Politics

Read about the latest political news, views and analysis

Thursday

Nigel Jones

Boris vs the Blob: the real reason John Major can’t stand the PM

The embattled denizens of Downing Street must be quaking in their loafers as another incoming missile streaks in. This one – typically late in the day – is fired by one of our growing squad of embittered ex-prime ministers, Sir John Major. It takes the form of a speech to the Institute for Government titled ‘In democracy we trust?’. Sir John’s sense of irony in choosing this subject is clearly not strong considering he spent much of his spectacularly undistinguished premiership struggling to subsume British parliamentary democracy under the proudly undemocratic European Union. Nonetheless he chips in with the usual tropes of the anti-Boris brigade: the PM is demeaning standards, undermining probity, telling fibs. We all know the familiar words of the song.

Steerpike

Just how impartial are the SNP’s Covid experts?

Those heading up Scotland’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic have had some well-documented trouble separating their fandom for Nicola Sturgeon from their public health role. Professor Devi Sridhar, a member of the Scottish Government’s Covid-19 Advisory Group, has made so many appearances in Steerpike she merits her own byline. Sridhar has previously gushed that: I truly believe … the First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, whatever your opinion on politics, independence has tried to do a good job through this crisis. She has tried to brief the public, she has tried to message clearly, she has tried to listen to the scientists.

William Moore

Boris’s bunker: the PM’s defensive strategy

33 min listen

In this week’s episode: What’s the mood like in Boris’s bunker?For this week’s cover story, James Forsyth writes about the defensive bunker mentality inside No. 10 and the PM’s strategy of keeping MPs sweet to hold back a no confidence vote. James joins the podcast along with Spectator Editor Fraser Nelson to discuss. (00:50)Also this week: Have we forgotten how to take a joke?Jimmy Carr has caused an online outcry after an off-colour joke from his new show, His Dark Material was clipped and posted without context on social media. Ministers, such as Nadine Dorries and Sajid Javid, have now criticised a comedian for telling a joke. In the Spectator this week both in print and online, two of our writers came to Carr’s defence.

Steerpike

Nicola Sturgeon’s pensions untruths

If Prince Harry really does want to stamp out 'disinformation' he ought to have a look at what's going up in Scotland. Two of the SNP's leading lights have claimed in recent weeks that Scottish pensions would be guaranteed in a post-Scexit nation, despite both the UK government and independent pension experts pointing out the opposite. And now the nationalist-in-chief, the great- greivance-merchant herself Nicola Sturgeon has decided to throw her weight behind the claim.

Steerpike

Omicron doctor attacks UK government ‘pressure’

With case rates falling and Omicron (hopefully) in decline, it's a good time to remember some of the more hysterical predictions about the last Covid variant. For the South African doctor who discovered the Omicron strain has today given an interview to German newspaper Welt in which she reveals she was 'pressured' into describing the variant as more dangerous than it really is. Dr Angelique Coetzee was one of the first to report the new variant in November last year and said it caused 'mild' symptoms for those in her country. But she claims she was told by scientists and politicians from around the globe that her description was wrong – and specifically references Britain as being one of those countries which tried to discourage her findings.

Katy Balls

The Tory warlords who will determine Boris’s fate

When news broke over the weekend that former minister Nick Gibb had become the 14th Tory MP to publicly call for Boris Johnson to resign, cabinet loyalists were furious. They weren’t just concerned about the growing number of no-confidence letters — they were angered by what they saw as a co-ordinated effort by ‘One Nation’ Conservatives to oust the Prime Minister. One Nation Tories, a 40-strong parliamentary group, have long been regarded with suspicion by Johnson’s inner circle. ‘They’re the government’s most obvious and vocal critics,’ says a member of the whips’ office. They tend to occupy traditional shire seats or sit in Lib Dem/Tory marginals. During the Brexit referendum they veered towards Remain.

The Spectator

Why Putin wins

Does Vladimir Putin intend to invade Ukraine? Or are his troop manoeuvres just a game — another test of the West’s resolve? If the former, he will win: British troops (and citizens) have been told to leave Ukraine in the event of conflict and no one doubts that the estimated 130,000 Russian forces could succeed in their objective. So the first major land war in Europe since World War II would end in an easy victory for Russia.  “My guess is he will move in,” Joe Biden said last week, as if he were a casual observer. Families of US diplomats in Ukraine have been ordered to leave the country But even if it's a bluff, Putin can count the past few weeks a success.

James Forsyth

Boris’s bunker: the PM’s defensive strategy

When Boris Johnson first became Prime Minister, he did not have a majority in parliament. Still, he didn’t worry too much about making friends with Tory MPs. He decided to work from the outside in, using his public popularity to pressure colleagues. A snap election was looming: backing him, he said, was their best hope of surviving. He was right, and delivered a majority of 80. This gave him huge personal authority. MPs deferred to his judgment even when they disagreed. How different things look now. Johnson finds himself pleading with his MPs not to pull the plug on his premiership in what seems like a daily struggle. ‘He’s now a prisoner of the parliamentary party,’ says one minister. They make demands; he attempts to appease them.

Charles Moore

Why Falklanders should fear China

In a lecture I recently gave to mark the approaching 40th anniversary of the Falklands War, one of the questions I asked was whether Argentina would have another go. I concluded it would not, because the military protection of the islands, neglected in 1982, was now strong. In passing, though, I did note that China now has a close relationship with Argentina, over arms trading, the hog industry, soybeans, help with the pandemic etc. Argentina, I said, was now likelier to support China, not the West, in international forums. This week, Xi Jinping has declared his support for Argentina’s claim to ‘the full exercise of sovereignty’ over the islands. This may be mere game-playing, but our government should scent danger.

Wednesday

James Forsyth

Will there ever be a break in the partygate scandal?

9 min listen

The Prime Minister tried to start today's PMQs with an announcement to fire up the right of his base, an early end to all Covid restrictions. But the partygate scandal is the gift that keeps on giving when during the Commons session a new photo leaked of Boris Johnson at a Christmas quiz with a bottle of Prosecco and a colleague draped in tinsel. Isabel Hardman is joined by James Forsyth and Katy Balls to break down today's events in Westminster.

Lloyd Evans

PMQs: Boris looks chipper for a man on the brink

And still they try. MPs are desperate to get the Prime Minister to quit, live on TV, during PMQs. As if that’s about to happen. Sir Starmer has spent the last week polishing his puns. The busy wordsmith has spotted that the verb ‘scrap’ may mean ‘fight’ as well as ‘abolish’. Inspired by this linguistic accident he asked the PM to stop ‘scrapping’ with his Chancellor and get on with ‘scrapping’ his new emergency energy package. Brilliant! What a barb! How Suzie Dent must have marvelled at Professor Starmer’s verbal dexterity.  But as the applause from Dictionary Corner died away, it became clear that puns count for nothing in the bear-pit of politics.

Kate Andrews

Exclusive: Leaked NHS report shows waiting list hitting 9.2 million

Before the pandemic hit, NHS England waiting lists were at a record high of 4.4 million. Three lockdowns later, they’ve risen to six million: an unacceptable figure for a Tory government that has spent years trying to rebrand itself as the ‘party of the NHS’. Boris Johnson’s decision to break his manifesto pledge and raise taxes was directly linked to the idea that the money would first be funnelled into the health service to fix the backlog. So can he now deliver for patients? When Health Secretary Sajid Javid announced his ‘elective recovery plan’ in the House of Commons on Tuesday, he said that the waiting list would start shrinking by March 2024, though he stressed that the numbers will rise before then. By how much?

Joanna Williams

Carry on Carrie: why I’ve changed my mind about our ‘first lady’

Who exactly is the Prime Minister’s wife? To some, she’s Carrie Antoinette, the extravagant demander of gold wallpaper who spent lockdown ambushing her unsuspecting husband with parties and cake. To others, she’s a young wife and new mum under attack by sexist patriarchs intent on ousting Boris from No. 10. Our national obsession with Carrie Johnson knows no bounds. The latest round of intrigue comes courtesy of Lord Ashcroft and his new book, First Lady. The title alone wryly signals Carrie has overstepped the mark into a starring role that is fundamentally un-British. Its shocking contents detail alleged incidents of behind-the-scenes interference, from ‘impersonating’ Boris in text messages to whispered briefings during phone calls.

Steerpike

Why is the BBC saying Boris’s Savile claims are false?

Is Boris Johnson’s claim that Keir Starmer failed to prosecute Jimmy Savile ‘false’? The BBC certainly thinks so. During the Radio 6 bulletins last night, a BBC newsreader stated:  The Commons Speaker has rebuked Boris Johnson over his false claim that Sir Keir Starmer failed to prosecute Jimmy Savile after the Labour leader was targetted by protesters.  It's obvious that the dispute isn't nearly as clear cut as the BBC is making out Last week, the Prime Minister said during a Commons statement that Starmer had spent his time as head of the Crown Prosecution Service ‘prosecuting journalists and failing to prosecute Jimmy Savile’.

Sam Leith

The Centenary of Kerouac

42 min listen

This year marks the centenary of the birth of Jack Kerouac. As Penguin publishes a lavish new edition of On The Road to mark the occasion, I'm joined by two Kerouac scholars. Holly George-Warren is working on the definitive biography of Kerouac (her previous work includes Lives of Gene Autry and Janis Joplin), and Simon Warner co-edited Kerouac on Record: A Literary Soundtrack and runs Rock and the Beat Generation. They tell me how On The Road came to be written, how it stands up now, and what made 'the Beats' beat.

Isabel Hardman

PMQs: Boris’s anger over new partygate picture

The takeaway moment from today's PMQs came not in the main exchanges between Boris Johnson and Sir Keir Starmer but later in the session. Labour MP Fabian Hamilton asked about a just-published photo of the Prime Minister with an open bottle of prosecco alongside staff wearing tinsel at a Downing Street Christmas quiz. At the time, social gatherings were banned under lockdown restrictions. One of the many holding lines of days past about this particular event was that it couldn't be a party because there was no alcohol. This changed that. Hamilton demanded that Johnson refer the party — which is not currently the subject of a police investigation — to the Metropolitan Police. Johnson told him that he was 'completely in error'.

Steerpike

Thérèse Coffey roasts Neil Coyle

Parliament's work and pensions committee isn't normally where the fireworks fly, but all that changed this morning. Labour backbencher Neil 'Carling' Coyle tried to take a pop at Thérèse Coffey, the closest thing 2022 has to a modern Barbara Castle. After Coyle became frustrated with the answers he was getting from the karaoke-loving Cabinet minister, he turned his attention to Coffey's own future, irritatedly asking her: There was a rumour that the Secretary of State was going to resign. Is that the reason why you can't answer any questions today? Because you've got one foot out of the door? Cool as a cucumber, Coffey delivered a magisterial rebuke to the Bermondsey backbencher: Don't be ridiculous Neil.

Steerpike

Priti’s failed crackdown on foreign criminals

Priti Patel likes to talk a good game on foreign crooks. In numerous tweets and briefings, she's railed against those who 'poison our communities, ruin lives and cash in on vulnerable people,' as part of the Witham MP's war on crime. But when it comes to deporting those convicted of crimes, it seems that the Home Secretary's record doesn't exactly match up to her rhetoric, judging by new figures obtained by Mr S. For the number of serious offenders being deported from Britain has dropped by 65 per cent over the past five years – despite Patel's promises of a 'crackdown' to overhaul the legal system.

Koshka Duff

It’s time to defund the police

Last year I finally received an apology from the police after I was violently strip-searched in 2013. Video footage subsequently emerged of officers at Stoke Newington police station using ‘sexist, derogatory and unacceptable language’ to discuss my ill-treatment. I was arrested after attempting to hand information to a black 15-year-old about his rights during a stop and search, then forcibly stripped when I refused to give police my details. Officers were recorded joking about whether my body was ‘rank’. ‘What’s that smell?’ asked one officer. ‘Oh yeah, it’s her knickers’. What happened to me was not exceptional.

Stephen Daisley

Lock them up? Not in Sturgeon’s Scotland

One of the great disappointments of devolution has been the failure of the Scottish parliament to pursue novel ways of fixing political problems. Whether on educational attainment, health indicators, waiting times or economic development, it’s difficult to argue that Scotland under devolution is fundamentally different from how it would have looked had the country voted no in 1997. But one area where that observation is becoming harder to sustain is criminal justice: the SNP has grown in confidence in recent years and a more liberal — or at least a more nuanced — policy is taking shape.