Politics

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

Friday

Michael Simmons Michael Simmons

Sturgeon’s 70-page dossier finds no evidence for vaccine passports

Nicola Sturgeon wants to extend vaccine passports in Scotland, and today her government released a 70-page document purporting to show evidence. The snag? There’s not a shred of evidence to show that her vaccine passports are having any effect. The document, entitled Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine certificationww: evidence paper update makes a very bold claim: that Scotland’s choice is more vaccine passports or restrictions. To suppress the virus further we are now faced with a choice. This is to limit social contacts and the risk of infection by limiting social contacts by closing venues, limiting group sizes and advising people not to meet each other. Alternatively we can enable people to meet

Steerpike Steerpike

Geordie Greig’s farewell speech at the Daily Mail

So farewell then Geordie Greig. The Daily Mail editor is leaving his post this week after just three years in the role, following an internal power struggle at Associated Newspapers. The supremely connected Old Etonian addressed the troops late this afternoon in the Northcliffe House newsroom, with many sharing in the ‘funereal’ atmosphere that greeted news of his departure. Fortunately Steerpike’s spies were in attendance and were able to record Greig’s (brief) farewell comments to his Mail men and women as they prepared to bang him out in age-old fashion… It’s a profound pleasure and privilege to be editor of the finest newspaper in the world. Three times in three years,

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Why the Channel migrant crisis is spooking Boris

The Tory position in the polls is weakening. Partly this is because of the vaccine bounce wearing off and a fortnight or so of sleaze stories. But, as I write in the Times today, ministers thinks that there’s another issue harming the government: small boats. ‘The sleaze is bad, but the issue that causes me most trouble with my constituents is the boats,’ says one cabinet member. Johnson himself has long been concerned about this problem. He worries about the sense of disorder that the small boats convey: he thinks they make a mockery of ‘taking back control’ of the borders. A long-serving No. 10 aide says that ‘other than Covid, no issue

Steerpike Steerpike

All hail President Kamala!

A new poll was released yesterday showing 50 per cent of Americans don’t think President Biden is in good health. Turns out: they are right, with the country’s oldest ever Commander-in-Chief today forced to transfer power to his deputy while he is under anesthesia getting a colonoscopy. That means, for a ‘brief period of time’ the leader of the free world will be none other than Biden’s bungling running-mate… Vice President Kamala Harris. Officials have been keen to stress that the arrangement has a precedent from the Bush-Cheney years when the former underwent the same operation in 2002 and 2007. Donald Trump meanwhile was alleged to have refused anesthesia when he had

Steerpike Steerpike

Did No. 10 threaten to sue the New European?

Is Downing Street planning to sue for a story suggesting that Boris Johnson has ‘buyers’ remorse’ over his marriage? That’s the question asked at today’s lobby meeting after the New European ran a story alleging that the Prime Minister had said this at a Telegraph leader writers’ reunion at the Garrick Club. The original story met with an on the record denial from the press office — stating that Johnson ‘did not make this remark and the allegation is untrue and defamatory’. This denial did not appear in the story, to Downing Street’s fury. The New European’s editor-in-chief Matt Kelly claims that behind the scenes, No. 10 went further. He alleges

Cindy Yu Cindy Yu

How can Priti Patel stop migrant crossings?

12 min listen

Priti Patel has blamed the European Union’s freedom of movement for the ‘mass migration crisis’ that Britain is facing. In a visit to Washington, the Home Secretary said: ‘the real problem on illegal migration flows is the EU has no border protections whatsoever — Schengen open borders’. Tories MPs are reportedly frustrated at the government’s failure to stop the flow of migrants getting boats across the channel, so what should Priti Patel do? Cindy Yu speaks to James Forsyth and Katy Balls. ‘I think this is a little bit like a sailor complaining about the sea. It is more diplomatic than blaming the French. So in some ways it’s an

Gavin Mortimer Gavin Mortimer

How Britain and France learned to live with terror

Emmanuel Macron told his people last summer they would have to learn to live with Covid. A year-and-a-half on, France is unrecognisable to the country it once was: Covid passports are in force and face masks remain mandatory in many places. The president of France is not alone among Western leaders in his uncompromising approach to the pandemic: Holland, Austria and Germany are re-imposing restrictions and Boris Johnson, who used the ‘learn to live with it’ line in July, has refused to rule out a Christmas lockdown. Yet while Europe’s presidents and prime ministers appear ready to go to any length to protect their people from this virus, their approach to another

Steerpike Steerpike

Eleven times Priti Patel vowed to stop the boats

Well, it’s official: Britain is facing a mass migration crisis. On a trip to Washington Priti Patel used the term yesterday as she turned her guns from the French to the EU’s system of open borders instead as ‘they do not have border controls and border checks’. She told reporters there: There is a mass migration crisis. I’ve said this from day one – from the minute I walked into the Home Office… there isn’t a silver bullet. There’s no point saying, “Well you could just push boats back.” It will not stop it. There all sorts of issues with criminal gangs, smugglers etc. The admission comes as Patel approaches the

Katy Balls Katy Balls

The Sarah Vine Edition

34 min listen

Sarah Vine is a columnist for the Daily Mail and formerly wife of Cabinet minister Michael Gove. On the podcast, Sarah talks to Katy about growing up in Italy, working her way up tabloid journalism (including what it was like to work for Paul Dacre), and her reflections on being a columnist with a politician (ex-)husband.

Thursday

Steerpike Steerpike

Sadiq Khan no-platforms Eric Zemmour

As the race for the Elysée hots up, presidential candidates are busy courting voters and raising funds. And with Macron’s poll ratings flatlining in Paris, all eyes are on Eric Zemmour, the right-wing talkshow host who is still yet to declare but is nevertheless third in the polls. So Mr S was intrigued to learn that Zemmour plans to come to London this weekend in light of the capital’s considerable French contingent, with the metropolis often cited as the sixth biggest French city. Unfortunately Zemmour’s plans have run aground, with successive venues cancelling on the anti-establishment candidate in light of his controversial past statements — some of which have put him beyond the pale

James Kirkup James Kirkup

In praise of Stonewall

This morning saw a profound breakthrough in the trans debate. I say that on the basis of an interview Nancy Kelley, Stonewall’s CEO, did with the BBC’s Emma Barnett on Woman’s Hour.  What’s important is not really anything that Kelley said, though some of that was indeed interesting and I’ll come to it in a second. What matters is that the interview took place at all, since that constitutes a significant shift in the way Stonewall does its work. Stonewall’s instinct has been to largely avoid mainstream media and other political debates about its work on trans issues that is now its primary focus. Kelley has given a handful of interviews

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Are Conservatives disembarking the Boris train?

12 min listen

The announcement of the Integrated Rail Plan has left many, including a number of Conservative MPs, disappointed due to the proposed new routes and notable omissions. This comes at a bad time for Boris Johnson who is already in the dog house over his handling of the Owen Paterson affair. ‘Boris Johnson is not in a good place with his party and it’s not just over second jobs, it’s over a number of things.’ – Isabel Hardman Katy Balls talks to James Forsyth and Isabel Harman about the Prime Minister’s popularity going off the rails.

Steerpike Steerpike

Azeem Rafiq in anti-Semitism storm

Cricketer Azeem Rafiq shocked the political word on Tuesday with his revelations about the abuse he suffered while a young player at Yorkshire Cricket Club. But Mr S has now been sent social media posts which show Rafiq himself was no stranger to using racist language when young, with a leaked message revealing the former player posted anti-Semitic content on Facebook when he was 19 years old. Screenshots obtained by Steerpike show Rafiq joking about ‘a jew’ going ‘after my 2nds again ha’ as ‘only jews do tht sort of shit’ in 2011. He appears to be referencing an (unknown) cricketer at Derby, with a man by the name of

Patrick O’Flynn Patrick O'Flynn

Is Boris brave enough to solve the Channel migrant crisis?

The sheer number of useless interventions that have been touted as offering a solution to the cross-Channel migrants crisis is bewildering. Various rounds of talks with France about heightened cooperation to make the route non-viable; paying large sums of money to France to fund beach patrols; appointing a cross-Channel Clandestine Threat Commander; threatening to ‘call in’ the Royal Navy; threatening to turn back overladen boats in the world’s busiest shipping lane; pressuring social media platforms to prevent successful landers from sharing videos of themselves looking happy and triumphant that supposedly create a pull factor for others; even a direct prime ministerial interview to camera promising ‘we will send you back’.

Steerpike Steerpike

Watch: Zarah Sultana shut down by Deputy Speaker

Taxes are rising, inflation is climbing, sleaze is everywhere and the Tories are divided. With Labour ahead in the polls for the first time since January, can anything stop the party’s return to power? Enter Zarah Sultana, Coventry’s answer to Citizen Smith. The baby-faced bolshevik – designed in a CCHQ lab as a walking Tory recruitment advert – popped up at Commons questions today to remind us all of Labour’s less electable elements.  Launching one of her trite attack lines, Sultana railed against the government’s ‘dodgy Transport Secretary’ and ‘dodgy Leader of the House’ before asking Jacob Rees-Mogg if he was ‘proud of this shameful record.’ Before Mogg could reply, Deputy Speaker Eleanor

Carl Heneghan

It’s time to fix the NHS’s looming winter crisis

My patient has sepsis. The window for treatment is short; in less than an hour, he could die. In urgent care, the direct line to ambulance control bypasses 999: it lets the call handler know a doctor requires urgent attention for a sick patient. Ten minutes: no response. I’m on a second phone to central dispatch: what is going on? A critical incident has been called; the service is overwhelmed. Finally, after 15 minutes, the phone answers and help is on its way.  Worryingly, this is far from an isolated incident. Last week, it was reported that an ambulance service sent a taxi to a GP practice in Bristol to collect a

Lara Prendergast Lara Prendergast

Toil and trouble: Europe faces a new form of warfare

37 min listen

In this week’s episode: Are migrants the new munitions? In our cover story this week, our political editor James Forsyth looks at the growing troubles in Eastern Europe and how this small part of the world stage could end up splintering the scaffolding of global peace. He is joined on the podcast by Mary Dejevsky, a columnist for the Independent. (00:42) Also this week: Will the monarchy survive past Elizabeth II? The royal family is not in a good way, with the Queen missing multiple appearances due to ill health, a prince under investigation, and the continuing cold war between William and Harry, will the monarchy survive past Elizabeth II?

Steerpike Steerpike

Labour at war in Starmer’s backyard

Sir Keir Starmer has become accustomed to Labour in-fighting since he became leader 18 months ago. But as the former DPP battles to drag his party into some kind of vaguely electable shape, has he been neglecting matters closer to home? For in northwest London, on Keir Starmer’s doorstep, a vicious party battle has broken out involving smears, lies and a case of mistaken identity, all splashed across the pages of the Labour leader’s local newspaper. The Camden New Journal – on which Sir Keir has spent more than £3,500 in adverts since April 2020 – has been breathlessly reporting this past fortnight all the twists and turns of some vicious skulduggery plaguing

Damian Reilly Damian Reilly

What did Michael Vaughan do wrong?

Is Michael Vaughan a racist? I hope not. Certainly, referring to Asian cricketers as ‘you lot’, as he is accused of doing – and which he strongly denies saying – would suggest he is. Or, at the very least, that in the past he has been guilty of being egregiously politically incorrect. I’ve met Vaughan several times and once sat next to him on a flight from Abu Dhabi to London. On each occasion I was struck by his openness, and by his enthusiastic and enquiring nature. He certainly didn’t seem a racist to me – the opposite, in fact – but perhaps he was just very good at hiding it.