All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
This first week back in Parliament has proved quite how fragile the government’s power is. It may be able to govern in a technical sense – announcing bills, occupying Downing Street, and so on – but it cannot guarantee that it will get what it wants in the Commons. Having to accept the Stella Creasy
Jeremy Corbyn is ‘almost a proper chap’, says Nigel Farage, lauding the Labour leader for sacking frontbenchers who voted for a Commons motion seeking to keep Britain in the Single Market. That’s a policy that, one suspects, quite a few recent middle-class metropolitan converts to Corbynism would agree with. Perhaps Mr Farage’s praise will help them see
O tempora, o mores! The Speaker yesterday announced that men no longer have to wear ties in the House of Commons. In fact, until now it’s only been a convention – not a rule – that they should wear one. And that’s exactly as it should be. Politics is far too important to be trumped
It’s that time of year again. After Rod Liddle used the key address at the fifth annual Freedom Dinner to turn his attention to Labour’s Jew-bashing, the anti-Brexit mob and Tim Farron, he was invited back by popular demand to speak at the event this week. At the annual libertarian bash, hosted by Forest, Liddle
Yesterday, the Queen’s Speech cleared Parliament with every amendment defeated. This shows that Theresa May’s £1bn deal with the DUP is working when it comes to votes on key legislation. However, as Isabel notes, while it can govern in a technical sense, it cannot guarantee that it will get what it wants in the Commons. In
With all the awfulness in Britain this year, it’s been easy to forget about what’s happening across the pond, which is some small comfort. Donald Trump’s travel ban came into effect last night. It is a more nuanced and reasonable version of the order he issued in March. Will it make much difference to security
At some point in the last ten years, since the financial crisis (for that life-changing decade is an anniversary we are approaching), a change in perspective occurred: we went from seeing unsecured debt as something that is undesirable but occasionally necessary to something that is both unavoidable and normal. Credit cards and loans, once something
Cardinal George Pell, the head of the Vatican’s finances, has been charged with historic sex offences in his native Australia. He is returning there ‘to clear his name’. ‘I look forward to my day in court’, he said at a press conference in Rome this morning. If I were in his shoes, I wouldn’t be looking
Was that a touch of gloating I detected last night as I watched the news on French television? The lead item was Donald Trump’s acceptance of President Macron’s invitation to attend the Bastille Day commemoration in Paris next month. It’s always a prestigious occasion and this year marks the centenary of America’s entry into WW1. Hence
This morning, The Spectator held a series of discussions about the future of Conservative welfare reform, chaired by Andrew Neil and made possible by the sponsorship of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. It was a sell-out invent with a stellar panel, and we’ll bring you the full reports later. But I thought it worth mentioning what our keynote
Abortion is a matter devolved to Northern Ireland’s representatives. Today, Belfast’s Court of Appeal ruled abortion law in Northern Ireland should be left to the Stormont Assembly, not judges – which overturns an earlier ruling that the current abortion laws are incompatible with human rights laws. Yet Stella Creasy has taken it on herself to carry on
After a difficult few weeks, Theresa May can today breath a sigh of relief – the Queen’s Speech has passed. MPs voted for the government’s legislative programme by 323 votes to 309 – a majority of 14. The government successfully defeated each amendment put to the House. Labour’s official Brexit amendment was defeated by a majority of 26. Meanwhile Chuka
Oh dear. Heidi Allen is fast establishing herself as one of the most rebellious MPs in the Conservative party. The Tory MP has spoken out against her party on issues like tax credits as well making her personal grievances with both George Osborne and Theresa May public. In today’s Queen’s Speech debate, Allen added her
In the face of a possible rebellion over an amendment to the Queen’s Speech, the Government has backed down. Chancellor Philip Hammond announced this afternoon that women from Northern Ireland will be given the right to an abortion in England on the NHS. This wasn’t a change ministers wanted, but for a weak minority Government propped up by
On this week’s bumper episode we discuss the cult of Corbyn, sharia courts, the golden age of gossip, and orchid delirium. First: in this week’s magazine Rod Liddle examines the phenomenon that is Jeremy Corbyn, and describes how he has brought Labour voters together in a ‘bizarre coalition’. To discuss this subject, we were joined by Hugo Rifkind,
George Osborne has been keeping himself busy recently putting the boot into Theresa May at every opportunity. Not content with using the Evening Standard to bash the PM, the former chancellor has now added job number six to his CV, having been made an honorary professor of economics at the University of Manchester. This means
The 48 per cent have spoken – and they want higher taxes, according to the British Social Attitudes survey. In the wake of a general election in which Labour won support based on a manifesto of free spending, is it time for a rethink on tax? And should we wave goodbye to the era of austerity?
As Michael Gove settles into his new role as Defra secretary, word reaches Steerpike that the Conservative MP is already facing some opposition from the farming community. On Wednesday, Michael Gove boarded the Greater Anglia train from London Liverpool Street to Norwich in order to attend the Royal Norfolk Show. Unfortunately the intrepid minister found himself waylaid
The first proper government ambush of this Parliament is upon us. The Speaker has announced which amendments to the Queen’s Speech will be put to a vote this evening. Along with the official Labour Brexit amendment calling on the government to negotiate an outcome that prioritises jobs and the economy, there are two amendments from Labour MPs
Between the start of 1997 and the end of 2014, average global surface temperature stalled. This 18-year period is known as the global warming pause, also sometimes referred to as the global warming hiatus. The rise in global temperatures that alarmed climate campaigners in the 1990s had slowed so much that the trend was no longer
There’s been a surge in fake villa rental websites setting up since January, with fraudsters targeting properties listed on the popular Villa Plus and Airbnb websites, according to this week’s Sunday Times. The scam sites use stolen images of real villas listed on legitimate rental websites and list them under bogus names to entice holidaymakers to
Donald Trump is now referring to himself in his copious Twitter messages as ‘T’. Unlike the real Mr. T, who starred in the popular 1980s American television series The A-Team, however, President Trump is unable to muscle his way to victory. Quite the contrary. Thanks to majority leader Mitch McConnell’s sudden decision yesterday to abandon a
After much confusion today over the Conservative position on whether the party ought to lift the cap on public sector pay, tonight MPs voted to reject Labour’s proposal to the Queen’s Speech to end the pay cap. The government won by 323 votes to 309. While Jeremy Corbyn has since complained that ministers missed an
It was the first PMQs since Mrs May crawled triumphantly back into Downing Street after her humiliating victory in the general election. She has brilliantly disposed of her cumbersome Commons majority – always a drawback to a statesman – and replaced it with a thrillingly unstable parliament and a government characterised by its ruthless indecision
This PMQs was always going to be a very different affair for Theresa May. Post-election, her aura has gone and, for the first time, Jeremy Corbyn now has his benches behind him. Given the circumstances, Theresa May turned in one of her best PMQs performances. She has never been a natural at the despatch box,
The government is considering lifting the 1pc public sector pay cap in the autumn Budget. In the post PMQs briefing, a No 10 spokesman said they had ‘heard the message’ from the ‘weary’ electorate and would look at recommendations from review bodies on the issue. However, just hours later at the afternoon lobby briefing, hacks were given
With austerity so last election, voters no longer seem too fussed by the deficit. It may be that they no longer think it’s a problem, with polls showing that the average voter thinks that debt is going down. Why? Because they keep being given that impression by broadcasters who talk about ‘deficit reduction’ while wrongly thinking
What a very different atmosphere the House of Commons Chamber will have today for its first PMQs since the election. In the week before Parliament dissolved, Tory MPs were in a most obsequious mood, reciting the ‘strong and stable’ slogan that Theresa May started her campaign with, and even telling the Prime Minister that ‘I
Comparisons between Jesus and Jezza became commonplace long before he chose to end his election campaign with a rally at a church in Islington. As far back as August 2015, which in today’s political currency is at least two lifetimes ago, commentators were asking, ‘Is Jeremy Corbyn The New Messiah?’. It wasn’t just the shared
If asked, who would you say are the type of people most vulnerable to identity theft? The young and transient, whose credit cards find their way to the doormats of long-left flat shares? The elderly and vulnerable, who unwittingly reveal personal information to fraudsters? How about the savvy and entrepreneurial? A new report by Cifas reveals
The death toll from Grenfell Tower has now risen to 80, with police saying it could be next year before the true number of those who died is finally confirmed. This uncertainty isn’t for a lack of effort on the part of the emergency services; it’s clear that the search and recovery operation is underway
Google’s profits have soared in recent years. Now the company has been slapped with a fine to match, with the European Commission ordering the company to pay out £2.1bn, having ruled Google favoured its own shopping services in customers’ searches. Despite the huge fine, there’s little sympathy for the company’s plight in today’s newspapers: The
It’s hardly a surprise that the Tories aren’t pushing ahead with plans for new grammar schools, and hardly a surprise that Education Secretary Justine Greening confirmed this quietly in a written answer to a parliamentary question. They neither want to cause an upset with a policy not universally supported by Tory MPs when they now
Ever since the general election Nicola Sturgeon has lurked in her tent, contemplating the future. The result of that election, in which the SNP’s share of the vote fell by 13 points and in which it lost 21 seats, demanded a period of ‘reflection’ from the first minister. Where does Scotland stand now? The answer,