James Heale is The Spectator’s deputy political editor.
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Parliament was recalled from Easter recess for a rare Saturday sitting of Parliament yesterday, to debate the future of British Steel. Legislation was passed to allow the government to take control of the Chinese-owned company – Conservative MP David Davis called this ‘nationalisation in all but name’. Though, with broad support across the House including
In the end, it was David Davis who said it best. Today’s emergency debate on how to save British Steel’s Scunthorpe plant amounted to a ‘nationalisation in all but name Bill’, with new measures amounting to a ‘reprieve, not a rescue’. Jonathan Reynolds, the Business Secretary, did a decent job of affecting reluctance at the
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Marine Le Pen, president of Rassemblement National (National Rally) was found guilty this week of embezzling EU funds to boost her party’s finances. The guilty verdict was widely expected, however her sentence was far harsher than even her strongest critics expected – part of which saw her banned from standing for office for five years, with immediate
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Today marks five years since Keir Starmer became leader of the Labour party. In that time, he has gradually purged Labour of its leftist wing and wrestled the party back to the centre, winning a historic majority in 2024. But, five years on, the question remains: what does Keir Starmer stand for? He came in
Donald Trump has sown the wind – and now America must reap the whirlwind. Beijing has today announced plans to slap an additional 34 per cent tax on all US imported goods from next Thursday. China had already applied tariffs – ranging from 10 to 15 per cent – to a range of American agricultural
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It’s World Tariff Day – or Liberation Day, depending on what you prefer to call it – but we won’t know for certain what levies Donald Trump will impose on the world until around 9 p.m. this evening. Sources are speculating that Trump still isn’t 100 per cent sure himself. But as the UK awaits
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Britain’s real economic pain starts today. Overnight, the cost of living has jumped once again: energy, water, broadband, public transport, TV licences – all up. So too are council tax bills, capital gains, and vehicle taxes. And that’s before we even get to the slow stealth march of fiscal drag and the impact of World
It was not quite at the eleventh hour – but it wasn’t too far off. The Sentencing Council has tonight decided to delay the introduction of so-called ‘two-tier guidance’ after being threatened with emergency legislation to block it by the government. The new guidelines, which had been due to come into force on Tuesday, would have
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This week will see ‘World Tariff Day’ – as those in Westminster are not-so-excitedly calling Wednesday – when Donald Trump will announce a wave of new tariffs. Trump is expected to reveal plans for reciprocal tariffs aimed at addressing what he sees as an ongoing trade imbalance between the US and other countries. He argues
This morning’s local elections launch was everything we have come to expect from the Liberal Democrats. In leafy Henley, Ed Davey galloped around on a hobby horse, while gamely activists lustily cheered him on. Infantile? Yes. But such tactics are effective too. Sir Ed is clearly happy to reprise his role as the Mr Tumble
The British weather is improving – and that is bad news for Labour’s migration efforts. For the past five years, the beginning of spring has coincided with an uptick in Channel crossings; ministers expect the same again this summer. It is a phenomena that has reduced a succession of Home Secretaries to little more than
A historic election defeat leaves the Conservatives crushed, Reform rampant and a left-wing government securely entrenched in power. The similarities between Canada in 1993 and the UK result of 2024 have been much remarked upon. But what is less discussed is the aftermath of that ‘93 result and the ten years it took to finally
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An MP for 35 years, Michael Heseltine served as Environment Secretary and then Defence Secretary in Margaret Thatcher’s government. Following his well-publicised resignation in 1986, he returned to government under John Major and was Deputy Prime Minister for the last two years of Major’s premiership. Once seen as a potential successor to Thatcher and Major,
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On this week’s Spectator Out Loud: Owen Matthews argues that Turkish President Erdogan’s position is starting to look shaky (1:19); James Heale examines the new party of the posh: the Lib Dems (7:51); Francis Pike highlights the danger Chinese hypersonic missiles pose to the US navy (13:54); Christian House highlights Norway’s occupation during the Second World
The English social season has begun, kicking off with Gold Cup day. But this year, there is a new common denominator in the seats of southern England where the middle classes congregate: Liberal Democrat MPs. From the Cheltenham Festival in March right the way through to Goodwood in September, it is Ed Davey’s party which
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Reports in the papers today say that the British government is considering scrapping its digital services tax – largely levied at American tech companies – in return for an exemption to Trump’s tariffs that come into effect on April 2. Would this be an effective – or desirable – move on the British part? James
At long last, we have a date. In just over a month’s time, Canadians will head to the polls to decide whether to end a decade of Liberal rule. Having succeeded Justin Trudeau as party leader on 9 March, Mark Carney has, predictably, opted not to play it long. By calling the election now, Carney
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It’s been Kemi-takes-action week for the Conservatives, with the leader of the opposition trying to prove that she can – in fact – do policy. She launched a series of policy reviews, which will be delivered in a steady stream between now and conference, with a headline statement on Net Zero, declaring that Britain’s 2050 emissions target was
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It’s a big day in defence. Keir Starmer began the day in Barrow talking about nuclear subs and will end the day in a meeting of the ‘coalition of the willing’ on the outskirts of London. But that coalition seems like it could be undermined by the European Commission’s decision to exclude non-EU arms makers
In elections, as in wine, lesser years can still produce good vintages. Tony Blair and Gordon Brown first won their seats in 1983, the year of Labour’s ‘longest suicide note in history’; William Hague’s landslide defeat in 2001 gave us David Cameron, George Osborne and Boris Johnson. The 2017 election is not recalled fondly by