Politics

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

Wednesday

Toby Young Toby Young

Why I admire Isabel Oakeshott

I’ve been gripped by the Telegraph’s Lockdown Files. The 100,000 WhatsApp messages on Matt Hancock’s phone, handed to the paper by the journalist Isabel Oakeshott, contain an embarrassment of riches. For those who thought the curtailment of our liberties between March 2020 and July 2021 was justified by ‘the science’, these exchanges will be an eye-opener. Most senior journalists are more outraged by Oakeshott’s behaviour than by the revelations The former health secretary and others were not so much ‘following the science’ as doing their best to milk the crisis for favourable press coverage and career advancement, often with no attempt to conceal their indifference to the suffering that their

Peter Pomerantsev

My case against Russia’s war criminals

Lviv My favourite hotels in Lviv were all booked out over the weekend. The world’s justice elite were in town for a gathering on how to hold Russia accountable for its crimes. The US Attorney General and the Chief Prosecutor from The Hague, as well as President Volodymyr Zelensky, were there. It was an apposite location. In the early 20th century Lviv was home to the lawyers Raphael Lemkin and Hersch Lauterpacht, who later gave us a language to define modern evil by coming up with the concepts of ‘genocide’ and ‘crimes against humanity’ respectively. Russian media, military and officials boast openly of their genocidal intention in Ukraine and revel

Kevin Toolis

A schism in Ulster is inevitable

The fate of the Stormont Assembly, and a Brexit resolution of a kind, now rests on the uncharismatic shoulders of DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson and his judgment call on the Windsor Framework. If Donaldson declares the abstruse new EU trading arrangements on the enhanced flow of chilled meats to Ulster a victory, then Stormont will re-start and the usual divisive politics of Northern Ireland begin again. If he goes for the treachery button, then the long campaign in the wilderness against the perfidious and varied enemies of Ulster will go on – much to the consternation of Downing Street. As closed as the Kremlin, it is never easy to forecast the

Steerpike Steerpike

Watch: Kate Forbes attacks Humza Yousaf

Ding ding ding! The gloves were off last night as Kate Forbes, Humza Yousaf and Ash Regan entered the ring, for the first televised debate in the SNP leadership contest. In the end the debate wasn’t pretty, with Kate Forbes going for Humza Yousaf. In the cross-examination section of the debate Forbes launched into a scathing attack on Humza’s track record. ‘When you were a transport minister the trains were never on time. When you were justice minister the police were strained to breaking point. And now as health minister, we’ve got record high waiting times. What makes you think you can do a better job as first minister?’  Later,

Steerpike Steerpike

Is Suella’s migration plan legal?

A typically robust performance by Suella Braverman on Radio 4 this morning. The Home Secretary defended her plans to clamp down on small boat crossings, telling the Today programme that We are within the boundaries of the law but we are trying new arguments, we are testing novel interpretations of the law. But we do not consider that we have crossed that boundary and we do not consider that we are in unlawful territory — we very strongly view our proposals as lawful. How exactly does that square then with, er, the introduction to her flagship legislation which begins thus: I am unable to make a statement that, in my

Nigel Jones

Gary Lineker’s offensive Nazi Germany comparison

When a prominent left-wing celebrity wants to attack a conservative person or policy they very often make a comparison with Hitler’s Germany or his Nazi party. The latest person to draw this invidious, ignorant and downright offensive parallel with the gold standard of political evil is the former footballer turned Match of the Day BBC commentator Gary Lineker. Presumably, the star has calculated that his fame and popularity with football fans make him unsackable In Tweets attacking the government’s new Bill attempting to crack down on illegal migrants crossing the Channel, Lineker said that it was an ‘immeasurably cruel’ policy that was ‘beyond awful’ and that it used language directed

Lucy Dunn

The SNP is beginning to tear itself apart

You could be excused for not expecting much from the first TV broadcast of the SNP leadership race. The hustings have so far remained civil and their content relatively repetitive. Everyone’s been very nice and, as recently as last Friday, even spent valuable time politely discussing their opponents’ best qualities. So last night’s fiery debate was an unexpected, yet welcome, surprise. All smiles from the start, the discussion fast faded into a venomous clash — a first in the contest, but also for today’s SNP. For Kate Forbes especially, the gloves came off. ‘More of the same,’ Forbes announced during her introductory speech, ‘is not a manifesto. It’s an acceptance

Tuesday

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Does Sunak have enough time to stop the boats?

Rishi Sunak has just finished a press conference on his flagship legislation to curb illegal crossings in the Channel. The Prime Minister said the legislation would enable him to ‘keep my promise’ to the public to stop the boats and that it would ‘break the business model of the people smugglers’. He said ‘this is tough, but it is necessary and it is fair’. Sunak set ‘stop the boats’ as one of his five priorities at the start of this year, and they are emblazoned across every press release from Downing Street. This evening, that pledge was also on his lectern in the No. 10 briefing room. He insisted that

Kate Andrews Kate Andrews

Two problems with Rachel Reeves’s bid to woo businesses

Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves has promised to tackle what businesses tend to fear the most: instability. ‘In recent years, corporation tax has gone up and down like a yo-yo, while the government has papered over the cracks with short-term fixes like the super-deduction,’ Reeves told the manufacturing group Make UK’s annual conference this morning. Under a Labour government, she pledged, there will be a clear ‘roadmap for tax which lasts over a parliament’. Reeves said this would give business leaders a better sense of what to expect, hopefully creating an atmosphere for investment. Promising a review also puts pressure on Reeves to come up with answers to some of the

Katy Balls Katy Balls

The Illegal Migration Bill will define the next election

The government’s Illegal Migration Bill is finally here. Speaking in the House of Commons on Tuesday lunchtime, the Home Secretary unveiled plans to swiftly remove nearly everyone who arrives in the UK via small boats. Suella Braverman said the legislation was necessary as the current asylum laws are not ‘fit for purpose’ adding that public patience ‘has run out’ among the ‘law-abiding patriotic majority’. So, what powers does the new bill grant the government? First, it includes a legal duty on the home secretary to detain and remove those who arrive illegally. The government, too, will have the power to detain asylum seekers for up to 28 days ‘without bail

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Is time running out for Simon Case?

Is Simon Case on borrowed time? That’s the talk in Whitehall today following reports that the embattled Cabinet Secretary is considering an early departure from his role. The Financial Times reports that the UK’s most senior civil servant has told friends he is ‘genuinely undecided’ between staying put ahead of the general election or stepping aside to make way for a successor. Making matters worse, this isn’t exactly Case’s first scandal There are plenty of figures who would prefer it to be the latter of the two. Case has attracted criticism both from Tory MPs and his own side over WhatsApp messages he sent to Matt Hancock during the pandemic. Released as

Steerpike Steerpike

Lee Anderson gets his own GB News show

The remorseless rise of Lee Anderson continues. Having been named Tory deputy chairman last month – and then swiftly started a national conversation on bringing back hanging – the Red Wall Tory has today been named as the latest presenter in the constellation of stars that is GB News. In a statement, the ex-miner declared that: GB News is the true voice of the Great British silent majority. I’m joining the people’s channel to ensure their voice is heard. One of those Anderson will be working alongside is Gloria De Piero, his Labour predecessor (and former boss) as MP for Ashfield. Other colleagues include a hat-trick of fellow Tories in

Ian Williams Ian Williams

A Cold War mindset is thriving in Beijing

China’s new foreign minister Qin Gang has come out growling, using his first media appearance to accuse the US of ‘all-out containment and suppression’. He said his country’s friendship with Russia was a beacon of strength and stability which ‘set an example for foreign relations’ and asked: ‘Why should the US demand that China refrain from supplying arms to Russia when it sells arms to Taiwan?’ He said that China and the US were heading for inevitable conflict if Washington does not mend its ways. It was a fiery performance, even by the standards of Beijing’s ‘wolf warrior’ diplomats. The tirade took place on the sidelines of the annual meeting

Lisa Haseldine Lisa Haseldine

Did Belarusian rebels blow up one of Putin’s planes?

Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko has some awkward explaining to do to Vladimir Putin after a Russian military plane, being stored in Belarus, was reportedly blown up last weekend by Belarusian rebels.  According to reports, one of the nine working Beriev A-50 airborne early warning and control aircraft (Awacs) owned by the Russian military was attacked at the Machiulishchy airfield, just under eight miles from the capital Minsk, where it had been kept since early January this year. The aircraft, said to be worth £274 million, was capable of detecting and targeting air defence systems and formed a key part of Russia’s battlefield strategy. A day after what sounded like two

Andrew Tettenborn

Will Rishi Sunak admit the truth about net zero?

When Boris Johnson nailed the Tories’ environmental colours to the mast a few years ago, he probably gained votes from a few waverers. Was it worth it? Almost certainly not. The point he missed was that promises of that sort regularly come back to bite the people that make them. The commitment to net zero by 2050 and no fossil fuel-powered cars after 2035 is a case in point. This pledge made little account of whether or not the technology will actually be up to scratch by then. Nor did it properly consider the question of if we can afford it, or indeed have assured access to the raw materials

Patrick O’Flynn Patrick O'Flynn

Rishi Sunak seems serious about stopping the Channel boats

So long as the extensive pre-briefing of the Illegal Migration Bill turns out to be a reasonably accurate reflection of its contents, things are looking up for those of us who rank ‘stopping the boats’ as one of our top political priorities. Sunak and Braverman are about to launch legislation that appears sufficiently broad ranging and radical to have a major impact Rishi Sunak and Suella Braverman are finally about to launch a piece of legislation that appears sufficiently broad ranging and radical to have a major impact if it can be steered onto the statue book without being emasculated by parliamentary rebellions in the Commons and especially the House

Steerpike Steerpike

How many more scandals can Simon Case take?

After Matt Hancock himself, it seems that the person who comes out worst from the lockdown files is Cabinet Secretary Simon Case. Hancock’s WhatsApps show Case accusing Boris of being ‘nationally distrusted’ and described some lockdown criticism as ‘pure Conservative ideology’. Hardly the model of civil service impartiality… And off the back of those revelations it seems that Case is now considering his own position. According to today’s Financial Times, ‘friends’ of the Cabinet Secretary say he is ‘genuinely undecided’ about staying up until the next election, which is due by December 2024. They say he is ‘fed up’ with all the briefings against him’ with his ‘original sin’ supposedly ‘being young

Iain Macwhirter

The SNP is living in a fantasy land

Scotland has the worst drug death rate in Europe. More than half a million Scots are on hospital waiting lists. The NHS is being privatised by stealth as more and more Scots go private. We don’t hear much about this in the endless SNP leadership hustings. Instead there is an air of self-congratulation that things aren’t worse. Candidates have distanced themselves from the Scottish government’s chaotic deposit return scheme for bottles and cans. But that isn’t the only environmental disaster waiting to happen. Sales of petrol and diesel cars in Scotland are to be banned in seven years, yet the electric charging infrastructure is so bad people are turning away from electric

Richard Ekins

Will Rishi Sunak’s Channel migrant crackdown work?

The government’s inability to control our maritime border is a public scandal. Bold action is needed to make crossing the Channel pointless and put the people smugglers out of business. This will be impossible without major legal reform. So it is good news that the government is about to introduce new legislation to Parliament.  The government’s Rwanda plan was well-intentioned. However, it not supported by a legislative mandate and was, predictably, challenged in the courts. In June last year, an attempt to implement the plan was blocked by a last-minute intervention by the European Court of Human Rights. The legal challenge in our courts continues and even if the government in the end prevails,