All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
There is a divide in Britain, one that cleaves us apart more sharply than Leave vs Remain, north vs south, or moody Owen Jones vs needy Owen Jones. Our real national fault-line is Kay Burley. The Sky News presenter is everywhere right now. She was named Broadcast Journalist of the Year by the London Press
The Business Secretary joined Andrew Marr this morning to keep alive the Prime Minister’s aspiration for a customs partnership with the EU after Brexit. On Wednesday, the Brexit inner cabinet voted down Theresa May’s proposal, which would see the UK government collect tariffs on behalf of the EU in return for greater access to the
After winning the ‘broadcast journalist of the year’ gong on Tuesday at the London Press Club awards, Kay Burley topped off a busy week with a debut on the Andrew Marr show. The Sky broadcaster joined Amanda Platell and Ayesha Hazarika for the paper review segment of the early morning current affairs show, Only while discussing the
The Conservatives better-than-expected election result has been dampened somewhat by CCHQ’s decision to reinstate a councillor suspended for comparing an Asian man with a dog last June in order to take control of Pendle council. Labour have been quick to go on the attack – accusing the Tories of abandoning decency in favour of a power
Fifty years ago, ‘les événements’ kicked off in Paris. The students’ complaints were fascinatingly trivial. They were bored stiff at their hideous new university in Nanterre. In a move which would now get them trolled by Time’s Up, the left-wing male students organised a ‘sexual riot’ and marched on the girls’ hall of residence, demanding
I dislike the attacks on Theresa May’s Brexit adviser Olly Robbins. Mr Robbins is a capable and patriotic official charged with the exceptionally demanding task of extricating Britain from the European Union. This job is as difficult and complicated as taking Arizona out of the United States. I detect no evidence to support claims that
To tackle London’s murder problem, Sarah Jones, Labour Party and Croydon Central MP, told the BBC that a ‘public health approach’ is needed. This, she says, involves going into schools and teaching ‘what it is to be a man.’ Quite so. Masculinity can and ought to be taught. But is this really a job for
It is easy enough for a remorseless liberal like Matthew Parris (‘They say Enoch Powell had a fine mind. Hmm’, which appeared in the magazine on 28 April) to denigrate Enoch Powell on the strength of his widely execrated speech on immigration and some tortured comments on homosexuality. Powell should be remembered as the man
When it became clear that Labour had fallen far short of its overhyped expectations in the local elections, I tweeted this: https://twitter.com/JournoStephen/status/992317867004657664 I would now like to retract, but only in one instance. Adam Langleben, councillor for West Hendon in Barnet, lost his seat on Thursday. Given Barnet’s sizeable Jewish population, and Labour now being
Happy Karl Marx day. To mark the 200th anniversary of the revolutionary philosopher’s birth, a statue of the revolutionary philosopher (funded by the Chinese, natch) has been erected in his German hometown Trier to protests, Owen Jones has tweeted a picture of his cat reading Das Kapital and a range of pieces have been published across the
Theresa May has received a shot in the arm from the local election results. But, as I say in The Sun this morning, she still needs to deal with the whole customs partnership question. Even after the remarkable rebuff that the ‘new customs partnership’ received from the Brexit inner Cabinet on Wednesday, despite the Prime
The Times’s internal guide to writing its obituaries has fallen into my hands. It adds new terrors to death. Questing after interest (‘the quirkier the better’), it invites obituarists to ask unusual questions about the dead: ‘Were they cold-hearted bastards in the workplace?’ ‘Did they enjoy baiting their neighbour’s dog and teaching their grandchildren to smoke?’
Jeremy Hunt as Home Secretary said something very important by mistake. He told the Commons in May 2018 that ‘a computer algorithm failure’ meant 450,000 patients in England missed breast cancer screenings. As many as 270 women might have had their lives shortened as a result. This point hasn’t received the analysis it deserves. Scores of women died sooner than
Our new Home Secretary Sajid Javid is a big Ayn Rand fan: twice a year, he reads the courtroom scene in ‘The Fountainhead’. He said so in an interview with The Spectator: “It’s about the power of the individual … About sticking up for your beliefs, against popular opinion. Being that individual that really believes
Entries are coming in quickly for this year’s Spectator’s (paid) internship scheme, which this year we’re arranging by category: research, editing, data/tech, social media. Such is the quality of the applications received so far that we’re adding a new category: the political mischief internship. The tests are tough because we’re serious. e’re doing this because
Ahead of the local elections – and the predictions of a bloodbath for the Conservatives – it seemed a safe bet that on the night the official Tory MP WhatsApp message group would be filled with complaints about bad results – possibly bad leadership – and a number of Conservative MPs warning emotional colleagues to
From 2009 to 2010 Sven Hughes worked for SCL group, the parent company of the controversial — now deceased — Cambridge Analytica. SCL/Cambridge Analytica and its CEO Alexander Nix have been in the news a lot lately, chiefly because of their role in the Trump campaign. The fall of Cambridge Analytica was prompted by a
Writer and comedian Michelle Wolf has hit the headlines for her routine at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday. Comedians were invited to take the piss out of the American political establishment and the press, and Wolf did not disappoint. Her jokes ranged from Trump using pussy-grabbing to find loose change to Senator Mitch
In the flurry of excitement over the local elections, Chi Onwurah’s Question Time appearance has been cruelly overlooked. Happily, Mr S is on hand to right this wrong. The Labour MP’s attempt to criticise the Tories over student loans backfired last night. The Labour MP spoke of her apparent fears that a working-class student could be put
I live in Wandsworth. It’s nice. That’s not a political comment, just an observation on the borough. OK, it’s not edgy or cool or even wildly imaginative, but neither am I. It is also the sort of place the Tories should win at a canter. There’s a reason it’s called a flagship council, after all.
It’s a bit mean to accuse the Tories of cynical expectations management, as Jeremy Corbyn has just done. Their panic was quite genuine. I’ve spoken to a great many Tories over the last few weeks, and none would have been so bold as to predict today’s results. Rallings & Thrasher had expected the Tories to
If you want to know how last night was for the Labour Party, you need to look no further than the statement that Jeremy Corbyn has just released on the results. It is not a celebratory comment on Labour’s spectacular night, but a defensive one, describing the local elections as a ‘solid set of results’.
Has Labour’s anti-Semitism row cost the party in the local elections? Given their disappointing results in areas with a large number of Jewish voters, such as Barnet, it would seem so. So is Ken Livingstone feeling apologetic for repeatedly talking about Hitler? Not so, if his interview on Sky News just now was anything to
It was always possible, I wrote a month ago, that the London elections would show voters baulking for the first time at the prospect of Jeremy Corbyn in power, especially after the protests in Westminster against anti-Semitism. That hasn’t quite happened: it seems there has been a slight swing to Labour in the capital, unlike
Ukip has had a dismal night in the local elections: the party is so far down 92 seats, and retains only two council seats across Britain. Some politicians might do their best to try and put a gloss on things – but not Ukip’s general secretary, Paul Oakley, who has compared his party to the
It’s been a somewhat disappointing night for Labour, and Mr S wonders whether his party’s failure might have upset John McDonnell. Earlier this morning, the shadow chancellor was taken to task for his comments about Esther McVey being lynched. Claire Perry called for McDonnell to say sorry – an opportunity McDonnell turned down. Here’s how their
Owen Jones has been on a mission of late – a mission to unseat Tories. The Guardian columnist has been taking his campaign to key Labour target seats. Only despite the Guardian columnist’s best efforts, Labour have had a rather underwhelming night in the local elections. So, in order to help with future planning, Mr
Theresa May has not had a good week. She has lost her Home Secretary and had the Brexit inner Cabinet knock back her customs partnership. But the overnight results in the local elections won’t increase the pressure on her. For the Tories have quite comfortably beaten expectations, which were—as Katy says —pretty low. Back in
Oh dear. It’s not been a great night for Labour. Although Jeremy Corbyn’s party has managed to make gains in the cities, Labour has not managed to meet the sky high expectations they had for the local elections. However, it’s safe to say that Corbyn’s close ally Chris Williamson – the MP for Derby North
The Conservatives have had a successful night – at least when it comes to their expectation management campaign. There will be sighs of relief in CCHQ this morning over the first influx of local election results after the much anticipated Tory bloodbath in the local elections appears to have been more of a light wound
The key results from the 2018 local elections: The Tories win Barnet and hold Westminster and Wandsworth, despite predictions Labour could seize the two Tory strongholds Labour take control of Plymouth from the Tories The Lib Dems win Richmond and Kingston-upon-Thames, on a good night for Vince Cable Ukip’s falling vote share hands the Tories
This is an extract from this week’s ‘Any Other Business’ column. The UK economy grew just 0.1 per cent in the first quarter, says the ONS, reflecting low construction activity, sluggish manufacturing, squeezed consumers, Brexit uncertainties and bitter weather. That’s the worst quarter since 2012 — so no wonder I had such a feeble response
Conservatism would be an admirable idea if only its adherents followed it. Fear of change, or at least a wariness about its capacity to lead to unintended suffering, is by no means an irrational emotion. If your society is just about managing, to coin a phrase, it is not reactionary to worry that meddling could
As voters head to the polls today, the Conservatives are hoping their reputation for bin management will trump any concerns over the government’s Brexit plans. However, Mr S suspects not all of the Tory literature used will have the desired effect. In Ilford Town, a leaflet went out to residents listing four reasons to vote