Politics Archives

Monday

16 Jun 2025

Steerpike

Will the assisted dying vote be delayed?

All is not well with the Labour lot. It has emerged that more than 50 lefty MPs submitted a letter to the Leader of the Commons, Lucy Powell, at the weekend – demanding she intervene to delay this Friday’s final third reading vote on Kim Leadbeater’s controversial assisted dying bill. The letter blasts the limited opportunities afforded to parliamentarians to speak on the bill and fumes that ‘several movers of amendments haven’t been able to speak to the changes they have laid’. Oo er. The concerned crowd includes, as reported by the Independent, a group of 2024ers alongside some longer-serving MPs. Former journalists Paul Waugh and Torcuil Crichton have added

Steerpike

Watch: Treasury minister’s car crash interview

Dear oh dear. It’s never a good look to go onto the airwaves to boast about your department’s new infrastructure fund to then, er, promptly forget the details of the project you’re funding. The unlucky minister who found herself in this position today was the Treasury’s Emma Reynolds, who appeared to forget both exactly where the new Lower Thames Crossing road is and how much the total bill will come to. Talk about a car crash, eh? Speaking to LBC’s Nick Ferrari this morning, Reynolds was first quizzed on where exactly the new road from Essex to Kent would start and end. ‘Just remind us where the new crossing is,

Matthew Lynn

The markets don’t care much about Israel and Iran

As missiles fly across the Middle East as Israel and Iran embark on what could well become a wider regional conflict, you might expect turmoil in the financial markets. After all, if the beginning of a third world war doesn’t knock a few dollars off the Apple share price it is hard to know what would. But it turns out that investors, at least for now, appear indifferent. Investors, at least for now, appear indifferent Looking at a trading screen this morning you would probably think not much was going on in the world. The FTSE100 was up 30 points. Overnight, the Nikkei was up by 1.2 per cent; and

Sam Leith

Does anyone really want AI civil servants?

Of course they’ve called it ‘Humphrey’. The cutesy name that has been given to the AI tool the government is rolling out across the civil service with unseemly haste is a nod – as those of an age will recognise – to the immortal sitcom Yes, Minister. But it may also prove to be more appropriate than they think. The premise of that show, you’ll recall, is that Sir Humphrey is the person really in charge – and that he will at every turn imperceptibly thwart and subvert the instructions given to him by the elected minister. Why is Sir Keir Starmer so absolutely hellbent on turning us into,

Jonathan Sacerdoti

The danger of recognising a Palestinian state

As Western leaders prepare to gather in New York this week to discuss international recognition of a Palestinian state, a stark signal from Washington demands their attention. US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has openly stated that he does not believe Palestinian statehood remains an American foreign policy goal. ‘Unless there are some significant things that happen that change the culture, there’s no room for it,’ Huckabee told Bloomberg News this week, adding that such changes ‘probably won’t happen in our lifetime’. The White House, far from rebuking him, referred reporters to past remarks from President Trump questioning whether a two-state solution ‘is going to work’. Huckabee’s statement is, of

Sunday

15 Jun 2025

Rod Liddle

Does the BBC doubt Iran wanted a nuke?

I don’t monitor this stuff all the time. It would be soul destroying. All that happens is that I tune in, often by accident, and there is something which once again betrays the long term, institutional, anti-Israel bias of the BBC. So, Friday night’s television news and the Middle East Correspondent Lucy Williamson. Reporting on the Israeli rocket attack upon Iran’s nuclear bases, Lucy told us that Israel ‘says’ Iran is working towards a nuclear bomb. Attribution, you see. Let us hear what the International Atomic Energy Agency had to say in its report on 9 June this year. ‘As you know, the Agency found man-made uranium particles at each

Owen Matthews

Why Russia wants war between Israel and Iran

Israel’s assault on Iran represents a double helping of good news for the Kremlin. Years of two-track diplomacy have allowed Vladimir Putin to position himself both as a friend to Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and to the Iranian leadership. That will make Russia an indispensable partner for the US once it embarks on the long process of patching up the new political realities of the Middle East in the wake of this war. Though Israeli planes have so far carefully avoided striking Iran’s oil export infrastructure, the war has inevitably spooked markets and boosted sagging crude oil prices – and with them, Putin’s war chest. Over three months of

William Atkinson

Dominic Cummings has run out of answers

On Wednesday, The Spectator dispatched me to Dominic Cummings’s Pharos lecture in Oxford. Packed into the Sheldonian theatre was an interesting crowd. I spotted several X anons, my A-Level politics teacher and Brass Eye creator Chris Morris. For many in the audience, this was a rare opportunity to see their hero; for one or two hecklers, it was a unique chance to harrumph at the villain of Brexit, lockdown, and Barnard Castle. You can read a transcript of his lecture here. I’m a Cummings fan. Having first discovered him via our political editor’s books, I began reading his blog as a teen. I worked through the reading lists, defended his

Jenna Stocker

Minnesota is no longer the ‘state that works’

Fifty-two years ago, TIME magazine featured Governor Wendell Anderson on its cover, dressed in the state’s unofficial uniform of a flannel shirt and large smile. He was on one of our 10,000 lakes, hoisting his catch of the day up in the air. This was 1973, and the headline read, ‘The Good Life in Minnesota’. The story went on to describe Minnesota as the ‘state that works’. Its people are mild-mannered do-gooders who are content with the reputation of being humble, hard-working, and unglamorous: ‘California is the flashy blonde you like to take out once or twice. Minnesota is the girl you want to marry.’ Five decades later, the state

Joe Bedell-Brill

Sunday shows round-up: Reeves weighs in on Israel

Rachel Reeves: ‘Israel has every right to defend itself’ In a major escalation of conflict in the Middle East, Israel and Iran are now engaged in active warfare, trading missile strikes after Israel initially attacked Iranian nuclear sites on Friday. The UK has now sent military jets to the region, and on Sky News this morning, Trevor Phillips asked Chancellor Rachel Reeves if UK military assets could be used in support of Israeli operations. Reeves said it was a ‘fast moving situation’, but the UK had not been involved so far. She added that Israel had the right to defend itself, and that the UK was ‘also very concerned about

Michael Evans

Bibi has run rings around Trump

Donald Trump likes to see himself as the Great Negotiator but on this occasion Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, appears to have outplayed him. Since April, the Israeli leader had been pressurising Trump and his White House aides to give him the green light for a large-scale attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities. While Netanyahu was reassured by his military advisers that Israel could go it alone to target Iran’s four nuclear sites, he wanted not just US backing but also American firepower to achieve what Trump and his predecessors all agreed on: that Iran must never be allowed to build a nuclear bomb. However, Trump entered the White House for

Charlie Gammell

What will Iran do next?

‘They are scared. You can hear it in their voices,’ someone wrote to me on Friday from Tehran. And in this case the ‘they’ is what’s left of the Iranian military and intelligence commanders. And perhaps Khamenei, too (strikingly absent from the air waves since a speech on Friday morning). Israel’s strikes, yet another show of tactical brilliance from the ever-resourceful Mossad, stunned the Islamic Republic in a brutal display of military and intelligence superiority. Iran is quite simply reeling, and the only question now is how far will Israel go, and to what end? Who, if anyone, will pick up the pieces of a broken Islamic Republic? For now,

Michael Simmons

Why the Israel-Iran war could raise your taxes

If Rachel Reeves is to have any chance of making it to her autumn budget without U-turns or raising taxes, the improved economic forecasts of recent months need to come true. Missiles flying between Israel and Iran may destroy that hope. Things had been getting better for the Chancellor. Look at economic forecasts from the aftermath of Trump’s ‘liberation day’, and there was a common theme when it came to Britain. Because of the nature of our economic relationship with America – as a massive exporter in services (we’re their call centre) and with more or less balanced trade in goods – we would be shielded against the worst impacts

Irwin Stelzer

What the army parade says about America

So the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the US Army will not be a day that will live infamy. Nor will it be one many Americans will recall with pleasure, in part because it coincided with the birthday of President Trump, a man who generates some sort of veneration from his MAGA supporters and a reaction known as TDS, Trump Derangement Syndrome, from others. No vaccination is known that will prevent the onset of either disease, leaving those immune to both looking for a candidate. The President’s decision to order out this parade enabled him to join the rather exclusive club of Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un, men he says he ‘respects’, ‘likes’ and

Julie Bindel

Grooming gangs inquiry is welcome, but too late

The announcement that there will, after all, be a statutory inquiry into the child rape and pimping gang scandal – euphemistically referred to as ‘grooming gangs’ – should be welcomed. The words ‘euphemism’, ‘whitewashing’ and ‘cover-up’ apply to more than just the language used to describe this phenomenon. I first investigated the scandal back in the early 2000s, and published the very first piece exposing it in the national media in 2007. A quarter of a century later, little has changed. A small number of victims have had compensation from local authorities and public apologies from police. But the vast majority of victims have never received support, compensation or validation. They struggle to get on with their lives while their perpetrators, often considered pillars of the community, continue living amongst them. The cowards and the deniers who for so long refused to accept the harm being done to children by violent exploiters are going to have

Zoe Strimpel

Saudi Arabia’s soft power art attack

From roughly the 1970s to the mid-2010s, Saudi Arabia was the stuff of nightmares, referred to now, with understatement, as ‘the dark period’. Governed by the austere, brutal credo of the cleric Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, an 18th century Quran literalist who divided the world into true Muslims (Salafis/Wahhabis) and their mortal enemies, Saudi life was ruled by fear of the omnipresent religious police. Executions were commonplace, TV was banned, women were essentially locked up, and most foreigners and outward travel were blocked. Wahhabiism has been softened a great deal since then. Since 2017, when the frenetic moderniser Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS) became Crown Prince, a thousand laws have been dropped, and suddenly women, while still second-class

Lana Hempsall

Motability won’t give up its lucrative business without a fight

Motability, the scheme set up to provide vehicles, scooters and powered wheelchairs to disabled people, has become something of a monster. By the end of 2024, Motability supported a staggering 815,000 vehicles, up by 200,000 in the last two years alone. It is clear that the scheme has extended way beyond its original purpose and is in dire need of reform. But Motability is determined not to give up its lucrative business model without a fight. Only five per cent of Motability cars are adapted for those with physical disabilities Andrew Miller, the scheme’s chief executive, has hit back at criticism of Motability. ‘We’ve been a business all along. Any sense

James Ray

How to be a better father

Children in this country are desperate for fathers to rise to the occasion. All the research indicates that a key determinant of a child’s ability to flourish – to make a success of growing up – is having a father actively involved in his or her life. Having a decent dad in the picture is vital. The affection of a father can prove one of the most authoritative things in a child’s life. A million British children have no meaningful relationship or regular contact with their fathers We mustn’t give up on that ideal. But nor should we ignore reality. A million British children have no meaningful relationship or regular

Saturday

14 Jun 2025

Isabel Hardman

Starmer agrees to grooming gangs inquiry

This evening, Keir Starmer has announced he does want a national inquiry on grooming gangs after all. The Prime Minister had tasked Baroness Casey to conduct a rapid review of the evidence available on the scale of these crimes committed by gangs – and her review is expected to conclude on Monday that there needs to be a full public inquiry. Starmer said today that Casey had also changed her mind on whether such an investigation was necessary, arguing: ‘She’s come to the view there should be a national inquiry on the basis of what she’s seen. I’ve read every single word of her report, and I’m going to accept

James Heale

The British right is embracing direct action

First, it was Robert Jenrick tackling fare dodgers. Then it was Gareth Davies pursuing a thief. You might be forgiven for thinking that copies of Marvel’s Avengers were circulating in Portcullis House. But among elements of the British right there is a renewed appreciation of the benefits of direct action. Shut out of office until at least 2029, Tory and Reform politicians are finding ways to channel their frustrations into novel, low-cost, forms of protest. Nigel Farage’s aides have embraced humorous stunts such as beaming their membership numbers onto CCHQ and handing out blank books to journalists titled Highlights from my first 100 days, by Kemi Badenoch. Others, like Jenrick, try to think