Politics

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

Thursday

Nigel Jones

What’s eating John Major?

Eighty-year old Sir John Major does not appear to be enjoying a peaceful retirement. Judging by his frequent tetchy interventions in public life, the former prime minister is far from a happy bunny. Sir John’s latest outburst was not on his usual hobby horses of the iniquities of Boris Johnson or the horrors of Brexit, but came in a speech – delivered to the liberal Prison Reform Trust at the Old Bailey of all places – that will give comfort to the criminal community. For Major is worried that we are locking up too many people for minor offences. On this topic – as on so many others – Major is

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Watch: Speaker loses temper with Kemi Badenoch over EU law u-turn

The Speaker of the House of Commons has just given Kemi Badenoch a furious dressing down over the government’s u-turn on repealing retained EU laws. Lindsay Hoyle criticised the minister for using a written ministerial statement to sneak out the admission that the government will only be reviewing or repealing 600 laws by the end of the year, rather than 2,400 as promised by Rishi Sunak in his leadership campaign. When Badenoch came to answer the question, she apologised rather dismissively ‘that the method we chose was not to your satisfaction’. Hoyle exploded, insisting ‘that is totally not acceptable: who do you think you’re speaking to?’ He told Badenoch that he

Steerpike Steerpike

‘You are a nasty person’: Trump turns on moderator

Well, that was eventful. Fresh from being found guilty of sexual abuse, Donald Trump rocked up last night at a 70-minute long town hall with CNN in which the former president clashed repeatedly with moderator Kaitlan Collins. In his first appearance on the network since 2016, Trump refused to say whether he wanted Ukraine to win the war, called January 6 a ‘beautiful day’ and declared he had ‘every right’ to take classified documents to Mar-a-Lago. When Trump was pressed by Collins as to why he had classified documents at his home in Florida he lashed out, calling her a ‘nasty person’. He also turned on E Jean Carroll, who

Sasha Lensky

Russians live in fear of Putin’s dreaded draft

On 9 May, Russia’s wet squib this year of a Victory Day, president Putin addressed his beleaguered troops in Ukraine directly. ‘There is nothing more important now than your combat effort,’ he said. ‘The security of the country rests on you today, the future of our statehood and our people depend on you.’ Readers of The Spectator may be interested to learn of the Russian state’s efforts to augment this crucial ‘defensive’ force. One day last week in provincial Russia, I was awoken at 3 a.m. by the ping of a new email from Gosuslugi, a state portal that facilitates public services (e.g. getting a passport or even checking your

Daniel Thorpe

It would be foolish to rule out an Erdogan victory

With only a few days to go until Turkey’s election, the opposition continues to lead in most polls. But there is a growing feeling in Turkey that president Erdogan might defy the odds and win again. A striking image of a rally in Istanbul – Erdogan’s biggest so far – shows Turkey’s leader continues to enjoy popular support. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) claimed that 1.7 million people showed up at the decommissioned Atatürk airport for the event on Sunday; supporters were bused into the rally from across the country. While independent fact-checkers pointed out that the real number is likely less than half the number claimed, this

Wednesday

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Sunak is right to scale back his axing of EU laws

Rishi Sunak has u-turned on his leadership campaign promise to repeal thousands of retained EU laws at a stroke. A written statement – always the preferred vehicle for awkward government news – from Kemi Badenoch this afternoon confirmed that the government will in fact only scrap around 600 laws in the Retained EU Law Bill by the end of this year. It has infuriated members of the European Research Group of Brexiteer Tory MPs. Former business secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg has also had a pop at the Prime Minister for an ‘admission of administrative failure, an inability of Whitehall to do the necessary work and an incapability of ministers to push

Ross Clark Ross Clark

Justin Welby’s climate confusion

It is widely expected that Justin Welby, having now screwed the crown on Charles III’s head, will shortly retire as Archbishop of Canterbury and put himself out to grass. If so, he is not going quietly. This afternoon, in the House of Lords, he launched a wholesale attack on the government’s Illegal Migration Bill, which includes measures to offshore the processing of asylum-seekers in Rwanda, describing it as ‘isolationist, morally unacceptable and politically impractical’ to leave developing countries to handle the world’s refugees.    But one comment in particular stands out in the Archbishop’s speech. He asserted that ‘the IPCC forecasts that climate change by itself, let alone the conflicts it

Lloyd Evans Lloyd Evans

Top marks for Keir Starmer’s joke writers at PMQs

Sir Keir’s gag-writers were on good form at PMQs. Last week, the Tories lowered expectations by predicting a loss of 1,000 seats at the local election. And this worst-case scenario came true. ‘At last,’ crowed Sir Keir, ‘a Tory promise they haven’t actually broken.’ He also took aim at Rishi’s democratic illegitimacy. In last year’s leadership contest, Rishi lost to Liz Truss who was then outlasted by a lettuce. ‘He entered a two-horse race and somehow managed to come third,’ said Sir Keir. Labour’s backbenchers roared at this like bison feasting in fresh green pasture. They can smell power in the air, and the breeze is moving their way. Labour

James Heale James Heale

Welby leads the Lords against Braverman’s boats bill

Today in parliament has been dominated by the Upper House, where peers are scrutinising the Illegal Migration Bill at its second reading. The debate is only halfway through but the legislation has been subject to something resembling a turkey shoot as noble lord after noble lord has queued up to attack the government’s proposals. The Archbishop of Canterbury made perhaps the day’s most memorable speech when he told his fellow peers that it was: Morally unacceptable and politically impractical to let the poorest countries deal with it alone and cut our international aid. This is an attempt at a short-term fix. It risks great damage to the UK’s interests and

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Tories beware: the Lib Dems are back

Every prime minister has at least one guilty pleasure; Rishi Sunak has several. Colleagues tease him for his taste in music (Michael Bublé), television (Emily in Paris) and literature (Jilly Cooper CBE). One of his favourite novels is Cooper’s first ‘bonkbuster’ Riders, a tale about the great and good – and a Tory minister for sport – frolicking in the fictional Cotswolds county of Rutshire. Infidelity, duplicity and intrigue, all playing out in Conservative heartlands. More pessimistic Conservatives see an effective anti-Tory tactical vote emerging  Sunak’s problem is that these days places like Rutshire might no longer be Tory safe seats. Formerly true-blue parts of the country may be set

Niall Ferguson

Trump’s second act: he can still win, in spite of everything

Everyone knows F. Scott Fitzgerald’s famous line from the end of his unfinished novel The Last Tycoon: ‘There are no second acts in American lives.’ But Fitzgerald wasn’t talking about second chances. He meant that, unlike in a traditional play – where Act I presents a problem, Act II reveals the complications and Act III resolves it all – Americans want to skip Act II and go straight to the resolution. The more I think about it, the more I think the Joe Biden presidency is Act II – and Donald Trump is not the last tycoon. He’s Act III. He’s the next president. The campaign of lawfare against him

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Sunak and Starmer’s pointless battle of soundbites at PMQs

We learned very little from Prime Minister’s Questions today. Both Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak used attack lines from previous weeks – ones that they will probably repeat until the next general election – and didn’t stray into any new areas. The Leader of the Opposition wanted to mock the Tory performance in last week’s local elections. Meanwhile, Sunak wanted to exploit Labour nerves that, despite Starmer’s party doing well last week, it didn’t seem to be out of a newfound enthusiasm for Labour among voters. It’s going to be a very long and boring road if PMQs carries on like this Starmer told the chamber that the Prime Minister

Rod Liddle Rod Liddle

Much of the Covid consensus has been proved to be tripe

Three years ago this week marked my first misgivings about the government’s Covid lockdown. Sure, I was late to that particular party – my wife, for example, had been carping viciously for the previous two months. But my rational assessment of lockdown was perhaps tilted by the gentle, bucolic magic of the thing itself. I think I have never enjoyed a more pleasant time. The weather was beautiful, and out in the Kent countryside, where I then lived, one could enjoy it to its full. Wildlife was less shy than usual, perhaps a consequence of the state-imposed quietude. Occasionally city dwellers would infest our country lanes and I had great

Steerpike Steerpike

Watch: Andrew Bridgen crosses the floor

Four months after losing the Tory whip, Andrew Bridgen finally has a new party. The maverick member for North West Leicestershire has today joined Laurence Fox’s Reclaim party as their first MP. In a Westminster press conference – held in the same room in which Douglas Carswell defected to Ukip – Bridgen hailed his new comrades and announced his intention to continue legal action against Matt Hancock over their long-running vaccines spat: I have submitted a defamation claim to the Royal Court of Justice against one Matthew Hancock MP. The basis of my claim is that Mr Hancock’s accusation of antisemitism against me is a false slur to deliberately try

Joanna Williams

Lawyers are right to boycott Humza Yousaf’s juryless rape trials

What is it with Humza Yousaf? Scotland’s First Minister has plenty on his plate: police are investigating the SNP’s financial affairs, feminists are pushing back against his plans for gender recognition reform and now lawyers are boycotting the pilot scheme for jury-less rape trials that he has vocally championed. At some point, this stops being simple misfortune and instead suggests serious political miscalculation. Criticism of the Scottish government’s plans to try rape cases without a jury has been building. Now, with at least seven legal bodies having voted to reject the proposed changes to court proceedings, a near unanimous boycott looks likely to render the pilot scheme unworkable. Good. From

Steerpike Steerpike

Is Scotland going off Humza Yousaf already?

If it wasn’t for bad luck, Humza Yousaf would have no luck. After hobbling over the line in a brutal SNP leadership election, his tenure was instantly plunged into chaos by a police probe into the party’s finances. Raids on Nicola Sturgeon’s home and SNP HQ were followed by the arrests of Peter Murrell, Sturgeon’s husband and former party chief executive, and Colin Beattie, the now-resigned treasurer. Both men were released without charge.  Since then, Yousaf has been plagued by rumours of a leadership challenge from erstwhile rival Kate Forbes, faced a Westminster crackdown on using devolved institutions to promote independence, and was forced to U-turn on a pledge to join a

Steerpike Steerpike

Wanted: a Tory candidate for London mayor

‘Men wanted for hazardous journey… Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in event of success.’ Ernest Shackleton’s supposed plea for explorers on his Antarctic expedition would nicely double up as the job advert for the Tory London mayoral candidate. CCHQ formally opened applications yesterday but there seems to be a lack of early frontrunners. Indeed, Labour’s 40-point poll lead in the capital means that there appears to be more people who have ruled themselves out than ruled themselves in, including Karren Brady, Tom Tugendhat, Iain Dale, George Osborne and Ed Vaizey. So far the only declared contenders are Samuel Kasumu, a former adviser to Boris Johnson, and the Assembly trio

Gavin Mortimer Gavin Mortimer

Macron remains in denial over Europe’s migrant crisis

Tuesday was ‘Europe Day’, or as the European Union proclaimed on its website, the occasion to ‘celebrate peace and unity’ and give thanks to Robert Schuman. It was the French statesman’s declaration on 9 May 1950 that put in place the framework ‘for a new form of political cooperation in Europe’.  No leader in Europe marked the day quite as enthusiastically as Emmanuel Macron. His Renaissance party tabled a bill on Tuesday in the National Assembly demanding that every village and town hall throughout France be made to fly the EU flag alongside the French tricolour.  One wonders what they made of Macron’s ‘Together, united’ declaration in Rome The President