All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
As formal Brexit negotiations between the UK and EU begin today, there remains much confusion over what Britain’s Brexit strategy actually is. Philip Hammond confused matters further on Sunday when he appeared to undermine the Prime Minister – saying no deal is a very bad option indeed. So, what should the strategy be? Speaking on
Brexit is like life. The journey matters more than the final destination. Instead of fixating on where we will, eventually, end up, pay more attention to the things that happen along the way. As Brexit talks start, there are abundant signs of a possible compromise on Britain’s exit, or at least, on the timing of
It says much about the extraordinary rise of Emmanuel Macron that some commentators are describing the outcome of Sunday’s second round of voting in the parliamentary elections as something of a disappointment for the new president. His La République en Marche [LREM] party won an estimated 359 of the 577 seats in the National Assembly,
We all remember it from school, whether as perpetrator, or assistant of perpetrator, or victim: the moment when everyone turns against another pupil and it becomes legitimate to be vile to her. When she is ‘down’, it becomes more and more enjoyable to torture her and to find endless new aspects of her to be
So it seems that it has happened again. A third terrorist attack in as many months on London’s streets. Once again using a vehicle. Once again aimed at Londoners. Except that this time it seems the terrorist himself is not a follower of Isis. Indeed, reports suggest that the attacker may have been a non-Muslim
As the UK basks in beautiful sunshine, it’s tempting to abandon all thoughts of a holiday abroad and opt for a staycation. But we all know the vagaries of British weather. It’ll probably be raining tomorrow. With this in mind, the financial information company Defaqto has taken a close look at potential nightmare holiday scenarios
Consider this: 1 per cent of adults own 14 per cent of the nation’s assets. That’s some 488,000 people in ownership of about £11 trillion. At the other end of the financial scale, 15 per cent – 7.3 million people – either own no assets at all, or are in debt. It’s safe to say this
It feels like an age since I was knocking on doors in the pouring rain in the final hour before polls closed, then hearing the shock of the exit poll on the car radio heading home to a hairdryer and somewhat less bedraggled attire for the count. Yet here we are just a few days
Philip Hammond – No deal would be ‘a very, very bad outcome’ One day before Brexit negotiations get underway, Philip Hammond took to the Andrew Marr Show and announced that if the UK achieved no deal with the EU it would be a ‘very very bad outcome’. This appears to be somewhat at odds with
You can see why Theresa May locked her Chancellor up in a cupboard during the general election campaign. Not only was his credibility shot in his bungled Budget, where he seemed not to realise that his plan to raise National Insurance violated the manifesto upon which he was elected, but he’s now still seeking to
This week you were invited to fill a gap by providing lyrics for the European anthem. The powers that be behind the anthem, which has as its melody the final movement of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, chose to dispense with Friedrich von Schiller’s words. ‘There are no words to the anthem; it consists of music
Since the election, Jeremy Corbyn has been parading himself as prime-minister-in-waiting. ‘Cancellation of President Trump’s State Visit is welcome,’ he tweeted this week, ‘especially after his attack on London’s Mayor and withdrawal from #ParisClimateDeal.’ The message was clear: unlike ‘Theresa the appeaser’, Jeremy is willing and able to tell that climate change-denying Islamophobe across the
While I was rummaging through data on what Treasury officials had spent on their credit cards, back in George Osborne’s day, I came across a series of curious payments. The Treasury had been paying RADA for coaching sessions. Ministers – I presume it was them rather than civil servants – were being trained by actors.
Many in Brussels are anxiously looking out for any sign of what has been termed ‘Brexit contagion’ – the idea that the Brits might encourage others towards leaving the EU. The findings of a major Pew survey of European opinion does not point to a rush towards the exit, but it certainly does flag up
The British public never really warmed to Helmut Kohl. In Britain, he was always seen as too bossy, too bumptious, too… well, too Teutonic. Margaret Thatcher thought so too. ‘My God, that man is SO German,’ she told Charles Powell, after Kohl’s attempt to woo her with his favourite dish, stuffed pig’s stomach, fell horribly
If Theresa May is ousted, or simply tires of her job as Prime Minister, might she consider emigrating to the United States and joining the Trump administration? For my part, I very much hope she does contemplate it. As big a challenge as Brexit may be, it likely pales in comparison to instilling a sense
The Brexit talks start on Monday. Theresa May hoped that they would be beginning with the UK government’s hand strengthened by her enhanced majority. But, as I say in The Sun this morning, the opposite has happened. The indecisive election result means that there is again uncertainty about the government’s Brexit position. There is lots
The deposed Scottish Nationalist MP for East Lothian, George Kerevan, found solace this week in the words of a distinguished former editor of The Spectator. Kerevan tweeted: ‘I believe every Scotsman should be a Scottish nationalist’, John Buchan, House of Commons, 24 November, 1932.’ Hundreds of disconsolate Nationalists took to their keyboards to embrace Buchan’s
The lessons to be learned from the Conservatives’ poor showing in the election could fill more pages than the national curriculum. Don’t unleash on the public a manifesto which has not even been tested among senior ministers. Don’t think you can get through a seven-week election campaign by endlessly repeating the same mantra, especially when
Helmut Kohl, architect of German reunification, has died at the age of 87. Here Christian Caryl, writing in 1994, explains how Kohl became a titan of German politics. Like everyone else in Germany, I’ve spent the past five months listening to the press ruminate about the secret of Helmut Kohl’s success. Much of the theorising had to
Angry protesters have descended on Kensington Town Hall in the wake of the Grenfell Tower blaze in which at least 30 people lost their lives. People chanted ‘We want justice’ and ‘shame on you’, as several of the demonstrators held a sit-in protest inside the town hall. Chants of ‘Not 17, not 17’ could also be heard,
Armed police have arrested a man on suspicion of carrying a knife outside Parliament. The suspect, in his 30s, was pictured being held by officers this morning. Scotland Yard said a Taser was discharged during the incident. In a statement, police confirmed that no one was injured. Joe Murphy, the Evening Standard‘s political editor, said
“Burn neoliberalism, not people” said Clive Lewis in a tweet showing the skeleton of Grenfell Tower. Odd words from a Labour MP. When asked just what he meant, he explained that his ‘agenda’ is to ‘end not just the current government but Thatcherite economic dogma’. In this way the grief and anger after the Grenfell
What can Theresa May put in the Queen’s Speech next week? The Prime Minister was always a cautious sort who wouldn’t put anything before Parliament that didn’t have a sure chance of passing – and that was when she had a majority. Now, she firstly needs to propose a set of bills that the DUP
Who would want to be a political leader in the wake of a disaster such as that of Grenfell Tower? If you show up and hug the victims you run the risk of being accused of opportunism and obstructing the emergency services in their work; if you stay away from the site you will be
In this week’s issue of The Spectator, Nick Timothy writes exclusively about why the Tory campaign was a failure. Theresa May’s former chief of staff says that nobody in CCHQ was prepared for the exit poll which predicted a hung Parliament. He recounts how Lynton Crosby said the party would ‘do well’ while Jim Messina’s modelling
‘Get back to the day job.’ The six magic words that delivered the Scottish Tories their best election night in decades. Ruth Davidson recited this incantation endlessly during the campaign and Labour and the Liberal Democrats quickly joined in. As messages go, it was blunt but effective, capturing the public mood that Nicola Sturgeon has
One of the truisms that has emerged from this election is that maybe Gordon Brown was right to veer away from calling an early election after all. Pursuing a snap election turned out to be a grave error for Theresa May, and so perhaps the Labour Prime Minister was wiser than everyone gave him credit
We don’t yet know what caused the Grenfell Tower blaze. Yet already one thing is clear: this devastating fire, in which at least 17 people – and possibly many more – lost their lives, should never have happened. Grenfell Tower is turning into Theresa May’s ‘Hurricane Katrina’ moment, says the Guardian, which contrasts Jeremy Corbyn’s
Had the Grenfell Tower tragedy befallen one of the millionaire high-rises built along the Thames recently, it would still be a catastrophe that shocked the country and the world. But what makes this disaster so numbing and sickening is to see, in the faces of the dead, some of the most vulnerable people in our
This week’s Best Buys, provided by Moneyfacts, are Variable Rate Cash ISAs.
Norfolk is the dating fraud capital of England and Wales, Surrey is the hotspot for investment scams, and mid-Wales suffers cold calling computer cons. That’s according to new analysis by Which?. Using the Freedom of Information Act, Which? collated thousands of fraud reports from Action Fraud, the main reporting body for UK fraud. The data also reveals
The resignation of Tim Farron has left a bad taste in the mouth, don’t you think? There were a number of reasons why he was an unconvincing leader: the puppyish demeanour, the want of eloquence, style or confidence – even if you agree with him about Brexit, but they weren’t the reasons why he resigned.
Oh dear. Although Conservative MPs are supposed to be rallying around their beleaguered leader as Theresa May attempts to form a minority government, not everyone has received the memo. Step forward Tim Loughton. The Conservative MP – who ran Andrea Leadsom’s short-lived leadership campaign – has taken to social media to vent his frustration that the