All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
The UK economy grew faster than expected in the first three months of the year. According to figures just released by the Office for National Statistics, GDP rose by 0.7 per cent in the first quarter – ahead of economists’ forecasts. If this pace were maintained across the rest of the year, Britain would far
They say that politics is all about priorities. But what happens when the public says you’ve got it wrong? Mr S has got his hands on some polling – and it doesn’t make for happy reading for No. 10. Some 76 per cent of UK adults say the government has the wrong priorities, with low
Well, well, well. Sir Keir Starmer’s big immigration speech on Monday prompted accusations the Prime Minister was trying to ‘out-Reform Reform’ – but if this is the case, it doesn’t seem to be working. A new survey by political advisory firm True North has recorded the highest vote share to date for Farage’s party in
A week of diplomatic manoeuvring, ultimatums and psychological gambits has ended with a sadly predictable result: Vladimir Putin will not be coming to the negotiating table in Istanbul. Nor will he be sending a single cabinet-level negotiator. Instead the Russian delegation will be headed by former culture minister Vladimir Medinsky – the same low-level minion
The cold-blooded killing of unarmed tourists by terrorists in Indian administered Kashmir has horrified not only Indians but people all over the world. The conviction in India that Pakistan was somehow or the other behind this attack, led it to strike at nine sites in Pakistan which it regarded as ‘terrorist camps’. Pakistan, in turn,
Across Europe, Nanny’s influence is growing: there has been a steady erosion of liberty for those of us who like to eat, drink, vape or smoke. Leading the pack in the 2025 Nanny State Index is Turkey where the state’s penchant for control borders on fetishistic, banning vapes outright and taxing alcohol off the scale.
After the horrific attacks at Frankland, after last week’s attack at Belmarsh, and after countless warnings, today’s news of three separate assaults on prison staff is grim, but unsurprising. According to the Prison Officers Association (POA), two assaults occurred at HMP Woodhill, the jail near Milton Keynes which holds Tommy Robinson and a high number
Sir Keir Starmer had a new song today at PMQs. The Tories are finished. He said it twice to Kemi Badenoch. It was a deliberate ploy. So what’s he up to? Kemi was ill-prepared for the session. She should have changed tack as soon as she heard Sir Keir’s opening statement about immigration. Kemi’s day
Our prisons are nearly full to bust once again so the Ministry of Justice has been flying some kites ahead of the review of sentencing led by recovered Tory David Gauke. The ‘leaked’ idea involves the reintroduction of remission of time spent in prison for good behaviour. While the Justice Secretary Shabanna Mahmood is said
Keir Starmer had a much more awkward Prime Minister’s Questions than he is accustomed to. This was largely because Kemi Badenoch was armed with the latest unemployment figures, but also because the Conservative leader was agile in dealing with the Prime Minister’s responses. However, the overall lesson from the session was that Starmer now wants
How do you make assisted suicide safe? In recent months, a large part of Kim Leadbeater’s answer has been to point to the involvement of psychiatrists. Having a psychiatrist sign off each death, Leadbeater said, would ‘add expertise’. They would be part of a much-touted ‘multidisciplinary’ approach. In particular, they would be able to check
As a subscriber-only special, get exclusive access to The Spectator’s Book Club Live: an evening with Max Hastings. Join The Spectator’s literary editor, Sam Leith, and the military historian and former Telegraph editor-in-chief Max Hastings, to uncover the real story of D-Day. They will be discussing Max’s new book, Sword: D-Day – Trial by Battle, which explores – with extraordinary
12 min listen
Prime Minister’s Questions today, and there was lots on the agenda. It is often a fool’s game to guess what the leader of the opposition will lead on, but today she had a wide choice of ammunition – from unemployment to welfare to the government’s new stance on migration to the war in Gaza. Kemi
It’s an image that would have been shocking, even a few months ago: US president Donald Trump shaking hands with Ahmed al-Sharaa, formerly Abu Muhammad al-Jolani, a fighter for al-Qaeda in Iraq, imprisoned by the Americans, now interim president of Syria. Getting sanctions lifted is the greatest achievement of al-Sharaa’s presidency so far The pair
This week has seen much talk – again – of the ‘Treasury View’, and how that rarely defined set of values might be influencing this government’s approach to migration. First, let’s kill off some conspiracy theories that exist about the Treasury View. In general terms the Treasury View stands for cautious conservatism (with a small
J.D. Vance, perhaps the world’s most prominent Catholic layman, has found his political ideology at odds with the papacy for the second time in as many pontificates. Vance’s brand of Catholicism favours tradition and he is part of a growing cohort of young Catholics, sometimes affectionately referred to as ‘rad trads’. It is a Tridentine
While Nigel Farage’s Reform party has seen success in the local elections this month, their former MP Rupert Lowe has received a bit of good news himself. It transpires that the Greater Yarmouth politician will not face criminal charges in relation to an allegation of threats towards the party’s chairman Zia Yusuf – with Lowe
To the green thorn in Sir Keir Starmer’s side: Net Zero Secretary Ed Miliband. The lefty veteran may have spent two decades in Westminster engraving stones and taking aim at airport terminals, but all that could be set to end in 2029 if Reform UK’s local election results are anything to go by. Analysis of
29 min listen
President Trump is an America Firster, but he has an undeniable affinity for the Arab world. He would have made a good sheik: he doesn’t drink, he loves developing flashy properties to show off his power and wealth, and he’s brutally realistic about the role of oil (and other commodities) in world politics. On his
It will be like Liz Truss on roller skates. The next election may still be four years away, and the manifestos still need to be fleshed out. Even so, the City has already started issuing stark warnings of a run on the pound if there is a Reform government led by Nigel Farage as Prime
Assisted dying has been a hot topic both north and south of the border this week, as Scottish politicians voted on Tuesday on their version of the euthanasia bill while Kim Leadbeater’s legislation will face another round of voting in Westminster on Friday. But in another blow for the Labour MP, now the Royal College
President Trump is an America Firster, but he has an undeniable affinity for the Arab world. He would have made a good sheik: he doesn’t drink, he loves developing flashy properties to show off his power and wealth, and he’s brutally realistic about the role of oil (and other commodities) in world politics. In his
The backlash against Keir Starmer has begun. Some senior figures within the Labour party have criticised the Prime Minister’s warning on Monday that Britain is in danger of becoming an ‘island of strangers’. Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, and Eluned Morgan, the first minister of Wales, are among those who believe the PM is
If the government was deliberately trying to encourage union militancy, it could not be making a better job of it. It is reported that junior doctors – or ‘resident doctors’ as we are now supposed to call them for fear of implying that they might be less qualified than consultants who have been doing their
Assisted suicide has cleared its first hurdle in the Scottish parliament, but there could be many more to come. On Tuesday evening, MSPs voted 70 to 56 to progress Liam McArthur’s Assisted Dying Bill. It would allow patients to request and be prescribed lethal drugs if they are diagnosed with an advanced, progressive and unrecoverable
President Donald Trump was in a generous mood on the first day of his Middle East tour, announcing the lifting of sanctions against Syria and offering a similar gesture to Iran, though with strict conditions. The decision to end sanctions on Syria came as a surprise and was greeted with applause by his audience in
The Nakba – Arabic for ‘the catastrophe’ and commemorated today – marks a profound moment of trauma in the Palestinian Arab consciousness. In 1948, following the Arab world’s rejection of the United Nations’ partition plan and their subsequent military assault on the fledgling State of Israel, around 700,000 Palestinians were displaced. While Israel accepted the
23 min listen
Freddy Gray speaks to Chris Whipple, whose latest book Lesson Learned from Uncharted: How Trump Beat Biden, Harris, and the Odds in the Wildest Campaign in History gives an insiders’ analysis having spoken to the people closest to both campaigns.
Peter Sullivan, a man of ‘limited intellectual capacity’ and ‘suggestibility’, has been exonerated after spending 38 years in jail for a murder he didn’t commit. Now aged 68, Sullivan has spent most of his life in high-security jails. DNA evidence has demonstrated that another man was responsible for the brutal assault and murder of 21-year-old
Keir Starmer has finally realised that he needs to tackle rising immigration. The Prime Minister said yesterday that Britain risks becoming an ‘island of strangers’ if nothing is done. Predictably, his speech has gone down badly with the usual suspects. There may be a simple reason why some of Starmer’s critics will never see eye to
Will Gary Lineker ever learn? As if the BBC Sports pundit hadn’t caused enough controversy, now the left-wing centre forward has sparked outrage over a pro-Palestine post he shared on Instagram. The Match of the Day pundit took to the social media site to share a reel first posted by the activist group Palestine Lobby
It is less than a fortnight since the Runcorn by-election, caused by the resignation of Mike Amesbury for punching a constituent. And today, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has announced that Tory MP Patrick Spencer has been charged with two counts of sexual assault. The charges follow two alleged incidents involving two separate women at
NHS England, ostensibly wishing to respond to the challenge of childhood obesity, announced yesterday the introduction of ‘spy scales’ to monitor children’s weight remotely. These devices, which conceal the user’s weight, transmit data to an app that praises kids when they lose weight and offers guidance when they don’t. But NHS England is missing the
The release of Edan Alexander, the last living American-Israeli hostage held by Hamas, was a moment of profound relief for his family and a rare flicker of hope for war-fatigued Israelis. The 21-year-old soldier, kidnapped on 7 October 2023, walked free on 12 May 2025 after 584 days in hell. The jubilation was quickly muddied by political