All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
Last week, I wrote about the controversy caused by the government’s revision of the ministerial code which guides ministers’ conduct. In its Blair-era version, the code said that ministers had an overarching duty ‘to comply with the law including international law and treaty obligations’. The Cameron-era version has deleted the last six words, leaving simply
Yesterday, the Daily Telegraph disclosed that George Osborne was planning to open a second front in his rather bizarre confrontation of the working poor by raiding Universal Credit, the government’s new welfare-to-work scheme. Today, the Times reports that Iain Duncan Smith might resign if this goes ahead. Friends of Mr Duncan Smith escalated the row,
Just yesterday, Vladimir Putin criticised David Cameron’s decision suspended all flights to Egypt. This afternoon, he has done the same – which suggests that the Kremlin now agrees with Britain that there is a strong chance that the Airbus 321 was downed by an Isil bomb. And if Putin does believe that, then we expect some kind of
Labour is having the sort of day that Ukip used to offer up on a reasonably regular basis. Jeremy Corbyn’s head of policy Andrew Fisher has been suspended and faces an investigation by the party for urging voters in his constituency to back the Class War candidate over the Labour one. But Jeremy Corbyn has
If Islamic State is a threat to Britain that requires a military response, then surely we should be attacking it on both sides of the Syrian/Iraqi border? Our current policy of only hitting it in Iraq, when its operation there is directed from Syria and resupplied from there, makes neither strategic nor moral sense. So,
The suspiciously handsome Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau was asked on Wednesday why it’s important to have a gender balance in the cabinet. As the Times of India reported: ‘It’s an incredible pleasure for me to be before you here today to present to Canada a cabinet that looks like Canada,’ Trudeau told reporters after he
A running sore in the Tory party is the way in which school funding is allocated. Under the current arrangements, a school in a rural area receives less money per pupil than one in a town or city, and this causes a great deal of resentment. It means that schools in the best-funded areas get £6,297 per
Without George Osborne, we’d probably be living under Prime Minister Ed Miliband right now. His value to the government goes far beyond his brief as Chancellor; he is across most departments most of the time. But as Chancellor, he is judged by the success (or otherwise) of his Budgets – which is why he is
Just when you thought the self-important, ban-happy uber-bureaucrats who run student unions couldn’t get any worse, they go and No Platform a guy who fought with the Kurds against Isis. Yes, not content with expunging lads’ mags from campus, crying for the censorship of everyone from Germaine Greer to Dapper Laughs, and wailing about Robin
The ‘Stop the War coalition’ is no such thing. It is a meeting point for hardline Stalinists and Islamists to pursue their own imperial policies. Anyone in any doubt of this need merely consider the organisation’s leadership and history. Currently their membership’s views on Syria seem to range from those supporting Russian intervention in Syria
The Oldham West and Royton by-election is Jeremy Corbyn’s first test as Labour leader, though the party has not selected a Corbynite candidate to fight the seat. Jim McMahon won 232 votes in last night’s selection, beating Mohammed Azam, who got 141 votes and former MP and ardent Corbynite Chris Williamson, who got just 17
Over the weekend James Cleverly made the news after he admitted to smoking marijuana and watching porn in his youth, during an interview on Radio 5 live. The newly elected Tory MP also gave a surprisingly honest answer when it came to a game of ‘snog, marry, avoid’. Cleverly said he would choose to snog Theresa
Given that Jeremy Corbyn took time out of his party conference speech to take a swipe at articles published by both the Mail Online and the Mail on Sunday, it’s safe to say that there is no love lost between Corbyn and Lord Rothermere’s media empire. However, Mr S understands that times are now a-changing, with Corbyn about to
That students are becoming rather hardline about speakers they disagree with visiting their campuses is now well described. Brendan O’Neill first explained the ‘Stepford Student’ phenomenon in the Spectator, and in today’s Times David Aaronovitch described his own encounter with a student leader who believes speakers who may upset students should be banned from campuses.
After a year of surprises across the board from the Tory majority to Labour’s new leader, Westminster’s rebels and insurgents descended on the Savoy Hotel to celebrate The Spectator‘s Parliamentarian of the Year awards. With the awards presented by Alex Salmond — last year’s winner of Politician of the Year, the former First Minister of Scotland made
While the Tories are still thinking about how to solve their tax credits quandary, the Resolution Foundation has come up with a simple solution: the cuts need to be reversed. In a new report out today, the think tank says any of the proposals for ‘lessening the impact of families during the transition’ (in the words
Just about anyone, except it seems for the Bank of England’s forecasting department, could have seen this one coming. When the Bank’s Governor Mark Carney decided to bundle a stack of fresh data on the state of the economy into a single ‘Super Thursday’ package released every three months, someone could have checked the calendar and
The Spectator’s 32nd Parliamentarian of the Year awards, sponsored by Benenden, took place at the Savoy Hotel this afternoon. Here are the winners – and a few extracts from my speech. The awards were presented by Alex Salmond. The winners’ speeches, and my spiel, are below: 1. Speech of the year – Johnny Mercer Our winner is a
After Mr S’s colleague Harry Mount wrote in The Spectator that the Labour party has undergone ‘a brain transplant’ under Jeremy Corbyn with a purge of the Oxbridge set, Martin Amis went on to accuse the Labour leader of being undereducated. The best-selling novelist said that he suspected Corbyn — who achieved two Es at A-Level
Are Pope Francis’ reforms and pronouncements risking a civil war within the Catholic church? On the latest View from 22 podcast, Damian Thompson and Fraser Nelson discuss this week’s Spectator cover feature on the Pope vs. the church. How concerned should Catholics be about the Pope’s wild statements? Is the church pining for the days of Pope Benedict? Is the Catholic church on track
‘It’s getting longer and longer,’ grumped David Cameron at PMQs. A microphone picked up the aside as the session over-ran by 10 minutes. Why the delay? First, the Speaker. He’s keen to give as many backbenchers as possible a chance to pass unrecognised on national TV. Secondly, he adores the limelight himself. At the slightest
Following the plane crash in Siani this weekend, Downing Street has just announced all flights set to depart from Sharm to the UK have been delayed so further security checks can be undertaken. In a statement, No.10 says David Cameron spoke to President Sisi yesterday evening to discuss ensure there are ‘tightest possible security arrangements at Sharm el-Sheikh airport’.
‘I want a woman to be President,’ declared one of the ambulance drivers interviewed by Sherief Elkatsha for his film Cairo Drive. I don’t think he was joking. He was fed up with the struggle to do his job in the chaos of the Egyptian capital’s streets clogged by 14 million vehicles. Elkatsha’s feature documentary
George Galloway is currently campaigning to be the next Mayor of London, on behalf of his Respect Party. However, given that bookies are giving 50/1 odds on him succeeding, Mr S suspects it is for the best that he also has a business venture up his sleeve. In an interview with the Evening Standard, Galloway discusses his love
It is good to learn that the current management of the V&A want to reverse their predecessors’ lack of interest in Margaret Thatcher’s clothes. The museum’s original refusal showed a lack of imagination about how women have tried to gain greater power in a man’s world, and how clothes tell this story. Museums love to
Much has been written in these pages – both by Robin Oakley and myself – about the lack of female jockeys in racing. But every single time the topic is raised, the same argument pops up: that women simply can’t compete with men because they ‘aren’t strong enough’. But yesterday Michelle Payne proved them all wrong, by
Today’s session of Prime Minister’s Questions was pointless. Describing any session as pointless is in itself a little pointless, as it takes you into the sort of territory where, like the author of Ecclesiastes, you end up declaring everything meaningless. But today really was a pointless session. The most obvious example of pointless behaviour came
When it comes to snooping and surveillance, Glenn Greenwald is one of the most vocal advocates of the dangers of such services. In fact up until 2014, the anti-NSA crusader wrote a column for the Guardian on the ‘vital issues of civil rights, freedom of information and justice’. However, today Greenwald has been accused by a former
The news that the V&A had rejected an offer of Margaret Thatcher’s wardrobe was met with dismay yesterday. ‘Shame the V&A has turned down Thatcher’s personal collection. I for one would have loved to see it!’ said the business secretary, Sajid Javid, on Twitter. Conor Burns MP suggested that the collection’s breakup would be a ‘tragedy’.
It’s a season of U-turns for the government as Jeremy Hunt will reportedly offer junior doctors an 11 per cent pay rise. In an attempt to head off strike action by the British Medical Association, who are balloting 45,000 junior doctors today, the Health Secretary will make a final offer to increase to their basic pay in
Yesterday I argued that if it became clear that the Russian plane was brought down over Egypt by a bomb, Vladamir Putin may be forced to reassess his Syrian campaign – especially in light of a strong counterattack by Islamic State on the ground in Syria. Today, as the bomb theory became the only plausible
How does Labour make its policy? Different factions and frontbenchers are quarrelling about a number of issues such as Trident and action in Syria, but a common theme in each dispute is whose word actually represents official policy. Currently the party has a plethora of different stances on everything. Maria Eagle is having to explain
When the Iran nuclear deal was debated in Washington, the popular Iranian chant ‘Death to America!’ was a regular point of contention. According to the New Yorker, on one occasion the Texan republican Ted Poe asked John Kerry if the slogan meant that Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei wanted to destroy the United States:
That Tory activists are increasingly likely to vote to leave the EU rather than stay (see ConHome’s latest survey) in the referendum has all sorts of different effects on the party. But one is that it will make it more difficult for aspiring MPs who are quite in favour of staying in. A number of
