All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
Just getting to meet the two British jihadists accused of being part of the so-called “Beatles” cell of Islamic State terrorists is an arduous task. Crossing the Tigris in a battered river barge is the only route available from Iraq into Rojava, the Kurdish controlled part of northern Syria where the two men – Alexanda Kotey
Sajid Javid has only been Home Secretary for seven hours but already he appears to have settled into the role with gusto. In his first appearance at the despatch box as Home Secrtary, Javid was greeted with cheers from the Tory benches before warning Diane Abbott – his opposite number – that she did not
Another day, another Brexit defeat in the House of Lords for the Government. This time around, peers have voted to back an amendment to the Brexit bill which would hand Parliament, rather than ministers, the power to decide what to do if MPs reject the final deal agreed with Brussels. The margin in today’s vote
How easy it would be to be goaded by the visit of Tendayi Achiume, the UN’s “Special Rapporteur on Racism” to Britain. “My mission…will focus on explicit incidents of racism and related intolerance as well as attention to structural forms of discrimination and exclusion that have been exacerbated by Brexit,” she says, as well as
James Brokenshire is back in government after his illness. He is the new housing secretary, which marks quite a change from Sajid Javid. Brokenshire is one of those ministers May trusts deeply: he worked with her in the Home Office where she found him to be a quietly loyal colleague. What does this mean for
The appointment of Sajid Javid is something quite rare: a bold move, rather than a defensive one, by Theresa May. He was furious about the Windrush debacle and it was his pressure that made 10 Downing Street realise how politically toxic it could be. Not just because – as he put it in the Sunday
Amber Rudd’s resignation is something of a coup for Diane Abbott, who has spent the last week calling for the Home Secretary to go. But Abbott’s disastrous interview on Good Morning Britain might well have cut Labour’s celebrations at Rudd’s departure somewhat short. The shadow home secretary was asked repeatedly what Labour’s policy on illegal
Sajid Javid is the new Home Secretary. His appointment is striking in several ways. First, he and May have clashed repeatedly in the past—Javid was one of the ministers most frequently briefed against during the May ascendancy. He was also brutal in the first post-election political Cabinet in detailing all the problems with how May’s Downing
Theresa May’s tragicomic run of rotten luck continues. Amber Rudd has self-deported to the backbenches and the Prime Minister will have to find a credible replacement at a moment of acute strife. Why anyone would want the job is a mystery to most of us, but then we lack that combination of ambition and self-delusion essential
When Nick Boles tweeted in January to complain about the ‘timidity and lack of ambition’ in Theresa May’s government, the Conservative MP kickstarted a mini-revolt which saw the party come close to turning on May. So, it doesn’t bode well for May that Boles appears to level some of the blame for Amber Rudd’s departure
With Amber Rudd gone, talk has turned to who will replace her as Home Secretary. Downing Street has suggested that hacks should be on standby for an announcement later today. However, choosing a successor will be no easy task. The bookies’ favourite is Michael Gove, the government’s resident eco-warrior who currently resides at Defra. However,
Can anyone explain to me why it is wrong for the Home Office to have a target for the removal of illegal immigrants? And would not the ideal target be 100 per cent? Rudd is inept, I think. She probably should have gone – although as ever, the thing which pushed her over the edge
Alastair Campbell denies that he ever said that no Cabinet Minister can survive a negative story lasting ten, eleven or 14 days. But even if he didn’t say it, it is not a bad rule and one that Amber Rudd has fallen foul of. Rudd’s resignation is a result of the fact that more and more
To the disappointment of Conservative MPs and the delight of Labour politicians, Amber Rudd has resigned as Home Secretary – but the best politicians can always clutch victory from the jaws of defeat. Or at least that appears to be what Anna Soubry is trying to do. The arch-Remainer has taken to social media to
It’s hard not to feel a little sympathy for Amber Rudd. She was the lighting rod of the Windrush scandal, having inherited a deeply dysfunctional department from her predecessor, Theresa May. The “hostile environment” policy that led to the shameful Windrush debacle was developed under Mrs May, as was the situation where even senior Home
The fallout of the Windrush scandal has continued from the previous week, with Home Secretary Amber Rudd still in the firing line and facing calls to resign. Rudd has been criticised after telling the Home Affairs Select Committee on Tuesday that the Home Office did not set targets for removals of illegal migrants to the
The latest challenge asked for poems about euphemisms. You avoided politics and sex (mostly), preferring, like Monty Python’s Dead Parrot sketch, to focus on the language of dying and the words and expressions we call on to avoid the D-word. And there are plenty of them — David Crystal has written that there are more
In January, the Church of England announced a new child abuse accusation against the late Bishop George Bell. They handed it to the police. This weekend, the police said that the case is now closed. Their spokesman added, ‘Of course further police investigation or action is not possible as Bishop Bell died 60 years ago.’
Amina Ahmed counts herself as one of the lucky ones, or just about. When Boko Haram staged a mass kidnapping in her home town of Gwoza, northern Nigeria, three years ago, she and other female captives were sorted into two different categories of chattel. The less favoured ones were conscripted as cannon fodder against the
I am living in Paris in the unofficial role of Diplomatic Wag. Though since I am neither wife nor girlfriend, but fiancée, or, in best Franglais, la vielle balle et chaîne, I have been searching for a new acronym. Foho (Foreign Office Hanger On)? Andy is a ‘Directeur de SIN’, a demonic job description out of
Next Saturday had long been circled in Tory plotters’ diaries as the date on which the next effort to remove Theresa May would begin. But as I say in The Sun this morning, even May’s most ardent Tory critics now accept that next week’s local elections aren’t going to lead to her downfall. Why, because
The anniversary of the ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech by Enoch Powell reminded me of my stint as literary editor of this mag. If you are responsible for finding book reviews each week, you come to cherish the regulars, such as Enoch, who are prepared to review anything. His besetting sin was not racism so much
The overseas reaction to the case of Alfie Evans has been quite striking. It’s not that the NHS treated him poorly, or that anyone seriously believes that the 23-month-old boy could have recovered from his brain damage. The shock comes from the fact that English law can define the ‘best interests’ of a child as
So, Alfie Evans has died. His father, Tom Evans, said on his Facebook page that his little boy had ‘laid down his shield and taken up his wings’… and ‘we are absolutely heartbroken’. So, the judges have got their way; Alder Hey hospital has got its way; the child died on the terms of the
For France and Germany, the contrast could scarcely be starker. For three days Emmanuel Macron was wooed and fêted by Donald Trump, treated to marching bands and banquets. Today, Angela Merkel made a brief two-and-a-half hour stop-off at the White House, then flew away again. So does this mean President Macron is Trump’s New Best
Donald Trump’s critics waste little time in condemning him. Whether it’s an ill-judged gaffe or a spelling mistake in a tweet, pointing the finger at a president some love to hate is a popular exercise in virtue signalling. But those who shout the loudest about Trump’s misdemeanours seem to be curiously quiet when The Donald does
In a culture war you can’t be too picky about who your friends are, even less your celebrities. The stars never come out for President Donald Trump, not during his campaign and certainly not at his inauguration. Where President Obama danced an elegant waltz while Beyoncé sang At Last and Stevie Wonder, Puff Daddy and Sting looked on, Trump’s big moment was accompanied by the
When the Windrush scandal broke, it was largely seen as Theresa May’s fault, given the Prime Minister had introduced the hostile environment policy when she was Home Secretary. But this week, the focus has shifted to Amber Rudd, and whether she knew what was going on once she took over the role. This afternoon the
A few weeks ago, Westminster went into a frenzy over allegations in The Observer about the relationship between Vote Leave and the campaign group BeLeave. I have seen a copy of a statement that Vote Leave has sent to the Electoral Commission which they believe proves that they did not destroy evidence. Vote Leave statement:
The government’s opponents were not slow, as usual, to blame today’s disappointing data on economic growth on Brexit (the IOD) or ‘austerity’ (John McDonnell) – while the Chancellor, Philip Hammond, chose to fall back on that old chestnut used by corporate spokesmen when announcing dismal results: the weather. None of these will really do as
Ken Livingstone could soon find himself booted out of Labour for good if the party ever gets its act together to deal with his suspension. So it Ken sorry? Not a bit. The former mayor of London told LBC this morning that the anti-Semitism row was a ‘complete diversion’ and insisted it wouldn’t damage the
There are big things happening on the Korean peninsula. Today’s declaration of peace is a massive moment in Korean history, and it is being greeted with tremendous excitement (my wife, who is from Seoul, was physically jumping with joy at the news). You can understand why people are getting so worked up. After all, it’s the
The Resolution Foundation suggested that a third of Britons born between 1980 and 1996 will never own their own home. Which European countries have the highest and lowest rates of homeownership? Highest Romania 96.2% Slovakia 90.3% Lithuania 89.9% Croatia 89.7% Hungary 88.2% Lowest Switzerland 44.5% Germany 52.5% Turkey 61.1% Denmark 63.3% UK 64.4% Source:
This is an extract from Martin Vander Weyer’s ‘Any other business’ column in this week’s Spectator The season of high-street banks’ annual general meetings is with us and I urge you to turn up and make trouble. When I say ‘you’, I don’t mean the likes of New York ‘activist’ Edward Bramson — who holds