All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
Jeremy Hunt has tried to end the war of words between Donald Trump and Britain’s ambassador in Washington. But his open warning to the US president – that Trump’s foul-mouthed broadsides against Sir Kim Darroch are “disrespectful and wrong to our Prime Minister and my country” – is bound to backfire. Instead of calming the situation, Hunt
Should the Queen appoint as Prime Minister the winner of the Conservative Party leadership election? Not necessarily, argued Professor Meg Russell and Professor Robert Hazell in a recent paper, covered in the Guardian last Sunday. If a handful of Conservative MPs defect, Russell and Hazell say, the winner may not be able to command a majority
I never thought I’d become a politician but Theresa May’s failure to deliver Brexit changed my mind. As a result, I decided to stand as a Brexit party candidate and, in May, I was elected as an MEP for London. For someone with no political experience, the weeks since have been surreal. Yet the strangest moment so
Jeremy Hunt managed to sum up the Tory leadership contest very aptly this evening when he accused Boris Johnson of ‘peddling optimism’. The line, delivered in ITV’s leaders’ debate, did the Foreign Secretary no favours, though. He was pitching himself as the truthful realist, who wouldn’t make promises he couldn’t deliver on. Johnson ridiculed this
Tonight’s debate between Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt was a feisty affair. The pair clashed repeatedly over the October 31st Brexit deadline, tax policy and Donald Trump. The mood of the debate was summed up when Boris Johnson was asked what he most admired about Jeremy Hunt and replied, ‘his ability to change his mind’.
Tonight’s ITV debate was a much livelier contest than many expected, as both Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt engaged in blue-on-blue warfare as they battled to become the next PM. Even in one of the lighter moments of the evening the candidates struggled to be cordial on stage, with both opting to go on the
Tonight, ITV hosted the first head-to-head debate between Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt as they vie to become the next Prime Minister, and leader of the Conservative Party. And while Jeremy Hunt may initially have entered the race as the candidate least likely to engage in blue-on-blue warfare, it didn’t take long for the two
On the subject of MPs who hope Boris Johnson might give them a job, Matt Hancock was before the Health Select Committee this afternoon, where he ended up taking a fair bit of flak for what the current government hasn’t done, and what the next administration might do. After his own failed leadership bid, the
Donald Trump is at it again. Only a few hours after his Twitter outburst last night, the president has taken another pop at the UK’s ambassador in Washington. This time, Trump called Sir Kim Darroch ‘wacky’, ’very stupid’ and a ‘pompous fool’. Trump didn’t stop there though, picking up where he left off yesterday by slating May’s
Who will Boris Johnson appoint as his deputy? Now that voting in the Tory leadership is well underway – with 60 per cent of party members expected to have sent back their ballots by Thursday – most MPs are starting to think more about what the next prime minister’s cabinet will look like, and less
Why does the right hate Britain so much? That’s one of the questions arising from both the leaking of Kim Darroch’s diplomatic cables and, more pertinently, the reaction to the entirely unsurprising contents of those cables. Sir Kim’s appraisal of Donald Trump’s administration are not very different from those made by other sentient beings. Suggesting
Here is the Boris Johnson paradox: the Tory party appears to have made up its institutional mind that Boris Johnson will be its next leader and our prime minister. And yet all the senior Tories I meet – ministers, MPs and especially his supporters – are bracing themselves to be disappointed and even betrayed by
How will Boris Johnson govern? With even Jeremy Hunt allies privately braced for defeat in two weeks’ time when the result is announced, talk has turned to what a Johnson government could look like. This relates not just to his Cabinet but how No. 10 will be run and who Johnson will take guidance from.
How genuine and inclusive are complaints about institutional racism affecting non-white academics and students in British universities? To find out, over the past half year I’ve made it my business to attend academic conferences (four in all) focused or largely focused on alleged racism at UK universities and the experience of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic
The New Statesman has apologised to Sir Roger Scruton. In a statement published on its website, the magazine has admitted that in April this year its deputy editor, George Eaton, tweeted out ‘partial quotations’ from an interview with the philosopher ‘including a truncated version’ of a quotation. The New Statesman has further admitted that the effect of this quote-tampering was that:
We’re pleased to announce the regional finalists for The Spectator’s Economic Disruptor of the Year Awards 2019, sponsored by Julius Baer. We were delighted to receive some 50 per cent more entries this year — including many more from the regions outside London and the South. Business sectors represented range from fintech to funerals, and
As the Women’s World Cup drew to a close yesterday, the noise around the ground wasn’t just generated by fans celebrating the continued dominance of the United States. The crowd also chanted in support of equal pay and booed FIFA president Gianni Infantino. Their problem? The lower prize money and pay earned by female players
How damaged are UK/US relations after the Mail on Sunday published leaked diplomatic cables in which the UK’s ambassador suggested Donald Trump was inept? The answer it seems is very bad. This evening the US president took to social media to express his dissatisfaction at the leak – and the UK government. In the tweets,
Nothing better sums up the intolerance and sheer meanness of the hardcore Remainer set than their loathing for Kate Hoey. These are the kind of people who solemnly shake their heads when women in politics or business are subjected to sexist abuse on the internet. But such concerns fly full-speed out the window where Hoey
It’s been three months since the housing tsar and philosopher Sir Roger Scruton was sacked from the government’s Building Better, Building Beautiful commission after he gave an interview to the New Statesman’s George Eaton, in which several of his quotes about China and Hungary were taken out of context. Now, after a lengthy inquiry into
When Michael Gove turned on Boris Johnson in the 2016 Tory leadership contest and decided to stand against his former Vote Leave comrade, it was likened to Brutus’s betrayal of Julius Caesar. But with things looking brighter for Johnson this time around – and the former mayor of London viewed as a shoo-in for No.
You can tell a lot about the Left simply by reading the list of subjects which are trending on Twitter. Top spot this afternoon goes to the hashtag #BoycottHeck. If you are wondering what that means, Heck is a family firm based in North Yorkshire which until the weekend ran a blameless business making gluten-free
Kate Hoey, the Labour MP, Brexiteer and serial rebel, has today announced plans to stand down at the next election. In a letter announcing her retirement, the MP for Vauxhall promises to carry on until a general election (whether that’s this year or 2022) ‘serving with the energy, honesty and integrity that I have tried to
For the latest challenge you were invited to succumb to Women’s World Cup fever and submit a fragment of commentary on the tournament delivered by a figure from the world of fact or fiction, dead or alive. From Joseph Houlihan’s William McGonagall, who chronicles the Scottish team’s defeat at the boots of the Auld Enemy,
Percy Bysshe Shelley’s Ozymandias is often taught to schoolchildren, who read it as a warning about the fragility of human power. Conservatives should study it now and ensure they take an opportunity to learn from Theresa May’s mistakes on immigration. If there was one issue that helped May become, for a short time, a figure
When so much of the Brexit debate has consisted of slogans and unexamined assertions (‘cliff edges’, ‘crashing out’ and the rest), it is welcome that a more substantial argument has been made by Sir Ivan Rogers, former UK ambassador to the EU. He has been making a series of well-received speeches, some of which have
Project Fear is back after a seasonal break. Far from resolving anything, Theresa May’s decision to delay Brexit back in the spring simply kicked the can down the road, frustrating companies who invested scarce resources into getting ready for a 31st March departure. Damaging as the decision to delay Brexit was, the silver lining is
Leaked diplomatic cables are a hoot, aren’t they? The Mail on Sunday’s big scoop shows that Britain’s man in Washington, Sir Kim Darroch, has been briefing his government about President Donald Trump in much the same way as the average American news pundit on TV on speaks to his or her audience. That is to
John McDonnell – Labour splits are ‘myths and rubbish’ Stories of deep division within the Labour party have appeared in this morning’s papers, with the Sunday Times reporting calls for two of Jeremy Corbyn’s closest advisers – Seumas Milne and Karie Murphy – to be sacked. Andrew Marr spoke to the Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell
Anyone else sick of the Pride flag? It’s everywhere. It flutters from virtually every building in central London. Town halls across the country are emblazoned with it. Every bank, corporation, supermarket and celebrity Twitter account has had a rainbow makeover. There are Pride-themed sandwiches, beer bottles, cakes. Jon Snow has even worn Pride-coloured socks. You
If you believe the American and British media, the people of Hong Kong have launched a democratic revolution and are being cruelly repressed. None of this is true, but let’s not let that get in the way of our principles. Western liberals assume that disorder is revolutionary and democratic, and that it tends towards liberal
MPs opposed to a no-deal Brexit will make an almost-final attempt early this coming week to make it impossible for Boris Johnson – if he becomes PM – to prorogue or suspend parliament to force through a no-deal Brexit. The plan which has been designed largely by Dominic Grieve, the senior Tory MP and former
A moderate, halfway-competent Labour party could crush the Tories. But given that Labour members are Corbynite in inclination, what are the chances of a moderate leader emerging? In my latest Daily Telegraph column, I argue that to change leader now in order to make Labour the party of Remain might well make this even worse
With the ballot papers out, the next few days will be crucial in the Tory leadership election. As I say in The Sun this morning, it is reckoned that 60 percent of party members will have voted by Thursday. The Boris campaign are bullish. One very senior figure in the campaign is privately predicting that