Politics

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

Wednesday

Andrew Tettenborn

Unesco and a revealing tale of two journalists

Bank Holiday Monday, in case you didn’t know, was also World Press Freedom Day. Unesco understandably marked the occasion. But more interesting than its official communiqué – and a great deal more informative about the way that organisation thinks – was a recent report it sponsored in support of two journalists said to be the subject of attacks on press freedom: Maria Ressa in the Philippines, and, at home, Carole Cadwalladr. The views expressed in that document are worth a closer look. Maria Ressa is a long-standing and courageous thorn in the side of the Philippines’ strongman president Rodrigo Duterte. A man who has said openly that ‘just because you’re a journalist,

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CofE bishop demands MPs withdraw ‘very divisive’ Sewell report

The Church of England has spent much of 2021 grappling with how it handles race relations. In the wake of one Anglican ordinand claiming in February that ‘The cult of Captain Tom is a cult of White British Nationalism’ the Church has had to contend with revelations about the use of Non Disclosure Agreements in silencing allegations of racism and the fall out from its report From Lament to Action which called for non-white clergy quotas.  Now though, one Anglican bishop has taken things a step further by writing to MPs to attack the recent findings of the government’s commission on race and ethnic disparity, which criticised the misuse of the term ‘institutional racism’ and found

James Heale James Heale

Your guide to the 2021 election results

This week will see the biggest set of polls in UK history outside of a general election. Contests are under way in Wales, Scotland, London and in the various mayoral, local and PCC elections across Britain as part of a so-called ‘Super Thursday.’ But while past election nights have been met with the chimes of the BBC’s Arthur theme and a Dimbleby fronting hours of programmes, Covid means there will be no all-night television special. Whereas normally all results are in by midday Friday, this year it will take longer to verify and count the votes than it has done in previous elections. This is due to both reduced staff

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Las Vegas resident urges Scots to vote SNP

Sunday’s anti-climactic finale looked set to be the biggest Line of Duty let-down for fans of the hit BBC series. But now one of the drama’s stars Martin Compston has waded into the Scottish independence debate and urged his fellow Scots to vote SNP this Thursday. He says that the ‘Tory government in Westminster’ some 325 miles from the Scottish border, ‘do not care about Scotland’ adding: ‘The big decisions, whether it be Scotland’s future relationship with Europe, whether it be nuclear weapons on the Clyde are best taken by the people who live here.’  There’s just one problem – Compston’s main residence is in Las Vegas a mere 4,872 miles

Patrick O’Flynn Patrick O'Flynn

Hartlepool and the theft of the Labour party

When the unthinkable happened in 1882 and England lost a test match on home soil to Australia there followed a mock obituary in the Sporting Times. ‘In Affectionate Remembrance of English Cricket, which died at the Oval on 29 August 1882, deeply lamented by a large circle of sorrowing friends and acquaintances,’ it read, adding that: ‘The body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia.’ It will be tempting to compose something similar on behalf of the Labour party should it be defeated by the Conservatives in the Hartlepool parliamentary by-election later this week. The most appropriate destination for the ashes would surely be the chichi London neighbourhood

Tuesday

Kate Andrews Kate Andrews

Why we should worry about the post-Covid exodus of older workers

Concerns around unemployment during the pandemic have, understandably, been focused on younger people. Last year it was under-24 year olds most likely to be furloughed and then subsequently made unemployed when coming off the government’s scheme. For millions, the fate of their jobs remains on the line, as unemployment is expected to rise over the course of the year (albeit far less than originally predicted), even as the economy rebounds when lockdown restrictions lift. But today the Office for National Statistics flags another concern; one that could potentially have a bigger impact on the labour market’s recovery post-pandemic. While the youngest have experienced a substantial economic hit from the virus,

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Watch: Hillary Clinton blames the Russians for Brexit

Ever since the Brexit vote in 2016, there has been a committed group of activists and politicians convinced that only Russian meddling could possibly explain why the British people decided they wanted to leave the EU. The political equivalents of Hiroo Onoda – the Japanese soldier who refused to accept the second world war was over – they have continued to press the case that Vladimir Putin used nefarious means to trick the electorate into casting their ballots for Brexit, even as the evidence (and polling) has continued to show that Brits are still happy with their decision to leave. Now though it appears this political group has found an

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Galacticos descend on Westminster

Westminster is something of a ghost town this week as MPs, staffers and wonks all fan out across the country to pound the doorsteps ahead of polling day. With Parliament prorogued and the airwaves dominated by talk of the Red Wall, there is precious little to amuse those poor souls still remaining in SW1 ahead of the release of the first exit polls at 10 o’clock on Thursday. That is until today when a cavalcade of coaches came to town and parked up opposite St James’s Park tube station. For Mr S understands that on board was none other than the highly paid stars of Real Madrid. Los Blancos have arrived ahead of their Champions League

Andy Owen

Prisoners dilemma: should we pay kidnappers?

British-Mexican national Claudia Uruchurtu Cruz disappeared on the night of Friday 26 March in the town of Nochixtlan, Oaxaca State, Mexico. Claudia had been seen attending a rally protesting the beating of a local labourer, allegedly by security elements linked to the local municipal president. Unconfirmed witness statements claim she was grabbed and pushed into a red car. Claudia never arrived home and her family and friends have not heard from her since.  What is the right response for the British government? The most debated issue is whether to pay ransoms. Some governments refuse, others pay, or at least turn a blind eye to families that do. In Mali, where

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How would Whitehall respond to wildcat nats?

The SNP wants a second independence referendum. Boris Johnson has ruled one out. So what happens if the Scottish nationalists get a majority at Thursday’s Holyrood elections? Nicola Sturgeon has indicated that she will hold a vote — with or without Westminster’s legal consent. So Mr S decided to ask the Cabinet Office and the Scotland Office how they would respond to an unsanctioned Catalan-style referendum. In response to a Freedom of Information request, both departments said that they did not hold any contingency documents outlining the UK government’s response to an unauthorised vote. (It’s worth noting too that if such plans did exist, the departments would have to say so even if

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Hartlepool turning blue would mean a Labour crisis

We have two years of elections on Thursday. But in England, the Hartlepool by-election is fast becoming the defining contest. If the Tories take the seat, which has always been Labour’s, it will show that Keir Starmer hasn’t stopped the bleeding for Labour in the red wall. It will indicate that the realignment of English politics is continuing even without Brexit and Corbyn. A Tory win would suggest that the 2019 general election was not a freak result or a unique product of voters’ desire to get Brexit done combined with their concerns about Corbyn, but rather part of a substantial shift in the electoral geography of England. Hartlepool turning blue

Nick Tyrone Nick Tyrone

Why the Lib Dems could soon cause trouble for Boris

Much of the focus when it comes to ‘Super Thursday’ centres on whether or not the Tories can pull off an electoral coup by snatching Hartlepool from Labour.  But the Lib Dems’ role in the drama has largely gone unnoticed – and a good result for Ed Davey’s party could spell the start of trouble for Boris Johnson. Labour needs to hold onto Hartlepool. It’s really that simple. To lose the seat, particularly to a Conservative party that has been in power for eleven years, would be devastating. Starmer is also under pressure in the local elections. To put this into perspective, Labour lost around 400 seats in the areas being contested

Mary Dejevsky

The rise of the female ambassador

It is, of course, an excellent thing and a mark of social progress when an institutional bastion falls to woman-power. If the days are gone when the upper echelons of UK diplomacy were closed to women then so much the better, when a woman who married had to leave the service, and when female diplomats — with the honourable exception of Pauline (now Baroness) Neville-Jones, who resigned after being passed over for Paris — knew better than to hope for the top postings. The 21st century requires no less: entry on equal terms to the men, progression on equal terms to the men, and access to the most senior jobs

Steven Barrett

The dividing wall between law and politics is under attack

All my legal life I have watched with sadness those who are ever groping, Gollum-like, unable to resist the idea that our courts can somehow give them the political victory which the elections deny them. During the fallout from the Brexit vote, I hoped this insanity had reached its peak. I was wrong. We are only four months into the year and already members of the House of Lords have advocated that our courts have a say in determining our foreign policy, while the House of Commons Privileges Committee has suggested our courts should enforce the appearance of witnesses before parliament — and that they should effectively be a court (which they

Monday

Steerpike Steerpike

Coming soon: the next red wall by-election

This Thursday is set to be a psephologist’s dream with the biggest set of polls outside of a general election in UK history. Amid talk of a ‘British midterms’ the so-called ‘Super Thursday’ will see contests for Holyrood, Cardiff Bay, London’s assembly and some 5,000 council seats across the country. But in Westminster at least one race looms above all others: the Hartlepool by-election and whether the Tories can make further in-roads into Labour’s once impregnable red wall.  Boris Johnson’s visit there today has set alarm bells ringing in Labour HQ as party managers would be unlikely to dispatch a sitting PM to a seat three days before polling unless there was

Debbie Hayton

Caitlyn Jenner is right about transgender athletes and women’s sports

Caitlyn Jenner – gold medallist in the men’s decathlon at the 1976 Montreal Olympics – is now in the running to the be the next governor of California. These days, Jenner is more famous for marrying into the Kardashians before a very public transition in 2015. ‘Call me Caitlyn,’ screamed the headlines at the time. Like me, Jenner seems to be someone for whom gender transition was no impediment in life. Perhaps we both have our feet on the ground when it comes to the reality of biological sex? On Saturday, Jenner was accosted by a journalist in a car park. There were questions to be answered. Not about jobs,

Sunday

Matthew Taylor

Sunday shows round-up: PM should resign if he broke Ministerial Code

Douglas Ross – PM should resign if he broke the Ministerial Code Andrew Marr’s first guest of the day was Douglas Ross, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives. With potentially crucial elections being held all across the UK next week – including to Holyrood – the row about the Prime Minister’s arrangements to pay for the refurbishment of his Downing Street flat continues to rumble on. Marr asked Ross if he thought Boris Johnson should consider his position if the Electoral Commission finds him to have broken the Ministerial Code over the issue: DR: Of course. I think people expect the highest standards of those in the highest office of

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Labour MP’s platform rally with Tony Greenstein

Brighton MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle has managed to establish quite the reputation as a firebrand during his four years in the Commons, most famously ranting on the night of the 2019 Tory victory that ‘we will fight them in the streets’.  In the eighteen months since, it has emerged he claimed the Conservatives ‘conspired to murder and let die British citizens’ and that he had accused JK Rowling in Tribune of using her own sexual assault as ‘justification for discriminating’ in a row over transgender rights. It also transpired that he had written social media posts suggesting Jewish claims to Israel were ‘not progressive in [their] very nature’ and that Zionism was a ‘dangerous nationalist idea’

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Former French ambassador’s diplomatic blunder

Thursday was a red-letter day in the history of the Foreign Office with the appointment of the first female ambassador to France. It means that for the first time all the key British postings –Berlin, Tokyo, Washington, Canberra, Beijing, Paris, Rome, Moscow and the UN – are now held by women. Quite an achievement given the FO banned women from diplomacy until 1946 and required them to resign if they married until 1973. Unfortunately diplomatic affairs appear to be somewhat more retrograde just across the Channel. The former French ambassador to the United States Gérard Araud took to Twitter today to offer his thoughts on the four-time Pulitzer prize winning American poet Robert Frost, declaring:  The