All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
For years the Biff, Chip and Kipper books have been a staple of the primary school child’s literary diet – with sprogs across the country following the magical adventures of the three siblings and their friends. But perhaps no longer. The mop-topped trio has come under fire this week after the children were accused of
It’s just one week to go until the local elections and up in Scotland, the SNP have sportingly decided to dedicate a day to highlighting the kind of successful administration which voters can expect if their party candidates are voted into office. For no less than three separate incidents happened in the last 24 hours
How long will the war in Ukraine go on? Speaking last night at Mansion House, Liz Truss suggested that western allies would be in it for the long haul when it comes to supporting Ukraine – suggesting the only acceptable outcome is for Russian forces must be pushed out of ‘the whole of Ukraine’. The Foreign Secretary
Emerging blearily from his hangover this morning, Steerpike was greeted with the dulcet tones of a Cabinet minister, gravely intoning on Times Radio about the perils of Westminster drinking. Recent revelations about MPs’ behaviour, they suggested, raise more fundamental questions about the culture at the very heart of our democracy and the temptations available to our honourable
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The chief whip Chris Heaton-Harris has started an investigation after a female Tory MP reported that she had seen a male colleague watching pornography in the House of Commons. This comes in the wake of the Mail On Sunday‘s Angela Rayner/Basic Instinct story, and of the Sunday Times’s investigation that three current cabinet ministers are
That was a barmy idea. Sir Keir Starmer led on macroeconomics at PMQs and attacked the government over its economic failures. But next week’s elections are for local authorities which have no influence over the national coffers. It’s as if Sir Keir wanted to change the subject and talk about anything other than Labour’s ability
It’s groundhog day in Westminster as sexual ethics becomes the topic of conversation once again. There have been a flurry of stories in recent weeks about the behaviour of honourable members in parliament, none of which have particularly edifying. First there were the revelations about the disgraced ex-MP Charlie Elphicke and the subsequent suspension of his (still-serving)
Russia’s intelligence operation has let Vlad down once again. Moscow’s top spooks and apparatchiks used to be feared and admired in equal measure: dark arts, double agents, defections and disinformation – it all sounded terribly impressive. Yet that daunting reputation is just one of the many Russian casualties which perished in Putin’s Ukraine expedition. Repeated intelligence failings
Prime Minister’s Questions opened with Sir Keir Starmer and Boris Johnson agreeing that the anonymous briefing about Angela Rayner was unacceptable. The Labour leader speculated that Johnson would have ‘whipped his backbenchers to scream and shout – and that’s fine’, before demanding that he send a ‘clear message that there’s no place for sexism or
Emmanuel Macron vowed to unite France following his decisive election triumph over Marine Le Pen – but it seems not all voters are willing to embrace their re-elected president. On a walkabout in Cergy on the outskirts of Paris, Macron was pelted by a bunch of cherry tomatoes. Luckily for Macron, the vegetables didn’t reach their target:
The High Court’s ruling today that the government broke the law on the discharge of patients to care homes in the early days of the pandemic further undermines the claim by the then Health Secretary Matt Hancock that ministers had thrown a ‘protective ring’ around the sector. The case was brought by two relatives, Cathy
Thierry Breton, the European Commission for the internal market, lost no time in rattling his sabre at Twitter as soon as it was announced that the company had accepted Elon Musk’s offer to buy it. Even though Musk had made no announcement on how he intends to run the company, beyond stating his belief in
Last week, Florida governor Ron DeSantis took two big steps to solidify his popularity with the Republican base, not only in his home state but across the nation. First, he won the hearts and minds of conservative voters and many independent parents by passing a law that prevents teachers from discussing the sensitive topics of
Are sanctions against Russia working? Two months on from the first targeting of Russian banks and oligarchs, Putin’s grip on power remains as firm as ever. This shouldn’t come as a surprise: restrictions on Iran, Venezuela and North Korea have impoverished their populations, but haven’t led to political revolutions. So how successful can sanctions be against Russia today?
The finest QCs in all of Twitterdom have made much out of the Johnson government, firing off law suits at the drop of the hat. But while token victories at London’s High Court are trumpeted as earth-shattering defeats for the wicked Tories, the shenanigans of Nicola Sturgeon’s government in Scotland get far less publicity in the
Russia is turning off the gas to Poland; the country’s state-owned gas supplier has refused to pay Gazprom in roubles. Bulgaria has also said that Russia would shut off their gas supplies. This is a serious escalation and raises questions about how other countries will respond to the demand. The risk of EU unity fracturing
Johnathan Hall QC has done the state a service. His cogent report on prison terrorism, published today, compliments and advances work I started in 2016 to alert the government to the profound problems in how we manage ideologically motivated offenders in our jails. Hall’s report critically examines the contemporary threat of violent extremism from within
After cross-party condemnation and a Commons summons by Lindsay Hoyle, it was only natural that the Mail would hit back over its Angela Rayner story. The Daily Mail has today ridden to the rescue of its sister newspaper the Mail on Sunday, aiming a double-barrelled blast at both the Speaker and Labour’s deputy leader. In a
While MPs compete to shout the loudest in their support of the UK’s health services (‘save our NHS!’), the British public has fallen out of love with it. More people are now dissatisfied with the NHS than are happy with it. This is true across all ages, income groups, sexes and voters of different political parties. Support
‘If you don’t like how the table is set, turn over the table,’ said Frank Underwood, the Machiavellian character played by Kevin Spacey in the US version of House of Cards. One needs to look no further than Vladimir Putin’s body language in his recent meeting with defence minister Sergei Shoigu to conclude that Russia’s
Once we had Dimbleby and Day: now it’s Nigel Farage and Piers Morgan. The two TV pundits have been trading insults this month ahead of last night’s launch of TalkTV, with both now seen as the figureheads of their two respective network channels. There’s Farage, the self-styled saviour of GB News, which launched in June, and Morgan, the well-remunerated
As horror mounts over Russia’s war crimes, the clamour for Vladimir Putin to be held to account is growing. Joe Biden has accused Russia of committing genocide in Ukraine and has labelled the Russian president a ‘war criminal’. Even Emmanuel Macron – who is the Western leader who has done the most to try and
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un vowed last night to ramp up his country’s nuclear arsenal. Such weapons don’t come cheap, especially for a state targeted by stringent sanctions and with a stagnating economy. So where does the money actually come from? Kim Jong-un appears to be using cyberspace – and stolen cryptocurrency – to pay for his
What can the government do to ease the cost of living crisis? The Chancellor drew criticism in his spring statement for not doing enough – yet there are ministers, such as Kit Malthouse, who take the view the government has already spent too much. At a recent cabinet meeting Malthouse suggested Johnson and Sunak reopen
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Today a pre-briefing on what Boris Johnson plans to say to the Cabinet about the cost of living crisis was released. He wants them to brainstorm ideas to ease the pain felt by the British public in the face of rising prices of food and energy. The catch, is these have to be non-fiscal ways.
As soul searching in Britain continues over Boris Johnson’s alleged proximity to a slice of cake, a different sort of rule-breaking has apparently been going on in Slovakia. The country’s former leader Robert Fico has been charged by police with leading an organised crime gang from his prime ministerial office. The Slovak police’s ‘Twilight’ operation,
‘Jaw jaw’ remarked Churchill ‘is always better than war war.’ And some of London’s finest jaws were being put to good use last night as the cream of the capital’s consular circuit mingled, chatted and wolfed down canapés at the Diplomat magazine awards. From Namibia to Nicaragua they came, packed into Mayfair’s glitzy Biltmore hotel in Grosvenor Square, ambassadors
Priti Patel’s reforms to the rights of asylum seekers have predictably scandalised the House of Lords. Befitting what is now effectively a club for patricians and liberals who hate Boris Johnson, it duly sent her Nationality and Borders Bill back badly mauled. The Commons excised these amendments in short order; today, the Lords will be asked
What’s up with Lindsay Hoyle? On Monday, the Speaker opened the afternoon session of parliament with a statement about the puerile gossip surrounding Angela Rayner. He called the story in the Mail on Sunday, ‘misogynistic’ and ‘offensive to women in parliament.’ Such tasteless yarns, he went on, ‘can only deter women who might be considering
The meltdown over Elon Musk’s acquirement of Twitter is my favourite world event of 2022 so far. It is delicious. I could sustain myself for years on the sight of commentators and activists wringing their hands to the bone over the possibility that – wait for it – there might be a smidgen more freedom
Rayner-gate rumbles on into day three, with no sign yet that the press have bored of talking about themselves. The Deputy Labour leader was accused by an anonymous Tory MP in the Mail on Sunday of ‘flashing’ the Prime Minister at PMQs, prompting wall-to-wall criticism across every media outlet. Radio 4 led its 6 o’clock news programme with Speaker
The predictable yet somehow still hilarious news that Elon Musk is to acquire Twitter for $44 billion has been greeted with the usual chorus of anguished hand-wringing. The left seems appalled that such an unconventional and apparently ungovernable figure now has control of the most volatile social media platform in the world. (It’s hard to