Politics

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

Bridget Phillipson is destroying Britain’s education system

Congratulations are due to the Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson. Not many ministers achieve much at all, let alone ticking off the core of their agenda within a year of taking office. But figures to be released this week, which show that over 13,000 children have had to leave private schools over the past academic year, are merely the latest confirmation that Phillipson is well on her way to achieving what she set out to do when she took office. Phillipson can already boast that she is the most destructive education secretary since 1979. One assumes that has been her aim since being appointed last July, given that she has spent

James Heale

EU-UK reset: ‘brexit betrayal’?

15 min listen

As EU leaders arrive in London for a summit hosted by Keir Starmer, there has been an announcement that the UK and EU have reached a deal. The UK has extended its agreement on EU fishing boats in British waters, while in return fewer checks on British food exports are expected. There have also been discussions about a defence pact, reduced tuition fees for EU students and access to electronic passport gates for British holiday-makers.  While we await further details, deputy political editor James Heale and director of the Centre for European Reform Charles Grant join Lucy Dunn to unpack what we know so far. Will the deal be an

Steerpike

How convinced is the Trade Secretary about the UK-EU deal?

Today’s the day of Sir Keir Starmer’s big UK-EU summit and just hours ago it was confirmed that the UK had indeed struck a broad-ranging deal covering defence, immigration, food trade and fisheries with the European Union. The Prime Minister will hold a Lancaster House presser at 12.30 p.m. today to share the details – and in the lead-up to the announcement government ministers have been busy on the airwaves lauding the PM’s progress. Yet Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds appeared just a little lacklustre when telling GB News his views on the agreement… ‘I’m not the kind of man to get hyperbolic about these things…’ Presenter Eamonn Holmes quizzed Reynolds

Ross Clark

Under Labour, Britain is living beyond its means

The bleak future of the UK’s public finances can be summed up in a few statistics. For the financial year just ended, the Office for National Statistics’ provisional estimate for the government’s deficit – the gap between income and expenditure – is £151.9 billion. The Office for Budget Responsibility’s estimate is that spending on welfare (including the state pension) will rise from £313 billion in 2024/25 to £377 billion in 2029/30 in today’s money – an increase of £64 billion. The government, meanwhile, has proposed changes to the welfare system, reducing Personal Independence Payments (PIPs) which it hopes will save £4.8 billion a year. The electoral winners will be the

Gavin Mortimer

Could Bruno Retailleau become France’s next president?

Emmanuel Macron appeared on French television last week and spoke for three hours without saying anything of interest. It was a damning indictment of his eight years in office. The country is up to its eyes in debt, ravaged by insecurity and overwhelmed by immigration, but Macron told the country that none of it is his fault. On the contrary, the President scolded the French for being ‘too pessimistic’. The disdain is mutual. A poll conducted in the wake of the President’s interminable television interview found that 71 per cent of the people consider him to be a ‘bad’ president. As to the idea that Macron might stand for re-election

Labour’s defence review is anything but strategic

Fans of the classic British sitcom will feel a warm glow, as details of the forthcoming strategic defence review (SDR) were revealed this weekend. It leads with a proposal for a ‘home guard’ of civilian volunteers to protect the UK’s critical national infrastructure of power plants, airports, telecommunications networks and subsea connectors. Predictably, this cued up references to Dad’s Army, Captain Mainwaring and the Local Defence Volunteers (LDV) raised in the dark days of 1940. The SDR, commissioned within weeks of the government taking office last July, has been drafted by a team led by former Nato secretary general Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, assisted by General Sir Richard Barrons,

The far right is gaining footholds across Europe

The relentless rise of the populist right in Europe has been confirmed by provisional first results of elections held yesterday in three different countries: Poland, Portugal and Romania. In Poland, there will be a run-off in the second round of the presidential election. This is after Rafal Trzaskowski, the centre-left candidate close to the Civic Coalition government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk, was run to an unexpectedly close second place by the ultra-conservative candidate Karol Nawrocki, who is backed by the former ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party. Ominously for the Left, the third and fourth places were also taken by ultra right-wing candidates, whose votes are now likely to go

Sam Leith

Starmer’s EU e-passport plan is the ultimate Brexit win

As I was passing through Stockholm’s Arlanda airport last week, a WhatsApp from a colleague pinged into my phone as I came through arrivals, so I’m able, as it happens, to quote verbatim my thoughts at the time: ‘Just in the arrivals hall now, and as I queue in “all other passports”, I am once again reminded of what a stupid [expletive deleted] idea Brexit was.’ I may, indeed, to my shame, have added some unflattering reflections on the policy of the magazine I have the honour to work for. For most people, it’s only in that passport queue that they will think about Brexit much at all It strikes

Steerpike

Gary Lineker quits the BBC amid antisemitism storm

Good riddance, Gary Lineker. The ex-England striker has now quit the Beeb in a huff, having presented his final Match of the Day show on Sunday. It comes after Lineker shared a social-media post featuring an ‘anti-Semitic’ rat emoji and declared that Israel’s response to the October 7 terrorist attacks was ‘beyond depraved’. Lineker – the Corporation’s highest-paid ‘star’ – had been due to host the BBC’s coverage of the 2026 World Cup but has now ended his contract early. Talk about an early bath… The Sun got the scoop on his departure, reporting that ‘Gary agreed to leave the BBC for good after meeting bosses last week’, having realised that ‘his position was untenable.’ The

James Heale

Joe Biden diagnosed with prostate cancer

Joe Biden has been diagnosed with an ‘aggressive form’ of prostate cancer, according to a statement released by his office on Sunday. Biden, 82, was diagnosed on Friday, after he saw a doctor last week for urinary symptoms. The former US president and his family are now reviewing treatment options, with the cancer cells now having spread to the bone. Prostate cancers are ranked on a ‘Gleason score’ that measures, on a scale of one to 10, how the cancerous cells look compared with normal cells. Biden’s office said his score was nine, suggesting his cancer is among the most aggressive. Metastasised cancer is much harder to treat than localised cancer

A Dad’s Army won’t save Britain

Eighty-five years ago, on 14 May 1940, Anthony Eden, newly-appointed secretary of war in Winston Churchill’s government, went on the radio to appeal for volunteers to join a newly formed defence militia to guard against a German invasion. Originally called the Local Defence Volunteers, this force later became the Home Guard, immortalised on our TV screens as ‘Dad’s Army’. As things turned out, the Battle of Britain ensured that Operation Sealion, the Nazi invasion plan, never took place, but the Home Guard remained in being, and while never tested in combat, they were a morale-boosting reminder that Britons old and young were ready to do their bit in defending the

Nick Thomas-Symonds: ‘We won’t go back to freedom of movement’

The government is currently in the final hours of negotiations with the EU over a new deal that Keir Starmer has said will create a ‘strengthened partnership’ with the bloc. The specifics of the deal are not yet revealed, but it is thought that a youth mobility scheme is on the table. On the BBC this morning, Laura Kuenssberg told Minister for European Relations Nick Thomas-Symonds that some people might feel betrayed by the new deal. Thomas-Symonds told Kuenssberg that it would include a ‘smart and controlled scheme’ and that going back to freedom of movement was a ‘red line’ the government would not cross. The minister claimed the new

Why Reeves should be wary of changing cash ISAs

Shrewd parents extol upon their children the importance of stashing away some cash. Unfortunately, they rarely offer much guidance on what to actually do with that money. As a result, much of it gets squirrelled away in pink, ceramic pigs where inflation eats it up. Many adults make the same mistake as these young savers. The more savvy ones opt to invest, perhaps in an Individual Savings Account (or ISAs), which are tax free savings accounts that let you save up to £20,000 every year, usually in the form of cash or stocks and shares. But it’s widely reported that the Treasury is considering a radical shake up of the

Steerpike

Second man arrested over Starmer fires

Counterterrorism forces have arrested a second man in connection with arson attacks on two homes and a vehicle associated with Keir Starmer. The Metropolitan Police arrested a 26-year-old man – whose nationality remains unknown – at Luton airport on Saturday afternoon on suspicion of conspiracy to commit arson with intent to endanger life. In a statement the Met said: ‘The arrest was made by counterterrorism officers from the Eastern Region Special Operations Unit. The man has been taken to custody in London.’ The latest arrest follows that of a 21-year-old man who was charged with arson with intent to endanger life over attacks at properties linked to the Prime Minister.

Why are today’s MPs so incredibly drab?

Current MPs in Britain seem, at times, a drab and depressing bunch. ‘The quality of parliamentarian,’ Ann Widdecombe said on a recent podcast, ‘is the lowest I can ever remember.’ It was not just the reluctance most sensible people feel about exposing themselves to such overwhelming and intrusive media focus, she explained, that was putting better candidates off. It was also down to the identity-driven shortlists all three main parties have embraced in the past few decades. It’s all too easy for ministers to forget what a strong economy, a robust education system, or a love of free speech are actually for ‘They began to select on identity rather than

Theo Hobson

How to fight back against Lily Phillips

Why is the pornification of our culture so difficult to oppose? Partly because it takes subtly different forms. There used to be prostitutes and pornographers. Now, there are online influencers like Lily Phillips, subject of the documentary I Slept With 100 Men in One Day. These influencers sometimes talk like feminist activists, too. The idea that sex belongs in committed relationships is rubbished There are also TV shows that are not quite porn, but are not quite not. A few years ago, I attacked the Channel 4 reality show Open House, which features first-time swingers. It doesn’t just document their adventures; it arranges them. I hoped that my attack would finish it

The US and China are in more than a trade war

Headlines on the current discord between the United States and China speak only of ‘trade war’. Negotiations in Geneva have led to a 90 day ‘truce’. If only the war were that limited. If only agreement on solving trade hostilities would return things to normal. But what is normal? Sadly, trade is just one aspect of a much broader war, in which neither side is contemplating a truce. The head of China’s BGI group, a former high ranking official, understands the reality better: ‘Many people talk about financial and trade wars, but the deadliest battle is the technology war. The technology war will ultimately determine the fate of both sides.

Stephen Daisley

Scotland has no idea what to do about Reform

Reform continues to rise in Scotland and the Scottish political and media class continue either to ignore it or hold panicked summits on countering the ‘far right’. Thursday’s council by-election for Clydebank Waterfront, in West Dunbartonshire, saw Reform come second despite never having contested this ward before. The SNP proved the eventual victor in the seventh round of counting – Scottish local elections are conducted using single transferrable vote – but Reform narrowly beat Labour into third place. They used to weigh the votes for Labour in Clydebank, a town once synonymous with the socialist radicalism of Red Clydeside. Like manners and Saturday night telly, the Scottish Labour party ain’t what it used to be,