All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
The Labour leadership contest will heat up in the next few days. Tomorrow, the Fabian Society will host a hustings with all of the declared candidates. Liz Kendall is set for a grilling on the Andrew Marr Show on Sunday. On Monday, all of the candidates will address the Parliamentary Labour Party before heading to
When you’re a smaller party I think it naturally gives you an understanding of what it feels like to be an underdog, and a passion to level the playing field. For too long, small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) – independent traders, the self-employed, local businesses – have been neglected by the two bigger parties. Labour
Renegotiating substantial change in Britain’s EU relationship is a problem for David Cameron. On the one hand, the Eurozone is facing an unknown challenge with a Grexit on the horizon. But many in the Tory party believe the Prime Minister’s efforts are smoke and mirrors, and he won’t achieve the change they crave. Michael Gove is one,
The Electoral Commission (ElCom) is an institution with a lamentable record of failing to fulfil its role as guardian of our political system. After so many contrary and arguably politically partisan decisions in recent years, one has to ask: Who guards this guardian? Its chairperson Jenny Watson, as a former women’s rights activist and former member
From ‘Depression and its Causes’, The Spectator, 5 June 1915: What causes fear and anxiety in moments of crisis is not the inevitable, but the thought whether one is doing enough or doing the right thing to prevent the peals which one dreads. When men have made the renunciation and are spending their last shilling
A spectre is haunting the world: the spectre of Tony Blair’s ego. Mr Blair has wasted eight years pretending to solve the problems of the Middle East. He has also wasted millions of pounds, and achieved nothing. He has exposed his own total ignorance of history and his megalomaniac overestimation of his own powers. Throughout
Al Qaeda terrorists have never had good press. For sound reasons they are always represented as evil, nihilistic, faceless murderers. There are certain interesting signs this is starting to change. This is happening in part because the emergence of Isis has shown that there is something worse than Al Qaeda. It is in part because
Now that the fashionable thing for all MPs to do is to announce that they won’t be ‘taking’ the 10 per cent pay rise planned by IPSA, the government has decided to write a letter opposing the extra £7,000, just in case anyone might accuse any MPs of having their snouts in the trough. Chris
Is it too cynical to say that the tributes paid to Charles Kennedy in the House of Commons yesterday were excessive, maudlin, and more than a bit silly? Is it pompous to say that the House of Commons should be a chamber for matters of state, not a safe space for sharing grief? A former
Ed Miliband has wasted little time in returning to speaking duties in the House of Commons. George Osborne came to the Chamber to announce £4.5bn of savings – made up of £3bn from non-protected departmental Budgets and £1.5bn from asset sales, including the disposal of the government’s remaining 30 per cent stake in the Royal
Since the 56 SNP MPs entered Parliament, they have taken to ‘rebelling’ against the establishment in a number of ways. So far they have focussed their time on trying to nab Dennis Skinner’s seat, going against Commons’ etiquette by clapping in the chamber, and purchasing white roses for the Queen’s Speech. Now they also appear to have had enough of corridors. Stewart McDonald, the SNP
Nigel Farage has made made some changes to his core team. After the Ukip wars, his senior aide Raheem Kassam left the party and has been replaced by Michael Heaver. From today, he will be dealing with media queries for the leader’s office and running his social media accounts. Heaver previously worked in the party’s press
The former Chief Rabbi, Lord (Jonathan) Sacks, is one of the most interesting thinkers, writers and speakers about today. His interventions into the public debate rarely fail to encourage thought, knowledge and indeed wisdom. I had the pleasure of interviewing him last year for the magazine just before he was due to give a major
Ed Miliband’s general election campaign was clearly dysfunctional, but now we have an insight into just how bad it was. The Guardian’s political editor Patrick Wintour has produced a fantastic long read on the undoing of Miliband, revealing the fear and loathing inside his operation. The piece is such a fascinating read it’s worth buying a copy of the paper for. If you aren’t able
Is the NHS bossing around the British people too much? On this week’s View from 22 podcast, Douglas Murray and Christopher Snowden discuss this week’s Spectator cover feature on the high priests of health and how the NHS is telling us how to live our lives. Does this level of continued intrusion show that the NHS is unsustainable on its current form? And what
Alex Salmond’s reintroduction to Parliament has hit a few bumps in the road this week. He was criticised on Tuesday when he appeared to use Charles Kennedy’s death as an opportunity to push Scottish independence. Now, Salmond has told Anna Soubry, the small business minister, to ‘behave herself, woman’. During a House of Commons debate last
Could there be trouble in doggy paradise? Sarah Vine has previously revealed that their family dog Snowy (a Bichon ‘ish’ dog, who was the runner up in the Westminster Dog of the Year, 2015) is ‘married’ to Lola, George Osborne’s bichon frise. But could it be that Lola has been forced into this canine partnership?
The Conservatives might have gone in softer than Russell Brand and the gang predicted, with very little change announced in the Queen’s Speech last week, but they didn’t fail to cause a stir. The proposed ‘Psychoactive Substances Bill’ is designed to provide a blanket ban on all substances which produce a mind-altering effect, with several allowances made
Last week the Guardian‘s food police turned their attention to tea. After the publication declared war on HP sauce in January, they have now vetoed tea. The writer Joel Golby claims that liking tea is ‘the worst possible English trait, up there with colonialism and the class system’. All very… Guardian. Only the tea memo has yet to reach the Guardian shop, which
From ‘The Financial Emergency’, The Spectator, 5 June 1915: In these columns the late Government have often been criticized for the way in which they permitted the national expenditure to grow in time of peace. Let us admit, however, quite frankly that the nation before the war began was so rich that it could afford
Jeremy Corbyn is to stand for Labour leader. Those scoffing at the idea of the very rebellious backbencher entering the contest to lead a party he often disagrees with have rather missed the point. Corbyn doesn’t think he can win. He doesn’t even want to win (he is one of the few MPs who I’ve
‘Don’t gloat’. Cameron trotted along to the Commons today with this commandment ringing in his ears. He nearly managed it. But his manner betrayed his state of mind. There was an audible zing, an irrepressible sunniness in his voice as he inaugurated his second term. ‘This morning I had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others.’
David Cameron might have had an enjoyable session teasing Labour at Prime Minister’s Questions, but as soon as he’d finished doing so in his head-to-head with Harriet Harman, he was reminded that winning an election with a majority that is so small means he can’t have fun all the time. Andrew Mitchell stood up to
Something incredible happened today: the Twitterati – used to passing mob justice on telly, celebs and politics – turned their attention to poetry. More specifically a poem in the London Review of Books by Craig Raine. How Mr S’s heart leapt as he saw Raine’s name trending up there with Andy Coulson and #NationalRunningDay, could
The first PMQs after an election victory is a moment to savour for a Prime Minister. He knows that the result gives him a trump card he can play again and again. So, it was unsurprising that Harriet Harman made little progress against Cameron. He treated it as a gentle net session, meeting each question
Ever since the 56 SNP MPs arrived in Parliament, their main focus seems to be battling Dennis Skinner for his seat. Happily, the Scottish Nationalists appeared to have a night off from pestering the 83-year-old MP yesterday, with Angus MacNeil teaming up with the Conservatives to take on the Lords in Macmillan Cancer Support’s annual Parliamentary Tug of
Technology has the huge potential to transform the healthcare system. In this View from 22 podcast special, The Spectator’s Sebastian Payne discusses how technology is revolutionising healthcare with Professor Simon Wessely, the president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, Dr James Kingsland, the President of the National Association of Primary Care and Kate Newhouse, the CEO of Doctor Care
We in the West all hate Sepp Blatter, so we pay too little attention to the manner in which the Fifa executives were arrested. For what reason, other than for maximum drama, were they all ensnared in a dawn raid on their hotel in Zurich? Are we really satisfied, if we think about it, that
The first PMQs of the new Parliament will kick off shortly and Commons watchers will be looking to see if Dennis Skinner remains in his usual spot. The socialist firebrand, along with fellow members of Labour’s so-called awkward squad, has previously occupied the second opposition front bench — until the SNP’s 56 MPs came along
One of the funnier moments of the election involved Ed Miliband assuming that a turban-wearing Sikh gentleman he met on the campaign trail would, naturally, be helping him get the Sikh vote out for Labour. In fact, the man was a Conservative parliamentary candidate. It seemed to exemplify the extent to which Labour assumed ethnic
If you’re a Labour leadership contender, or keen for other reasons to look in touch with people – or perhaps you really do disagree with MPs getting a 10 per cent pay rise, then the fashionable thing to say is that you’ll be turning down the pay rise. This morning Andy Burnham has said he
Given that the Queen looked in such good health last week during her speech, Mr S was surprised to hear ‘breaking’ news that she was being treated in hospital this morning. The BBC journalist Ahmen Khawaja took to Twitter to tell her followers exactly that. However, Buckingham Palace has since confirmed that the Queen was in hospital, but just for
My favourite moment in the crisis engulfing football’s governing body, Fifa, came with the intervention of a man called Manuel Nascimento Lopes. Manuel is the Fifa delegate from Guinea-Bissau, an African country which occupies 130th place in the Fifa world rankings but which, far more importantly in this context, punches well above its weight when
The first volume of Charles Moore’s biography of Margaret Thatcher is one of the finest political books of recent times. With the second volume due out in October, Charles, a columnist for both the Telegraph and this magazine, has agreed to also become a visiting scholar at the think tank Policy Exchange where he will