Politics

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

Monday

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Boris’s Protocol shake-up faces two major challenges

The UK government has now published both the text of the Northern Ireland Protocol bill and a summary of its legal arguments. The main plank of the government’s case for why it isn’t breaching international law rests on the doctrine of necessity. The government document states that ‘the term ‘necessity’ is used in international law to lawfully justify situations where the only way a State can safeguard an essential interest is the non-performance of another international obligation. Under conditions defined in Article 25, the action taken may not seriously impair the essential interests of the other State(s), and cannot be claimed where excluded by the relevant obligation or where the

Steven Barrett

Changing the Northern Ireland Protocol won’t break the law

The UK is about to publish a bill that will override parts of the Northern Ireland Protocol. We are doing this unilaterally – the EU doesn’t want us to do it, but we’re going to do it anyway. Surely that means we’re about to breach international law? It’s worth quickly going over why this is happening. The EU wanted to protect its common market, and no one wanted a border down the island of Ireland, so a trade border was placed in the Irish Sea. That has created trade friction between two constituent parts of the United Kingdom. Unionists are unhappy with that arrangement. And unhappy Unionists have led to

Alexander Larman

The royal rabble vs the Queen

By and large, the Platinum Jubilee celebrations were a success. Barring the odd moment of inexplicable poor taste, it was a well-choreographed blend of pageantry, ceremony and fun, and the deservedly viral clip of Paddington taking tea with the Queen seemed to epitomise a spirit of generosity and togetherness. Yet Her Majesty might be forgiven, looking at the headlines since the Jubilee, for wishing that she could always be in the company of an amiable fictitious bear, rather than her unpredictable and wilful family. Given the self-indulgent shenanigans that her family seem intent on creating during the final years of her reign, the Queen might be forgiven for wanting to

Andrew Tettenborn

Welsh Tories would be wise to split from the Conservatives

Conservatives in Wales are jumpy. Seeing Boris’s name as poisonous on the doorstep, a number of them have suggested disaffiliating from the national party and forming their own Welsh Conservatives as the party of the right west of Offa’s Dyke. Some in the central party in London are, perhaps unsurprisingly, aghast: one unnamed Tory MP has referred apocalyptically to the Balkanisation of the Conservatives. At least one very vociferously unionist Senedd member, James Evans, is also furious. They should not be worried. Why? Because the break-up of the Tory party is actually rather a forward-looking idea, beneficial in the long term to Conservatism. CCHQ should welcome this plan with open arms. For one thing,

Robert Peston Robert Peston

The Northern Ireland Protocol is a problem Boris created

If Boris Johnson was elected on a single slogan, it was ‘Get Brexit done’. He then claimed it was done at the end of 2019 in the terms for leaving the EU he agreed. Not so. Today legislation will be introduced by the Foreign Secretary Liz Truss to unilaterally overhaul a central pillar of the UK’s negotiated exit from the EU, the Northern Ireland Protocol – which is seen by the EU, whatever the government may claim, as a breach of the UK’s international treaty obligations.  Economic relations with the EU, still the biggest market for our exporters by a country mile, were already bad. They are about to become appallingly

Steerpike Steerpike

How much did Sadiq Khan’s California cannabis trip cost the taxpayer?

Like many Londoners, Mr S was baffled to see our beloved mayor cavorting around America last month. As crime in the capital continued to soar, Sadiq Khan found time for a four-day jaunt across the States, in which time London suffered a murder and an eight-man mass brawl at Selfridges. The highlight of Khan’s trip appeared to be the right-on Labour man announcing a plan to move towards decriminalising cannabis, even though he, er, has no power to do so. So how much did this joint venture cost the taxpayer? Well, Steerpike’s Freedom of Information request has finally got a reply and it turns out that more than £34,000 was

Steerpike Steerpike

Cadwalladr wins libel case against Banks

Visitors to Westminster this morning might have experienced a meteorological disturbance shortly after 10 a.m as SW1 types took a sharp intake of breath. For Carole Cadwalladr, the ever-online Observer journalist has today won her libel case against brash Brexit-backer Arron Banks, the founder of Leave.EU. Banks tried to sue Cadwalladr for defamation over two instances – one in a TED Talk video and another in a tweet. He claimed he was defamed after comments Cadwalladr made about his relationship with the Russian state. The High Court judgement follows a five day hearing in January and centred on comments she made in a TED talk in April 2019 and a tweet

Katy Balls Katy Balls

The next Brexit battle is here

The government will today reveal its plans to unilaterally rewrite parts of the Northern Ireland Protocol. Depending on who you speak to, this is either a necessary step in protecting the Good Friday agreement or a breach of international law set to damage the UK’s standing on the world stage. The details of the bill have been subject to government wrangling over the past week. Liz Truss sided with backbench members of the European Research Group of Tory Brexiteers to toughen up the bill while ministers including Michael Gove and Rishi Sunak argued for a more cautious approach. One of the problems for Johnson is that figures in Brussels look

Sunday

Patrick O’Flynn Patrick O'Flynn

Will the government stand up to mob rule?

A very big week is in store for the government’s strategy to tackle illegal immigration with all eyes on the planned first air transfer of irregular migrants to Rwanda, due to take place on Tuesday. Whether the flight takes off at all and how many migrants will be on board is yet to be seen. But the policy has already attracted strong adverse commentary from leading lights in Britain’s unelected establishment, from the Archbishop of Canterbury to the heir to the throne. But another struggle over the enforcement of immigration law is being waged at ground level, with the springing up of networks of local activists seeking to prevent immigration

Ross Clark Ross Clark

Did Rishi Sunak really make an £11 billion blunder?

Could Rishi Sunak really have saved the taxpayer £11 billion by insuring against higher interest rates last year? That was the extraordinary claim made by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) and in the Financial Times on Friday. The NIESR claims that the government could have saved the money had the Chancellor taken up the institute’s own suggestion last year and forcibly converted £600 billion worth of reserves held by commercial banks at the Bank of England into two year fixed-rate bonds. By failing to foresee rising inflation and interest rates, the FT asserts, the Chancellor has blown even more money than Gordon Brown did by selling

Matthew Taylor

Sunday shows round-up: Tories ‘united’ behind Boris

Brandon Lewis: Conservatives are now ‘united behind the PM’ Mounting dissatisfaction with Boris Johnson’s leadership came to a head last Monday when he survived a vote of confidence amongst Conservative MPs by 211 to 148. The party’s rules as they stand mean that his position is now notionally safe for a year. The Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis spoke to Sophie Raworth about what this result meant for his leadership CMA will review petrol stations’ practices Raworth asked Lewis about how the government would ensure the cut in fuel duty would be passed on to motorists at the petrol pumps: ‘We don’t want rail strikes to happen’ Raworth also asked

Debbie Hayton

The NHS’s disturbing trans guidance for children

Sajid Javid spoke some sense earlier this week when he said that the word ‘woman’ should not be removed from NHS ovarian cancer guidance. The Health Secretary was responding to the revelations that the NHS website had been stripping the word ‘woman’ from its advice pages. But fine words are only a start. The Health Secretary needs to get a grip on an NHS website that seems in thrall to magical thinking on sex and gender. The problem is wider than he might realise. Quite apart from the row over the advice to women seeking advice on cervical cancer and ovarian cancer, the NHS is currently hosting a page entitled,

Saturday

Ross Clark Ross Clark

Boris’s rewilding obsession could backfire

Does Boris Johnson have the faintest idea what he and his government are trying to achieve anymore? I ask because of the Prime Minister’s ‘grow for Britain’ strategy which has been leaked to the Daily Telegraph. The strategy, due to be launched on Monday, apparently demands that farmers grow more fruit and vegetables to make us less reliant on imported food, especially in the face of the Ukraine crisis – which has created the headache of how to continue production and exports from one of Europe’s most agricultural nations. To this end, the grow for Britain strategy will, it is said, commit to ‘changes to planning rules to make it

Angus Colwell

Katy Balls, John Connolly and Gus Carter

17 min listen

On this week’s episode: Katy Balls reads her article on the cadets gunning for the Tory leadership. (00:52) John Connolly reads his investigation into the new warehouse ghettos where Britain is sending migrants. (06:36) Gus Carter reads his piece on why he’s not getting invited to any dinner parties. (12:05) Presented by Angus Colwell. Produced by Angus Colwell and Sam Holmes.

Steven Fielding

Is Britain heading for a summer of discontent?

With workers across the economy looking set to go on strike during the next few months there is talk of a ‘summer of discontent’. The inspiration for this trope is the infamous 1978-9 ‘winter of discontent’, when despite the urgings of Labour ministers to show pay restraint, poorly paid public sector workers left rubbish piling up in the streets and, legend has it, the dead unburied. When the strikers returned to work the government’s effort to keep wages down was in tatters, along with its perceived authority to govern. There have been many mooted summers of discontent over the years, but none has ever rivalled the original. They have all

Max Jeffery Max Jeffery

Will Jeremy Hunt run for PM again?

12 min listen

Has Jeremy Hunt had a good week? When the former health secretary – and 2019 leadership hopeful – announced on Twitter on Monday that he would be voting against the Prime Minister in the confidence vote, Nadine Dorries, the culture secretary, replied that Hunt was ‘wrong about almost everything’. Boris Johnson went on to narrowly win the vote, but is that really the end of Hunt’s ambitions?  Max Jeffery speaks to James Forsyth and Katy Balls.

Michael Mosbacher

Britain’s ivory ban is needlessly draconian

The world’s most draconian ban on the trade in ivory came into force in the UK this month. It does not increase the legal protections already enjoyed by all living elephants, but rather extends these protections to elephants that have been dead for decades. Trade in ivory and most ivory products from elephants killed after 1947 was already illegal; now all trade in ivory except that covered by five narrow exemptions is banned and subject to a maximum penalty of a £250,000 fine or five years’ imprisonment­­ – even if the tusks were last attached to a living elephant centuries ago. The supporters of the ban argue that it stops

Mark Galeotti Mark Galeotti

Putin is no Peter the Great

Putin has a penchant for history, but only insofar it flatters him and his views. Last year, he gifted the world a 5,000 essay that essentially pre-justified his invasion of Ukraine with amateurish fantasy history, and now he is comparing himself with Tsar Peter the Great. It is not a comparison that fits or flatters. Peter the Great is one of the, well, greats of the Russian historical pantheon. He ruled from the late 17th to the early 18th century, and in that time became the first tsar to travel in Europe, built a new capital at St Petersburg, and was both founder of the Russian navy and victor, on

Friday

Freddy Gray Freddy Gray

What is the point of the January 6th committee?

30 min listen

Freddy Gray talks to journalists Jacob Heilbrunn, the editor of The National Interest, and John Daniel Davidson, senior editor of The Federalist, about the beginning of public hearings at the House Select Committee into the events of January 6th 2021.