Politics

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

Tuesday

Steerpike Steerpike

Mayites collect their Brexit dividend

Few people in Westminster have a good word to say about the Theresa May years. But for those who served at the heart of the former PM’s doomed administration, life now seems to be pretty sweet. Take Sir Robbie Gibb, May’s director of communications, who now runs his own firm, RPG Consultancy.  The company published its accounts this week and it seems the man tasked with selling May’s Brexit deal is doing better at selling himself, with his firm’s assets jumping from £142,000 in 2020 to £292,000 in 2021 – a surge in capital and reserves from £79,000 to £228,000. Kerching!  Gibb has also bagged himself a plum paid gig dispensing advice at Kekst CNC

Philip Patrick Philip Patrick

Is this Scottish anti-Brexit exhibition really ‘art’?

‘Hate is not welcome in Scotland’, apparently, at least according to a public information film released in 2018 by the Scottish government. ‘We believe in acceptance, and it’s time you accept that’ continue the bright-eyed young people featured in the ad. Anyone who believes in this uplifting message might be puzzled if they pop into the City Art Centre in Edinburgh, where a new exhibition by artist Rachel Maclean seems to be very short on acceptance for Brexit and the awful Brits who voted for it. ‘Native Animals’ is a set of paintings and video installations which, according to the blurb are ‘examining the various motivations behind Brexit and its

Monday

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Ending restrictions won’t save Boris

Boris Johnson certainly managed to rally the troops on their first day back from recess this afternoon as he told the Commons that all remaining domestic Covid restrictions were coming to an end.  The most explosive moments of the past few months haven’t been about the continuation of Covid restrictions From this Thursday, the legal requirement to self-isolate following a positive test will come to an end. Until 1 April, people who test positive will be advised to stay at home, but after that ‘we will encourage people with Covid-19 symptoms to exercise personal responsibility, just as we encourage people who may have flu to be considerate to others’. On

Steerpike Steerpike

The Globe adds Shakespeare anti-Semitism warnings

Mr S enjoys a good show: many of the best dramas are to be found on the Westminster stage. After all, what is politics but show business for ugly people? But away from SW1, Mr S has found a cast of characters even more histrionic than the performers of Westminster. For just down the Thames in Southwark, the right-on thespians at the Globe theatre have surpassed themselves in their current winter production of The Merchant of Venice. Hosted by the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse at the Globe, the show has taken every effort not to offend any sensibilities by including a warning on its website for all potential ticket-buyers. It tells culture vultures, seeking to get their

Winston Marshall

Tracy–Ann Oberman – Political purity tests in films and theatre

45 min listen

This week on Marshall Matters Winston is joined by British actress Tracy-Ann Oberman, star of Afterlife, Toast of London, Ridley Road and Eastenders, to name but a few. Tracy-Ann discussed the problem of anti-Semitism with relation to Equity – the trade union for actors – as well as in the entertainment industry more broadly and beyond.

Nigel Jones

Get well soon, your Majesty

The news that the Queen had tested positive for Covid must have sent a shiver of dread down the spines of all but a tiny minority of hardhearted Republicans. Most of us don’t want to even imagine a country bereft of the monarch who has been a seemingly immortal part of the fabric of the lives of all but the very old. Yet the brute fact of human mortality means that we will have to face a world without this indomitable 95-year-old woman at some point. How will we cope? Under the Treason Act of 1351 it was a capital offence to ‘imagine’ the death of a reigning sovereign, but

Steerpike Steerpike

SNP try to hijack Ukraine crisis

‘Never let a good crisis go to waste’ said Churchill. And it seems the SNP have taken that maxim to heart, judging by the alacrity with which they’ve sought to exploit the current rumblings over Ukraine. Alyn Smith, the party’s foreign affairs spokesperson, was straight out there in a fuel-guzzling jet at the beginning of the month, accompanied by several party cronies who smelt an opportunity in the east. None of them have any role in UK government foreign policy whatsoever. Smith, a man who has never met a camera he didn’t like, duly clipped himself standing solemn in front of the country’s foreign ministry, gravely intoning about the ongoing crisis – as if the poor

Cindy Yu Cindy Yu

Will Brits with Covid still self-isolate?

11 min listen

With Boris Johnson set to announce the end of legal Covid restrictions later today, how will people respond? Will they continue to isolate, or choose to go about their life even if they have the virus? Cindy Yu talks to James Forsyth, Katy Balls and Fraser Nelson about the change, as well as the continuing crisis in Ukraine.

Sam Leith Sam Leith

What if we aren’t ready to live with Covid?

Quite the constitutional twist, yesterday. Just as what Walter Bagehot called the efficient side of our ruling set-up was merrily announcing a final bonfire of the Covid regulations, the dignified side (aka her Majesty the Queen) was letting it be known that she has contracted Covid. Not what you’d call perfect timing. Taking the wide view, she’s just one elderly lady. Policy shouldn’t hinge on the susceptibility of any single elderly lady to a disease, be she never so dignified. Still, if her Maj is carted off to hospital it’ll be bad PR for Number 10s ballsy new Living With Covid policy. She’s a visible reminder that, yes, it’s still

Andrew Tettenborn

Will Nadhim Zahawi win his fight against ‘the Blob’?

Nadhim Zahawi’s recent reminder to schools to keep their teaching politically neutral seems like common sense. The Education Secretary pointed to existing laws to show that while uncritical promotion of BLM ideology or climate activism to children wasn’t acceptable, controversial matters could still be taught with proper balance. But there were still predictable howls of protest from the usual quarters.  Hope not Hate accused the government of obsessing about ‘culture wars’. Amnesty International complained of a sinister chilling effect on classroom speech on current affairs and children’s loss of ‘safe spaces’. The NEU, Britain’s largest teaching union, said issuing warnings about class discussion of climate change, racism, poverty and the legacy of empire could decrease students’ engagement.

Steerpike Steerpike

Sadiq lets the mask slip

Sadiq Khan had a jolly old time this weekend. First, the £152,000-a-year mayor got to watch Liverpool beat Norwich for free at Anfield on Saturday. And then, hours later, he received another complimentary ticket to watch the boxing at the Manchester Arena, where his friend and namesake Amir Khan was battered by northerner Kell Brook.  But while all eyes were on the ring, Mr S couldn’t help but notice in the excitement that the London mayor had removed his face mask to watch the fight, despite being in a crowd of some 20,000 roaring boxing fans. Ticket-sellers had previously told those applying that ‘face masks must be worn throughout the performance’ – a

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Will Boris Johnson’s big week be undone by partygate?

When Boris Johnson gave an interview on Sunday to the BBC’s Sophie Raworth, he was not keen to talk about partygate – refusing to do so 17 times – but he did want to make hay with his plan to end all legally-binding Covid restrictions in the coming days. At the end of the interview, the Prime Minister said that while the pandemic was not over, it was time for the nation to ‘get back to work’. Johnson is far more keen to talk tough on Ukraine than address his domestic problems As MPs return to Westminster after a week’s break, Johnson and his team hope to rally MPs behind them

Steerpike Steerpike

Restaurant pranksters target Boris and Carrie

It’s been a tough time for Boris and Carrie recently, so what better else than a night on the town? The Prime Minister has grown used to living off a diet of humble pie, so why not make a change and try some fine cuisine instead? For one of Steerpike’s spies spotted on Thursday that the guest book of the much-loved India Club in Covent Garden had a new and intriguing message. The restaurant itself has a rich political history, boasting Lady Mountbatten and Prime Minister Nehru among its founding members some 50 years ago. But now, dotted amongst the various bits of feedback in its records is a heart-adorned missive from one Carrie Johnson. It

Sunday

Steerpike Steerpike

Parents plot counter-strike at top girls’ schools

Picket lines, striking teachers egged on by a left-wing trade union, and children missing out on their education. No, not a chapter from a history of the Winter of Discontent, but rather scenes playing out on the streets of Britain in February 2022. It seems that the bad old days of the inner-city comprehensives in the 1970s are back but with a catch: now they’re playing out at some of the most elite girls’ schools in the country. For Mr S hears that all is not well among the hard-pressed parents of children at the fee-paying Girls’ Day School Trust (GDST), a network of 23 independent schools in England and

Matthew Taylor

Sunday shows round-up: Ukraine could see ‘biggest war in Europe since 1945’

The Prime Minister has been attending the annual Munich Security Conference, where the prospective Russian invasion of Ukraine is very much at the top of the agenda. The BBC’s Sophie Raworth caught up with Boris Johnson yesterday, following a speech he made warning of the disaster that war would bring. Johnson said in the interview that he believed that Vladimir Putin was ready to orchestrate such a crisis at any moment: ‘It is important that people should feel confident again’ Tomorrow, the government is expected to announce its plans to remove all Covid restrictions for England. Raworth asked if this would erode the government’s ability to act decisively if complications

Steerpike Steerpike

Lutfur Rahman expected to launch mayoral bid

Readers with long memories might recall the shambles of Tower Hamlets’ election night in 2014, when the count took more than five days to complete. The man who was re-elected as mayor that day was Lutfur Rahman who, the following year, earned the dubious distinction of being Britain’s first directly elected mayor to be removed after being found guilty of electoral fraud. Rahman was slapped with a five-year ban on standing for elected office after the Election Court reported him to be ‘personally guilty’ of ‘corrupt or illegal practices or both.’ Now though, Rahman’s ban is completed, and his former office is up for grabs in May. And, having first reported that the

Sam Ashworth-Hayes Sam Ashworth-Hayes

Britain is trapped in a Boomerocracy

‘If young Americans knew what was good for them’ the historian Niall Ferguson once remarked, ‘they would all be in the Tea party’. In his first Reith Lecture, Ferguson argued that austerity would be a boon for the young; public debt merely allowed ‘the current generation of voters to live at the expense of those as yet too young to vote or as yet unborn.’ It is certainly true that successive generations in Britain have run up an almighty tab while assuming the next group along will be able to foot the bill. The problem Ferguson neglected to account for was which voters would end up delivering a pro-austerity government into

Saturday

Steerpike Steerpike

Foreign Office squirms on ‘genocide amendment’

‘The job of the Ministry of Agriculture is to look after farmers. The job of the Foreign Office is to look after foreigners.’ Or so jibed Norman Tebbit about Whitehall’s grandest department. In recent months Mr S has covered the antics of the Foreign Office (FCDO) with a cynical eye, as ministers and mandarins have done everything in their power not to offend President Xi Jinping and his lackeys in Beijing. Whether it’s foot-dragging on a boycott of the Winter Olympics or quietly trying to reopen trade talks with China, there’s every sign that in the corridors of power, the spirit of the ‘golden era’ never truly ended. Take poor Amanda

Freddy Gray Freddy Gray

Is Joe Biden all that bad?

32 min listen

Freddy Gray talks to Dr Julie Norman, lecturer and co-director of the Centre on US politics at University College London, about the case for the defence of the Biden presidency so far.

Steerpike Steerpike

Jeremy Corbyn sides with Russia (again)

Jeremy Corbyn may no longer be Labour leader but he’s still parroting the Kremlin’s lines. It seems like just yesterday the former Leader of the Opposition was accused of siding with Moscow over the Skripal poisonings, having suggested that Novichok samples from the Salisbury attack should be handed over to Russia. Undeterred by the opprobrium he received in 2018, the Islington North MP is one of the usual suspects arguing that the current crisis in Ukraine is the result of – shock, horror! – those dastardly democracies in the West. For Corbyn is part of the gang of hard-left MPs who have signed up to a ludicrously one-sided ‘open letter’ by the ironically-named