Politics

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

Thursday

15 May 2025

Putin only wants to talk to one man

A week of diplomatic manoeuvring, ultimatums and psychological gambits has ended with a sadly predictable result: Vladimir Putin will not be coming to the negotiating table in Istanbul. Nor will he be sending a single cabinet-level negotiator. Instead the Russian delegation will be headed by former culture minister Vladimir Medinsky – the same low-level minion that Putin sent to the last round of talks in Istanbul in March-April 2022. Instead of a breakthrough, the great diplomatic effort led by Zelensky and the combined leaders of Europe have elicited nothing beyond a calculated insult from a defiant Kremlin. This latest cycle of hope and failure in the endgame to the Ukraine

Michael Nazir-Ali

Can the India-Pakistan ceasefire hold?

The cold-blooded killing of unarmed tourists by terrorists in Indian administered Kashmir has horrified not only Indians but people all over the world. The conviction in India that Pakistan was somehow or the other behind this attack, led it to strike at nine sites in Pakistan which it regarded as ‘terrorist camps’. Pakistan, in turn, attacked the military bases from where it believed the attacks on its territory had come and, given that these are two nuclear powers, the whole situation seemed to be escalating alarmingly. Pakistan will have to take some responsibility for dismantling Islamist extremist organisations The ceasefire, therefore, that both the USA and Pakistan agree was brokered

Christopher Snowdon

Which European country has the largest nanny state?

Across Europe, Nanny’s influence is growing: there has been a steady erosion of liberty for those of us who like to eat, drink, vape or smoke. Leading the pack in the 2025 Nanny State Index is Turkey where the state’s penchant for control borders on fetishistic, banning vapes outright and taxing alcohol off the scale. Its only saving grace is that so many of its little prohibitions are poorly enforced. Hot on its heels is Lithuania, where the war on fun is fought with puritanical zeal. Alcohol is a particular target, with the drinking age raised to 20 a few years ago and all advertising banned. E-cigarettes are not outlawed

Lionel Shriver

How English are you really?

I’ve struggled to ascertain from afar the true nature of Germany’s Alternative für Deutschland. Progressive media love to quote its supporters’ politically off-key comments, but no party can answer for a membership’s every daft remark; even the odd dodgy politician comes with the territory. Yet the country’s two mainstream but increasingly unpopular parties – a disenchantment Brits will recognise – portray the AfD as chocka with swastika-waving Nazis building scale models of Treblinka in their basements. After anti-Trump Democrats screamed ‘Hitler! Hitler! Hitler!’ until they were blue in the face last year, I can’t help but view the German elite’s hyperventilation with scepticism. These days, the ‘far right’ comprises everyone

James Heale

Kemi Badenoch now leads the ‘Tinkerbell Tories’

Market choice has long been an article of faith in the Conservative party. But the Tories are less keen on competition when it comes to their own fate. Traditionally, the party’s historic market share ensured that, after some time in opposition, the pendulum eventually swung back their way. That rule no longer holds true. This month’s local elections offered a painful case study in consumer choice. With five serious parties on offer, just 15 per cent of voters chose to back the Conservatives. Polls suggest that, in a general election, the onetime ‘natural party of government’ would be reduced to barely two dozen seats. ‘Existential’ is the word favoured by

Wednesday

14 May 2025

Lloyd Evans

Badenoch lacked bite at PMQs. Again

Sir Keir Starmer had a new song today at PMQs. The Tories are finished. He said it twice to Kemi Badenoch. It was a deliberate ploy. So what’s he up to? Kemi was ill-prepared for the session. She should have changed tack as soon as she heard Sir Keir’s opening statement about immigration. Kemi’s day didn’t recover. Her questions lacked bite ‘This party will end the open-border experiment of the party opposite,’ said the PM. Instead of challenging him, Kemi stuck to her prepared script. ‘Unemployment is up by 10 per cent since the general election,’ she said. ‘Why is it rising on his watch?’ Sir Keir has just arranged

Ian Acheson

The good and the bad of the sentencing reforms

Our prisons are nearly full to bust once again so the Ministry of Justice has been flying some kites ahead of the review of sentencing led by recovered Tory David Gauke. The ‘leaked’ idea involves the reintroduction of remission of time spent in prison for good behaviour. While the Justice Secretary Shabanna Mahmood is said to be impressed with how a similar system in Texas cut the prison population dramatically, the idea of time of your sentence for behaving yourself is quintessentially British. Most episodes of the BBC comedy Porridge will contain a reference to remission, granted or removed and how it shapes an offender’s journey. That’s because from 1948

Isabel Hardman

Starmer was in no mood to joke at PMQs

Keir Starmer had a much more awkward Prime Minister’s Questions than he is accustomed to. This was largely because Kemi Badenoch was armed with the latest unemployment figures, but also because the Conservative leader was agile in dealing with the Prime Minister’s responses. However, the overall lesson from the session was that Starmer now wants to frame the next election as being a battle between Labour and Reform, with the Tories a ‘finished party’. Badenoch opened by saying the attacks on Keir Starmer’s home were unacceptable, and an attack on democracy. She then asked him why unemployment was rising, to which he replied that she was talking the country down.

Dan Hitchens

Has the Royal College of Psychiatrists killed the assisted suicide bill?

How do you make assisted suicide safe? In recent months, a large part of Kim Leadbeater’s answer has been to point to the involvement of psychiatrists. Having a psychiatrist sign off each death, Leadbeater said, would ‘add expertise’. They would be part of a much-touted ‘multidisciplinary’ approach. In particular, they would be able to check that applicants met the threshold of the Mental Capacity Act. There’s just one problem. The psychiatrists themselves appear to think Leadbeater’s bill is a dangerous mess. I’m paraphrasing, of course. But last night’s statement from the Royal College of Psychiatrists, in which they identified nine major problems with the legislation and said they ‘cannot support’ it, is

The Spectator

Max Hastings on the real story of D-Day – The Book Club live

As a subscriber-only special, get exclusive access to The Spectator’s Book Club Live: an evening with Max Hastings. Join The Spectator’s literary editor, Sam Leith, and the military historian and former Telegraph editor-in-chief Max Hastings, to uncover the real story of D-Day. They will be discussing Max’s new book, Sword: D-Day – Trial by Battle, which explores – with extraordinary vividness – the actions of the Commando brigade, Montgomery’s 3rd Infantry and 6th Airborne divisions at Sword beach in June 1944. It will also be an opportunity to celebrate the 80th anniversary of VE Day. Following the discussion, attendees will have the opportunity to put their own questions to Max – and perhaps discover the

Lucy Dunn

Is Badenoch getting better, or is Starmer getting worse?

12 min listen

Prime Minister’s Questions today, and there was lots on the agenda. It is often a fool’s game to guess what the leader of the opposition will lead on, but today she had a wide choice of ammunition – from unemployment to welfare to the government’s new stance on migration to the war in Gaza. Kemi Badenoch looked assured when holding Keir Starmer to account on the Chancellor’s ‘jobs tax’ and on funding for children’s hospices. But can we attribute her performance to growing confidence in the role – or is the news just getting worse for Keir Starmer? There were a couple of notable moments from the Prime Minister, including

James Snell

Donald Trump has given Syria hope

It’s an image that would have been shocking, even a few months ago: US president Donald Trump shaking hands with Ahmed al-Sharaa, formerly Abu Muhammad al-Jolani, a fighter for al-Qaeda in Iraq, imprisoned by the Americans, now interim president of Syria. Getting sanctions lifted is the greatest achievement of al-Sharaa’s presidency so far The pair met in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, alongside their respective foreign minsters, for 33 minutes, the Syrian presidency said. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was there too; Turkey’s president Erdogan joined them on the phone. Before their meeting, Trump announced in a speech yesterday that he would remove all economic sanctions on Syria

Simon French

What’s the Treasury’s real view on immigration?

This week has seen much talk – again – of the ‘Treasury View’, and how that rarely defined set of values might be influencing this government’s approach to migration. First, let’s kill off some conspiracy theories that exist about the Treasury View. In general terms the Treasury View stands for cautious conservatism (with a small C) surrounding the payback from public spending, a belief in free trade, and in free markets. The Treasury View also extols the virtue of a steady currency, low and stable inflation, and soundly managed public finances. Former Treasury Permanent Secretary, Lord Nick Macpherson, in a speech in 2014, placed these amongst ten propositions for what

Thomas Edwards

Does MAGA have a Pope Leo problem?

J.D. Vance, perhaps the world’s most prominent Catholic layman, has found his political ideology at odds with the papacy for the second time in as many pontificates. Vance’s brand of Catholicism favours tradition and he is part of a growing cohort of young Catholics, sometimes affectionately referred to as ‘rad trads’. It is a Tridentine Mass, highly observant Catholicism that reacts against the liberalising reforms of the 1960s, which it sees as corrosive to the truth that came before. These Catholics are found across the world, but particularly in the Anglosphere – and especially in the United States. They attend Mass with reverence, observe Church teaching on sexual morality, and

Steerpike

Lowe brands Farage a ‘viper’ after Reform charges dropped

While Nigel Farage’s Reform party has seen success in the local elections this month, their former MP Rupert Lowe has received a bit of good news himself. It transpires that the Greater Yarmouth politician will not face criminal charges in relation to an allegation of threats towards the party’s chairman Zia Yusuf – with Lowe taking to Twitter to blast the party’s ‘brutal smear campaign’ in a statement on the matter this morning. He’s certainly pulling no punches now… Lowe was suspended in March after Yusuf and chief whip Lee Anderson announced they had referred their former colleague to the police over ‘threats of physical violence’, while reports emerged that

Steerpike

Will Reform oust Miliband?

To the green thorn in Sir Keir Starmer’s side: Net Zero Secretary Ed Miliband. The lefty veteran may have spent two decades in Westminster engraving stones and taking aim at airport terminals, but all that could be set to end in 2029 if Reform UK’s local election results are anything to go by. Analysis of the May elections suggest that Nigel Farage’s party could elect 81 MPs across the areas that voted in the recent council polls – ousting Miliband in the process. Dear oh dear… The research by Electoral Calculus predicts Labour would only cling onto three seats in the areas that voted this month, while the Tories would

Freddy Gray

What is Trump doing in the Middle East?

29 min listen

President Trump is an America Firster, but he has an undeniable affinity for the Arab world. He would have made a good sheik: he doesn’t drink, he loves developing flashy properties to show off his power and wealth, and he’s brutally realistic about the role of oil (and other commodities) in world politics. On his tour of the Middle East, he signed an enormous arms deal with Saudi Arabia and announced all US sanctions on Syria would be lifted. Historian and former diplomat Charlie Gammell joins Freddy Gray to discuss what Trump really wants in the Middle East.

Matthew Lynn

The City backlash against Reform has begun

It will be like Liz Truss on roller skates. The next election may still be four years away, and the manifestos still need to be fleshed out. Even so, the City has already started issuing stark warnings of a run on the pound if there is a Reform government led by Nigel Farage as Prime Minister. Of course, it is a measure of how far the party has come that the City is taking it seriously. The trouble is, there is also an element of truth in it. Reform would face a huge backlash in the markets – and the party will have to be ready for it. The financial

Steerpike

Royal College of Psychiatrists voices opposition to assisted dying

Assisted dying has been a hot topic both north and south of the border this week, as Scottish politicians voted on Tuesday on their version of the euthanasia bill while Kim Leadbeater’s legislation will face another round of voting in Westminster on Friday. But in another blow for the Labour MP, now the Royal College of Psychiatrists has voiced its opposition to the bill – citing its concern over ‘many, many factors’. Oo er. Speaking to the Beeb’s Radio 4 Today programme this morning, the Royal College’s Dr Trudi Seneviratne insisted that ‘there would be many, many factors in the bill as it stands that would need to be addressed’.

Daniel McCarthy

Donald Trump would have made a great sheik

President Trump is an America Firster, but he has an undeniable affinity for the Arab world. He would have made a good sheik: he doesn’t drink, he loves developing flashy properties to show off his power and wealth, and he’s brutally realistic about the role of oil (and other commodities) in world politics. In his first run for president eight years ago, Trump not only surprised the Republican establishment by criticising the Iraq War, he surprised the war’s critics by saying that if America was going to invade, we should at least have seized the oilfields. Trump would rather do business than wage war with Tehran The Abraham Accords were