education ratings? The ever-spiralling problem of drug deaths? No, it’s a hagiographic paean to, er, Taylor Swift. What a good use of time… Hailing the pop sensation on Twitter, the self-professed Swiftie posted her motion, requesting that: ‘Parliament congratulates Taylor Swift on being named Time magazine’s Person of the Year for 2023’ and ‘acknowledges that the singer-songwriter has spoken with pride about

Mark Galeotti

The US Senate is playing into Putin’s hands

The news this week that Republicans in the US Senate had voted together to block a supplemental funding bill that included provision for $61 billion for Ukraine was greeted with predictable dismay in Kyiv and glee in Moscow. Ostensibly this was a bid to force the White House into prioritising more spending on securing the Mexican border. However it also reflects a real sense on the part of some within the GOP that the United States is either throwing good money after bad in maintaining support for the conflict, or continuing to subsidise a backsliding Europe that really ought to be taking the lead on this crisis. After all, while

James Heale

Do the Tories have a death wish?

13 min listen

Nick Robinson asked Suella Braverman on the Today programme this week whether the Tories had a death wish. She said no. But why is the party, when it’s doing so badly in the polls, fighting among itself? James Heale speaks to Katy Balls ands Craig Oliver, former director of communications in No. 10.

Steerpike

Jenrick takes aim at Rishi’s Rwanda fix

After three days of speculation, Robert Jenrick has finally broken cover. In this morning’s Daily Telegraph he sets out in an 1,800-word article, the reasons why he resigned from government on Wednesday, why he thinks the Rwanda Bill will fail and what his broader concerns are about high levels of migration. On Sunak’s flagship legislation, Jenrick expresses doubt that ministers will really use powers to ignore Strasbourg interim measures grounding flights. He writes that ‘the new Bill replicates the provisions under the section 55 of the Illegal Migration Act, which enables ministers to use their “discretion”, but in practice I know the instances this will be used is vanishingly rare,

James Heale

James Heale, Michael Simmons and Mary Wakefield

18 min listen

This week: James Heale reads his politics column on Sunak’s migration minefield (00:55), Michael Simmons says that Scotland’s ‘progressive’ teaching methods have badly backfired (05:53), and Mary Wakefield asks: why can’t I pray in Westminster Abbey? (11:40) Produced and presented by Oscar Edmondson.

Jawad Iqbal

Joe Biden is all at sea on Israel’s war in Gaza

No amount of presidential bluster or White House spin can disguise the fact that the Biden administration appears increasingly clueless about what to do about the war in Gaza. Having tied US policy to Israel’s war aims – specifically the destruction of Hamas – US president Joe Biden now finds himself in a tight spot as the death toll in Gaza continues to rise. It is not entirely his fault: backing Israel – both militarily and politically – is a longstanding pillar of US Middle East policy, regardless of which political party is in power. Biden was merely reaffirming this when he stood behind Israel’s ‘right to defend itself’ in the wake

Julie Burchill

Brighton says ‘no’ to Eddie Izzard

‘If there’s one thing Eddie Izzard can’t be faulted on, it’s enthusiasm,’ Steerpike opined this week on the news that the comedian and actor, who also self-identifies as Suzy, is standing to become the Labour candidate for Brighton Pavilion – only a year after trying, and failing, to do so in Sheffield Central. There’s been a few raised eyebrows in my adopted hometown of Brighton & Hove (so good they named it twice) about the fact that Her Ladyship (I’m not going to call Izzard Her, but I don’t mind going that extra mile, as befits such an expensively-educated type) has promised grandly to make Brighton their ‘main home’ –