Politics Archives

Tuesday

9 Mar 2021

What Roy Greenslade gets wrong about the IRA’s bomb warnings

There are plenty of reasons to object to the journalist Roy Greenslade’s secret support of the IRA, which he now admits to harbouring during his long Fleet Street career. But as a former police officer involved in counter-terrorist search operations during the height of the Troubles, there was one thing in particular that is hard to take: his view on who was responsible for the casualties from IRA bombings. In his article republished in the Sunday Times, Greenslade said: ‘In Belfast, in discussions with republicans, I heard about the beginnings of what came to be known as “the dirty war”, the security forces’ use of collusion, the deliberate failure by the

Monday

8 Mar 2021

Isabel Hardman

Will reopening schools set back Boris’s lockdown timetable?

Schools in England have gone back today, with pupils taking lateral flow tests and being asked to wear masks in order to keep the risk of infections as low as possible. Today Boris Johnson held a special press conference to mark what he described as an ’emotional’ moment in the exit from lockdown. He said that the ‘overwhelming feeling is one of relief’ and that the ‘greater risk now is keeping them out of school for a day longer’. There are rumblings about whether the current plan for lifting restrictions is sustainable He praised teachers for getting schools ready and for teaching throughout the lockdown period, and parents for homeschooling

James Forsyth

Can Boris sustain his royal silence?

Boris Johnson is clearly determined to avoid being dragged into this Harry and Meghan story. At his press conference this afternoon, he said that he has the ‘highest admiration for the Queen’ but emphasised that he wouldn’t be commenting on the story. One can understand why Boris Johnson doesn’t want to get involved in this intra-family row; it is hard to see how Keir Starmer’s opining on the matter is going to help him politically. But Johnson’s line might prove difficult to hold. The racism charge against the royal family is incendiary. It is worth noting that Oprah Winfrey has said that Harry has told her that neither the Queen nor

Steerpike

Revealed: Nigel Farage’s Brexit dividend

He may be leaving the political stage but new figures show Nigel Farage won’t be short of a bob or two. Just hours after announcing his retirement from frontline politics on Saturday night, the former Brexit party leader said he was joining fan video app Cameo — where viewers pay celebrities to record personalised video messages. With 141 members of his ‘fan club’ and a price of £75 per vid, Farage looks set to rake in the takings for his burgeoning media empire under the auspices of Thorn In The Side Ltd. But should his Cameo career take a while to come together, Mr S suspects Farage will do just fine.

Steerpike

Minister’s Sussex snub

What does No. 10 think about Harry and Meghan’s Palace intrigue? Perhaps we can glean some insight from the comments of environment minister and close friend of Boris and Carrie. Zac (now Lord) Goldsmith is the first minister to publicly criticise the spurned royal couple, tweeting that ‘Harry is blowing up his family’. The Duchess of Sussex also comes in for criticism — with Goldsmith writing ‘What Meghan wants, Meghan gets’. Mr S wonders who ever else could that sentiment apply to? Update: A message of support from Truss?

Julie Bindel

The Green party’s woman problem

At the Green party spring conference this weekend, a motion which sought to introduce a party policy on women’s sex-based rights was defeated. A whopping 289 delegates (out of 521) voted to not include biological females in the party’s list of oppressed groups. All the motion aimed to do was simply add a paragraph to the Green party’s ‘Our Rights and Responsibilities Policy’. The motion reads: ‘This is to include the protected characteristic of sex as currently our Record of Policy statements supports the other eight characteristics (age, disability, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, race, maternity, religion/belief, marriage/civil partnership) but not that of sex discrimination – aimed primarily at women…’ The

Katy Balls

Will the government respond to Harry and Meghan interview?

13 min listen

The government has so far kept quiet about Harry and Meghan’s shocking interview with Oprah, in which – among other revelations – the couple claimed that a member of the royal family made racist comments about their son Archie’s skin colour. But with Boris Johnson set to host a government press conference at 4pm today, will he respond? Katy Balls speaks to James Forsyth and Isabel Hardman.

Steerpike

Fact check: why isn’t Archie a prince?

Viewers watching Harry and Meghan’s interview with Oprah last night were treated to a host of bombshells on everything from the couple’s secret marriage to the gender of their new baby. Allegations levelled by the pair include claims that a member of the royal family made racist comments about Archie’s skin colour and that the firm stopped Meghan from getting help for her mental health. One claim that can be rebutted however is the issue of why Harry and Meghan’s son Archie does not have the title of prince like Prince George or Princess Charlotte. In her interview, Oprah Winfrey asked Meghan if her son was denied the title of

Ross Clark

What the return of classrooms means for Covid

Will the return of schools reverse, or dramatically slow, the sharp downwards trend in new Covid-19 infections, which is currently falling at more than 30 per cent a week? No one knows for sure, but it seems unlikely that the mass return of schools today will not have some effect on infections in England, especially given that it involves a section of the population that has not been vaccinated. While few children suffer serious symptoms of Covid-19, they can carry the disease — older children, especially. For that reason, a return of unvaccinated children to school is likely to have a greater effect on raw infection numbers than, say, a

Andrew Montford

The hidden cost of Net Zero

‘We cannot allow debt to keep rising’, the Chancellor said to Parliament last week, repeatedly emphasising the need to ‘level’ with the public about the size of the national debt. Strange then that just days later it was revealed that ministers have been doing the opposite when it comes to the costs of the fashionable cause of ‘Net Zero’. Instead government officials deliberately hid ‘more realistic’ estimates which showed Net Zero would cost billions more than publicised, while agreeing amongst themselves that the predicted costs were ‘highly uncertain’. These revelations came about after the Treasury was finally defeated in a two-year battle to prevent me seeing documents I’d requested under the Freedom

Patrick O’Flynn

Why Farage’s successor is ignoring the culture war

The departure of Nigel Farage from the stage does not necessarily mark the end of the ‘revolt on the right’ that has so shaken up British politics over the past decade. Followers of the fortunes of the Brexit party, which has now morphed into Reform UK, will know that Richard Tice has been the coming man for many months. Today Farage’s newly-appointed successor as party leader (the party doesn’t, as yet, do internal elections) sets out the ground on which he has chosen to take on the political establishment — for which one should read ‘nibble away at the Tory vote share’. And Tice has chosen to ignore the fashionable notion

Jonathan Saxty

Britain’s military problem needs an economic solution

Britain’s decline is relative, and is influenced by the fact that within living memory the UK was the world’s hyperpower. Decline though did not relegate the UK to the ranks of some ex-colonial powers like Turkey, but into the league of France, Germany and Japan (hardly disrespectable company). For almost all the post-war period – a few bumpy years notwithstanding – the UK never dipped below number five in the world economy rankings (where it is today). Moreover, it remains (alongside China, France, Russia and the US) one of five permanent UN Security Council members and recognised states with nuclear weapons. Unlike France, the UK has the scaffolding to rebuild

Lloyd Evans

Ben Shapiro’s battle with Hollywood

The sacking of Gina Carano is still creating waves in Hollywood. The martial artist turned movie actress was dropped from the Star Wars spin-off, The Mandalorian, after blocking BLM supporters on Twitter and stating that being a Republican in Hollywood was like being a Jew during the Holocaust. She compounded her sins by suggesting that voter fraud had affected the result of the 2020 election. Her employers, Lucasfilm, dismissed her views as ‘abhorrent’ and accused her of, ‘denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities.’ Carano was also dropped by her management company, United Talent Agency. (So much for ‘united.’) Then came the backlash. The pro-Republican commentator Michael Knowles

Sunday

7 Mar 2021

Isabel Hardman

The pressure on the NHS is only just beginning

Is the row over the government’s plan to award only a 1 per cent pay rise to NHS workers as politically toxic as some suggest? Labour has certainly seized on it, with Sir Keir Starmer saying ‘Covid heroes’ deserve a pay rise. But Boris Johnson today defended the raise, saying: ‘What we’ve done is try to give them as much as we can at the present moment… We’ve tried to give the NHS as much as we possibly can.’ He also pointed to wider government investment aimed at helping the health service cope with the pandemic. The pay ‘rise’ might not be as much of a problem in isolation –

Owen Bennett

The danger of mocking Nigel Farage

He’s gone. Again. Even casual watchers of UK politics will be used to Nigel Farage quitting…and then returning. But this time, he insists it is for real. Except leaving politics does not mean disappearing from public life. ‘I now feel I can do just as much to shift public opinion through media and social media as I can as a campaigning party leader,’ he said in his announcement that he was quitting heading up the Reform Party. He’s right. And his opponents will once again play into his hands because they will fall back onto the same patterns of caricature and derision as they have throughout Farage’s career. An announcement

Matthew Taylor

Sunday shows roundup: schools could see a ‘five-term year’

Gavin Williamson – 1 per cent NHS pay rise is result of ‘difficult economic challenges’ The Education Secretary was tasked with the government’s media duties this morning, on the day before schools are due to reopen for the vast majority of England’s children. However, with the Budget having taken place last week, another issue dominated the agenda. The government is offering a pay rise of 1 per cent for NHS staff, which is regarded by many in the profession as too low. Since inflation has been forecast as reaching 1.5 per cent later this year, unions have argued that the pay rise is in effect, a pay cut. Amid threats

Ross Clark

Is it time to measure Covid differently?

According to government figures the toll of Covid 19 so far has been 124,419 deaths (if you define a Covid death as any death which occurs within 28 days of someone being confirmed as infected with the virus) or 140,062 (if you define a Covid death as one where the word ‘Covid’ is mentioned anywhere on a death certificate – regardless of whether they have produced a positive tests). These are figures which have been compared with Jumbo Jet-loads or matched up against the loss of life in the Somme. But should we really be using raw death figures – which are hugely emotive – to influence decisions as to

Matt Kilcoyne

Why Edinburgh’s Adam Smith statue should stay

In the wake of the Black Lives Matters protests last year, Edinburgh Council announced the creation of the ‘Slavery and Colonialism Legacy Review Group’. Headed by Sir Geoff Palmer — an academic and human rights activist — the group is looking at all public memorials on council land that ‘perpetuated racism and oppression’ with the option of ‘removal or re-interpretation’ for problematic monuments. The grave of Adam Smith, as well as a statue dedicated to the Enlightenment thinker, have both been identified by the review due to a passage in which Smith, according to the body, ‘argued that slavery was ubiquitous and inevitable but that it was not as profitable

Robert Jackman

Fake views: the problem with Netflix documentaries

Netflix gets a lot of stick for being woke these days – and not just from this parish. And when you look at the network’s recent signings, it’s not hard to see why. From hiring Michelle Obama to present kids’ shows to splashing out on the Sussexes, Netflix executives don’t exactly hide their worldview. But for all the gripes levied against the media empire, there is one section of its content that gets off rather lightly. And that’s a bit of a shame. As not only do Netflix’s current affairs documentaries come with a strong agenda, they’re also terrible examples of factual filmmaking. And the latter is the really unforgivable part.

Nick Tyrone

Starmer’s Labour is doomed but it’s not his fault

Keir Starmer has caught a lot of flak this week for his response to the Budget. The complaints are that he wasn’t strong enough, his opposition to corporation tax rises was a mistake and that he had nothing to really say that managed to stick with the public. It has added to a sense of Starmer’s leadership of the Labour party being on a downward spiral. Yet Starmer has probably done as well in his opening year as Labour leader as anyone could have. He isn’t the problem – it’s his party. The reality is that Labour couldn’t win the next election with anyone in charge. The problem goes well beyond