Politics

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

Monday

Steerpike Steerpike

Tory MPs attack Boris in local papers

It’s easier than ever for Tory MPs to attack the PM. Whereas once media was the preserve of four channels and dominated by a handful of national papers, platforms like Twitter have made it quicker than ever before for Conservative backbenchers to issue stinging criticisms. And indeed many have made the most of such sites in recent weeks, as the pressure on Boris Johnson over partygate steadily increases. Tim Loughton became the sixth Tory MP to call for Johnson to go on Saturday, taking to Facebook to explain his decision. Some though prefer to express their criticisms through the more traditional mechanism of an MPs’ weekly column in the local constituency newspaper. And, in a sign

Steerpike Steerpike

Dominic Grieve returns to the frontline

Ping! An email lands in Steerpike’s inbox. It’s been a while since we heard from Dominic Grieve, the Francophile Beaconsfield barrister who quit the Tory party in October 2019. Since losing his seat by 15,000 votes at the last election, Grieve has largely contented himself with minor academic sinecures and occasional swipes at his old nemesis Boris Johnson. But now the president of the Franco-British society has returned to the fray, drafting a critical amendment to the government’s flagship Policing, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill today. Grieve has — surprise, surprise — teamed up with the ardent Remainiacs over at Best for Britain, the anti-Johnson pressure group last seen trying to make a Brexit culture

Sunday

Matthew Taylor

Keir Starmer – I think Boris broke the law and lied about it

Keir Starmer – I think Boris broke the law and lied about it To preside over one lockdown party might be seen as a misfortune. Two begins to look like carelessness. Imagine then, the Prime Minister’s incredulity if even half of the alleged Downing Street parties are indeed found to have taken place by the ‘Partygate’ investigator-in-chief, Sue Gray. The leader of the opposition Keir Starmer joined Sophie Raworth this morning to discuss what seems to be the only story in town. Having called for Boris Johnson to resign last week, Sir Keir Starmer did not relent in his bid to keep up the pressure on the PM, arguing that

Stephen Daisley Stephen Daisley

Why are Tories still loyal to Boris Johnson?

As an outsider looking in, it is curious to note just how loyal some remain to Boris Johnson. Not the payroll vote or even the backbenchers keeping their heads down, but the grassroots, the rank-and-file members and Tory voters both lifelong and more recent. Boris is a man who has never given loyalty and has no grounds to claim it from others. This is also a party storied for its ruthless despatching of even beloved leaders when they become electoral liabilities. So what gives? I have a couple of theories. One is that, closing in on 12 years in power, the party has grown tired and listless, no longer sure

Saturday

Steerpike Steerpike

The SNP’s struggles with statistics

To read some of the coverage of No. 10’s parties, you’d have thought Boris Johnson’s government was a uniquely mendacious, duplicitous and scandalous regime. Fortunately, just north of the border, Nicola Sturgeon’s administration is doing its bit to prove it’s every bit as secretive, flawed and contemptuous of standards. Today’s Scotsman on Saturday reveals that the Holyrood government broke Freedom of Information laws in its battle to keep its Covid modelling secret. Ministers were found to have unlawfully kept second wave death and case predictions hidden during a 16 month transparency battle with the newspaper, according to the Scottish Information Commissioner Daren Fitzhenry. Such was the strength of the public

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Can Boris Johnson can make it past the May local elections?

Boris Johnson has gone into the weekend with his fate in the hands of Tory MPs. Since the Prime Minister apologised in the Commons chamber for attending a drinks party in the Downing Street garden during lockdown, there has been a concerted effort to shore up his position. Members of the Cabinet have come out to defend him – even if the comments have been lukewarm at best – and Boris Johnson has started to frequent the MPs’ tearoom. As of Thursday, there was increased optimism that Sue Gray’s report into alleged Downing Street parties would be something Johnson could weather – with speculation building that he would then reshuffle his Downing

Steerpike Steerpike

Fresh fears over parliamentary police

It’s been a pretty dreadful week for security at the Palace of Westminster. First, there was the admission that a Chinese spy suspect, Christine Lee, had donated thousands of pounds to Barry Gardiner’s office where her son, Daniel Wilkes, was employed as a member of staff. His access to the parliamentary estate was not revoked until he resigned yesterday, with Wilkes still being listed as a member of Gardiner’s Microsoft Teams group as recently as last night. It comes four months after Met police officer Wayne Couzens was convicted for the murder of Sarah Everard, with Priti Patel announcing on Tuesday that a new inquiry will look at whether any ‘red flags

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Katy Balls, Nicholas Farrell, Lisse Garnett

23 min listen

On this week’s episode, we’ll hear from Katy Balls on who may take Boris Johnson’s place if he resigns. (00:49) Next, Nicholas Farrell on the potential return of Silvio Berlusconi. (06:21) And finally, And Lisse Garnett on what’s it like to date and influencer. (18:00) Produced and presented by Sam Holmes Subscribe to The Spectator today and get a £20 Amazon gift voucher:www.spectator.co.uk/voucher

Katy Balls Katy Balls

After Boris, who?

20 min listen

Five Tory MPs have publicly said that Boris Johnson should resign. After a torrid week in Downing Street, which finished with the Prime Minister having to apologise to the Queen for a party being held on the eve of Prince Philip’s funeral, could we soon see a leadership contest? Katy Balls, James Forsyth and Fraser Nelson discuss the likely runners and riders. ‘I will eat this microphone if Steve Baker or Kemi Badenoch stand.’ – Fraser Nelson

Robert Peston Robert Peston

Could this legal loophole save Boris Johnson?

The life-or-death question for the Prime Minister is not whether Downing Street and Cabinet Office parties were illegal and should result in criminal prosecutions. Nor is it whether all or indeed any of the parties were actually organised by him. No. What will determine his survival is whether he has the faintest chance of persuading his MPs that he can reform the toxic party culture, rather than being part of it. On the illegality of the assorted parties, there is a loophole – though it is unclear whether it was being exploited when the parties were happening or only as a defence after the event. The point is that official

Patrick O’Flynn Patrick O'Flynn

Boris’s biggest mistake was taking his allies for granted

It is often said that there are few convinced ‘Boris-ites’ to be found among the ranks of Conservative MPs and that this lack of a praetorian guard of diehard supporters is a major weakness for the Prime Minister. But a much bigger weakness is the rapid ebbing away of the ranks of Boris-ites among the public at large. Last spring, when the progressive establishment thought it had the Prime Minister bang to rights over the refurbishment of his Downing Street flat, he sailed through the controversy and on to excellent results in the big round of elections at the start of May. Out in the country many voters believed that

Friday

Steerpike Steerpike

Downing Street’s wine-time Fridays

It was easy to get the sense in 2020 that the government didn’t want the lockdowns to end. Now we all realise why: everyone in No. 10 was having an absolute whale of a time. Less than 24 hours after the Telegraph revealed No. 10 held two parties the night before Prince Philip’s funeral (classy), the Mirror has just reported that its staff held ‘wine-time Fridays every week’ throughout the pandemic. Such events were scheduled in the weekly calendar of 50 Downing Street aides between 4 p.m and 7 p.m throughout the Covid crisis, with Boris Johnson himself witnessing the gatherings where he encouraged staff to ‘let off steam.’ The end-of-week drinks are part of

Max Jeffery Max Jeffery

Is Boris to blame for No. 10’s party culture?

13 min listen

It’s been revealed that two more parties took place in No. 10 during the pandemic. This time, on the eve of Prince Philip’s funeral. While the Prime Minister was not at this event, is No. 10’s party culture coming straight from the top? Max Jeffery is joined by Katy Balls and James Forsyth.

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Boris’s dwindling bunch of supporters must now come clean

Oh for heaven’s sake, come off it. British politics has long had a comfortable relationship with the absurd but this week – not yet over, its revelations not yet exhausted – takes a very pretty biscuit nonetheless. I do not imagine that ‘Downing Street apologises to the Queen for party revels’ is quite the kind of headline Conservative prime ministers dream of. And while Boris Johnson has a copper-clad alibi for the suitcase-of-booze party in as much as he was at Chequers that night, it remains the case – as has always been the case – that a government is led from the top. Consequently, the character of the man

Patrick West

James Treadwell and the true meaning of ‘cancel culture’

There’s an inherent contradiction at the heart of liberal thinking that perpetually raises its head. It’s one which has become ever-more pronounced in our age of ultra-progressive politics: the tension between equality and liberty. Many progressives think you can have both. Alas not. You can only have either, or a greater emphasis upon one at the expense of the other. This contradiction has once more been made evident today amidst reports of a lecturer who says he is the latest victim of ‘cancel culture’. James Treadwell, a professor of criminology at Staffordshire University, says that he is ‘being investigated for transphobia’ after his employer received ‘formal and official’ complaints about

James Lewisohn

‘We failed’: Denmark’s media is waking up to its flawed Covid coverage

‘We failed’. An editorial in Ekstra Bladet, Denmark’s leading tabloid, berates the Fourth Estate – including itself – for failing to hold ministers to account during the pandemic. Worn down by repeated warnings of ‘the dormant corona monster under our beds’, Ekstra Bladet claims Danish journalists mostly took the government line. ‘We have not been vigilant enough at the garden gate when the authorities were required to answer what it actually meant that people are hospitalised with coronavirus and not because of coronavirus,’ the paper told its readers. Ekstra Bladet’s accusation is that the Danish media did not properly question hospital admissions data, which appears to show that many of the country’s Covid hospitalisations might have

Andy Owen

Will Britain now take the threat of Chinese espionage seriously?

The UK has long been aware of the risk of cyber-attacks emanating from China. Back in 2007, the head of MI5 Jonathan Evans warned hundreds of British businesses about Chinese cyber-operations targeting the UK. Yet the risk from Chinese spies operating in the UK is less well understood. This is why it came as such a shock to so many when MI5 warned MPs and peers this week that the lawyer Christine Lee was allegedly seeking to influence parliamentarians on behalf of the Chinese Communist party.  A law firm that bears Lee’s name made political donations totalling £675,000, of which £584,177 were ‘donations in kind’ to the office of Labour MP Barry Gardiner. She also received a Points

Steerpike Steerpike

Boris’s curious Covid rules approach

It seems that Boris Johnson has adopted something of a curious approach to Covid regulations. No, not the Downing Street parties, but rather his attitude towards self-isolation. For the PM’s official spokesman revealed yesterday that one of Johnson’s relatives — either his wife Carrie or one of the children he has living at Downing Street — has tested positive for Covid, meaning that he will not be making any appearances until next week. The embattled Tory leader will instead remain in No. 10 as he fights to save his crumbling premiership, conducting mainly virtual meetings until next Wednesday. His spokesperson told lobby hacks that: In line with the guidance, he’s reducing contacts, he’ll be working from No. 10, doing the

Kate Andrews Kate Andrews

The UK economy has returned to its pre-pandemic size

Nearly two years after the UK experienced its biggest economic collapse in 300 years, the economy has returned to pre-pandemic levels. GDP is estimated by the ONS to have grown by 0.9 per cent in November, almost twice what had been expected – making it 0.7 per cent larger than it was in February 2020. The US and Sweden managed to pass pre-pandemic levels last spring. China took just a few months. But Britain, whose economy fell further than almost any developed country in 2020, is catching up. Britain, whose economy fell further than almost any developed country in 2020, is catching up The below chart shows how UK growth

Steerpike Steerpike

Full list of Downing Street parties

So, how many is that now? ITV have just revealed that Boris Johnson had a 56th birthday bash in the middle of the first lockdown — the latest in a list of illicit parties that have come to light over the past two months. By Steerpike’s count there have been reports of at least *sixteen* parties which allegedly broke Covid restrictions as they changed repeatedly throughout the pandemic. Most of these gatherings were held in No. 10 Downing Street but other Whitehall departments also got in on the act. Below is a timeline of all the alleged soirees, shindigs and not-so-socially distanced jamborees held in SW1 over the past two years… 15 May 2020:  An image was published