Politics

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

Friday

Nigel Jones

Boris’s Tory assassins have learnt nothing from Thatcher’s downfall

John Stuart Mill once dismissed the Tories as ‘the stupid party’. When a reader queried the insult, Mill qualified it, but not by much. ‘I never meant to say that Conservatives are generally stupid,’ he wrote. ‘I meant that stupid people are generally Conservatives’. More than a century and a half later as the party implodes once again, today’s Tory MPs are still living up to Mill’s derogatory description. Sitting securely with their huge parliamentary majority, and with at least two years to go before they need to face the voters again, the Tories are going all out to make sure that they lose. In doing so, they are not only condemning the

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Starmer cleared over beergate

Keir Starmer is in the clear over beergate. This lunchtime, Durham Police announced that both the Labour leader and his deputy Angela Rayner have been cleared of breaking lockdown rules at an event involving curry and beer. When it comes to the event in April 2021, the police said there was ‘no case to answer’ as there was an exemption at the time for ‘reasonably necessary work’. Responding to the news, a Labour spokesperson said: ‘Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner have always been clear that no rules were broken in Durham.’ What does this mean for Labour? It means that Starmer’s gamble – of promising to resign if fined and

Steerpike Steerpike

Has Jeremy Hunt been left in the lurch?

Boris’s decision to quit yesterday fired the starting gun on the greatest game of them all: the Tory leadership race. Suella Braverman was first out the blocks on Thursday night before, er, Johnson had even gone. But it’s the launch of the second official candidate, Tom Tugendhat, which has attracted more interest. In traditional Tory style he began his campaign with an article in the Telegraph, emphasising his own personal values and the need to tackle Britain’s economic problems – a conscious effort to broaden his appeal beyond being pigeonholed as solely interested in matters of defence and foreign policy. If Tugendhat is to reach the later stages of a leadership contest,

Steerpike Steerpike

Will Blackford and Sturgeon now resign too?

The SNP likes to portray itself as the moral guardians of Scotland. But does such sanctimony extend to Westminster, where the Tories have just ousted a leader accused of ignoring allegations of sexual harassment. Amid the chaos in the Commons, Steerpike was intrigued by the silence earlier this week coming from the SNP press office. Perhaps though, that was unsurprising, given the party’s own track record on responding to such issues.  This seems a particular affliction for the nationalist party’s leaders in London. First we had Angus Robertson, who led the party’s Westminster contingent until he lost his seat in 2017. Robertson was one of the first nats to be

Philip Patrick Philip Patrick

Shinzo Abe’s killing has horrified Japan

Japan’s former prime minister Shinzo Abe has died after he was shot twice while campaigning on the streets of the city of Nara, ahead of Sunday’s upper house elections. The incident took place at 11:30 this morning. A witness told NHK (Japan’s national broadcaster) that: ‘He (Abe) was giving a speech and a man came from behind. The first shot sounded like a toy. He didn’t fall and there was a large bang. The second shot was more visible, you could see the spark and smoke. After the second shot, people surrounded him and gave him cardiac massage.’ Security attending to the former Japanese leader apprehended the suspected gunman, a 41-year-old, believed

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

The problem with Tom Tugendhat’s ‘clean start’ manifesto

Tom Tugendhat has become the first of the Tory MPs depicted on our cover this week to confirm that he is running for Prime Minister. His strength: his military record and his consistency in opposing Boris Johnson which saw him left out in the cold for the last two years. His weakness: that he has never served in government in any role and critics say that he is therefore unfamiliar with the tough choices of government. Also, that prime minister is not an entry-level government job. But at this stage the candidates ought to be judged more in what they have to say in whether they’d be better than Johnson

James Kirkup James Kirkup

Boris didn’t break the system

Britain’s Donald Trump. A constitutional vandal. A grave and potentially even systemic threat to the rule of law and representative democracy. Boris Johnson has been called all of those things in the last few years. Most of that criticism was cobblers, and we reached peak cobblers earlier this week when he hunkered down in No. 10 muttering inanely about blood and fighting to the death. Those few hours saw many people who really should know better comparing Johnson’s last chapter to Donald Trump’s insurrection. Those comparisons were ridiculous and wrong. As prime minister and leader of the governing party, Johnson retained the right to occupy the office and use its

Brendan O’Neill Brendan O’Neill

Why I’m not celebrating Boris Johnson’s downfall

I know it’s the season of ‘dunking on Boris’, which is fine. He deserves a bit of dunking for the errors of judgement he made over Partygate and Pinchergate. But if only for the purposes of brief respite from all this Boris-bashing, I think we need to reflect on the one good thing he did. The thing that will fortify his place in the history books. The thing that elevates him above the rest of the political class. It’s quite simple, really: he stood up for working-class voters when hardly anyone else in the establishment would. This week has been a strange experience for me. From many of my middle-class colleagues

Matthew Lynn

If the EU disliked Boris, they’ll hate his successor

Three, five, or perhaps even ten whole minutes. In a more civilised, parallel universe, perhaps Europe’s big wigs would have allowed a slightly more dignified period of silence following Boris Johnson’s resignation speech before cracking open the foie gras and champagne. In this one, however, the gloating started immediately.  ‘The departure of Boris Johnson opens a new page in relations with Britain,’ wrote ex-chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier. ‘Boris Johnson’s reign ends in disgrace, just like his friend Donald Trump,’ tweeted the former Brexit coordinator of the European parliament Guy Verhofstadt. No doubt we will see a lot more in that vein in the hours and days ahead. But hold

Thursday

Steerpike Steerpike

Spectator summer party, in pictures

It’s been a tumultuous day in Westminster. Boris Johnson has (finally) resigned as Prime Minister after losing more than 50 members of his own government. So what better way to mourn or celebrate the fall of the Tory premier than over a glass of Pol Roger in the garden of The Spectator’s offices in Westminster? Mr S was on hand to hear the plots and gossip as the great and the (not so) good gathered to mark the resignation of one of Britain’s most divisive leaders… Nerissa Chesterfield, Rishi Sunak and Andrew Neil Katy Balls and Sophie Winkleman Three ex-BBC political editors: Laura Kuenssberg, Nick Robinson and Andrew Marr Sir

James Forsyth James Forsyth

The race to succeed Boris is wide open

With Boris Johnson going, talk now turns to the next Conservative leadership race. Tory leadership contests are always more like the Grand National than the Derby: crowded, unpredictable and with the favourite often not making it. But even by these standards, the coming contest looks remarkably open. There will be no shortage of candidates. Suella Braverman, the attorney general, has already announced that she will be running. Steve Baker has said he’s keen. Damian Green has said Tom Tugendhat will run. Nadhim Zahawi, Jeremy Hunt, Rishi Sunak, Sajid Javid and Penny Mordaunt are all expected to stand.  Ben Wallace is currently the favourite, and as one canny observer notes, the defence

Lisa Haseldine Lisa Haseldine

‘Borexit’: How the foreign press covered Boris’s resignation

Boris Johnson’s departure isn’t just front-page news in the UK. Germany’s press – which has never been much of a fan of Johnson since the days of Brexit – has taken a sombre, if derisive, tone towards his resignation. Today has seen the coining of a new term in the media, with popular tabloid Bild.de splashing the one-word headline ‘Borexit’ across the top of their homepage in a large green mockup of a fire exit sign. German broadsheet Der Tagesspiegel takes its readers through a chronology of the scandals that consumed Johnson’s time in office, eye-catchingly branding him a ‘scandal noodle’. The paper reminds readers that Johnson is the first

Lara Prendergast Lara Prendergast

After Boris

30 min listen

In this week’s episode:After Boris, who’s next?On the day the Prime Minister resigns, Katy Balls and James Forsyth discuss the aftermath of Boris Johnson’s premiership. Who might be the next Tory leader? (0.51).Also this week:Who are the wealthy Russian émigrés ready to fight in the war?Sean Thomas talks with Moscow-based journalist, Gabriel Gavin about the Russian émigrés who hate the war, but know they have to win it (19.56).And finally: Are 20mph speed limits causing more trouble than Brexit?Ysenda Maxtone Graham makes this case in the magazine this week. She’s joined by Cllr Johnny Thalassites from the Kensington and Chelsea borough. (22.26)Hosted by Lara Prendergast & William MooreProduced by Natasha

Svitlana Morenets Svitlana Morenets

Ukrainians are in mourning for Boris

Boris Johnson’s support for Ukraine looked like a gimmick for many in Britain. Whenever the PM was in trouble, he called president Zelensky. When things got too much in Westminster, Boris popped up in Kyiv. But for Ukrainians, Boris’s backing of Ukraine is no joke: he is a national hero. He is the most popular foreign politician: his approval ratings are 90 per cent, only 3 per cent behind Zelensky. He recently became an honorary citizen of Odessa. Four streets are named after him, and one cafe in the capital even makes a ‘Boris Johnson’ croissant (with vanilla ice cream on top, which is supposed to look like his hair).

Toby Young Toby Young

Boris’s departure will be seen as a victory for the puritans

One of the regrettable things about Boris’s resignation is that it will be hailed as a victory by the puritans. Boris is a Cavalier rather than a Roundhead – a Rabelaisian, freedom-loving character rather than a purse-lipped finger-wagger. More Oliver Hardy than Oliver Cromwell. But in the end that proved his undoing. He’s so firmly on one side of this Cavalier-Roundhead spectrum he wasn’t able to summon his inner puritan when it came to scrupulously avoiding any Downing Street social gathering during lockdown that could conceivably be described as a ‘party’, or not giving a job to a sex pest. He’s a live-and-let-live kind of guy, the opposite of sanctimonious,

Steerpike Steerpike

Runners and riders for next Tory leader

The ‘world king’ is dead so who will be the next to wear the crown? Already the jockeying has begun to replace Boris Johnson as the next Tory party leader, with MPs beginning to endorse each other. Coffee House will be keeping a list of those who have declared and who their backs are but Mr S thought he would provide a quick run down of some of the most likely candidates and their strengths and weaknesses… Nadhim Zahawi The millionaire pollster has had quite the exciting week. Education Secretary on Wednesday, Chancellor of the Exchequer on Thursday and Brutus the Assassin on Friday. Zahawi’s volte face on Boris stunned

Lloyd Evans Lloyd Evans

Boris is right, this is a putsch

There was no bitterness. And the blame was issued in coded terms. Boris’s resignation speech began with a reference to his most notable achievement: the ‘incredible mandate’ he secured in 2019 and which gave the Tories their largest majority since 1987 and their biggest share of the vote since 1979. He spelled that out explicitly. And he left it hanging in the air. He outlined his main successes in office: completing Brexit, beating the pandemic, overseeing the vaccine rollout, and ‘leading the West in standing up to Putin’s aggression.’ ‘Our future together is golden,’ he said, with typically groundless optimism He accepted full responsibility for the chaos of the last

James Kirkup James Kirkup

History won’t look kindly on Boris

‘Them’s the breaks’. Those three words speak volumes about Boris Johnson’s ability, his character and his fears. The words show Johnson retains the talents that made him a successful columnist. I know a lot of people don’t like this, but he was a good columnist, in the sense that he consistently said things that people were interested in hearing and talking about. Amid the eternal babble of the media, being able to find a phrase, a word, a sentence or a paragraph that captures attention and captures ideas – consistently – is no small skill. ‘Them’s the breaks’ is already doing exactly what its author intended. It’s becoming the headline on

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Boris’s resignation speech will trouble Tory MPs

Boris Johnson has just given a bitter resignation speech that makes clear he is not going anywhere until a new leader is in place. He has set up a betrayal narrative, pointedly thanking the British public – but not his own party – for his time in office and saying it would be ‘eccentric’ to change leader when the Conservative party is only a few points behind Labour in the polls. There was no space to thank colleagues in government when he listed the work he was proud of and the projects he had hoped to see through to their conclusion. It was centred around him, not the collective effort,

Freddy Gray Freddy Gray

Boris was never Trump

The urge to compare Boris Johnson to Donald Trump was always irresistible. It has been fun, too. Both men are colourful creatures in a political environment that elevated dullards. Both men had privileged childhoods. Both are veteran womanisers with much younger wives. Both are brilliant electoral campaigners and great communicators, albeit in very different ways. Both are also much hated. Yesterday, as Johnson’s government collapsed on top of him and he appeared to be refusing to resign, some journalists instantly went for the ‘Britain Trump’ allusions. Johnson was desperately ‘clinging on’ to power; ‘unable to face reality’ and ‘refusing to respect the basic conventions of parliamentary democracy.’ Some Twitter blowhards even