Politics

Read about the latest political news, views and analysis

Monday

Ian Williams

Matt Hancock and the problem with China’s surveillance tech

There can have been no more avid viewers of the CCTV footage of Matt Hancock’s snog and grope than China’s cyber spies, chuckling in some dark room in Beijing and asking each other, how can it have been so easy for somebody to obtain? MI5 seems to be asking itself the same question. Three days after the photographs and video were first published, it appears that nobody knows for sure how it was done. Did it come from somebody with access to the feed who downloaded it or filmed it on the screen with a mobile phone? Or was the camera hacked, because the dirty little secret of these devices is that they are not at all secure? Equally as worrying is Hancock’s claim that he didn’t even know there was a camera in his office.

Isabel Hardman

Will Javid scrap Hancock’s NHS reforms?

Sajid Javid has his first Commons outing as Health Secretary today, not even 48 hours after he took over from Matt Hancock. As Katy outlines here, the focus will be on how he differs from his predecessor on the pace of easing Covid restrictions. But Javid will also quickly face questions on whether he plans to scrap some of Hancock's ambitious plans to reform the NHS too. As I reported last week, there is growing anxiety in the health service and in the Conservative party about the forthcoming Health and Social Care Bill, with one senior figure warning that it could end up being 'Lansley mark II'. That's a reference to the politically explosive row the last time the Tories tried to reform the NHS a decade ago with Andrew Lansley as Health Secretary.

Katy Balls

Boris changes his tune on Hancock

Matt Hancock may be out of government but that doesn't mean the matter is closed when it comes to the Prime Minister's handling of the whole affair. Hancock officially resigned on Saturday as Health Secretary after concluding that his position was untenable, following the publication of photos of him breaching lockdown rules with his married female adviser. However, the initial suggestion from both Downing Street and Hancock was that he would cling on. When the news first broke on Friday, Johnson took the view that the best way to deal with this type of story was to ignore it. Hancock put out an apology statement and No. 10 aides said the Prime Minister considered it a matter of case closed.

Steerpike

Watch: Wimbledon hails Oxford jab creator

A heart-warming moment at the first day of Wimbledon today. In the crowd to watch matches on centre court was Professor Sarah Gilbert who developed the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine for coronavirus. Having spent much of 2020 working on finding a jab, the scientist was today enjoying a rare day out, having been appointed a Dame in the Birthday Honours earlier this month for her services to science. The crowd may have been there to see players like Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray but there was only one star this afternoon when the Wimbledon announcer declared Gilbert was in attendance. The crowd rose to give the obviously affected scientist a standing ovation to thank her and the Oxford team for all they had done to rid the country of Covid-19.

Michelle Clement

How crises shape government

Crises often exhaust the capacity of governments to renew themselves. All consuming problems do not allow prime ministers to have what Walter Bagehot called ‘mind in reserve’ — and yet future success at the polls depends on it. The vast achievements of the postwar Labour government were largely built on the work of a Liberal in the form of the 1942 Beveridge Report, which most notably recommended a National Health Service. But Attlee was unable to create a new vision of his own during an era of crippling rationing and economic strife. Labour went from winning their first overall majority in 1945 to a very slim majority in 1950. Churchill’s Conservatives were returned to power within a year.

Isabel Hardman

Will Javid handle Covid differently?

11 min listen

It's Sajid Javid's first day in the office as health secretary. The former chancellor's comments last year that he would 'run the economy hot' have led some to think he will try to end restrictions as soon and as extensively as possible, but might he have changed his mind? Isabel Hardman speaks to James Forsyth and Katy Balls. Katy says his position might be more complicated than many first assume: 'We know what his instinct is, but it's also the case that when he made the comments last spring, that was obviously thinking with his former chancellor hat on, and now he's going to have to look at things in terms of the health department.' Our team also talk about the CCTV leak from health department.

Nick Tyrone

Why Labour should stick with Starmer – even if he loses Batley

Things could be bleak for Labour in the Batley and Spen by-election this Thursday. Throughout an ugly and dispiriting campaign all round, George Galloway’s entrance into the race has threatened to prevent a Labour victory. If the party loses, Starmer’s position will be on even shakier ground. He might even be deposed. But if that were to happen, it would be a mistake for Labour, one felt for years to come. Keir Starmer has made a lot of errors since becoming leader of the Labour party. He seemed to assume that just being presentable and not Jeremy Corbyn would be enough to see his party rise in the polls again. For a while, it worked.

Steerpike

Can Javid beat the blob at the Department of Health?

One man's loss is another man's gain. Matt Hancock's downfall has meant the return of Sajid Javid, restored to Cabinet sixteen months after his resignation in a Downing Street power struggle.  Javid wasted no time in taking to the airwaves yesterday, paying the obligatory tribute to his disgraced predecessor and telling broadcasters: 'We are still in a pandemic and I want to see that come to an end as soon as possible. That will be my immediate priority – to see that we return to normal, as soon and as quickly as possible.' Fighting talk after the past year and a half. Hancock was known to be one of the most pro-lockdown 'doves' around the Cabinet table with his department naturally reluctant to back a loosening of restrictions.

Katy Balls

Will Sajid Javid champion the end of Covid restrictions?

As the row over Matt Hancock’s relationship with his married adviser Gina Coladangelo continues to dominate the news, attention in Westminster is turning to what his Cabinet successor will do. Will Sajid Javid's appointment as Health Secretary lead to a change in the government’s approach to Covid? That’s the question Tory MPs are asking as Javid prepares to make his Commons debut today after accepting the role. On Sunday, Javid said his most immediate priority would be to return life to normal ‘as quickly as possible’.

Steerpike

Tories publicly clash over Chinese takeaway

Efforts to rid Huawei from Britain's 5G mobile network were a constant feature of Tory politics last year. The question of whether a company with links to the Chinese state should be involved in such sensitive infrastructure dominated much of 2020, culminating in Oliver Dowden's announcement in November of a ban on Huawei in 5G networks. It followed a long-running campaign by the 40 or so MPs who belong to the China Research Group, run by Tom Tugendhat, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee. But now it appears that a similar fight could be looming over another Chinese tech giant.

Sunday

Steerpike

Did Hancock resign to ‘put his family first’?

A belated effort is underway to salvage the remains of Matt Hancock's reputation. The latest line, repeated by a dutiful Brandon Lewis on Sky this morning, is that the former Health Secretary quit for the good of the country – which begs the question as to why he waited 48 hours after the news broke to do so.  A cynic might suggest that Hancock's resignation had more to do with public anger and media pressure failing to subside rather than any high moral principle but for Lewis the answer was clear: Hancock went for the good of his family. The Northern Ireland Secretary told breakfast viewers this morning: His position was untenable and distracting from the wider work that we've all got to do to move forward in the pandemic and out of the pandemic.

Lloyd Evans

Corbyn: A deity has fallen

Jeremy Corbyn’s brand is slipping. Yesterday, supporters of his Peace and Justice movement joined a much larger demo in London organised by the People’s Assembly. About a thousand protestors showed up for an event where the dominant theme was Palestine. When the marchers arrived at Parliament Square they were led by a shrill gang of teenagers from a sixth form college who waved Palestinian flags and belted out a rhyming couplet. ‘One. Two. Three. Four. Occupation, no more. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Israel is a terrorist state.’ In Corbyn’s heyday he topped the bill wherever he went and he was free to speak for as long as he wished. Yesterday, he got three minutes With them were two orthodox Jews from the Neturei Karta sect.

James Forsyth

The NHS needs Simon Stevens to stay

This morning, Boris Johnson should be calling Simon Stevens, his old Oxford Union rival, and urging him to stay on as head of the NHS for another year. The decision on the new head of the NHS is one of the most consequential decisions that Sajid Javid will make as Health Secretary and asking a newcomer to the brief to make this decision straightaway is unwise, especially as there is such a divide in opinion about who the best candidate for the job is. Stevens continuing would provide some continuity and allow Javid to make a decision once he had time to determine what the health service was most in need of.

Patrick O’Flynn

It’s time for Rishi Sunak to stand up to Boris Johnson

Finally the pandemic fog is lifting and the outlines of post-Covid politics are starting to take shape. While the Government is perfectly capable of generating many more unfortunate headlines by mishandling the Covid exit wave – or indeed, in the case of Matt Hancock, ignoring the 'hands, face, space' rule – it is clear that one key relationship will largely determine its longer-term fortunes. It is that between off-the-cuff scruff Boris Johnson and his immaculately turned-out Chancellor, Rishi Sunak – the man in the ironed mask.

John Ferry

Nicola Sturgeon isn’t serious about IndyRef2

The announcement reeked of desperation. Nicola Sturgeon is 'delighted' that the SNP National Executive Committee has approved her nomination of retired MSP and party grandee Mike Russell as 'political director of the HQ independence unit'. The statement, put out on Twitter last week, aimed to give a sense of momentum and industrious activity: Russell at the head of an elite squad of Nationalist campaigners who will deliver on promises of another referendum.  The appointment of Russell is not so much a sign of progress for the Nationalists as confirmation that their project to break up the UK has stalled. It follows the resignation, after just a few months in post, of Marco Biagi as campaign strategist for the SNP's 'independence taskforce', which was set up in January.

Matthew Taylor

Sunday shows round-up: Hancock has ‘ultimately’ made ‘the right judgement’, Brandon Lewis says

Brandon Lewis: Matt Hancock has ‘ultimately’ made ‘the right judgement’ There is only one story in town at the moment: Matt Hancock’s resignation after the Sun splashed a picture of him and his Department of Health colleague Gina Coladangelo on Friday’s front page. Their embrace, recorded on CCTV in early May, has prompted accusations of hypocrisy, with the hapless Health Secretary apparently unable to follow the guidance he laid down for the rest of the country. Hancock initially had Boris Johnson’s full backing, but he stood down on Saturday following mounting pressure, including the full release of the CCTV tape in question.

Saturday

Fraser Nelson

Why Matt Hancock had to go

Last night, I had a call from a government minister who was incandescent at the idea of Matt Hancock being allowed to stay as Health Secretary. If he continued, the minister argued, it would mean the Tory Party is telling the world that it’s okay with rank hypocrisy – and quite happy breaking the rules they ruthlessly set for other people. A few MPs were quiet in public and even the normally gossipy Tory MP WhatsApp group was silent. This was a sign of rage too deep to express. Some were making their views clear to Number 10.  It was Matt Hancock who had pushed to criminalise the private lives of others, rather than just make Covid guidelines voluntary. It was Hancock who told people not to start new relationships outside of “established” ones.

Steerpike

Cummings savages the Saj

Sixth time’s the charm for Sajid Javid who takes up the health brief following Matt Hancock's resignation. Javid, who has previously run the housing, business, culture, Treasury and home affairs departments, resigned from Boris Johnson's government in February last year, following a power struggle with No. 10. The former Deutsche Bank executive quit after being told in a face to face meeting with the Prime Minister to fire all of his advisers at the Treasury and replace them with individuals selected by Johnson's backroom team, led at the time by one Dominic Cummings. Javid declined and left office, claiming ‘no self-respecting minister would accept those terms’ – terms which, presumably, will not be forced on him in his new found role.

Katy Balls

Hancock out, Javid in

14 min listen

Matt Hancock has resigned as health secretary this evening following this week's scandal and his appointment has already been appointed, former chancellor Sajid Javid. Katy Balls is joined by Isabel Harman and Fraser Nelson to discuss this breaking news.

Isabel Hardman

Sajid Javid appointed as new Health Secretary

Sajid Javid is the new Health Secretary, replacing Matt Hancock following his resignation. Javid has been out of government ever since he resigned as Chancellor in protest at the conditions Boris Johnson was trying to impose on him during his reshuffle. Since then, he has been busy on the backbenches but bit in a particularly troublesome fashion. As a former Chancellor and Home Secretary he has the necessary experience of dealing with difficult policy issues and big departments. It’s worth noting that some of the changes that Javid resisted have since been reversed, with the Number 10 and Treasury teams no longer working in step. As a former Treasury man, he will have a particular perspective on the NHS, largely that it endlessly needs more money.