Politics

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

Sunday

Joe Bedell-Brill

Nick Thomas-Symonds: ‘We won’t go back to freedom of movement’

The government is currently in the final hours of negotiations with the EU over a new deal that Keir Starmer has said will create a ‘strengthened partnership’ with the bloc. The specifics of the deal are not yet revealed, but it is thought that a youth mobility scheme is on the table. On the BBC this morning, Laura Kuenssberg told Minister for European Relations Nick Thomas-Symonds that some people might feel betrayed by the new deal. Thomas-Symonds told Kuenssberg that it would include a ‘smart and controlled scheme’ and that going back to freedom of movement was a ‘red line’ the government would not cross. The minister claimed the new

Steerpike Steerpike

Elton John: Labour are ‘absolute losers’

From Runcorn to Durham, Labour is losing their core vote everywhere. Now, even the luvvies are turning on them. It was less than a year ago that Elton John headlined a celebrity rally, held in the final week of the general election campaign. ‘Let’s get behind Labour to win on July 4!’ the singer declared. But, nine months on, it seems that the Tiny Dancer star has now changed his tune… Appearing on the BBC’s flagship politics show this morning, John launched a savage attack at ministers over its plans to regulate AI. Describing the government as ‘absolute losers’, he said he felt ‘incredibly betrayed’ over plans to exempt technology

Matthew Greenwood

Why Reeves should be wary of changing cash ISAs

Shrewd parents extol upon their children the importance of stashing away some cash. Unfortunately, they rarely offer much guidance on what to actually do with that money. As a result, much of it gets squirrelled away in pink, ceramic pigs where inflation eats it up. Many adults make the same mistake as these young savers. The more savvy ones opt to invest, perhaps in an Individual Savings Account (or ISAs), which are tax free savings accounts that let you save up to £20,000 every year, usually in the form of cash or stocks and shares. But it’s widely reported that the Treasury is considering a radical shake up of the

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Second man arrested over Starmer fires

Counterterrorism forces have arrested a second man in connection with arson attacks on two homes and a vehicle associated with Keir Starmer. The Metropolitan Police arrested a 26-year-old man – whose nationality remains unknown – at Luton airport on Saturday afternoon on suspicion of conspiracy to commit arson with intent to endanger life. In a statement the Met said: ‘The arrest was made by counterterrorism officers from the Eastern Region Special Operations Unit. The man has been taken to custody in London.’ The latest arrest follows that of a 21-year-old man who was charged with arson with intent to endanger life over attacks at properties linked to the Prime Minister.

Robin Ashenden

Why are today’s MPs so incredibly drab?

Current MPs in Britain seem, at times, a drab and depressing bunch. ‘The quality of parliamentarian,’ Ann Widdecombe said on a recent podcast, ‘is the lowest I can ever remember.’ It was not just the reluctance most sensible people feel about exposing themselves to such overwhelming and intrusive media focus, she explained, that was putting better candidates off. It was also down to the identity-driven shortlists all three main parties have embraced in the past few decades. It’s all too easy for ministers to forget what a strong economy, a robust education system, or a love of free speech are actually for ‘They began to select on identity rather than

Theo Hobson Theo Hobson

How to fight back against Lily Phillips

Why is the pornification of our culture so difficult to oppose? Partly because it takes subtly different forms. There used to be prostitutes and pornographers. Now, there are online influencers like Lily Phillips, subject of the documentary I Slept With 100 Men in One Day. These influencers sometimes talk like feminist activists, too. The idea that sex belongs in committed relationships is rubbished There are also TV shows that are not quite porn, but are not quite not. A few years ago, I attacked the Channel 4 reality show Open House, which features first-time swingers. It doesn’t just document their adventures; it arranges them. I hoped that my attack would finish it

Charles Parton

The US and China are in more than a trade war

Headlines on the current discord between the United States and China speak only of ‘trade war’. Negotiations in Geneva have led to a 90 day ‘truce’. If only the war were that limited. If only agreement on solving trade hostilities would return things to normal. But what is normal? Sadly, trade is just one aspect of a much broader war, in which neither side is contemplating a truce. The head of China’s BGI group, a former high ranking official, understands the reality better: ‘Many people talk about financial and trade wars, but the deadliest battle is the technology war. The technology war will ultimately determine the fate of both sides.

Saturday

Stephen Daisley Stephen Daisley

Scotland has no idea what to do about Reform

Reform continues to rise in Scotland and the Scottish political and media class continue either to ignore it or hold panicked summits on countering the ‘far right’. Thursday’s council by-election for Clydebank Waterfront, in West Dunbartonshire, saw Reform come second despite never having contested this ward before. The SNP proved the eventual victor in the seventh round of counting – Scottish local elections are conducted using single transferrable vote – but Reform narrowly beat Labour into third place. They used to weigh the votes for Labour in Clydebank, a town once synonymous with the socialist radicalism of Red Clydeside. Like manners and Saturday night telly, the Scottish Labour party ain’t what it used to be,

Jake Scott

Starmer’s immigration ‘crackdown’ is a triumph for the quangos

Keir Starmer appeared to be making all the right noises when he unveiled his immigration crackdown this week. The white paper, released to coincide with the Prime Minister’s speech on Monday, saw the government finally concede a basic economic fact we all know to be true: ‘Despite the significant increases in long-term migration over recent years, economic growth and living standards have stagnated.’ However, on close inspection the paper is not all that it seems. Fundamentally, it simply lacks detail. It fails to set any targets, either in terms of net migration numbers or visas, and offers little clarity on what would be deemed the right amount of migration. This is no accidental omission.

Steerpike Steerpike

Will Labour’s uniform cap hit pupil performance?

It is the perennial question of British politics: who is next in the ministerial sack race? For a while, it seemed, the answer was Bridget Phillipson – the minister waging a one-woman-war on the Tories’ school reforms. But today, the Times suggests that the Education Secretary has been told her job is safe, citing private text messages from Keir Starmer. That means she can press on with her Schools Bill which includes, among other measures, plans to limit the number of branded uniforms items schools can insist on. This cap is being hailed as a way of keeping costs down – but Mr S wants to know if it will

Steerpike Steerpike

Reform UK plots new wave of student societies

They say that the children are our future. So what better way for a party to demonstrate its potential than by winning support among the nation’s yoof? Britain’s universities are often depicted as hotbeds of leftism, incubators for the kind of avocado-eating, chai latte-drinking wokerati that sends Jonathan Gullis into a tizzy. But now Mr S hears that a new wave of Reform UK student societies could change all that – with branches expected to launch in the forthcoming academic year. Currently, there are three universities branches across the country with Reform societies at Durham, East Anglia and York. These were all established when the party had less than 70,000 members.

Stephen Daisley Stephen Daisley

Why I changed my mind about multiculturalism

When Blackburn MP Adnan Hussain complains about an opponent believing ‘free speech means protecting the right to offend Muslims’, you feel an instinctive response gathering in your throat. You’re damn right it does. It means the right to burn the Qur’an, mock the Hadith and doodle cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed performing in a rainbow-flag hijab on RuPaul’s Drag Race. In a liberal society, people should be free to blaspheme against any and all religions, even pretendy ones like Anglicanism. Mass immigration plus non-integration have allowed enclaves of reaction to sprout up in Britain. In these parallel states, some migrants and subsequent generations live as paper citizens but do not subscribe

Jim Lawley

Will Gibraltar get in the way of Starmer’s EU reset?

For years, the UK, Spain, Gibraltar and the European Union have been negotiating, on and off, to resolve the complex issue of Gibraltar’s post-Brexit land border with Spain. Now, ahead of next week’s meeting in London when Keir Starmer welcomes EU leaders to discuss a ‘reset’ in UK-EU relations, Spain’s Foreign Minister, José Manuel Albares, has brought ‘the Gibraltar issue’ firmly back into the spotlight.  Referring to the planned reset, which covers a wide range of issues including defence and security, fishing and British exports, Albares told the BBC’s Newsnight programme, ‘There are many, many things we need to talk [about], Gibraltar included.’ Emphasising that the relationship between the UK and

Michael Gove

Debate: should Kemi Badenoch go?

30 min listen

Kemi Badenoch has come in for criticism since becoming leader of the opposition – for her energy, her performances at PMQs and her inability to galvanise her shadow cabinet. On this podcast, James Heale hosts the trial of Kemi Badenoch and asks whether someone else might be better placed to take the Tories into the next election and – more importantly – who that prince (or princess) across the water could be. The Spectator’s assistant content editor William Atkinson makes the case for the prosecution, while Michael Gove sets out why the Tories should stick with Kemi. Lara Brown, our new commissioning editor, acts as the jury. ‘If your house

Michael Gove

Michael Gove, Max Jeffery, Paul Wood, Susannah Jowitt and Leyla Sanai

38 min listen

On this week’s Spectator Out Loud: Michael Gove interviews Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood (1:17; Max Jeffery shadows the police as they search for the parents of three abandoned babies (14:41); Paul Wood asks if this is really the end of the PKK, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (20:57); Susannah Jowitt reports that death has come to the Chelsea Flower Show (28:55); and, Leyla Sanai reviews Graham Swift’s new anthology of short stories, Twelve Post-War Tales (34:23). Produced and presented by Patrick Gibbons.

Alex Klaushofer

Sainsbury’s self-checkout surveillance has gone too far

Sainsbury’s is stepping up surveillance on its self-checkout tills. It’s hard not to laugh out loud. Not only will shoppers in some stores be recorded close-up by a VAR-style camera as they pack their groceries, but should anything appear amiss they may be shown a replay bearing the message: ‘Looks like that last item didn’t scan. Please check you scanned it correctly before continuing’. It doesn’t get much more Big Brother than that. Britain is rapidly becoming a surveillance society. Banks of cameras are part of the furniture on our streets, and in our supermarkets and shops. Some stores even use facial recognition. As I wrote in The Spectator a year ago, this obsession with

Friday

Svitlana Morenets Svitlana Morenets

Why the Istanbul talks failed

Only one conclusion can be drawn from today’s talks in Istanbul: Russia has once again rejected the proposed unconditional 30-day ceasefire. In the first meeting between Ukrainian and Russian delegations in three years, Moscow demanded Kyiv withdraw its troops from the four regions Vladimir Putin has claimed but failed to capture completely. When Ukraine refused, Russia’s chief negotiator Vladimir Medinsky reportedly threatened to seize even more: Kharkiv and Sumy regions next. He warned that Russia is prepared to fight forever, before asking: can Ukraine? ‘Maybe some of those sitting here at this table will lose more of their loved ones.’  Threats and unrealistic demands are part of the Russian negotiation

Lara Brown

Gender ideology is still dictating NHS policy

The NHS have decided that there is no minimum age before a child can begin treatment for gender dysphoria. Freedom of Information requests seen by the Telegraph have revealed that toddlers under the age of five are being treated in new specialist gender clinics. The health service had previously proposed that referrals could only be made for children over the age of seven, but after pressure from activists this has now been dropped. The treatment of ‘transgender toddlers’ is not the only cause for alarm The Cass review was thought to be a turning point for child safeguarding. The government then started making positive sounds on puberty blockers and women’s single

Lucy Dunn

Can the assisted dying bill survive?

16 min listen

Labour MP Kim Leadbeater’s assisted dying bill is back in the Commons for the report stage today – returning to parliament for the first time since major changes were made to the legislation. While Leadbeater has insisted the bill is coming back ‘even stronger’ than before, support among MPs appears to be fading. The mood in parliament was different to the second reading – which listeners will remember as a self-congratulatory affair, hailed as a ‘historic’ day by Leadbeater – but today’s debate was notably more ill-tempered. The majority of speeches seemed to oppose the bill rather than support it, and a late intervention by Esther Rantzen did not help.

Steerpike Steerpike

Emily Maitlis doesn’t understand grooming gangs

‘You are focusing on Pakistani grooming gangs, because, probably, you’re racist.’ That’s what Emily Maitlis told ex-Reform MP Rupert Lowe when he had the misfortune of appearing on the News Agents podcast yesterday. But is she right? In fact, Pakistani men are up to five times as likely to be responsible for child sex grooming offences than the general population, according to figures from the Hydrant Programme, which investigates child sex abuse. Around one in 73 Muslim men over 16 have been prosecuted for ‘group-localised child sexual exploitation’ in Rotherham, research by academics from the universities of Reading and Chichester has revealed. Lowe has highlighted these cases and is crowdfunding an inquiry