Politics

Read about the latest political news, views and analysis

Wednesday

Matthew Lynn

Von der Leyen has learnt nothing from the EU’s vaccine fiasco

As non-apology apologies go, it was right up there with the best of them. Speaking to MEPs today, the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen accepted that some ‘mistakes had been made’ in the procurement of vaccines against Covid-19.  Apparently the Commission had been a little too late authorising some of the shots, it had been a tad too optimistic about production, and not everything had gone according to plan. But, heck, these things happen, she went on to argue. And perhaps most crucially of all, the alternative would have been far, far worse.  'I can't even imagine if a few big players had rushed to it and the others went empty-handed,' she said.

Ross Clark

How effective are the Covid vaccines?

Reports have filtered through this morning about Public Health England’s assessment of the efficacy of the two vaccines so far administered to the public. The results have not yet been published, but the efficacy rates quoted in the Sun suggest that the Pfizer vaccine has proved to be between 79 and 84 per cent effective at stopping symptomatic infection after two doses. After one dose – which is all that most people have had so far – efficacy is reported as 65 per cent. Among the over 80s it is very similar, at 64 per cent. No figures are given for the AstraZeneca vaccine but it is suggested that the efficacy is 'similar'.

Peter Apps

Six ways the state failed to prevent the cladding crisis

Talk to anyone for long enough about the UK’s building safety crisis and you soon will be asked: why are we in such a mess? Why, in one of the wealthiest countries on earth with a functioning planning and regulatory system, are thousands of people currently trapped in homes built with dangerous and combustible materials? How could we have allowed so many unsafe buildings to be built, signed off, sold and inhabited for all these years? Like all questions of this scale, there are multiple answers which combine to form a complex picture. But while people are quick to draw conclusions about reckless builders cutting corners, there is less awareness of the role successive governments and their industry guidance have played in creating the crisis.

Katy Balls

No. 10’s charm offensive steps up a gear

Since the new chief of staff Dan Rosenfield arrived in Downing Street, there has been a renewed effort to reach out to the parliamentary party. Each week, a member of the No. 10 team hold a Zoom call with Tory MPs — with attendance usually upwards of 50 MPs. Some have likened the Q&A to therapy sessions — working through previous trauma from the Vote Leave regime when the parliamentary party would regularly complain that they felt ignored.After cancelling last week, this Tuesday it was the turn of political secretary Ben Gascgoine and No. 10 political unit's Declan Lyons. The pair began by telling MPs on the call that they wanted to listen more to what they had to say — thereby allowing them to make sure the No.

Robin Aitken

The BBC licence fee hike adds insult to injury

In these chill winter days it’s good to know that at least one old lady is warmly wrapped up. The announcement that the BBC licence fee will rise in line with inflation is another modest, but comforting, layer of financial insulation wrapped around Auntie’s well-padded frame.  The new cost will be £159, up by about £1.50; so nothing to get excited about perhaps. But each time the licence fee is raised it focuses attention on the funding privileges that the Corporation enjoys and fuels the debate about whether those privileges should continue. The BBC, in its defence, makes what at first glance seems a very sound ‘value for money’ argument.

Ross Clark

Green energy is a Dot-com bust waiting to happen

Scottish Widows is committed to net zero alright. For years, the endowment policy I had with it was worth pretty well just what I had paid into it. Although, on second thoughts, maybe Maria Nazarova-Doyle, head of pension investments at Scottish Widows, wasn’t referring to the returns on its policies when she said this week: 'Moving to net zero will protect savings against climate-related risks and uncertainty and offer longer-term sustainable growth by accessing low-carbon transition opportunities.' The firm says that as an interim target it wants to halve the emissions from its share portfolio by 2030. What exactly it means by this isn’t clear.

Tuesday

Isabel Hardman

The problem with ‘our NHS’

Labour is demanding that Matt Hancock apologise to NHS workers for a 'disgraceful attack' on the NHS. In a letter to the Health Secretary, the party's deputy leader Angela Rayner says Hancock must distance himself from a claim that 'there is nothing special about the NHS, neither during this pandemic nor at any other time'. She also writes that 'if you are committed to the protection of our NHS you must take action immediately to assure the NHS and the British people' that he doesn't think 'we should not be grateful for the NHS or thank the NHS and its staff for their work during this pandemic'. This sounds serious, like the kind of view any health secretary might want to run a mile from.

Katy Balls

China hawks suffer a setback

15 min listen

The government has managed to delay a backbench rebellion on the so-called 'genocide amendment' today, using what Iain Duncan Smith called 'arcane procedural games'. The Trade Bill amendment, which would have seen courts given the power to designate abuses as a genocide, was expected to have a significant number of Tory backers. Katy Balls discusses with James Forsyth and Isabel Hardman.

Ross Clark

The class of Covid will pay the price for years to come

Schools in England, it seems, will reopen fully on 8 March at the earliest – a full two months after they closed. The Prime Minister has declined to bring this forward, in spite of new Covid cases falling at a rate of 25 per cent per week. The Scottish and Welsh governments have both said they will partially reopen schools in February. What was looking like being half-a-term's lost schooling is now looking to be closer to a full term's worth. That comes on top of over two months of school closures last year – and some interrupted education in the autumn terms as teachers and pupils were forced to self-isolate on many occasions. What will be the long-term cost of the lost months of education? The OECD has had a go at estimating it.

Kate Andrews

Hancock launches his quarantine crackdown

The search for the right balance on border policy continues, as Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced this afternoon a host of new measures that travellers coming to the UK will face. From Monday, all arrivals will need to take two PCR tests: one on day two and another on day eight of self-isolation. This will apply to everyone, regardless of where they are travelling in from or whether they are quarantining in a hotel or in their home. This means anyone arriving in the UK will now be taking a total of three Covid-19 tests, as a negative test within 72 hours of travel is also required.

Damian Reilly

Will Dogecoin give Elon Musk the last laugh?

There’s something deeply pleasing for fans of cosmic jokes everywhere about the world’s richest man personally taking the time to sell you a pup. Or a pup-related crypto-currency, at least. In between lobbing rockets at the moon, singlehandedly revolutionising the car industry and raising a ten-month old child, Elon Musk has recently been using Twitter to talk up Dogecoin – a joke crypto started in 2013 by geeks for geeks in homage to an internet meme featuring a knowing-looking Shiba Inu dog. Still with me? Every few days, Musk posts a playful tweet referencing the coin to his 46 million followers. 'Dogecoin is the people’s crypto. No need to be a gigachad to own,' he tweeted last week (chad is nerd-speak for a potently attractive alpha male).

Gus Carter

China hawks suffer a setback

The House of Commons was due to vote on the so-called 'genocide amendment' to the Trade Bill later today. The proposal gives British courts the right to decide if a country is committing genocide and was on course to trigger a major Tory rebellion — with China hawks ready to take a stand. However, that plan has been made much harder. The government intervened last night in a bid to avoid a possible defeat.  With the UK now free to forge its own trade deals, new legislation is passing through the Commons on the framework for future dealmaking. There is growing support across the House for a principled approach — with a focus on China top of the list.

Tom Morgan

Can Clubhouse compete with Twitter?

Everyone wants to be an influencer. Even for hobbyists like me there's a strangely addictive quality to the upward crawl of the follower count on the three big beasts: Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. Now, influencers have their eye on a fourth.  Clubhouse is a new, invite-only social network beloved by the likes of Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg. The format is similar to an old-school chat room, but all the rooms are packed full of ‘influencers’ (mostly small-time) where you can listen to and comment on each other's audio files. Packed full of love-heart ❤️ and thanks 🙏 emojis, it’s definitely a nice place to hang out. Expect to hear the word ‘community’ a lot, and much talk of ‘kindness’.

Monday

Isabel Hardman

Are the Tories trying to put politics back into the NHS?

It has taken the Conservatives an entire decade to recover from their last attempt to legislate for a reorganisation of the NHS. Now, they're proposing to unpick some of what's left of that Health and Social Care Act.  Details of a Health and Care White Paper leaked to the excellent Andy Cowper at Health Policy Insight last week revealed that ministers want to grab more control of the health service overall, as well as individual foundation trusts and matters such as water fluoridation. The Health Secretary will become significantly more powerful. Some of this forthcoming legislation contains changes NHS England has long wanted and been expecting, such as abolishing Andrew Lansley's clinical commissioning groups and replacing them with integrated care systems.

Katy Balls

Matt Hancock’s ‘don’t panic’ press conference

After a day of worrying headlines over the potential risk of the South African variant, the takeaway of Monday's press conference was clear: don't panic. Both Matt Hancock and deputy chief medical officer Jonathan Van-Tam were at pains to reassure the public over the threat the new variant presents. With a small sample study suggesting the Oxford vaccine has a lower efficacy against the South African strain, Hancock urged the public to stick with the current vaccination programme.

Steerpike

‘Is there anybody with you?’: SNP chief’s awkward Salmond inquiry appearance

Peter Murrell, the SNP's chief executive, made an awkward appearance in front of the Alex Salmond inquiry earlier today, which raised as many questions as answers. Thankfully, though, one thing was cleared up: was any in the room with Murrell helping him as he gave evidence? Jackie Baillie, the deputy leader of the Scottish Labour party, had her suspicions that there might be, and asked Murrell why he kept looking away from the camera. Here's how their awkward exchange unfolded: JB: Is there anybody in the room with you just now? PM: No, do you want me to move the camera and prove it?  JB: I just wondered... PM: Is that a conspiracy you are suggesting? There is a magpie. In fact there is two. Well, at least that was one thing that was cleared up...

Nick Tyrone

After Starmer: Labour’s liberals should plan for a new party

Labour's left appears to be licking their lips at the thought of Starmer’s ignominious end as leader, something which they now seem to hope will be coming sooner than they could have ever dreamed back in the summer. Should the party do poorly at the May local elections, the plan seems to be to agitate for a change at the top and unite around John McDonnell as Corbyn’s true successor. If the Labour party was taken over by the far left again, this would leave liberals in a difficult position. Since Keir Starmer took over, most liberals have folded into Labour, correctly seeing that they are the only vehicle for ousting the Tories from government in the relatively short term.

Ian Acheson

Is a poetry contest really the way to remember Martin McGuinness?

‘What rhymes with Patsy Gillespie?’ That was the starkest reaction on social media to the recent announcement of the launch of a poetry prize dedicated to Derry IRA commander and former deputy first minister of Northern Ireland, Martin McGuinness. Mr Gillespie, 42, was a cook at the Fort George Army base in Derry city. In October 1990, republican terrorists abducted him from his home in front of his family, taking them hostage. They chained him to the driver’s seat of a van full of explosives and forced him to drive into a permanent army checkpoint on the border where they detonated the 1,200lb bomb, killing him and five soldiers. Gillespie was identified only by a piece of his flesh stuck to a zip.  It’s hard to find any poetry in such sadistic barbarism.

Steerpike

Burnham makes life difficult for Starmer

Oh dear. Sir Keir Starmer has had a difficult few days as Labour leader, coming under criticism both from the Westminster commentariat and his own party over his performance. Critics say Starmer is too timid and is failing to make his mark. So, what better time for a former leadership hopeful to once again raise their interest in the top job. Step forward Andy Burnham. The Mayor of Greater Manchester, who stood twice to be leader before leaving Parliament, said over the weekend that he still has 'aspirations' to lead the party. Speaking at an event organised by Jewish charity Limmud in Manchester, he said: 'I'd be lying if I said I didn't have aspirations [to lead the party]'.