Politics

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

Thursday

The Spectator

The true cost of Boris

Earlier this week, the Conservative party sent an appeal to its registered supporters asking them to become members. ‘We’re delivering what you voted for in 2019,’ it read. ‘So why not help us keep going?’ Unfortunately for Boris Johnson, there are now several answers to that question. Two years ago, the Tories were re-elected on a promise to protect the public from the ever-rising cost of government. One of Johnson’s five pledges, personally signed by him, was not to raise taxation on ‘hard-working people’ and to stop any ‘jobs tax’. He has since changed his mind. In April, the Tory government will take a further 2.5 per cent of the

Gavin Mortimer Gavin Mortimer

The Channel deaths were a tragedy waiting to happen

Yesterday’s tragedy in the Channel has been ten years in the making. The British tabloids this morning are inevitably pointing the finger at the French for the deaths of 27 migrants who drowned after their dinghy sank not far from Calais, but that lets off the hook those who ultimately bear responsibility for the migrant crisis that afflicts Europe from Sweden to Sicily. One of those responsible is Angela Merkel, who is preparing to hand over the Chancellery to the insipid Olaf Scholz. Six and a half years ago she took the unilateral decision to open Europe’s borders to more than a million migrants and refugees. ‘We can do this!’

Wednesday

Steerpike Steerpike

Spectator Parliamentarian of the Year 2021, in pictures

After eighteen months of Covid, it was with a sense of relief and joy that MPs, peers, bag-carriers and hangers-on descended on London’s Rosewood Hotel. After all the twists and turns of the pandemic’s politics, ministers and opposite numbers enjoyed the chance to break bread and hear from some of Parliament’s leading figures collecting gongs at tonight’s awards. The guest of honour at the shindig was the recently-defenestrated Robert Buckland, liberated from high office and now enjoying his new-found freedom on the back benches. And it was with great delight that he dispensed the awards all evening, with heavyweights and grandees dispensing jokes and jibes alike. Sajid Javid (Comeback of

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Did Starmer beat Boris?

10 min listen

With multiple weeks of bad publicity and rumours of some Conservative MPs sending in letters of no confidence, today’s PMQs witnessed much more noise than last week’s. However, is the Prime Minster hitting back at critics, including a more confident Keir Starmer, effectively? ‘Today I thought Keir Starmer looked like he was actually really enjoying himself, and that is a sign of a shifted political mood.’ – James Forsyth Katy Balls discusses these topics with James Forsyth and Isabel Hardman. Subscribe to The Spectator’s Evening Blend email, from Isabel Hardman and Katy Balls, for analysis of the day’s political news and a summary of the best pieces from our website.

Lloyd Evans Lloyd Evans

Starmer is finally getting the hang of PMQs

No prime minister since Tony Blair enjoys being in power as much as Boris. The notion that he might be kicked out by a nameless gang of cabinet lightweights is fanciful. But it makes for grabby headlines. Labour’s Sir Keir Starmer can sense that his star is on the rise. And he’s improving. At PMQs he asked shorter questions and delivered a couple of nifty satirical thrusts that inspired his MPs. Early on, he tilted his head towards the Tory benches which were better attended than last Wednesday. ‘I see they’ve turned up this week.’ Cue howls of mirth from Labour. Moments later, he lobbed this banger at Boris. ‘I

Steerpike Steerpike

Has Gary Neville taken his eye off the ball?

‘Enough’, said Gary Neville this week as he (once again) attacked Boris Johnson. The ex-footballer is no stranger to attacking the Tories: in the past few months, the former England right-back has dubbed Johnson a ‘liar’, bizarrely suggested that the PM is a ‘spaghetti bolognese of a man’ and accused the Government of ‘incompetency’.  Neville is clearly a busy man: as well as his day job talking about football, he is listed as a director for 56 firms Even football fans aren’t safe from Neville’s bit-part political punditry. During England’s Euro 2020 semi-final win this summer, when the whole country was (briefly) united for once, he interjected to suggest that Gareth Southgate, the England manager, had shown more

Matthew Lynn

Germany’s new coalition is a recipe for stagnation

A new, fresh leader. Bold radical ideas. And a programme for rebooting an economy that, for all its formidable strengths, is, to put it kindly, a little stuck in the 20th century. Later today, Germany is set to anoint its first new Chancellor in 15 years, and, at the very least, you might expect some new ideas. The trouble is, there is little sign of them from Olaf Scholz. Instead, the country is opting for the euro-zone’s slow lane, falling behind a rapidly reforming Italy and France. After two months of complex negotiations, following an inconclusive election in September, the Social Democrat leader Olaf Scholz will finally present his coalition

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

PMQs: Johnson’s shtick isn’t working

Sir Keir Starmer enjoyed himself again at Prime Minister’s Questions today. He came armed with plenty of very good lines, and of course had more than enough government messes with which to poke Boris Johnson. The Prime Minister, for his part, had more fire in his belly than last week, presumably because he’s managed to get rid of his cold. But he didn’t manage to rescue his authority after a very tricky three weeks. The Prime Minister, for his part, had more fire in his belly than last week The Labour leader focused most of his questions on the social care revolt this week, asking Johnson why he had promised that

Steerpike Steerpike

Fact check: are the Tories cutting taxes?

Ping! No, not the dreaded Covid app but rather another beseeching email from CCHQ, begging money for Tory funds. Reading through the party-politicking, Mr S was curious to see that among the party’s list of achievements was the claim that ‘we’re delivering what the British people voted for’ by ‘cutting taxes for hardworking people.’  An intriguing boast, given that Rishi Sunak is hiking National Insurance, which applies to all employees including those on minimum wage, by an effective 2.5 per cent – despite the Conservative Party’s pledge in 2019 that ‘we will not raise the rate of income tax, VAT or National Insurance.’ Corporation tax has been raised to 25 per cent from

Steerpike Steerpike

Sadiq surrenders on face masks

Throughout the pandemic, Sadiq Khan has been positively evangelical on face-coverings. The Mayor of London has waxed lyrical about their virtues throughout the pandemic, declaring that: ‘my mask protects you, your mask protects me’ that ‘if we don’t wear masks, the virus will spread further’ and calling such face-coverings ‘the most unselfish thing you can do.’ Ahead of Boris Johnson’s July 19 unlocking, Khan attacked his decision to axe the legal requirement to wear a face covering on public transport. Instead the Mayor insisted that wearing a mask remained ‘a condition of carriage’ for passengers using public transport in London, with some 500 enforcement officers patrolling the capital’s trains and buses to eject the

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Boris Johnson is having a bad week

Tory MPs had hoped this would be the week that Boris Johnson turned the tide after a tricky three weeks of Tory sleaze allegations and discontent on the backbenches. It’s not going quite to plan. After an odd speech to the CBI conference on Monday and a narrow win in the Commons on the government’s social care amendment, the papers carry reports that MPs have started sending letters of no confidence to the 1922 committee. The Sun quotes an MP comparing Johnson to soup: ‘He is like José Mourinho — he was good a decade ago and his powers have been fading ever since. Yes he won an election, but

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Liz Kendall to be first MP to have a child through surrogacy

Labour frontbencher Liz Kendall is expecting a baby through a surrogate, making her the first MP to have a child through surrogacy. Kendall tells me that she and her partner are expecting the baby in January after a lengthy and painful fertility battle. She says: ‘We have been through a lot to get here but it really is happening now, and we’ve been telling people this week.’ During the couple’s attempts to conceive, Kendall suffered two miscarriages and needed surgery after both. Last month she also spoke in a parliamentary debate about the ‘debilitating’ symptoms of the menopause that she had been experiencing over the past year. She won praise

Patrick O’Flynn Patrick O'Flynn

Even Boris’s supporters are turning against him

Perhaps the past seven chaotic weeks are best regarded as an experiment by the Tories. Boris Johnson’s intention appears to be to establish just how badly he can run the country while remaining on course for re-election. Despite calamity after calamity hitting Boris’s administration, things are still looking rosy for the party: Politico‘s poll of polls shows that we are basically back where we were this time last year – at pretty much level-pegging between the Conservatives and Labour. There is no sign of the kind of positive surge in support for the opposition that would indicate the electorate is considering putting it into power.  A year ago – on 24 November, 2020

Tuesday

Steerpike Steerpike

Fears over Mandarin shortage in Whitehall

‘China Spy Blitz’ blared the Sun this morning: ‘UK spooks hiring Mandarin speakers in cyber war.’ Spy bosses, the paper reports, are embarking on a recruitment drive, directed at people who speak the language or have grown up within a multilingual family, with MI5, MI6 and GCHQ all increasingly wary about a moment of reckoning with the Communist superpower. Yet while the secret services have woken up to the threat posed by Beijing, others within government appear to still be fast asleep. Newly obtained figures reveal that the number of fluent Mandarin speakers within the Foreign Office (FCDO) has dropped by nearly 10 per cent since 2016. A Freedom of Information request by Mr Steerpike showed

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

What’s behind the social care rebellion?

9 min listen

It has been a challenging week for Boris. Following the Peppa Pig speech, immediately after the Owen Paterson u-turn, the party may be starting to lose patience. This could have implications for the government’s future, shown most recently by the rebellion on the social care bill. Many MPs did a ‘no show’ and the government’s majority fell from 77 to 26. ‘When the majority looks under threat, the personal loyalty disappears quite quickly’ – Isabel Hardman Is the rebellion a reflection of Boris losing support from his party? Or were there other issues to consider? Katy Balls speaks to Isabel Hardman and James Forsyth Subscribe to The Spectator’s Evening Blend email, from

Annabel Denham

The confusion at the heart of social care

Boris Johnson’s majority plunged to just 26 last night, following a rebellion over controversial changes to social care plans. Means-tested, state-funded payments will no longer count towards the £86,000 limit on the amount people will have to pay for their care. Those with initial assets worth less than £186,000, and who have received such help, could be worse off as a consequence. Critics have pointed out that this is likely to disproportionately affect residents in the North or the Midlands because of differential house prices. Johnson’s government isn’t the first to tie itself in knots over the issue of social care funding. Successive administrations have failed to bring about reform

Steerpike Steerpike

SNP Hate-Finder General strikes again

It’s been some months since Mr S last reported on the antics of James Dornan, the SNP MSP and amateur Hate-Finder General. The gaffe-prone Glaswegian managed, in the space of just one week, to get himself embroiled in multiple minor scandals after accusing an Edinburgh bus company had stopped services on St Patrick’s Day because of ‘anti-Irish racism’ (an untrue claim for which he had no evidence) and then for refusing to apologise for claiming Rangers’ players had sung a sectarian tune (another untrue claim based on poorly-doctored footage). Three weeks later he also told the Catholic leader of the Commons Jacob Rees-Mogg: ‘If your God exists you will undoubtedly

Robert Peston Robert Peston

The key difference between Johnson and Starmer

Here is the symbolic difference between Boris Johnson and Keir Starmer. Johnson at the CBI rocked up with a bunch of notes and mid-way through lost track of what he was saying, whereas Starmer turned up three hours early and rehearsed his speech in full twice. There were other important differences. You’d think, given the damage that Brexit did to Labour in the 2019 general election, Starmer wouldn’t touch leaving the EU with a barge pole. But to a business audience that is deeply anxious about the rising cost of trading with the EU, Starmer listed how he would endeavour to negotiate better access to the EU’s market for the

Monday

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Frustration grows with Boris, but the social care cap passes

MPs have approved the government’s social care cap in the Commons. But the vote doing so was narrow, and there seem to have been a lot of Conservative MPs either abstaining (which would be a rebellion against a three-line whip) or absent. Some will have been unwell, and ‘slipped’, as it is known, for other reasons. But some may have agreed with the whips that their car was due to break down or a tooth due to need emergency dental work, thus preventing them from voting against this controversial amendment. Others, like Matt Hancock, gave such rousing speeches in its favour that casual observers might have been forgiven for thinking