Politics

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

Sunday

Alexander Kolyandr

Why Putin thinks Trump’s Russia tariffs are a bluff

Moscow’s response to the latest ultimatum issued by Donald Trump last week has been to deploy that most Russian of diplomatic weapons: contemptuous laughter. The US president’s threat to impose draconian sanctions unless Putin ends his invasion of Ukraine within fifty days has been met with the kind of theatrical disdain that would make Chekhov proud. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, never one to miss an opportunity for diplomatic sarcasm, openly sneered at Trump’s intervention on Tuesday. ‘We want to understand what exactly is behind this statement. Fifty days. It used to be 24 hours, and then it became 100 days. Russia has gone through all this and now wants to understand what the

Stuart Jeffries

How to fix MasterChef

In retrospect, as has so often been the case with my attempts at Delia’s thrice-baked goat’s cheese soufflé, the question was not so much when MasterChef was going to collapse, but how.  The warning signs were there. Not only in 2001 when Lloyd Grosman, Britain’s answer to Paul Newman (in pasta sauce endorsement terms if not acting), flounced off the show because, so far as I understand the dispute, a revamp dictated that contestants all use the same ingredient. But also in 2018, when now disgraced judges Gregg Wallace and John Torode managed to unify the whole of Malaysia in affront. For which feat, whatever their later sins, I salute them. 

Samuel Rubinstein

When did double-barrelled surnames stop being posh?

When the lead singer of Bob Vylan’s name was revealed, it caused a fair amount of amusement. This anti-establishment musician who hit the headlines after ranting about the Israel at Glastonbury is actually called…Pascal Robinson-Foster. In football, there has been a crop of stars with double-barrelled names ‘A posh double-barrel name is perhaps not the best handle for a self-styled Rasta radical. So he goes by the name Bobbie Vylan instead,’ wrote veteran broadcaster Andrew Neil. But while it’s vaguely amusing that Vylan’s real name is rather less ‘rock-n’roll’ than his stage act suggests, Neil got one thing wrong: the era of double-barrelled surnames signifying poshness is over. Once upon

Saturday

Laurie Wastell

The people of Epping are fed up with being ignored

‘We are facing a long, hot summer’, warned a report on social cohesion on Tuesday, ‘with a powder keg of tensions left largely unaddressed from last year that could easily ignite once again’. It only took two days for the first sign of this grim prediction coming true. This time, though, the expression of public fury at migration failures was not in ‘left-behind’ northern towns like Hull or Hartlepool – or even like last month in Ballymena, where tight-knit loyalist communities have a history of kicking off to defend their interests. Thursday’s protests – and later clashes – at an asylum hotel were in the quiet Essex market town of

Paddy Stephens

Is Taiwan ready for an attack by China?

It’s still lunchtime in Taipei but the streets are strangely quiet. A few people are running with their bags, despite the sweltering summer heat, desperate to get somewhere before 1.30 p.m. I’m enjoying the air-conditioning in a local supermarket when an announcement politely informs me and the only other customer still in the shop that we need to hurry if we want to buy something. The checkout assistant rushes to hand me my change, and I head back out into the heat. The Taiwanese government is certainly taking the risk of an attack by China seriously At precisely 1.30 p.m., my phone buzzes with a yellow alert in Chinese and

Gavin Mortimer Gavin Mortimer

The slow death of Welsh rugby

Heard the joke about the Englishmen, Irishmen and Scotsmen? They have all been selected for the British and Irish Lions squad to face Australia in Brisbane today. At the expense of the Welshman. The fact that no Welshman has been included among the 23 players chosen for the first of three Test matches is further confirmation of the diminishing stock of Welsh rugby. The last time a Lions matchday squad had no Welsh representation was in 1896. Welsh rugby players once blamed the English for the ills of their country, but the damage done to their sport this century is home-grown When in May, Lions’ coach Andy Farrell named his

Robin Ashenden

Ted Heath deserves to be remembered for more than his blemishes

For anyone born as I was, in the seventies, Edward Heath – who died 20 years ago this week – was a frequent presence in the news, and not always for the best of reasons. He was the silver-haired, curmudgeonly ex-prime minister nursing an implacable rage against his successor Margaret Thatcher, the cabinet colleague who’d ousted, then eclipsed him. Against her monetarist policies he railed, perhaps justly, though in a way that seemed at times bitingly personal. Heath deserves more credit than he’s customarily given On global issues, with which he much concerned himself, Heath often appeared to be defending the indefensible. The tyrant Saddam Hussein he described as an

Ian Williams Ian Williams

Is China cooking the books on its economy?

A Western financial analyst based in Shanghai once described China’s economic statistics to me as ‘one of greatest works of contemporary Chinese fiction’. Not even the Communist party’s (CCP) own officials believed them. A cottage industry of esoteric techniques developed to try and measure what was really going on, ranging from diesel and electricity demand to the fluctuating levels of the country’s chronic air pollution, car sales, traffic congestion, job postings and construction – even the sale of underwear or pickled vegetables. One enterprising analyst regularly sent spies to Shanghai port to count the ships and throughput of trucks. Questioning the official figures has become increasingly dangerous in the China

Lucy Dunn

Why shouldn’t 16-year-olds get the vote?

On 18 September 2014, Scotland went to the polls to decide its future in the United Kingdom. While the outcome was decisive – 55 per cent of voters couldn’t bring themselves to back independence – the turnout for the poll, at 85 per cent, was one of the highest recorded in Britain. The significance of the ‘one-off’ vote (plus anxieties on either side of the debate about the outcome coming down to the wire) saw full-throated campaign efforts deliver a swathe of voters to polling stations. A number of these were under 18-years-old, including me – with my birthday falling just six days before the poll. It was the 2012

Friday

Eliot Wilson

Germany has become a useful ally for Britain

Yesterday the German Chancellor Friedrich Merz visited London for the first time since he took office in May. He and the prime minister have met on a number of occasions, and although the two lawyers are different characters – Sir Keir Starmer, the stiff, soi disant progressive human rights barrister; Merz, the abrasive, hard-nosed corporate counsel – they have forged a functional relationship. But this was Merz on Starmer’s home ground. The government has put a great deal of effort into bespoke bilateral relationships. Defence secretary John Healey and the German defence minister Boris Pistorius signed the Trinity House Agreement last October, and there have also been various kinds of

Mark Mason

Mark Mason, Mary Wakefield, Matthew Parris and Philip Patrick

26 min listen

On this week’s Spectator Out Loud: Mark Mason reminisces about old English bank notes (00:33), Philip Patrick wonders whether AI will replace politicians in Japan (04:04), Matthew Parris wonders why you would ever trust a travel writer (10:34) and Mary Wakefield looks at the weird world of cults (17:42).

Kunwar Khuldune Shahid

The plight of the Druze

Over 500 people are estimated to have been killed in the ongoing sectarian clashes between the Druze and Bedouin populations in Syria’s southern Suweida province this week. Vowing to protect the local Druze, and backing the community’s militia, Israel has bombed Syrian government forces around Suweida and launched missiles on Damascus. While Syria’s interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa has promised to safeguard the minority community, and has announced the withdrawal of troops from the area, his government forces have been directly involved in attacks against the Druze. Druze civilians have been indiscriminately killed in ‘field executions’ by Syrian government forces and their allies. A militia affiliated with the government have also

Steerpike Steerpike

Commons blow Lords away in shooting cup

The big guns of parliament were out in force this morning. The annual cross-party Commons v Lords shooting match has long been a fixture in the annual political calendar. After last year’s contest was dominated by the shadow of the general election, this year was a much more relaxed affair. Peers and MPs descended on Ruislip to see which of the two Houses came out on top. And in the true spirit of the Parliament Act, it was the elected Commons who (narrowly) triumphed today… The final scores from an enjoyable morning of shooting proved to be 245 for the Commons versus 212 for the Lords. Captain Greg Smith, who

Sam Goodman

Labour will regret bringing in electric car subsidies

This week the British government introduced subsidies for electric vehicles (EVs). But as they have failed to first adopt sensible trade defence measures, this risks Chinese EVs flooding the UK, bringing job losses and data security risks in their wake. Rather than following the example of the US and the European Union, which have adopted tariffs against Chinese EVs to protect automotive jobs, the UK will roll out subsidies for EVs. Each vehicle that qualifies as having a low enough level of carbon emissions in its production will be granted a subsidy of either £1,500 or £3,750. Ministers have so far refused to publish a list of manufacturers who will be eligible,

Steerpike Steerpike

Jenrick accuses Yusuf of ‘bulls**t’ over Twitter post

Never mind uniting the right, there’s more talk of fighting the right today as the feud between Tory MP Robert Jenrick and Reform’s Zia Yusuf ramps up. Yusuf has spent this week pointing blame at Jenrick over the Ministry of Defence leak – but now Reform’s head of DOGE is under fire after being caught liking a post that attacked Jenrick for having a Jewish wife. Dear oh dear… Yusuf was caught having liked a controversial post on Twitter after the account ‘Enoch_Is_Right’ shared a screen recording of the Reform man’s interaction with the post. The tweet read: Reminder that Jenrick is a traitorous Zogbot with a Jewish wife and

Steerpike Steerpike

Shapps accused of trying to ‘rewrite history’ over MoD leak

To the Ministry of Defence leak, which has created a flurry of news this week after journalists were eventually allowed to report on the scandal following the lifting of a super-injunction on Tuesday. A number of politicians have found themselves in the firing line over the issue, with former defence secretary Grant Shapps the latest to be criticised. After the ex-Tory MP told the BBC’s Today programme that he was ‘surprised [the super-injunction] lasted quite so long’, a Whitehall source remarked to the Times that the politician was ‘trying to rewrite history’, adding: ‘Everyone knows he was the one personally demanding to keep the super-injunction in place after the election

Tim Shipman

Will 16 year olds vote Labour?

16 min listen

Lots to discuss today, between Diane Abbott being suspended (again) and Labour handing the vote to 16-year-olds just before we head into recess. Abbott’s suspension comes after she was accused of ‘doubling down’ on previous claims that Jewish people experience racism differently from black people. She is the latest Labour troublemaker to be left out in the cold, with seven MPs punished this week for voting against the government – four of them suspended from the party. Is Starmer confusing toughness with strength? And will Abbott’s suspension stick this time? Elsewhere, 16-year-olds have been given the vote. Those in favour point to the political maturity of young people in the

Brendan O’Neill Brendan O’Neill

The shamelessness of Diane Abbott

Labour was dead right to suspend Diane Abbott. Britain is experiencing one of the worst eruptions of anti-Jewish hatred in decades. Jewish schoolkids are being roughed up. Synagogues have been desecrated. Plots to murder Jews have been uncovered. The internet overflows with the effluent of Jew-hating invective. Any MP who minimises anti-Semitism in such febrile times deserves the shortest of shrift. It is a staggeringly naive thing for Abbott to say Abbott will say she was not minimising anti-Semitism, she was just saying it is different to the racism experienced by black people. Okay, let’s look at what she said. It was in an interview with the BBC’s James Naughtie.

Druin Burch

We should raise, not lower, the voting age

Keir Starmer’s decision to lower the voting age to 16 is widely seen as a cynical attempt to secure votes, but the truth is more frightening. Politicians pursuing self-interest are merely cynical; the real menace comes from those committed to utopia, as some Labour types appear to be in their drive to make democracy ‘better’ by expanding the franchise. Personally, I think the voting age should rise, significantly, and we should consider – at no extra cost – removing it from those in decline. Labour say the issue is one of fairness. I believe they’re sincere, but wrong My daughter is 14. She has the makings of an unusually sensible

Matthew Bowles

Britain is ready for a Reagan

History doesn’t repeat itself. But it does echo. The United States of the 1970s and Britain of the mid-2020s share more in common than we might first admit: economic drift, institutional distrust, foreign policy muddles, and a political class that’s treading water. The question now is whether the UK, like America in 1980, is approaching a political inflexion point, one that could shape the next decade. In 1968, Richard Nixon won the presidency by forging a coalition of traditional Republicans and culturally conservative working-class voters, the so-called ‘silent majority’. He spoke to those unsettled by the cultural turbulence of the 1960s, offering a firm alternative. His presidency ended in scandal,