All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
Tory eurosceptics are threatening to cause the first government defeat on a Queen’s Speech since 1924 by joining forces with Labour MPs over an amendment expressing regret that there is no bill exempting the NHS from the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. It’s the second time the eurosceptics have worked with Opposition MPs to try
Miracles are not ceased. A few years ago, a kindly educational therapist took pity on John Prescott and set out to devise a way to reconcile the Mouth of the Humber and his native tongue. He came up with Twitter. That explains the restriction to 140 characters, barely room for Lord Prescott to commit more
It’s tough up north. Just ask Andy Burnham. The class warrior has today kicked off his Manchester mayoral campaign with some ‘home truths’ about what it is like to grow up in the north. Burnham says that if you live in the north and consider becoming a doctor, people will laugh at you: ‘It’s hard
I take exception when Theresa May tells the police they aren’t doing enough to tackle domestic abuse. ‘Victims of abuse are still being let down and reports are not being taken seriously enough,’ she said. ‘The right skills and commitments to protect the vulnerable are still not held by every police officer.’ It’s not the police
Your current account provider is probably rubbish value for money and you’d be better off switching banks. That’s the message the Competition and Markets Authority put out earlier this week. The watchdog reportedly spent £5 million on a lengthy report that took ages to write, £5 million to do what I just did in one sentence
The junior doctors strike will be remembered not only as the first time in NHS history that a complete walk out took place, but also for its viciousness. Both the British Medical Association and the Government can share their blame in this. Jeremy Hunt’s threat to ‘impose’ contracts on junior doctors was unhelpful in its
A ‘digital revolution’ was at the heart of the Queen’s Speech yesterday, including a new legal right to fast broadband under plans to bring rural areas and unconnected households into the 21st century. That’s according to this morning’s front page of The Times. The paper reports that a law enshrining the right to broadband will mean that up
To subscribe to The Spectator’s weekly podcast, for free, visit the iTunes store or click here for our RSS feed. Alternatively, you can follow us on SoundCloud. What should we expect from a Hillary Clinton presidency? The Democrat frontrunner is now the firm favourite to win the White House, assuming that she can defeat her
Boris Johnson is by no means short of a bob or two but when I challenged him to create a limerick for The Spectator’s President Erdogan Offensive Poetry Competition (prize £1,000) he was unable to resist. Naturally, during his interview with me and Urs Gehriger, for the Swiss weekly Die Weltwoche – which I call
A deal has been reached between the government and the BMA on the new junior doctors contract. The deal now needs to be approved by a BMA ballot. Details of the deal are still emerging, but I understand that rather than junior doctors working the 11 Saturdays a year that the government wanted them to,
Labour’s high command are not showing themselves to be the most statesman-like of figures today. After Jeremy Corbyn was caught on camera ignoring David Cameron’s attempts at conversation, his shadow Defence Secretary struggled to control herself in today’s Queen’s Speech debate. Emily Thornberry took offence after Cameron described her as a ‘shadow defence secretary who
I’m pleased to announce that we have a winner of The Spectator’s President Erdogan Offensive Poetry competition, and here it is: There was a young fellow from Ankara Who was a terrific wankerer Till he sowed his wild oats With the help of a goat But he didn’t even stop to thankera. The author of
The speeches in the Commons which follow the Queen’s Speech blend together humour with some serious points. They are the Commons as its most clubbable, with lots of in jokes and the like. So, there was a fair amount of chatter about how Jeremy Corbyn – who is not the clubbable sort – would deal
With Tory MPs disheartened after a ‘pretty bare‘ Queen’s Speech this morning, there was much for opposition parties to feast on in this afternoon’s debate. As tradition dictates, the Queen’s speech debate begins with light-hearted speeches from two government backbenchers. This year Caroline Spelman gave the veteran’s loyal address, while Dr Phillip Lee was picked to represent
This piece is from the new issue of Spectator Money, out on Thursday 19 May. The magazine will come free with your next copy of The Spectator, and will also be available to read online at www.spectator.co.uk/money. We’re all getting older. We’ve just celebrated the Queen’s 90th as a very special occasion, yet by 2027 there
The quiet Queen’s Speech seems largely to have underwhelmed Tory MPs – though they do predict a number of sticky moments in the Commons over the coming months. Most I have spoken to describe it as ‘pretty bare’, though they also understand why the Prime Minister isn’t trying anything particularly ambitious at this stage ‘Why
Vicious, arrogant, obnoxious and possibly evil. These were the words Donald Trump used to describe Piers Morgan, when he won the first series of Celebrity Apprentice. That’s right: even the man they say is Hitler’s second coming is wary of Britain’s most insipid TV export. The combination made last night’s exclusive ITV interview, between Morgan
The Queen’s Speech today provides the agenda which David Cameron will turn to post-referendum to try and unite the Tory party. The social reforms proposed are important. Cameron hopes that they will be a central plank of his legacy, which is why he wants to stay in Number 10 for a few more years yet. In terms
Last year the Beast of Bolsover failed to make his annual contribution to the Queen’s Speech after he found himself preoccupied battling the SNP for his favourite seat. With that fight now won, Dennis Skinner was able to return to form today. As Black Rod summoned MPs in the House of Commons to hear the Queen’s
Today’s Queen’s Speech was always going to be a difficult event for the Prime Minister. With the EU referendum looming, David Cameron needed to give the impression that his party remains united and focussed on the good of the country. Still, Mr S suspects he didn’t bargain on the walk to hear the Queen’s speech proving
What is the point of today’s Queen’s Speech? The government’s legislative programme for the year is being briefed as light and safe, given the ructions in the Tory party over Europe and David Cameron’s tiny majority. But it is also being briefed as a social justice speech, one focused on getting on with the important
Back in the days when Boris Johnson was still deciding which way to go on the EU, Number 10 were very keen on a sovereignty bill. This Bill was meant to limit the powers of the European Court of Justice and assure voters that Parliament was supreme. But it was also meant to reassure Boris,
Apparently, there are secret Jewish schools in Britain where children are taught nothing but the Jewish faith, where they are exposed to homophobic literature, where all music and the arts are banned and where they are indoctrinated by extremists. How do we know? Because Ofsted chief Sir Michael Wilshaw has told us. Admittedly he didn’t quite
My phone rings. ‘Hi, it’s your editor here. We need an article in a hurry, it’s a bit of an emergency. Can you do it quickly?’. I reply: ‘Yes, but I’ll have to raise my rate by 500 per cent.’ My career at The Spectator would be pretty short-lived if I tried that on. But it’s
It’s an oft-used phrase but the popularity of ‘the Bank of Mum and Dad’ shows no sign of waning. New research shows that one third of parents have been under financial pressure as a result of bailing their children out financially. According to the information services company Experian, over half of parents surveyed said that adult
Is Donald Trump the Leicester City of US politics, the 5,000/1 outsider who took everyone by surprise? That was Piers Morgan’s opening question to the likely Republican presidential candidate on ITV last night. The obvious response might be that the Donald is more like Chelsea – loads of money, everyone sorts of hates them, some
When the SNP 56 were elected to Parliament, they were heralded as a breath of fresh air in an otherwise archaic institution. The nationalists made clear that they were unhappy to be moved to Westminster, let alone indulge in its pleasures. Despite this, they appear to have grown accustomed to their surroundings over time, with reports surfacing of their taste
I don’t know if ‘Leave’ supporters will win. With the young abstaining and the old voting in a low-turnout referendum, it is just about possible that they could. But it is already dismally clear how they will react if they lose: they won’t accept the result. Nigel Farage was proud to admit that he would
The British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), the UK’s largest abortion provider, and a group of other organisations recently launched a campaign for the repeal of all legal limitations on abortion in the UK. As a midwife, I was shocked to discover that one of those signatories was the Royal College of Midwives (RCM). If what
Although it was already evident to many that relations in the Tory party are far from rosy thanks to the upcoming EU referendum, it seems tensions are higher than anyone first anticipated. In today’s edition of The Times, Rachel Sylvester’s column — titled ‘The Tories need a new breed of modernisers’ — includes a curious
When are Jeremy Corbyn’s enemies going to get their act together? Today’s Times poll of the Labour membership shows that they would get a rather cold reception if they tried to remove the Labour leader, with 72 per cent telling YouGov that Corbyn is doing well, up from 66 per cent in November. Members are
We’re now at the stage in the EU referendum debate where every announcement is explained in terms of its relationship to Brexit – whether relevant of not. So today we learn that inflation is still flat, dropping to 0.3pc in April. As per usual. But bizarrely, the Treasury is pretending that this tell us about the misery coming our
Oh dear. While Mr S is not himself immune to the pitfalls of journalism in the digital age, today’s Times Red Box email really does take the biscuit. Although today’s morning briefing promised an exclusive poll proving that Corbyn is going nowhere, a lot of subscribers received something quite different: Fear not, however. If you fell victim
Something remarkable is happening in British politics right now. Something rotten and disgusting too. Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of Her Majesty’s loyal (sic) opposition, is trying to rewrite history. Here is what Corbyn said to Robert Peston at the weekend: “I do make the point that if you are to develop a peace process in