Politics Archives

Thursday

24 Feb 2022

What the New York Times gets wrong about the ‘Trojan Horse Affair’

The New York Times has it in for Britain. And the latest beneficiaries are the Islamists condemned by a UK government inquiry into the activist takeover of schools. I am the most senior serving Muslim parliamentarian, and have been an MP in Birmingham for over twenty years. The NYT‘s ‘Trojan Horse Affair’ podcast portrays a city that is unrecognisable to me. It is an act of utter irresponsibility. Hamza Syed and Brian Reed present eight programmes seeking to make the case that a 2014 letter ‘Operation Trojan Horse’ detailing an activist plan to influence local schools, was a hoax. Without proof the letter is genuine, it follows there was no plot, and

Steerpike

Will George Galloway honour his Russia bet?

Ah, gorgeous George, the man so often on the right side of history. The rabble-rousing politician, who has had more parties than Boris Johnson, has been at it again in recent weeks, insisting that ‘the West provoked this crisis’ in Ukraine. Coincidentally, the former Labour MP also hosts a show on Moscow-backed network RT UK – previously better known as Russia Today. Galloway struck a bet earlier this month with a pro-Unionist Twitter account. Under the suggested terms of the deal, if Europe reached July without an invasion, Ukrainian soldiers killed in action or without any Ukrainian territory gained by Russia, the user in question would have to change their profile picture to

James Forsyth

Two reasons Putin thinks he can weather sanctions

The nature of the Russian attack on Ukraine, striking across the country and not just concentrating on the territory claimed by the so-called breakaway republics, shows Vladimir Putin’s confidence that he can weather whatever sanctions the West imposes. This is not an assault designed to sit in any kind of grey area, but an unambiguous invasion — which the West has always made clear would bring forth the maximum set of sanctions. This is not an assault designed to sit in any kind of grey area Putin’s confidence is driven by two things. First, as I say in the magazine this week, Russia has been preparing to face expanded sanctions since

Owen Matthews

Has Putin lost the plot?

Sitting alone at the end of an absurdly long table or marooned behind a vast desk in a palatial hall, Vladimir Putin’s idea of social distancing has gone beyond the paranoid and into the realm of the deranged. His distance from reason and reality seems to have gone the same way. In little more than 48 hours, Putin’s sensible, peace-talking statesman act flipped into something dark and irrational that has worried even his supporters. As Putin’s hour-long address announcing official recognition of the breakaway republics of Donbas went out on Monday, a producer on Kremlin-controlled TV texted me: ‘Boss okhuyel [the boss has wigged out].’ Indeed. Putin’s rambling and uncharacteristically

James Forsyth

Sanctions on Putin will hit Britain’s cost of living. Are we ready?

No British soldiers will go to fight in Ukraine. The UK’s military involvement will be limited to weapons shipments and more forces to Nato’s eastern flank to try to deter further Russian revanchism. Despite this, domestic opinion in Britain — and other western countries — will be hugely significant in this conflict. The West is trying to use sanctions to influence Vladimir Putin’s behaviour. However, there are clear limits to deterrence through economic measures, as Niall Ferguson writes in his article. The threat of sanctions was not enough to stop Putin unilaterally recognising the two breakaway republics in the Donbas, Donetsk and Luhansk, and agreeing to send troops there. At

Steerpike

Minister’s briefcase stolen in pub

As the current crisis unfolded in Ukraine, some of Westminster’s finest sought sanctuary in its watering holes. Among those enjoying libations on Tuesday night was Tory MP Stuart Andrew, recently reshuffled out of the much-maligned Whips’ Office to become the eleventh housing minister in ten years. Andrew popped into the popular Red Lion establishment next to parliament after work for a quick one. Unfortunately, in the excitement the minister put his briefcase down, only to discover moments later the bag had been stolen. Cue pandemonium among the bar staff as a squadron of the Met’s finest was dispatched to try and find it, arriving on the scene within ten minutes

Wednesday

23 Feb 2022

Andrew Tettenborn

Why Boris is right to resist calls for tougher sanctions on Russia

Did Boris Johnson fail to put his money where his mouth is when it came to hitting Russia with sanctions? The Prime Minister’s critics think so: they argue that the targeting of five Russian banks and three oligarchs as a response to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine was too little, too late. These cries came not only from Labour, and from the Green party’s Caroline Lucas (who scandalously accused the PM, without a shred of evidence, of wanting to appease would-be Tory donors), but from his own side. Tory backbencher Iain Duncan-Smith demanded a more general blacklisting of Russian banks and plutocrats, while his party colleague Nickie Aiken went so far as to suggest forcibly expelling

Lloyd Evans

Alex Salmond reigned supreme at PMQs

Remember Alex Salmond? The former SNP leader is back. Since 2017 his little-known programme, The Alex Salmond Show, has aired weekly on RT which receives its funding from the Kremlin. Today at PMQs the party leaders combined to plug Salmond’s programme and to boost his ratings. It wasn’t a debate. It was a 30-minute Salmond advert. Sir Keir Starmer began by suggesting that RT’s licence should be revoked. ‘I see no reason why it should continue to broadcast.’ Boris replied that Ofcom and not politicians should make that decision. But he added that he believes in ‘free speech’. In other words, he opposes a ban on RT. A political choice,

Katy Balls

How Starmer is using the crisis in Ukraine to his advantage

Boris Johnson and Keir Starmer had one thing in common at PMQs: they were both keen to talk about the escalating situation in Ukraine. While the Prime Minister wants to use the crisis to show there are more important issues than parties, the Labour leader views it as an opportunity to put some clear blue water between himself and his predecessor, Jeremy Corbyn. Starmer is using the Ukraine situation this week to emphasise Labour’s return to the centre His call at Prime Minister’s Questions to ban Russia Today has already received some criticism from figures on the left and right of the party who believe it would be self-defeating. Whether or

Ross Clark

Andrew Bailey’s revealing salary slip-up

If Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey was expecting to bat away some gentle questions on monetary policy before the Commons this morning, he hadn’t reckoned on Labour MP Angela Eagle. She was quietly frothing with rage at Bailey’s recent suggestion that workers need to exercise restraint when asking for a pay rise in order to tackle inflation. Eagle began like the late Bamber Gascoigne with a series of quick-fire questions on the median salary of UK workers and care workers. Alas, salaries turned out not to be Bailey’s specialist subject — not even when Eagle asked him about his own. ‘It’s somewhere over £500,000,’ Bailey stumbled, before adding ‘I

Isabel Hardman

Are UK sanctions all bark no bite?

12 min listen

For the last few weeks, the UK has condemned Putin and promised a strong response in the face of more Russian aggression. But when Boris Johnson announced his sanctions, for many, including those within his own party, they felt a little small. Particularly when compared to Germany cancelling the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. Isabel Hardman talks with James Forsyth and Katy Balls about the UK’s response to the Russian invasion.

Annabel Denham

How much did the Covid crisis cost?

The true cost of Covid cannot be quantified only in death rates or GDP figures. Though it could have been far worse, the pandemic nonetheless inflicted a deeper wound on our society than any productivity calculus can measure. But as legal domestic restrictions end, and the economic fallout from months of stringent controls is increasingly felt by households, it’s worth exploring how the nation’s balance sheet could have looked had this virus never appeared. It was former US Senator Everett McKinley Dirksen who observed, ‘a billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking real money,’ but the extent of public sector spending over the course of this pandemic

Isabel Hardman

PMQs: Boris Johnson faces pressure to be tougher on Russia

Boris Johnson came under sustained pressure at PMQs today to introduce tougher sanctions against Russia. Both Sir Keir Starmer and Ian Blackford pressed the Prime Minister on the matter, with the Labour leader opening his questions by arguing that given a sovereign country had been invaded, ‘if not now, when’ would the government unleash a full package of sanctions. Starmer repeatedly said the Labour party was supportive of what had been announced so far but that it wanted much more from the government. This included cracking down on the Russian state-backed broadcaster RT, which he said should be prevented from spreading Vladimir Putin’s propaganda around the world. Johnson argued that

James Forsyth

Why we shouldn’t ban Russia Today

Nadine Dorries, the Culture Secretary, has written to Ofcom urging it to keep the situation with Russia Today ‘very carefully under review’ given events in Ukraine. At PMQs, Keir Starmer called for the government to ask Ofcom to review RT’s license. But if RT lost its broadcast license in the UK, then Putin would use this as an excuse to kick out the BBC and other British broadcasters. Just look at how Russia closed the Moscow office of Deutsche Welle, the German public service broadcaster, and ended the accreditation of its journalists after a German-language version of RT was taken off air in Germany. The least-worst option would be for

Steerpike

The New York Times blunders (again)

It seems that the world’s most pompous newspaper has got it wrong again. This column has regularly reported on the caricature of Britain which exists in the fevered imagination of the New York Times and its correspondents. According to them, the UK is a plague-riddled, rain-drenched fascistic hell-hole on the verge of democratic collapse where the trains don’t run on time and swamp-dwelling locals feast on legs of mutton. When it’s not denouncing Boris Johnson as a despot, it’s exploiting JK Rowling for subscribers or suggesting the UK’s vaccination plan amounts to pumping pensioners with a dangerous cocktail of Covid jabs. The NYT was, until recently, headed by Mark Thompson, the former director-general

Tuesday

22 Feb 2022

Steerpike

Christian Wakeford hires new comrades

It’s been a month since Christian Wakeford defected to Labour but the former Tory publicly insists he is loving life in opposition. Despite appearing as happy as a hostage victim when he ‘crossed the floor,’ the Bury South MP claims the ‘quite nasty personal’ attacks on him from former colleague vindicate his decision to leave. With a majority of only 402, Wakeford just has to hope he’s taken a number of his Tory-voting constituents with him to line up in the Labour column by the time of the next election. Not all though are convinced by Wakeford’s defection, coming as it did just a day after he sat through a four-hour dinner

Steerpike

Five of the worst responses to the Ukraine crisis

Boris Johnson has just got up in the Commons to announce Britain’s response to the ongoing Ukraine crisis. Vladimir Putin last night ordered troops into two breakaway regions of eastern Ukraine run by Moscow-backed separatists, prompting fears that the balloon is about to go up. There are a lot of grim faces in Parliament today as MPs meet to ponder the future of the region. Gulp. Johnson told the House that he was announcing sanctions against five Russian banks – Rossiya, IS Bank, General Bank, Promsvyazbank and the Black Sea Bank – and three Russian high net-worth individuals. While many across Parliament want the PM to go further, it’s by no means

James Forsyth

Britain’s Russia sanctions are underwhelming

The sanctions that Boris Johnson has just announced in response to Russia’s breach of international law are fairly underwhelming. Five banks are being hit, three rich individuals and those members of the Duma who voted to unilaterally recognise the breakaway republics. They will not make Moscow take notice in the way that the decision end certification of Nord Stream 2 has. Johnson’s defence of the limited nature of these sanctions is that they are the ‘first tranche’ and the UK needs to hold things back to try and deter Russia from further action. But given that the UK, rightly, considers what Russia is up to an invasion of Ukraine, these

Steerpike

BBC political editor race blown wide open

The BBC seem to be having some difficulties filling their top job. Laura Kuenssberg is off as the corporation’s political editor after nearly seven years in the post, prompting a bun fight for the most high-profile job in British broadcasting. Yet it seems many of the would-be candidates have other ideas. First Mr S revealed that the deadline for applicants had been extended by a fortnight. And now he can tell his readers that in doing that the Corporation opened it up to outsiders too, despite the job originally being advertised as an internal appointment only. The decision to widen the net was likely prompted by a number of BBC stars

Cindy Yu

Russia invades: what comes next?

11 min listen

Last night Vladimir Putin gave an hour-long television address to the Russian people over his decision to move troops into Ukraine. Amid international condemnation, Boris Johnson held a Cobra meeting this morning to discuss the UK’s next moves. Meanwhile, Germany has put the brakes on Nord Stream 2. ‘The ball is now back in Vladimir Putin’s court. This is at the maximal end of responses that were expected’ — James Forsyth. Cindy Yu speaks to Katy Balls and James Forsyth.