Politics

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

Thursday

16 Feb 2023

The EU is mired in sleaze

The last year has not been good for the European Union’s image. The Qatargate scandal rumbles on. So far, apart from various functionaries and hangers-on, three MEPs, including a vice president of the European parliament, and one ex-MEP have been implicated in the scandal. Last week, however, yet another festering sleaze scandal broke, this time over the EU’s purchase of Covid vaccines from Pfizer. The scandal is less serious in that no one suggests it involves actual bribery. But it is nevertheless rather more embarrassing because it embraces Commission president Ursula von der Leyen herself. At issue is the billions paid by the bloc to Pfizer for the vaccines. In

Steerpike

Corbyn hits back at Starmer

Another day with more Starmer drama. Sir Keir yesterday told a press conference that Jeremy Corbyn will be barred from standing as a Labour candidate at the next election, a decision that hasn’t gone down very well with the magic Grandpa. Corbyn has now released an angry statement, accusing the man who replaced him as Labour leader of a ‘flagrant attack’ on democracy. In a lengthy statement on Twitter, he declared that: Any attempt to block my candidacy is a denial of due process, and should be opposed by anybody who believes in the value of democracy. At a time when the government is overseeing the worst cost of living

Alex Massie

Nicola Sturgeon was made – and destroyed – by independence

The greatest trick an ideologue can ever pull off is convincing people they are not, in fact, an ideologue. But Nicola Sturgeon was just as much an ideologue as her predecessor. In some ways, indeed, her convictions eclipsed Alex Salmond’s. The country is cleft in two and for all that Sturgeon may now deplore this polarisation she played an outsize part in producing it Whereas he did not join the SNP until he was an undergraduate at St Andrews university, Sturgeon signed up for the national cause while still a teenager. In all the years which followed, her faith never faltered. Regardless of circumstance, political moment, or fashion, she remained

Wednesday

15 Feb 2023

Katy Balls

Is Sunak making a mistake on the NI protocol?

18 min listen

James Heale speaks to Katy Balls and Conservative Home editor Paul Goodman about the union. Both in terms of Nicola Sturgeon’s sudden decision to resign this morning and the possibility of an imminent agreement on the Northern Ireland protocol.

Katy Balls

After Sturgeon: what’s the future for Scotland – and the Union?

When news broke of Nicola Sturgeon’s resignation, the first reaction among Tory ministers was delight. For years, she had been one of their most formidable opponents and potent threats: perhaps the only politician capable of leading a Scottish independence campaign to victory. Without her, what would happen to the SNP? But then the elation faded. If nationalists’ votes are up for grabs, would they be more likely to go to Labour or the Tories? Sturgeon’s departure has consequences far beyond that of the SNP leadership. The UK’s whole political landscape could be about to change. In her resignation statement at Bute House, Sturgeon said she believed more than ever in

Anshel Pfeffer

Bibi’s big mistake

Jerusalem As 100,000 Israelis gathered outside Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, on Monday, to protest against Binyamin Netanyahu’s government’s plans to pass a series of laws dramatically weakening the power of the Supreme Court, the first speaker was Netanyahu himself. Actually, it was a recording from an interview he had given in 2012, where he said that ‘without a strong and independent Supreme Court there can be no protection of rights. It’s what makes the difference between dictatorships and democracies’. The crowd jeered. There had been fear of violence at the demonstration. Police set up barricades, but there was no real need for them. The mood was surprisingly upbeat for a

Katy Balls

Nicola Sturgeon resigns – why now?

12 min listen

Nicola Sturgeon has announced her resignation as First Minister of Scotland. James Heale speaks to Katy Balls and Isabel Hardman about her decision to leave and Sturgeon’s nine years as leader.

Iain Macwhirter

Nicola Sturgeon is a hard act to follow

Nicola Sturgeon insisted last month she had ‘plenty in the tank’, but apparently the First Minister was already running on empty. Announcing her resignation this morning, Sturgeon said she finally decided to step down only yesterday at the funeral of a long-serving SNP activist. However she also made clear she had begun to realise over the past year she no longer had the energy to give ‘100 per cent’ to the job. In an emotional press conference at Bute House in Edinburgh, Sturgeon insisted she could have ‘led the party to independence’. But she conceded that her personality was becoming a liability: ‘Fixed opinions about me are becoming a barrier to

The Spectator

Sturgeon, Sunak and the state of the Union

Nicola Sturgeon’s resignation as First Minister of Scotland comes at a critical moment for the Union, since the question of Scottish independence has inevitably been tied to the ongoing dilemmas over Brexit. It seems that, over the next week or two, the UK and the EU will announce a potential agreement over the revision of the Northern Ireland Protocol. Goods travelling from mainland Britain for consumption in Northern Ireland will no longer be subject to automatic checks; a trusted trader scheme will allow most shipments to be waved through. In return, it appears that the UK government has dropped its opposition to the role of the European Court of Justice

Coffee House

Full text: Nicola Sturgeon’s resignation speech

Below is an edited transcript of Nicola Sturgeon’s resignation speech, made this morning at Bute House. Coffee House readers may be interested to note that the words ‘I’, ‘me’ and ‘my’ are used 153 times in the speech. ‘Scotland’ is only mentioned 11 times. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for coming along. I’m sorry to break into your half-term break. The First Minister of Scotland is, in my admittedly biased opinion, the very best job in the world. It is a privilege beyond measure, one that has sustained and inspired me in good times and through the toughest hours of my toughest days. I am proud to stand here as

Steerpike

Runners and riders for next First Minister

Where there’s death, there’s life. And the departure of Nicola Sturgeon as First Minister after eight years means there’s a vacancy as top dog in the Scottish parliament. Who could replace her? One Panelbase poll conducted last week shows there’s an overwhelming favourite among the various pretenders: ‘don’t know’ took a whopping 69 per cent of the public vote. Fortunately for the SNP, some of their actual elected politicians scored favourably too – though none more than seven per cent. Below is Steerpike’s guide to the most likely runners and riders to succeed Scotland’s nationalist-in-chief, with odds from Ladbrokes. Angus Robertson – 6/5 The bookies’ favourite and a familiar face

Isabel Hardman

How Nicola Sturgeon views her own legacy

Nicola Sturgeon has confirmed her ‘intention’ to resign as First Minister, staying in office until her successor is elected. She said she had been wrestling with the decision for ‘some weeks’. Sturgeon sounded emotional as she opened by saying First Minister was ‘the best job in the world’ and a privilege that had ‘sustained’ her. She explained that ‘part of serving well would be to know almost instinctively when the time is right to make way for someone else’, and that she knew that this time had come now. ‘Be in no doubt, this is really hard for me. My decision comes from a place of duty and love,’ she

Mariana Mazzucato and Rory Sutherland

How consultancy infantilises governments: Mariana Mazzucato and Rory Sutherland in conversation

Mariana Mazzucato is a professor in the economics of innovation and public value at University College London. She speaks to The Spectator’s Wiki Man, Rory Sutherland, about the book she has co-authored with Rosie Collington, The Big Con: How the Consulting Industry Weakens our Businesses, Infantilises our Governments and Warps our Economies. RORY SUTHERLAND: I’d like to start by congratulating you. The extraordinary growth in scale, wealth and influence of management consulting firms over the past 20 to 30 years is undoubtedly a phenomenon worthy of extensive investigation, particularly as it pertains to government contracts. We are effectively devolving decision-making to people who are doubly unelected in many cases and whose own

Martin Vander Weyer

Why AstraZeneca’s new factory has gone to Dublin

‘Great news, Prime Minister, Astra-Zeneca has decided to site a new £320 million factory on Mersey-side. Your vision of the UK as a science superpower is becoming a reality.’ What a moment that would be for a Downing Street intern in search of the positive for an otherwise grim morning briefing; almost up there with ‘Great news, Prime Minister, Boris Johnson has joined a Trappist monastery’. But no, AstraZeneca decided some time ago to put its next factory in Dublin. This is the pharma multinational that was a corporate hero of the Covid vaccine rollout and is a descendant of ICI, Britain’s greatest 20th-century science company; the very model of

Stephen Daisley

Why is Nicola Sturgeon resigning?

Nicola Sturgeon is resigning as First Minister of Scotland. We don’t yet know when — or why. After eight years in the role, unchallenged the whole time, she has hit troubles recently over gender law reform, the placement of Isla Bryson, a rapist, in a women’s prison and Sturgeon’s failure to deliver a promised second referendum on independence. If any of these is the reason for her departure, it would be odd as, although highly controversial, none has produced a rival for the crown. There is also a police investigation ongoing into a £667,000 independence fighting fund donated by supporters. (There is no suggestion Sturgeon has done anything illegal or

Steerpike

Starmer kills Corbyn’s chances of standing for Labour again

Oh, Jeremy Corbyn. The onetime Labour leader is this morning contemplating the end of his political career after his successor declared he would not be standing as a Labour candidate at the next election. At a press conference to welcome the Equalities Commission’s decision to take the party out of special measures for anti-Semitism, Sir Keir Starmer told reporters that: Let me be very clear about that. Jeremy Corbyn will not stand for Labour the next general election as the Labour party candidate. We are not going back and that is why Jeremy Corbyn will not stop as a Labour candidate at the next general election. Corbyn of course is

Kate Andrews

Inflation falls to 10.1% – but is still at a 40-year high

Inflation remains at near a 40-year high – but finally, we’re starting to see some signs of good news. This morning’s update from the Office for National Statistics shows CPI falling to 10.1 per cent in the 12 months to January 2023, down from 10.5 per cent in December 2022. It’s a better update compared to January, which revealed a much smaller dip in CPI between November and December last year. Core inflation – which excludes energy and food – fell too, from 6.3 per cent on the year in December down to 5.8 per cent in January. Crucially, this easing beat the consensus, both for CPI (the expectation was

James Heale

Labour gets its house in order

After 839 days, the Labour party has today been let out of special measures by the equalities watchdog over its handling of antisemitism complaints. Back in 2020, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) produced a highly critical report of the way Labour was handling these cases. It found that the party had been responsible for unlawful discrimination during Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, forcing the party to reform its policies. The EHRC has now said it is ‘content with the actions taken’ by the party and will be winding up a two-year monitoring period. Sir Keir Starmer has hailed it as ‘an important moment in the history of the Labour Party’ and

Iain Macwhirter

Why Nicola Sturgeon had to go

Nothing in life or politics lasts forever, not even Nicola Sturgeon’s legendary popularity. In a recent poll, 42 per cent of Scots said the First Minister should step down immediately. It seems she has taken the hint: this morning Sturgeon announced that she would be resigning after eight years as head of the Scottish government. ‘The nature and form of modern political discourse means there is a much greater intensity – dare I say it brutality – to life as a politician than in years gone by,’ she said in a press conference at Bute House in Edinburgh. As Sturgeon prepares to hand over to her successor, there is no

Andrew Finkel

Could Turkey’s earthquake bring down president Erdogan?

Turkey is now wrestling with shock and grief and with the dawning realisation of just how large a task it will be to rebuild in the wake of devastating natural disaster. It is also struggling with an uncomfortable truth – that the quake has, with vicious accuracy, sought out not only weaknesses in the earth but fault lines within society itself. Ankara must cope with the criticism that it failed both to plan for a disaster and to react when it struck. I wrote the above paragraph nearly 25 years ago, in the aftermath of an earthquake near Istanbul which claimed at least 17,000 lives. And yet it remains cruelly