Politics

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

Thursday

Alexander Larman

Trump's state visit could not be going better

So, the Donald was on his best behavior after all. There had been rumours flying around that President Trump would use his speech at the formal banquet that has been thrown in his honour by King Charles to make some pointed reference to free speech and its perceived absence thereof in Britain today. In the event, there was nothing but a series of emollient statements of praise for his hosts, their family and the country he was visiting, as well as, of course, himself. This threw up some incongruities – who would ever have imagined hearing Trump allude to Locke and Orwell? But his sentiments were warm (only partially reduced

James Heale James Heale

Danny Kruger: ‘There’s no going back for the Tory party’

‘The Conservative party is over.’ Until recently, such talk could be dismissed in Westminster as typical Nigel Farage hyperbole. But the decision of Danny Kruger to defect to Reform UK this week has left some Tories wondering if their party’s condition is fatal. Kruger – MP for East Wiltshire since 2019 – wrote speeches for David Cameron, corralled troops for Boris Johnson and ran Robert Jenrick’s leadership campaign last year. Until this week, he was seen as one of the Tory party’s most prominent thinkers. He is the biggest defection to Reform yet. When we meet in his new party’s headquarters, Kruger is reflecting on the brutal business of politics.

Tim Shipman

Starmer’s battle against the King of the North

After Keir Starmer’s calamitous fortnight, the No. 10 official was reflective: ‘Some people say: “Your worst day in government is better than your best day in opposition.” That’s horseshit. Those people haven’t worked in government.’ The mood in Starmer’s top team after the resignation of Angela Rayner and the sacking of Peter Mandelson is, one senior party figure notes, a combination of ‘anger and hurt’. MPs and ministers are openly discussing replacing the Prime Minister with Andy Burnham, the mayor of Manchester. But the outlines of a fightback are now visible. The strategy is one of carrots and sticks. First the carrot. At cabinet on Tuesday, Starmer and several ministers

Rod Liddle Rod Liddle

Who marches against Tommy Robinson?

Isn’t it time we banned such marches as the ‘Unite the Kingdom’ rally, given the thuggery and lawlessness which ensued? A hate-fest organised by the fascist Tommy Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Hitler. No fewer than 528 arrests, 50 of which were for possession of a weapon and 21 for crimes of a sexual nature. It would seem that this demonstration was undertaken by heavily tooled-up Nazi pervs. It is shocking that we should allow it on our streets. Oops, forgive me. I’ve got my facts wrong. I had all the arrest figures written down on a piece of paper. Then, when coming to write this article, I picked

The Spectator

Portrait of the week: Charlie Kirk killed, Peter Mandelson sacked and Harry takes tea with the King

Home Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, asked Lord Mandelson to step back as ambassador to Washington. This followed the publication of alarming emails of support Lord Mandelson had sent to Jeffrey Epstein after the financier’s conviction for sexual crimes. Questions remained about what Sir Keir knew and when before Lord Mandelson’s sacking and appointment. Some Labour MPs expressed frustration with the Prime Minister’s leadership. His director of political strategy, Paul Ovenden, resigned over a lewd joke about Diane Abbott he had relayed eight years ago. Some claimed Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester who has set up a soft-left group called Mainstream, was going to try to become

Michael Gove

Weimar Britain: lessons from history in radical times

The Ancient Greeks believed the past was in front of us and the future behind. Man could look history in the face and learn from it, while the future was unknowable, hidden, the wind whistling at our back. It is in history, its patterns, and what it reveals about human nature, that we have the best guide to our times and how they might develop. The government may wish us to focus on innovation this week – new nuclear reactors, AI data centres, OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Nvidia’s Jensen Huang at the state banquet – but if we really want to understand the convulsions gripping our society it is to

John Power

The Oxford Union’s lynch-mob mentality

The case of George Abaraonye, the incoming Oxford Union president who rejoiced in the assassination of Charlie Kirk, has provoked fierce debate about free speech at Oxford. Abaraonye considered the murder of the 31-year-old father of two, whom he had met at an Oxford Union debate, to be a cause for celebration. On a WhatsApp group he posted several messages cheering the assassination and on Instagram he crowed: ‘Charlie Kirk got shot loool.’ Now messages from student group chats linked to the Oxford Union reveal that those who objected to Abaraonye’s conduct have themselves been subjected to threats and intimidation designed to silence them. I’ve seen messages from two group

Wednesday

Tim Shipman

Andy Burnham’s ‘fantasy politics’

23 min listen

Donald Trump might be in the UK for the state visit, but it’s Labour pains that are dominating the headlines and, predictably, there is a typical northern lad who thinks he could be just what the party needs. Despite having made two previous (failed) attempts at the leadership, Andy Burnham is on manoeuvres. He does seem to have the key thing that Starmer lacks – i.e. the ability to communicate – but he does unfortunately come with his own history of flip-flopping. What does this say about the state of the left wing? ‘They clearly hate it!’ says Tim Shipman on today’s podcast about Labour’s experience of government, but is

Yossi Melman

Israel is waging war for war's sake

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has begun the most senseless battle in the history of Israel. Two conscript divisions with Merkava tanks, APCs and artillery, supported in the skies by the Israeli Air Force, are now engaged in a battle to conquer Gaza City. As they go, they are seizing what remains of the asphalt roads in Gaza. Artillery and air force planes are bombing and destroying more houses – about 70 per cent of the buildings in Gaza have already been destroyed by the IDF. This is now the most political war in Israel’s history. The country fought three wars against regular armies out of necessity: the War of

Sam Olsen

Sucking up to Trump is not in Britain’s interest

Donald Trump’s second state visit to Britain this week is a spectacle, but the real significance lies away from the pageantry and protests. Instead, it forces a harder question: what does Britain want from America, and what does America want from us? The visit is a reminder that Britain’s relationship with Washington is not just a sentimental bond, but a strategic choice made in a world defined by geopolitical rivalry. That rivalry is sharpening. The 1990s dream of a unipolar, American-led order has long gone. We are drifting into a world shaped by competition between two great powers, the United States and China. The logic of that contest is already

Mark Galeotti Mark Galeotti

Why Putin's military drills are good news for the West

Another Russian military exercise is over, and some Western commentators would have us believe that we ought to be heaving a collective sigh of relief that Putin’s legions didn’t use this as an excuse for another invasion. Of course, that was very overblown hype. Instead, what we saw was a Russian military still clinging to outmoded ways of war, as if its armoured columns had not been blocked and burnt when they rolled into Ukraine in 2022. The Zapad-2025 (West-2025) exercises, which concluded on Tuesday, involved perhaps 30,000 Russian and Belarusian soldiers in a wargame stretching from the Arctic Circle to Belarus. This was the latest iteration of a biennial

Druin Burch

How I came to (reluctantly) like Trump

The Donald is in Britain. As a holidaymaker used to budget flights, I associate Stansted airport, where Trump landed last night, with precisely the amount of glamour it currently offers, but I also know it was where planes in distress are directed to on their return – its long runway giving them the best chance of survival. Stansted is where imperilled dreams go in the hope of rescue. As Trump arrived, I realised its tarmac had not done for me what it once did for others. For them, that blessedly long runway was salvation. For me, it’s where my resistance crashed and burned. As I peered at the pictures of

Steerpike Steerpike

Khan: Trump has fanned flames of far right

Sadiq Khan has taken to the august pages of the Guardian today to vent about the US President, just hours after Donald Trump touched down in Britain. London’s Mayor fumed about Trump’s tariffs and the US president’s criticism of the capital, before launching into a rant on how ‘President Donald Trump and his coterie have perhaps done the most to fan the flames of divisive, far-right politics around the world’. Crikey! Khan continues: Six years later, the tactics we see from today’s White House seem no different. Scapegoating minorities, illegally deporting US citizens, deploying the military to the streets of diverse cities. These actions aren’t just inconsistent with western values

Mark Nayler

Pedro Sanchez's pro-Palestine obsession is damaging Spain

‘Today Spain shines as an example and as a source of pride. It’s [giving] an example to the international community by taking a step forward in defence of human rights.’ So said Spain’s Socialist prime minister Pedro Sánchez on Sunday, in praise of the pro-Palestine mob that brought the Vuelta a España cycle race to a premature end in Madrid. Sanchez’s support for these disruptive protests came a week after his promise to ‘consolidate in law’ a ban on Spain purchasing Israeli military equipment, in reaction to what he calls Israel’s ‘genocide’ in Gaza.  Cyclists on the Vuelta still had several circuits of the Spanish capital to complete that afternoon,

Steerpike Steerpike

Ex-Labour councillor charged over Westminster honeytrap scandal

Well, well, well. This morning news has come that 28-year-old Oliver Steadman, a former Labour councillor, has been charged with offences including blackmail over the honeytrap scandal in Westminster. The former local politician has received charges of communication offences relating to five victims – including MPs – according to the Crown Prosecution Service and Scotland Yard. Oh dear… Last year, a selection of politicians and journalists admitted they had been messaged by a person on WhatsApp, calling themselves ‘Charlie’ or ‘Abi’ depending on who the target was. William Wragg, a former senior Conservative, confessed that he had started speaking to the person behind the scam. He sent explicit images of

Joanna Williams

Will we face the truth about Britain's bogus mental health crisis?

Is it really the case that a majority of Gen Z have experienced mental health problems? Researchers from University College London certainly seem to think so. A YouGov survey they commissioned finds that almost two-thirds (64 per cent) of people aged 16 to 25 have either experienced or are currently experiencing mental health difficulties. Women seem to suffer most: 72 per cent said they had mental health difficulties compared to 56 per cent of young men. Rates are highest among 20 to 21-year-olds: 40 per cent of this age group are currently experiencing difficulties, while 31 per cent have had problems in the past. Women seem to suffer most: 72

Matthew Lynn

Trump's steel tariffs will hurt Britain

Over the course of President Trump’s state visit, we can expect lots of investments by the giants of American industry to be unveiled. Microsoft will announce $30 billion (£22 billion) of investment in new artificial intelligence hubs and tech infrastructure. Google will pump £5 billion into AI in Britain, which presumably means getting some robots to sit in the British Library reading room for a few months until all the content has been scraped. Perhaps by the end of the week, even McDonald’s will have announced plans for a new food court on the A30. But for all the celebration, there will be no progress on the only deal that

Debbie Hayton

Should teachers be allowed to work from home?

Teacher recruitment and retention have been associated with the word ‘crisis’ since I joined the profession thirty years ago. But Daniel Kebede’s idea to give teachers a day each week to work and ‘mark from home’ is not the answer. Kebede is the general secretary of the National Education Union. His job is to speak up for his members – many of whom, like me, work very long hours. According to the Department for Education, full-time teachers put in an average of 52.4 hours per week during term time. The work might be rewarding but it is also gruelling and often challenging. Yes, the holidays and the pension are nice

Gus Carter Gus Carter

Welcome to the age of reluctant socialism

There are no revolutionaries in Europe’s streets. No communists marching on parliament buildings. If anything, the continent has seen a rightward shift over the past decade. And yet Europe is becoming the home of a reluctant, greying socialism.  In France, the new Sébastien Lecornu regime is considering a wealth tax on entrepreneurs and the rich rather than slash its gargantuan social security bill. ‘France has not known a balanced budget for 51 years,’ said the former prime minister François Bayrou last week as he was voted into political oblivion. He, like many of his predecessors, had failed to reform the pension system. ‘You can get rid of the government, but

Michael Simmons Michael Simmons

Britain is in a fresh cost-of-living crisis

Prices are continuing to rise. Consumer inflation stayed at 3.8 per cent last month – matching the figure recorded in July and nearly double the Bank of England’s 2 per cent target.  This morning’s figures on CPI, released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), were in line with the expectations of markets and pundits. Air fares, which spiked in July due to the summer holidays, were significantly down compared with last year, which offset a rise in fuel, meaning the pace of inflation did not pick up.   There is a tendency in economic reporting to say that because a reading has come in line with forecasts, then it is good