Politics

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

Friday

22 Jul 2022

Don’t blame Brexit for the Dover chaos

Queues stretching back for several hours. Children going crazy in the back seat. Cars breaking down in the heat, and holidays thrown into chaos by delays at the terminal. Anyone who imagined that they were making their lives easier by avoiding the airports and driving to continental Europe this summer will have had a nasty surprise. The ferries are just as bad, with a major incident declared at Dover as cars were snarled up in long jams. And yet, at the risk of disappointing hard core Remainers, that turns out to have nothing to do with Brexit – and a lot to do with French incompetence. In fact, the delays

Cindy Yu

What do the polls tell us about Sunak vs Truss?

16 min listen

Over the next few weeks, Conservative party members will cast their votes on who they want to be the next Prime Minister. YouGov has released another poll suggesting that members have placed Liz Truss 24 points ahead of Rishi Sunak. ‘This shows the difference between the parliamentary party from the membership at large‘ – Isabel Hardman. Ballots start to go out on the 1st of August, does Rishi Sunak have enough time to pull it back? Cindy Yu speaks to Isabel Hardman and James Forsyth.

Freddy Gray

How much have the 6 January hearings damaged Trump?

The congressional inquiry into 6 January’s storming of the Capitol is having a break. In its last prime-time hearing of the summer yesterday, the Committee – Donald Trump calls it the ‘Unselect Committee’ because none of his apologists are on it – gave him one more kicking. The Democrats have made a mistake in not allowing Trump’s defenders to speak at the hearings ‘In the end, this is not, as it may appear, a story of inaction in a time of crisis, but instead it was the final action of Donald Trump’s own plan to usurp the will of the American people and remain in power,’ said Democrat Elaine Luria,

Alexander Larman

There’s one court where Prince Harry can’t win

When Prince Harry and Meghan ‘stepped back’ as working royals, you’d be forgiven for thinking we would see and hear from them a little less. Not so. This week, the Duke of Sussex has repeatedly hit the headlines. Not content with delivering a stern (and far from well received) speech at the United Nations, in which he invoked Nelson Mandela’s name to make a selection of hackneyed points, Harry is back in the news. Today we learn the Duke has won a partial victory in the latest instalment of his apparently endless court cases against the British establishment: in this case, the Home Office. Those who are not studying for their postgraduate degrees

Mark Asquith

Why inflation will soon be over

Here’s a quick test: do you feel, in your bones, that we’ve entered into a new inflationary era or is this just a blip? If you feel we’ve entered into a new inflationary era, you are an economic conservative. You may believe in secular inflation thanks to the following: Brexit, trade wars, de-globalisation, Covid and Ukraine, which have all created shortages in manufacturing, oil, and wheat that we are powerless to fix. Perhaps you believe that sinister world leaders, business interests, and cartels control the markets in all this stuff and have decided to restrict it. Or you may think that central banks have been printing money so recklessly, and

Steerpike

Guardian editor gets £150k pay bump

It’s a tough time for struggling families across the country. Inflation, price increases, a cost-of-living crisis and taxes going up. But one place where belts are remaining decidedly un-tightened is the editor’s office at the Guardian, where champagne corks have been popping at the latest company accounts. For Katharine Viner– the editor-in-chief of the progressive periodical – has seen her pay rise by 42 per cent (or £150,000) to a whopping £509,000 in the year to April. It came after the newspaper’s parent company, Guardian Media Group (GMG), hailed its best results since 2008. Good news all round then surely? Most in the media would accept that if the Guardian had

Charles Moore

Thatcher’s way with words (1982)

This piece is taken from The Spectator’s archive 40 years ago this week. At the time, Charles Moore was the magazine’s political columnist, aged 25 (he became editor two years later). Here, he writes about the importance of Margaret Thatcher’s rhetoric, one year before her 1983 election win. Those who are paid to survey the wicked world of politics make their easiest money from pointing out the disparity between ‘rhetoric’ and ‘reality’. We, whose only reality is rhetoric — if by rhetoric is meant the production of words — note, half-waspishly, half-priggishly, that public figures do not always do what they say. They talk in terms of idealism and altruism when

Gavin Mortimer

What Nigel Farage can learn from Marine Le Pen

It’s been five weeks since Marine Le Pen’s National Rally won 89 seats in the French parliamentary elections and thus far no one has goosestepped into the National Assembly. This has come a shock to the left who have spent a decade warning that a vote for Marine Le Pen’s party was a vote for fascism. In one unintentionally hilarious op-ed column in Le Monde in 2012, the author compared Le Pen to Adolf Hitler, although he conceded ‘she doesn’t have a moustache’. True, a Nazi salute was seen in the National Assembly this month but it was delivered by one of Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance MPs, Rémy Rebeyrotte, who is

Katy Balls

Anatomy of a downfall: with Victoria Atkins

25 min listen

Until July 6, Victoria Atkins was the Minister of State for Refugees and Minister of State for Prisons and Probation. But as dozens of her colleagues quit in the wake of Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid’s resignations (which themselves followed No. 10’s messy handling of the Chris Pincher affair), Atkins resigned too, writing that ‘values such as integrity, decency, respect and professionalism’ have ‘fractured’ under Boris Johnson’s leadership. On this episode of Women With Balls, Katy Balls hits the rewind button with Atkins, taking us through the turbulent events of those few days. They discuss what it’s like to resign from government while on a school run; unforced errors from

Sam Ashworth-Hayes

How Germany’s energy crisis could bite Britain

For now, Berlin can breathe a sigh of relief: after a ten-day shutdown for maintenance, the Nord Stream 1 pipeline is back online. Russia is once again heating German homes, fuelling German industry, and using German money to finance its war in Ukraine. But this happy exchange may not continue; the pipeline is still operating at just 40 per cent of its usual capacity, and Vladimir Putin is warning this could fall to 20 per cent next week. With Germany’s gas reserves just 65 per cent full – thanks in part to state-owned Russian energy company Gazprom’s curious oversight in maintaining them last year – and plans to refill it

Thursday

21 Jul 2022

Steerpike

Labour candidate’s political journey

With two years to go until the next election, constituency battles are well underway across the country. Labour candidates are scrapping it out with one another for selection in winnable seats, with one such case being Chingford and Woodford Green. This London seat was just 1,263 votes off going red last time, with the added bonus of a prized scalp of in Sir Iain Duncan Smith, the sitting MP and former Tory party leader. Faiza Shaheen, who fought the seat for Labour last time, is desperate once again to get selected in this area. But Mr S hears talk that some local members are unhappy about her lack of presence

Katy Balls

Rishi Sunak has a mountain to climb to beat Liz Truss

It’s day one of the national campaign of the Tory leadership campaign – and Rishi Sunak has a mountain to climb. The former chancellor has already admitted that he is the underdog in the race, with the majority of membership polling indicating Liz Truss will be selected as the next prime minister. A YouGov poll released today confirms the current state of play. Can Sunak turn things around or is it a done deal for Truss? When Tory members were asked on Wednesday and Thursday who of Truss or Sunak they would back, the Foreign Secretary came out on top at 62 per cent, with the former chancellor 24 points behind on 38

Katy Balls

Can Rishi catch up?

14 min listen

So far, most polls of Tory members show that they’d prefer Liz Truss to Rishi Sunak when it comes to the next Conservative party leader. With ballots for the membership phase going out at the beginning of August, it’s vitally important for Sunak to break through to members as soon as possible. Can he catch up? Katy Balls talks to James Forsyth and Fraser Nelson. Produced by Cindy Yu.

William Moore

Trump’s Return

42 min listen

In this week’s episode:Will Donald Trump have a second shot at the US presidency?Freddy Gray and Sarah Baxter debate the return of Donald Trump. (1.10)Also this week:A look at the history of Scotland’s paradoxical relationship between Scottish identity and the Union.The Spectator’s Scotland editor, Alex Massie talks with Murray Pittock about his book Scotland: The Global History, 1603 to Present. (21.49)And finally: What happened to bad taste humour?Screenwriter Gareth Roberts wrote about this in the magazine. He’s joined by comedian and podcast host of NonCensored, Rosie Holt (32.30)Hosted by William MooreProduced by Natasha FerozeSubscribe to The Spectator today and get a £20 Amazon gift voucher: www.spectator.co.uk/voucher

Steerpike

Tom Tugendhat gets roasted

The One Nation brigade were out in force last night and Tom Tugendhat was the talk of the town. He may not have not made it into the final two but the former leadership contender received a hero’s welcome at summer receptions for both the Tory Reform Group and Conservatives in Communications. Flanked by a phalanx of fans, Tugendhat was all smiles at the latter event, telling Mr S about the ‘huge’ after party his team threw following his defeat on Monday: ‘it went on until 4 a.m.’ But it was another Tory politician who stole the show at Tugendhat’s event, delivering a witty, self-deprecating speech that made some (well-received)

Nigel Jones

Is Putin really in good health?

Soon after Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine in February a rash of stories appeared in the western media speculating that the Russian president was dying, or at least very seriously ill. The evidence offered was circumstantial but superficially compelling. This ranged from the absurdly long tables the dictator uses to keep his distance from his aides, to analysis of such symptoms as his awkwardly shaking limbs and puffy face. There were also reports that Putin keeps a top cancer specialist in his entourage at all times. Now, no less an authority than the boss of the CIA, William Burns, has poured a douche of cold water on such

Steerpike

British Museum keeps the Chinese golden era alive

It’s been a bit of a bad week for the British Museum. High temperatures forced staff to close the site early on Monday and Tuesday, damaging revenue flow and prompting renewed criticism of its BP sponsorship deal. Then today Sadiq Khan – the museum’s own local mayor – called on the government to find a way of sharing the highly-prized Elgin Marbles with Greece. In such circumstances, the British Museum needs all the friends it can get. So it was no surprise therefore that two new names have been appointed as directors of the British Museum Friends, which serve as trustees of its collection. One of them is private equity chief Weijian Shan, who

Kate Andrews

Do Truss and Sunak’s spending pledges add up?

Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss have only a few weeks to make their case before postal voting begins on 1 August. Sunak has vowed to be ‘the heir to Margaret Thatcher’ in a comment piece in the Daily Telegraph today, in which he promises to deliver a ‘radical’ set of reform, without expanding much on what that reform would look like. Meanwhile Truss joined BBC Radio 4’s Today programme this morning to double down on her plans to grow the economy, admitting that ‘twenty years of economic policy haven’t delivered growth’, even if the majority of this time has been under Conservative leadership. But there’s a big economic elephant in the room:

Patrick O’Flynn

Why I’m coming round to the idea of Prime Minister Truss

The prospect of Liz Truss becoming the United Kingdom’s third female prime minister is antagonising all the right people. Almost the entire Remainer establishment – including state-sponsored leftist comedians, professors of European studies, AC Grayling, senior figures at the Times newspaper, Irish government insiders – is recoiling at the thought. It is only partly as a result of this that I find myself thawing towards her – if not quite warming – and hoping she defeats Rishi Sunak when the votes of the wider Conservative membership are counted in early September. This is a U-turn on my part. Anticipating this contest as a distinct possibility I wrote a somewhat prophetic

Steerpike

Penny hits back at her critics

It’s been a bruising week for Penny Mordaunt. Six days ago she was the favourite to be Prime Minister; now she’s out of the running after a series of searing criticisms from colleagues and the press. A repeated line of attack she faced was the suggestion that she wasn’t entirely across her brief, with Lord Frost claiming he had to request Mordaunt be transferred off the Brexit negotiation One of those making such a criticism was Anne Marie Trevelyan, the Secretary of State for International Trade. She said of Mordaunt, her departmental junior, that: ‘there have been a number of times when she hasn’t been available, which would have been