Politics Archives

Friday

3 Sep 2021

Three big problems with the government’s planned tax hike

We are in the middle of a once-in-a-generation shift: working from home. There are skill shortages across the economy, supply bottlenecks, and empty supermarket shelves. A couple of million people are still set to come off furlough, back into jobs that may no longer exist. The labour market is in utter chaos. But, hey, here’s a good idea. Let’s whack a tax on jobs. Really? The government’s widely leaked plan to increase National Insurance, a tax on jobs, could not come at a worse possible time. The government’s widely leaked plan to increase National Insurance, a tax on jobs, could not come at a worse possible time We can all debate whether

Douglas Murray

What can we learn about Afghanistan from Alastair Campbell?

Alastair Campbell can’t write. If that sounds like one of the less significant charges one might level against Tony Blair’s former spin-doctor then stick with me. Because anyone who can spill out thousands of words and still be so unoriginal and lacking in insight or self-perception must have things they are trying to hide. That is why the laborious ‘long-think’ that Campbell wrote this week for the equally laborious ‘Tortoise’ website is worth pausing over. For those who have missed it, Campbell was this week invited by Tortoise to write a multi-thousand word piece on the recent events in Afghanistan. Since Campbell was right-hand man to Tony Blair when the

Steerpike

Revealed: Parliament’s plans for the Queen’s death

This morning Playbook has revealed details about the plans – codenamed Operation London Bridge – for the sad day when the Queen passes away. But while the outlet’s excellent write-up reveals much about the preparations involved for Her Majesty’s death, Steerpike noted that one detail about the behind the scenes work was somewhat glossed over: advanced plans for the royal coffin to lie in state at Westminster Hall. Codenamed ‘Operation Marquee’ – a moniker last used for the Queen Mother’s ceremony in 2002 – the plans have been kept tightly under wraps for decades and will run with military precision, judging by its expenditure. Between 2010 and 2020 some £2.6 million

Kunwar Khuldune Shahid

Pakistan is relishing its role as kingmaker in Afghanistan

The details of engagements involving the head of MI6 are, unsurprisingly, usually kept secret. But not so Richard Moore’s meeting with the head of the Pakistani army, General Qamar Javed Bajwa. Officers from Britain’s intelligence service are also said to have met the Taliban, both in Kabul and Qatar. How do we know? Because hours after Moore met Bajwa, the news was plastered all over Pakistani media, much to the dismay and horror of British officials. Pakistani leaders have spent much of the past fortnight basking in the Taliban’s triumph. Imran Khan lauded the Taliban for breaking the ‘shackles of slavery’. The Pakistani prime minister’s office made special social media banners to advertise calls received from world

Thursday

2 Sep 2021

Katy Balls

Top dog: how have animals captured politics?

34 min listen

On this week’s episode: should animal lives be considered as valuable as human lives? It’s often said that Britain is a country of animal lovers, but have we taken it too far? Pen Farthing’s evacuation has shown how some people value animal lives more than human lives. William Moore writes our cover piece this week, arguing that the public outcry is emblematic of our faith-like approach to animal rights in Britain. He joins the podcast together with the FT‘s Henry Mance, author of How to Love Animals. Plus, will the government’s proposed tax reforms solve the crisis in social care? In this week’s issue, Kate Andrews argues that instead of solving the

Cindy Yu

Why isn’t No 10 stopping the Wallace-Raab war of words?

15 min listen

In an interview for the latest issue of The Spectator, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace hits back at Dominic Raab’s suggestion that it was military intelligence which failed the British side when it comes to evacuation planning. On the podcast, Cindy Yu talks to Katy Balls and James Forsyth about the increasing public acrimony between the two secretaries of state, and ask – why isn’t No 10 putting a stop to it?

Steerpike

Coming soon: Operation Ark – The Movie

Ben Wallace’s week goes from bad to worse. Amid continuing criticisms of the botched evacuation from Afghanistan, news reaches Steerpike that talks have begun about making the story of Operation Ark into a Hollywood film. It was said that the story of Penn Farthing’s evacuation of his animal sanctuary from Kabul had every thing: drama, tragedy and a rich cast of heroes and villains. And now that story could be told with the rest of the world, judging from the interest already being expressed. Animal welfare campaigner Dominic Dyer, a close friend of Farthing, told Steerpike that while the immediate focus had been on the evacuation of the at-risk animals, discussions

Jonathan Miller

France’s provocateur is coming to London

Five years ago, London’s affluent French poured their dosh into the campaign of Emmanuel Macron. This time around, supporters of France’s rising provocateur are trying a similar tactic. Eric Zemmour is the Tucker Carlson of French media. A potential rival to Marine Le Pen, he is planning a visit to London in October. His undeclared but badly concealed French presidential campaign has the backing of ‘Generation Z’, a shadowy group of French political consultants and fundraisers, who are looking at the monied expatriates of South Kensington and seeing potential campaign money. If Macron’s people aren’t spooked by Zemmour, they aren’t acting like it I profiled Zemmour in the magazine in

Steerpike

Boris, Dave and George to reunite

Boris, Dave and George: three men whose fates have long been intwined. Elected on the same day, they rose rapidly through the ranks together before their fateful fall out over the Brexit referendum. Cameron’s memoirs subsequently criticised Johnson for opportunism; Osborne has delivered his own jibes via Evening Standard leader columns and infrequent interviews. But word reaches Steerpike that next month the trio may be willing to put aside past tensions for at least one night. For all three former Bullingdon alumni have been invited to a fancy dinner to mark the twentieth anniversary of the 2001 general election for those Tories elected as part of the intake. Organised by

Debbie Hayton

Scotland’s census sex muddle is bad news for transgender people

What is your sex? It is a simple question and one that we can all surely answer. When it comes to filling out a census, ascertaining a person’s sex is particularly important. Working out the number of men and women living in an area allows for the appropriate provision of public services. But in its approach to conducting Scotland’s census next year, the Scottish government risks undermining this. Astonishingly, according to guidance published this week, the 2022 Scottish census will allow some respondents to essentially answer what they think best. It says: ‘If you are transgender the answer you give can be different from what is on your birth certificate. You do not need

Steerpike

Fact check: what did Michael Gove actually say about ‘experts’?

Misquotes are all too common in British politics. Whether it’s Thatcher and ‘no such thing as society’ or Callaghan with ‘Crisis? What crisis?’ too often a lie can be halfway round the world before the truth has got its boots on – as Churchill, err, didn’t say. But one hope would hope for better standards from the head of Britain’s leading university. Louise Richardson, vice-chancellor of Oxford University has made headlines (again) for her comments on a panel about Michael Gove’s words during the 2016 Brexit referendum. Speaking at Times Higher Education’s World Academic Summit, Richardson said: ‘ Michael Gove, the British cabinet minister who I am embarrassed to confess we educated,

John Ferry

The north-east’s green success puts Scotland to shame

It’s confirmed. The co-leaders of the Scottish Greens, Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater, have become junior ministers in Nicola Sturgeon’s government. Harvie is Minister for Zero Carbon Buildings, Active Travel and Tenants’ Rights, while Slater is Minister for Green skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity. Of the two, Slater’s is the more interesting role as it includes green industrial strategy, an area where Scotland has continued to fail under the SNP. If Slater is serious about turning this around then she should make her first ministerial outing a trip to the north-east of England to see how green industrial strategy should be done. From the Tyne to the Humber, developments in

James Forsyth

The Tories aren’t in party mood

Nearly two years on from the general election and 11 years since the Tories took office, they remain comfortably and consistently ahead in the polls. This is remarkable. In September 2008, when Labour was in power, it was almost 20 points behind the Conservative party. Eighteen years before that, when the Tories were in power, they regularly trailed by double digits. You might think this Tory lead, and the poor numbers for the leader of the opposition — Keir Starmer’s latest approval rating is minus 39 — would have led to Tory triumphalism. However, when Tory MPs return to parliament next week, they will do so in a strikingly subdued

Steerpike

When will Twitter treat Biden like Trump?

With the conclusion of the disastrously-executed Afghanistan withdrawal, the attention of Joe Biden and his loyal media apparatchiks has turned to dealing with the ordeal’s political damage. The last few weeks have seen Biden lose significant support, most notably among independent voters, and Republicans are already incorporating the Afghan debacle into their pre-2022 midterm messaging. Biden’s response to all this is to provide more evidence that he – contrary to the claims of many American liberals – is just as willing to dissemble and misrepresent as Trump. But there’s one crucial difference: Biden has Silicon Valley on his side. Twitter famously never missed an opportunity to slap a ‘misleading information’ label on Trump’s tweets

Wednesday

1 Sep 2021

Cindy Yu

Raab faces Afghanistan grilling from MPs

17 min listen

Dominic Raab was hauled before the Foreign Affairs Committee today to answer questions about how the government handled the withdrawal from Afghanistan. The Foreign Secretary faced tough questions about being on holiday during the crisis, risk reports produced from his own department, and whether a portrait of the Queen in Britain’s Kabul embassy was taken by Taliban militants. How did he fare? Cindy Yu also speaks to James Forsyth and Katy Balls about whether China will fill the vacuum left by the West, and whether tension is emerging between the government and the JCVI.

Nick Cohen

The delusion of Dominic Raab

Boris Johnson will never sack ministers for being tawdry, lazy and incapable of doing their jobs — if he did, he would have to sack himself. Nevertheless, the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee’s investigation into the Foreign Office’s complicity in the Afghanistan catastrophe showed the consequences of the collapse in standards in ministerial competence better than any public inquiry I have seen. The autopsy was all the bloodier because Tom Tugendhat, who should be foreign secretary, was asking the questions, and Dominic Rabb, who really shouldn’t be foreign secretary, was ducking them. Raab’s demonstration of what he did not know was almost awe-inspiring. Did he, for example, know how many ministers were

Kate Andrews

The Bank of England’s new monetary hawk

Andy Haldane’s departure from the Bank of England opened up one of the most influential roles in guiding UK monetary policy — and that role has now been filled. Huw Pill has been announced as the BoE’s new chief economist, taking up the post from next Monday. Some of the snap reaction is focusing on Pill’s similarities to those who came before him. Despite resources being poured into diversity teams to recruit a mix of applicants, it was Pill who was selected, a former Goldman Sachs economist and most recently a senior lecturer at Harvard Business School. Pill won’t take kindly to ideas about reneging the Bank of England’s independence

Katy Balls

Raab faces an Afghan grilling from MPs

After a week of hostile briefings over his future as foreign secretary, Dominic Raab appeared before MPs this afternoon to face the music. As a blame game gets underway in Whitehall over the chaotic response to the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, Raab has found himself in the firing line. One government source suggested his handling of the crisis meant he ‘has about as much chance of being in a top four position by next spring as Arsenal’ when it comes to a cabinet reshuffle. This afternoon, Raab came out swinging — defending his department’s handling of the situation and pointing blame in the direction of others. Today’s appearance had been billed by

Steerpike

Watch: the four most awkward moments from Raab’s evidence

Fresh from his Crete holiday, Dominic Raab appeared at the Foreign Affairs Committee looking tense and awkward. The Foreign Secretary has been dragged to an extraordinary meeting of the panel specially convened in spite of the parliamentary recess to answer questions about the collapse of Afghanistan and rushed evacuation of the Western powers. Raab’s session overstretched to almost two hours and saw a range of hostile questions from right across the House. A glowering Tom Tugendhat ambushed the embattled minister with his department’s principle risks report from July 21 warning of collapse of Afghanistan while a deluge of questions about the Crete holiday were met by Raab’s insistence that such queries were

Steerpike

Carlton Club’s furlough funding

Few of London’s private members clubs have a richer history than the Carlton. Founded in 1832 to oppose the Great Reform Act, its premises hosted the famous 1922 meeting which toppled Lloyd George, withstood Hitler’s bombers and entertained countless Tory politicians over decades. Even today the club continues to fundraise for the Conservative Party and has gifted lifelong membership to Cabinet ministers Gavin Williamson and Michael Gove plus former leaders Theresa May and Lord Hague. Covid though appears to have represented a major challenge to the Carlton’s finances and philosophy. HMRC records show the £1,700-a-year establishment claimed between £195,000 and £400,000 between December 2020 and May 2021 under the coronavirus job