Politics

Read about the latest political news, views and analysis

Wednesday

Ian Williams

What China's show of force means for the new world order

Today’s vast military parade in Beijing is the climax of three days of political theatre orchestrated by President Xi Jinping, with supporting roles played by those pantomime villains Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un. The smirking North Korean and Russian dictators joined Xi to witness the People’s Liberation Army’s goose-stepping soldiers and shiny weaponry rumbling through Tiananmen Square. ‘Today, humanity is again faced with the choice of peace or war, dialogue or confrontation, win-win or zero-sum,’  Xi told the crowd of some 50,000 carefully selected spectators (which roughly matched the number of soldiers). He said the Chinese people ‘firmly stand on the right side of history’. Xi warned that China was

Steerpike

Streeting suggests law should be changed after Linehan arrest

Well, well, well. The arrest of Graham Linehan this week sparked outrage after the Father Ted co-creator was taken into custody by police after landing in Heathrow on Monday. The comedian was arrested on suspicion of inciting violence in relation to his Twitter posts about transgender people before being bailed pending further investigation. Shadow justice minister Robert Jenrick slammed the move as ‘ridiculous’ – and now this morning Health Secretary Wes Streeting has weighed in. During his morning round on the airwaves, Streeting was adamant that the police forces should be ‘policing streets, not just policing tweets’. He told Times Radio:  I think the prime minister and the home secretary

Ross Clark

Digital IDs won’t fix the migrant crisis

Will the compulsory ID card lobby ever give up? For more than two decades it has been trying to exploit every national crisis to push its product on the country: terrorism, violent crime, Covid and now illegal migration. Apparently the answer to all of them is to force all of us to carry about a digital ID on our phones. Digital IDs will do precisely nothing to slaughter the real swine in this case: the European Convention on Human Rights. What difference would that make? Will boatloads of illegal migrants now be turned back mid-Channel because they are unable to show coastguards their digital ID? Er, no. Will asylum applications

Michael Simmons

The Budget that could make, or break, Starmer's government

As the Chancellor Rachel Reeves gets to work on her second Budget – to be delivered on 26 November – red lights flash everywhere. Gilt yields were up again as markets lost faith in her ability to balance the books. Reeves or Darren Jones – whoever is really calling the shots – will spend the next few weeks fixated on those yields. The price they land at when the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) settles their Budget forecast could make or break the government. I understand that the initial plan was to have a Budget much earlier, but that the decision was taken to put it off for as long

Lee Cohen

Americans like me are troubled by Britain's free speech crackdown

For much of my career, beginning as a foreign policy adviser to the United States Congress, I have proudly stood as one of America’s strongest advocates for Britain. I have defended her history, her institutions and her role as the original home of liberty. I have championed the UK in forums throughout the US and in publications across the globe, reminding audiences that our shared values of liberty and democracy, bequeathed by our mother, England, form the bedrock of transatlantic strength. Today, for the first time, I find Britain indefensible. The affection and historical respect remains. The confidence is gone. For those of us who have long defended Britain, it is heartbreaking Britain now prosecutes her own citizens,

Sam Olsen

British shipbuilding is booming again

‘Pigeons, beaten to a fine lead by hunger, flickered amongst the rusted girders of the railway bridge… rubble was being trucked from busted gable ends, and demolishers worked in a fume of dust and smoke. You would’ve thought that the Ruskies had finally lobbed over one of their big megaton jobs.’ Jeff Torrington’s brutal poetry in Swing Hammer Swing! captured the death of Glasgow shipbuilding, when the Clyde’s cranes fell silent and the yards were written off as relics. Half a century on, the noise is back. The clang of cranes, the hiss of welders, the shuffle of apprentices in overalls: the Clyde is stirring again. Shipbuilding jobs in Scotland

Andrew Tettenborn

The English countryside isn't 'racist'

Three researchers from Leicester University’s Centre for Hate Studies produced a curious report on Monday about the English countryside. Their theme is that much of rural England is a white racist redoubt, where anyone from an ethnic minority is made to feel unwelcome and psychologically, if not physically, excluded. People of colour, it is said, find themselves unaccepted, stared at, and occasionally insulted or worse. Serious measures, we are told, are called for to remove this injustice. You could dismiss this as yet another predictable production from a group of tiresomely progressive academics. And in a sense you would have a point. The name of the authoring group, the Centre

Michael Gove

Farage steals summer, Starmer’s reset flop & should we 'raise the colours'?

48 min listen

Michael Gove and Madeline Grant launch ‘Quite right!’, the new podcast from The Spectator that promises sanity and common sense in a world that too often lacks both. In their first episode, they take stock of a political summer dominated by Nigel Farage, a Labour government already facing mutiny, and the curious spectacle of Tory MPs moonlighting as gonzo reporters. From J.D. Vance’s Cotswold sojourn and Tom Skinner’s bish bash bosh patriotism, to Sydney Sweeney’s jeans advert causing a culture war, Michael and Madeline discuss what really drives our politics: policies, or memes and vibes? Plus: Keir Starmer’s ‘phase two’ reshuffle – does it amount to more than technocratic jargon?

Tuesday

Brendan O’Neill

The persecution of Graham Linehan

I have been lamenting Britain’s authoritarian turn for years. Yet even I was taken aback, physically repulsed in fact, by a news alert that pinged my phone today. It was from the Telegraph. It contained just 11 words — 11 words that ought to chill the blood of all who believe in liberty. This is what it said: ‘Graham Linehan arrested by five armed police officers for trans tweets.’ So this is England. A country where a once-beloved comedy writer can have his collar felt by cops over things he said on the internet. A country where a cultural legend can be treated like a common criminal simply for expressing

Michael Simmons

How bad is the UK bond crisis?

‘UK in the drain’, a trader exclaimed earlier today as 30-year gilt yields punched through to their highest level since 1998. London stocks were down and the pound fell too. The message to trading desks was clear: dump Britain. Things have worsened, at least in part, because yesterday’s Downing Street and Treasury reshuffle included no suggestions that the government has emergency plans to fix Britain’s broken fiscal maths and attempt to balance the books. And as I set out in last week’s cover story, markets are not amused. Wherever you look on the yield curve, Britain’s debt is cementing itself as the most expensive in the developed world. Long-term debt – the

Steerpike

Listen: Yvette Cooper's bizarre bunting claim

Summer recess has only just ended but the government has not enjoyed a relaxed return to Westminster. After Reform UK controlled the narrative over the holidays, with its ‘lawless Britain’ campaign and immigration announcement last week, Labour is struggling to take back control of the agenda. On Monday, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper made a statement to the Commons in which she laid out the government’s plan to overhaul the asylum system. Now, she has turned to the issue of flag flying. The Raise the Colours campaign has seen parts of England fly St George’s and Union flags, with a group called the Weoley Warriors claiming responsibility for showing ‘the country

Eliot Wilson

Norway's warship order is a boost for Britain's defence industry

There was some good news for the government as politicians return to Westminster and Whitehall after the summer break: the Royal Norwegian Navy will buy at least five Type 26 anti-submarine warfare frigates from BAE Systems Maritime. The vessels will be built by BAE’s shipyards at Govan and Scotstoun in Glasgow and the overall agreement is being billed as worth £10 billion. There are aspects of the deal which are unquestionably positive. Norway’s selection of the Type 26 frigate over the American Constellation-class, the F126 from Germany and France’s Fregate de Defense et d’Intervention is a fillip for the UK’s defence industry. It is also a welcome boost for BAE’s

Madeline Grant

It’s impossible to take the Greens seriously

The Green party’s leadership announcement was live streamed using a phone which seemed to be wrapped in clingfilm and held by someone who appeared to be suffering from delirium tremens. You may not have realised that the Greens were electing a new leader. You may not even have realised that they have a leader at all – in fairness, until recently they didn’t, opting instead for a bizarre job-share arrangement whereby they had a sort of weird progressive hydra of ‘spokespeople’. Leadership for the polycule era.  The core argument against taking the Greens seriously is any engagement with the party itself There is an argument that says we ought to

Tim Shipman

Asylum reform: is Labour bold enough?

18 min listen

Danny Shaw and Tim Shipman join Lucy Dunn for today’s Coffee House Shots to talk about the government’s reforms to the asylum system. Having worked with Yvette Cooper before, Danny argues that the reforms are a great approach for a long-term solution – but he worries that they are not bold enough for the public mood. Is Labour putting procedure above politics? And, with the migrant hotel issue bubbling under the surface, is the public’s patience wearing thin? Plus: as Zack Polanski is elected leader of the Green Party, is Labour about to be out-flanked by two radical populists to its left? The Greens and Jeremy Corbyn’s new party could

Stephen Pollard

Graham Linehan's arrest is a turning point

The hoo-ha over free speech being trampled on has always seemed exaggerated. I earn my living through voicing my opinions, and not once have I ever felt unable to say exactly what I think – especially when that’s controversial or offends large numbers of people. It is terrible that Linehan should have had to go through this. But if it wakes more of us up, his arrest will have served our country well I am, of course, well aware that some people have had a very different experience – such as the comedy writer Graham Linehan, creator of Father Ted, who has robustly pointed out that biology means that men

Lucy Dunn

Eco-populist Polanski wins Green leadership race

The Green party leadership contest has finished and the results are in: Zack Polanski is the new leader of the Greens. The insurgent candidate has spent the summer ramping up his social media strategy, pushing his own brand of ‘eco-populism’ and participating in some pretty blistering debates. This has all paid off, with Polanski sailing to victory with 20,411 votes and 85 per cent of the vote. His rivals, former leader co-leadership contender Adrian Ramsay and Ellie Chowns, who ran on a joint ticket, receieved just 3,705 votes. Today’s result doesn’t quite mark the end of the Green party’s leadership races, though. As Polanski is not an MP, another contest

Edward Howell

Kim Jong-un’s alliance with Xi and Putin is growing stronger

When analysing authoritarian states, not least North Korea, most of the time we have to read between the lines. But on other occasions, things are more obvious. Today, China celebrates eighty years since its victory over Japan in the second world war. Xi Jinping has invited Western and non-Western leaders past and present, but all eyes will be on the guest list’s top two invitees: Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un. Marking the first multilateral gathering of all three leaders since the Cold War, today’s spectacle aims to send a clear signal to the West. Xi, Putin, and Kim might have their differences in foreign policy priorities, their relations may fluctuate,

Matthew Lynn

The markets don’t trust Keir Starmer

The pound is starting to slide. Gold is punching through record highs, and long-term gilt yields are hitting levels that have not been seen in thirty years. It is not a Liz Truss style crisis, at least not yet, although it is worth noting that the price the government has to pay to borrow money is way above the levels it reached when the former prime minister ‘crashed’ the economy. But it is starting to become painfully apparent that the Labour government is rapidly losing the confidence of the financial markets. It is yet another nervous week for the economy. The yield on 30-year gilts, the best long-term measure of

Mark Galeotti

Why is Putin so happy in China?

The often dour Vladimir Putin is looking very cheery in China, which has just hosted the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Tianjin to the north, and is preparing for a grand parade to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Beijing tomorrow. Xi Jinping is clearly the man of the hour, Vladimir Putin seems to be having a good trip, too While Xi Jinping is clearly the man of the hour, Vladimir Putin seems to be having a good trip, too. Even as his Alaska summit saw him getting the literal red carpet treatment from Donald Trump, this is a chance

Julian Jessop

Why are UK debt costs still so high – and does it matter?

The yields on UK government bonds, commonly known as ‘gilts’, are now consistently the highest among the G7 group of advanced economies. Why is this, and why should the rest of us worry? Yesterday’s No.10 reshuffle has done little to help but there’s a lot more going on.  The numbers alone are disturbing. The cost of new government borrowing for ten years is now around 4.7 per cent in the UK, compared to 4.2 per cent in the US, around 3.5 per cent in France, Italy and Canada, 2.7 per cent in Germany, and just 1.6 per cent in Japan. This is all the more remarkable because UK public debt