Politics

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

Saturday

22 Mar 2025

Nigel Jones

Oleg Gordievsky: the double agent Russia never stopped hunting

The death of Oleg Gordievsky at the age of 86 comes at a moment when relations between his native Russia and his adopted country Britain are just as fraught as they were in his heyday as the West’s most important double agent at the height of the Cold War. Gordievsky’s life story reads like the plot of a John Le Carre spy thriller, and it has indeed been written up as such by the doyen of espionage chroniclers Ben Macintyre. Gordievsky was born into the ranks of the Soviet secret state apparat. Like Vladimir Putin, his father was a member of the NKVD, the name the feared Soviet secret police

Michael Simmons

The Spectator reflects on Covid five years on

Five years ago this weekend, the nation was plunged into what was expected to be a three-week lockdown. Weeks turned into months and years, lives were upended, and society was reshaped. But with the Covid inquiry rumbling on and the threat of a new pandemic ever present, it is worth reflecting on what happened. That’s what we did for today’s special episode of Spectator TV. We wanted to look back on the conversations our contributors were having at the time, so this morning’s show starts with an episode from during the pandemic, hosted by Cindy Yu. She interviews two University of Oxford bioethics professors, Julian Savulescu and Dominic Wilkinson, about why – at

Joanna Cherry

The SNP has a woman problem

John Swinney said this week the SNP doesn’t have a problem with women. I disagree. Of course, some of the unsung founders of the party were women. Some of the party’s strongest and most famous politicians have been women – from Winnie Ewing, Margo MacDonald and Nicola Sturgeon. Yet under the leadership of Nicola Sturgeon, the rights of women in Scotland became conditional on their acceptance of gender identity theory. While the legislation which sought to enshrine this notion in law was struck down by a Scottish court – which agreed with the Westminster government and feminist campaigners that the bill impinged on the rights of women under the Equality

Steerpike

Met Police urged to oppose China’s ‘super-embassy’

For years now, Mr S has been covering the long-running farce that is China’s proposed new ‘super-embassy’. Back in 2018, Beijing bought the site of the old Royal Mint, declaring their intention to turn the Tower Hamlets location into the country’s largest diplomatic mission in Europe. But for the past seven years, various planning concerns have held up the development. For one thing, there’s the fact that that Tower Hamlets is almost 40 per cent Muslim: Beijing does not exactly have a good record on Uighur Muslims, given its appalling crackdown in Xinjiang. Then, there’s national security concerns: Senators on the US Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)

Eliot Wilson

How many peacekeepers can Europe send to Ukraine?

We may look back to find Sir Keir Starmer partly defined by the phrase ‘coalition of the willing’. It is hard to fault the prime minister’s energy in rallying nations to implement a peace settlement in Ukraine, but there are issues to unpick. Who makes up the coalition? What is its role in Ukraine? What forces and capabilities will it need to fulfil that role, and where will it get them? The answers to these questions are both vague and subject to change, so let us see what we can establish. Only two months ago, President Zelensky told the World Economic Forum that enforcing a peace settlement would require a

Stephen Pollard

Bridget Phillipson has a lot to learn from Donald Trump

Over the past few months, I’ve wished that almost anyone was education secretary instead of Bridget Phillipson, who seems to be on a one-woman mission to destroy thirty years of school reforms. I’ll be honest, though: by ‘anyone’, I didn’t mean Donald Trump. But this week, President Trump showed how much better he would be in the job than Phillipson, signing an executive order instructing her US counterpart, Linda McMahon, to begin dismantling the US Department of Education. If only Keir Starmer had arrived in Downing Street last July and ordered Phillipson to set about the process of doing herself out of a job. Instead, she is proving with every passing

Toby Young

Were we right to lock down? Michael Gove vs Toby Young

31 min listen

On 23 March 2020, then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the unprecedented decision to put the UK into lockdown. To mark the 5th anniversary of that announcement this weekend, we have brought together our editor Michael Gove – then a cabinet minister under Boris – and our associate editor Toby Young – an ardent critic of the decision – to answer the question, was the government right to lockdown? Was the decision a necessary and reasonable health measure based on the available evidence at the time, or a significant and avoidable violation of civil liberties by a government that was meant to champion liberal freedoms? You decide. Produced and presented by

Philip Patrick

Does Japan want its own nuclear weapons?

Japan is planning to strengthen its ‘counterstrike capabilities’ by deploying long-range missiles on the southern island of Kyushu. The missiles have a range of 621 miles, meaning they could hit targets within North Korea and China. The move comes amidst rising tensions in the region and in an atmosphere of increased uncertainty in Japan about American security guarantees. The weapons, upgraded versions of the GSDF (Ground Self Defense Force – Japan’s army) Type 12 land-to-ship guided missiles, will be stored at bases with existing military garrisons and will be able to defend the strategically vital Okinawa island chain. Placing the missiles on Okinawa itself, which reaches to within 68 miles

Patrick West

London is not as bad as people say

Complaints that ‘London isn’t what it used to be’ or ‘London is a hell-hole these days’ are hardly original or new, but reports keep giving succour to this perception. The news that the capital has recorded its highest-ever level of mobile theft will only confirm what nostalgics and those who regularly watch TV already know: that our once-great capital is overcrowded, overpriced, crime-ridden and barely English anymore. While this stereotype is founded on much truth, I think some redress is in order, not least an infusion of nuance. By way of putting perspective on matters, here’s my story. London has unquestionably changed. But this shift has not been wholly for

Patrick O’Flynn

Nigel Farage has won the row with Rupert Lowe

The Reform schism, which the party’s many establishment detractors hoped would prevent it securing a breakthrough at the local elections, is nearly played out. A leak to the BBC of private WhatsApp messages from Nigel Farage about Rupert Lowe, apparently designed to put Farage in a bad light, has in my view done just the opposite. In the messages, which certainly increase suspicions that Lowe was suspended from Reform in part due to a newspaper interview in which he was critical of his party leader, Farage is nonetheless shown to have had one overriding factor in mind: giving his party’s candidates the best platform for winning council seats on 1

Friday

21 Mar 2025

David Shipley

Tommy Robinson doesn’t know how lucky he is

Tommy Robinson has lost his attempt to force the prison service to move him out of segregation. Robinson’s lawyers said he is being held in ‘inhuman’ and ‘degrading’ conditions at HMP Woodhill in Milton Keynes. But the High Court ruled that Robinson, also known as Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, was being kept away from other prisoners for his own safety. Robinson is actually rather lucky: in many ways, his treatment behind bars is far better than the typical inmate receives Robinson’s supporters have reacted with predictable fury. Are they right to be angry? Is Robinson the victim of a justice system determined to crush his will, which is treating him far more

Katy Balls

Does Kemi have a plan?

12 min listen

It’s been Kemi-takes-action week for the Conservatives, with the leader of the opposition trying to prove that she can – in fact – do policy. She launched a series of policy reviews, which will be delivered in a steady stream between now and conference, with a headline statement on Net Zero, declaring that Britain’s 2050 emissions target was ‘impossible’. That went down well with the party, and many thought her announcement felt genuinely proactive rather than reactive. After months of being criticised for not doing enough, is she finally shifting the dial? Will it be enough to avoid a local elections wipeout? Katy Balls speaks to James Heale and Paul Goodman. Produced by

Owen Matthews

The EU’s ‘re-arming’ plan is unserious

Hark ye now, O despots of the world and enemies of freedom: as the American beacon of democracy fades, Europe stands ready and willing to take its place as the arsenal of democracy. ‘We have agreed on a strategy for fully re-arming and re-equipping Europe,’ tweeted French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday. ‘We will fully restore our independence in the coming five years.’ Take that, Trump and Putin! Europe is stepping up to defend Ukraine and defend itself. To that end, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last week announced a ReArm Europe plan that could see up to €800 billion poured into the defence sector over the next four

Henry Jeffreys

Henry Jeffreys, Marcus Walker, Angus Colwell, Nicolas Farrell and Rory Sutherland

29 min listen

On this week’s Spectator Out Loud: Henry Jeffreys looks at the potential impact of Trump’s tariffs on British drinkers (1:31); on the 400th anniversary of Charles I’s accession to the throne, Marcus Walker explains what modern Britain could learn from the cavalier monarch (7:10); Angus Colwell provides his notes on beef dripping (13:55); Nicolas Farrell reveals he refused to accept the local equivalent of an Oscar (16:40); and, Rory Sutherland makes the case for linking VAT to happiness… with 0% going to pubs, Indian restaurants and cheddar cheese (24:08). Produced and presented by Patrick Gibbons.

Steerpike

BBC issues support email to LGBT staff over Trump

The BBC’s legions of staff seem to be struggling to cope with, um, the news. The corporation has issued an emotional support notice for colleagues affected by events across the water, after the election of US President Donald Trump – with the Beeb gushing that its ‘commitment to diversity, inclusion and belonging remains unwavering’. How sweet. The statement, issued by the BBC Pride Board, sympathised with staff members ‘particularly those in the LGBTQ+ community’ who may have ‘concerns’ about goings-on stateside. The note went on: We know the Corporation firmly believes in creating an environment where everyone feels safe, valued and respected, no matter where they are based. If you

Stephen Daisley

Keir Starmer is a gift to Scottish nationalism

Southside Central is the kind of ward Scottish Labour needs to be winning. It’s in Glasgow, home to significant pockets of deprivation within the Gorbals and Govanhill, and has a substantial population of Scots of Pakistani heritage. If there is a path to a Labour government after the 2026 Holyrood elections, it runs through communities like Southside Central. But Anas Sarwar’s party has been rejected by the voters of this ward in favour of the SNP’s Mhairi Hunter. North East is another ward Labour ought to be winning. Once again, it’s Glasgow, home to high levels of social-rented housing, and contains Easterhouse, whose multiple deprivations and addiction problems famously shocked

Iain Macwhirter

The sorry fate of Nicola Sturgeon

The first thing to say is that Nicola Sturgeon has been cleared in an investigation into the SNP’s funding and finances, with no case to answer, scot-free. That may seem a statement of the bleedin’ obvious, but there are many in and out of the independence movement who do not and never will believe that she is wholly innocent. No smoke without fire. Who was it that set up the £600,000 fund in 2017 for a referendum campaign that never happened? Are you trying to tell me that this micromanaging, control-freak politician was ignorant of what has been alleged to have gone on in her party under her very nose? Salmond and Sturgeon

Steerpike

Veteran Nat threatens to stand against SNP in 2026

To Scotland, where the Holyrood exodus continues. Now SNP veteran Fergus Ewing – son of Winnie Ewing, one of the first nationalist politicians to be elected to Westminster – has announced that he will not stand for the party at the 2026 election. But on whether he will leave frontline politics altogether, Ewing is less sure – with the Inverness and Nairn politician suggesting he could stand as an independent candidate to rival his party. How very interesting… As reported by the Press and Journal, Ewing has announced that he will not stand as an SNP candidate next year, saying that he ‘cannot defend the lack of delivery’ by his

Ross Clark

Is foul play to blame for the Heathrow fire?

Ed Miliband has made the confident and somewhat premature reassurance that there is ‘no sign of foul play’ in the fire that has occurred at the electricity substation serving Heathrow airport. Nevertheless, investigators combing through the debris will presumably be starting with the question in their mind: ‘Could this be a work of sabotage by Russia or some other hostile organisation or state?’ We keep making the same mistakes in ignoring resilience when planning infrastructure projects Even if it turns out not to have been, bad actors will have gained a very useful indication of how vulnerable Britain’s infrastructure is to attack. With the airport due to be closed until

Steerpike

The Guardian’s embarrassing Heathrow story slip-up

Uh oh. As the news about the closure of Heathrow airport circulates around the country, Mr S has been rather concerned to see instances of faulty reporting by the media. Both Sky News and, surprise surprise, the Guardian got rather confused in their coverage this morning – mixing up the Swedish airline SAS with British special forces unit, the Special Air Service. Awkward… Sky News broadcasted that ‘the Special Air Service says all 12 of their round trips to and from Heathrow are cancelled’, while the Guardian reported at 7 a.m.: ‘The Special Air Service, or SAS, has said that it [is] also impacted by Heathrow’s closure.’ An hour later