Politics

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

Sunday

Nicholas Sheppard

Jacinda Ardern’s disappearing act

Former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern bade farewell to parliament a few weeks ago. Ardern had resigned as PM in January, saying she no longer had ‘enough in the tank’ to lead the country. After half-a-decade in charge, and regularly feted on the world stage, Ardern has all but vanished as a ubiquitous figure of the age; but more striking is the extent to which her political legacy has, too. So what has she been up to since? Ardern has been appointed a trustee of a Prince of Wales’ environment award, named the Earthshot Prize. The prize was created by Prince William to fund projects that, in a not-unimpressive mission statement,

Saturday

Patrick West

A split within the radical green movement was inevitable

Ever since Monty Python created their internecine, bickering and ridiculous groups of freedom fighters – the People’s Front of Judea and the Judean People’s Front – for their 1979 film The Life of Brian, it’s always been easy and tempting to mock and deride the fissiparous nature of ideologues and tin-pot revolutionaries. Those who believe in the purity of a cause tend to have a semi-religious mindset – and consequently one semi-divorced from reality – which brooks no heresy from orthodoxy. Thus extreme, quasi-cult movements are always prone to split into factions. And so it goes with the radical green movement, which at its worst excesses does resemble a bizarre cult: witness

Sam Leith Sam Leith

Sam Leith, Lionel Shriver and Angus Colwell

23 min listen

This week: Sam Leith explains how he’s been keeping up friendships by playing online scrabble (00:55), Lionel Shriver questions Nike and Bud Light’s recent marketing strategy (06:52) and Angus Colwell reads his review of the V&A Dundee’s tartan exhibition (15:24).

John Connolly John Connolly

Why are the Troubles being glorified now?

As world leaders gathered to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, is violence glorified when it comes to remembering the Troubles? John Connolly speaks to Spectator columnist Douglas Murray and former DUP leader Arlene Foster. This episode can be watched in full on Spectator TV’s Week in 60 Minutes. 

Gavin Mortimer Gavin Mortimer

Macron has left Marseille at the mercy of violent drug gangs

Five months and counting until France hosts the Rugby World Cup. For England supporters, the tournament kicks off at the stylish Stade Vélodrome in Marseille against Argentina on 9 September, one of six fixtures hosted by the Mediterranean city. Scotland take on South Africa the day after the England game, and two of the tournament’s quarter-finals will also be in Marseille, as they were in 2007 when France last hosted the World Cup.  That year was a peaceful one by Marseille’s standards, with only seven murders attributed to gangland wars. There was a new president, Nicolas Sarkozy, who had campaigned on a ‘tough on crime’ ticket, and that, plus the hosting

Samuel Rubinstein

The trouble with The Rest is Politics podcast

You have probably already heard of The Rest is Politics, which consistently tops the podcast charts. You have certainly already heard of its two hosts, and have a flavour of their temperaments as well as their political views. Alastair Campbell may once have been lost in the shadow of Malcolm Tucker, but every week on the podcast his real self fights its way through. He finds his perfect foil (so we are told) in his co-host, the awkward nerd Rory Stewart.  The Rest is Politics is a strange name. What does it mean? It isn’t a phrase. The pieces begin to fall together once you realise that the company behind

Andy Maciver

SNP rule has been disastrous for Scotland’s schools

This week was supposed to be Humza Yousaf’s big relaunch for the SNP. His speech on Tuesday was designed to show how he was combining his adopted role as the ‘son of Sturgeon’ with his ability to be his own man. Alas, it was not to be: the arrest of SNP treasurer Colin Beattie completely and utterly derailed the new First Minister’s best-laid plans. Yousaf had wanted to show he recognised that the relationship between the Scottish government and the business community had fallen into a ditch, to make clear it needed a ‘reset’. His willingness to compromise came in his announcement that the deposit return scheme would be delayed, and

Friday

Ross Clark Ross Clark

Newsnight stoops to a new low in its climate protest coverage

Has the BBC been invaded by a cabal of Extinction Rebellion protesters who have tied up the Director General in his swivel chair? I ask because of a remarkable interview on Newsnight which marks a new low in the objectivity of the BBC’s climate coverage.  The flagship BBC Two news programme last night covered the threatened disruption of the London Marathon by Just Stop Oil protesters. Given that activists from another organisation did indeed carry out leaked plans to disrupt the Grand National – which delayed the start of the race – it is a threat to be taken very seriously. It was entirely proper that the subject be covered, and that the

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Sunak opts for loyalty first in reshuffle

What does Rishi Sunak’s mini-reshuffle reveal? When Nadhim Zahawi was sacked as party chairman, the Prime Minister took his time in deciding who would succeed him – eventually appointing Greg Hands. This time around Sunak has moved quickly in the wake of the report into bullying allegations that led to Dominic Raab’s resignation. Sunak hopes to move the news agenda on with a string of ministerial appointments. As James Heale reports on Coffee House, Alex Chalk – a one nation Tory who backed Sunak in the leadership contest – is the new Justice Secretary. On top of this, Oliver Dowden takes on Raab’s deputy prime minister brief – while keeping

James Heale James Heale

Sunak names Alex Chalk as Justice Secretary

One man’s loss is another’s gain. Rishi Sunak has acted swiftly to fill the gap left by Dominic Raab’s resignation, appointing 46-year old barrister Alex Chalk as his new Justice Secretary. Like Sunak, he is a Wykehamist who quit Boris Johnson’s cabinet back in July, citing the Paterson, Partygate and Pincher scandals. The appointment flies in the face of reports which suggested that Sunak would appoint a woman to the post, with men occupying three times as many cabinet posts as women. Awaiting Chalk is an in-tray full of problems. He is the tenth Lord Chancellor in eleven years and inherits a ministry widely regarded as a troubled department, even by Whitehall

Steerpike Steerpike

BBC hires Corbynista political fact-checker

Can the BBC ever get it right? Just weeks after the Beeb was embroiled in an impartiality row over the rogue tweets of their star presenter Gary Lineker, another spat over bias has reared its ugly head. In September, the broadcaster hired a new political fact-checker, Oscar Bentley, to comb through political debates in the run up to the next general election. But the Daily Mail has now revealed that Bentley might not quite be the bastion of impartiality one would hope. According to the Mail, he is a ‘lifelong Labour supporter’ who canvassed for disgraced former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn at the last general election and has in the past regularly taken to bashing Tories on social media. Indeed, a

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Rishi Sunak distances himself from Raab’s resignation

Rishi Sunak seems keen to stand back from the row about Dominic Raab, offering more of a commentary on it being ‘right’ that the deputy prime minister and Justice Secretary has quit government, rather than accepting that Raab was a bully. His reply to Raab’s resignation letter suggests this, and this afternoon his official spokesman said the Prime Minister thought it was ‘right’ to make the commitment to resign if there was a finding of bullying and that the former Secretary of State had ‘kept his word’. ‘He thanks him for his work and it has allowed him to form a judgement and he will now be focused on the

Brendan O’Neill Brendan O’Neill

Is Dominic Raab really a ‘bully’?

Who is the real victim in the Dominic Raab bullying saga? I know the story is that he was a monster in his various departments, allegedly barking instructions and wagging a finger at his stressed-out minions. But the anti-Raab revolt smacks far more of bullying to me. Civil servants clubbing together to drum an exacting minister out of his job? It definitely has a whiff of Mean Girls to it. Raab has resigned as deputy prime minister following the findings of an investigation into his alleged bullying. In his resignation letter he says the investigation dismissed all but two of the accusations against him. The findings are ‘flawed’, he says.

Steerpike Steerpike

Tories attack the Raab report

Adam Tolley’s report has finally been published, with Dominic Raab firing off an angry letter to mark his resignation. And that sense of anger has not been restricted to just the former Justice Secretary. A steady stream of Conservative MPs have been tweeting their disgust this morning, arguing that the claims in Tolley’s report were not serious enough to merit Raab’s resignation. Below is a list of Tories who have gone public with their criticisms:

Natasha Feroze

Dominic Raab resigns over bullying report

10 min listen

This morning Dominic Raab has resigned from Rishi Sunak’s government following the findings of an investigation into bullying claims against him. Raab has been one of Sunak’s closest allies, serving as deputy PM and justice secretary. Where does this leave the prime minister?  Natasha Feroze speaks to Katy Balls and Isabel Hardman.  Produced by Natasha Feroze and Oscar Edmondson.

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Dominic Raab resigns over bullying report

In the last few minutes Dominic Raab has announced that he has resigned from government following the findings of an investigation into allegations of bullying against him. Rishi Sunak received the report – by the barrister Adam Tolley KC – on Thursday morning and spent the evening consulting advisers on the best path forward as he pondered its contents. In the end, Raab made the decision for him. In his letter, the deputy prime minister says he called for the inquiry and ‘undertook to resign, if it made any finding of bullying whatsoever’. Raab goes onto say that he believes it is important to ‘keep my word’ and the report

Dominic Raab

Full text: Dominic Raab’s resignation letter

Dear Prime Minister, I am writing to resign from your government, following receipt of the report arising from the inquiry conducted by Adam Tolley KC. I called for the inquiry and undertook to resign, if it made any finding of bullying whatsoever. I believe it is important to keep my word. It has been a privilege to serve you as Deputy Prime Minister, Justice Secretary and Lord Chancellor. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to work as a minister in a range of roles and departments since 2015, and pay tribute to the many outstanding civil servants with whom I have worked. Whilst I feel duty bound to

Patrick O’Flynn Patrick O'Flynn

Rishi Sunak knows the Tory rebels are right about small boats

When the Rwanda migrant removals programme was torpedoed by a European judge at a hastily-convened hearing one evening last summer, the notion that Britain had ‘taken back control’ of its borders crawled away to die. The anonymous judge at the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights issued a controversial ‘Rule 39’ instant order. This blocked the removal of the few failed asylum seekers who had not already been sprung from the proposed inaugural flight via appeals made to British courts in the preceding days. It is likely Sunak himself is genuinely convinced that the current global asylum regime is unsustainable One Tory MP on the cultural right of the party

Thursday

Oscar Edmondson

Does Raab have to go?

11 min listen

Today was meant to be judgement day for Dominic Raab as we learnt the outcome of Adam Tolley’s investigation into historic bullying claims made against the deputy PM. His fate now rests squarely in Rishi Sunak’s hands. Will he resign?  Also on the podcast, there have been a couple of amendments tabled today on the Conservative’s Illegal Migration Bill, will these changes placate the rebels? Oscar Edmondson speaks to Katy Balls and James Heale.  Produced by Oscar Edmondson.