Politics

Read about the latest political news, views and analysis

Sunday

Matthew Taylor

Sunday shows round-up: UK likely to be worst hit in Europe, says science adviser

Politicians might usually expect a weekend off from interview duties over the Easter weekend, but tradition is hardly the order of the day at present. The Business Secretary Alok Sharma joined Sophy Ridge to discuss the government's handling of the Covid-19 crisis at a sombre time, with the total number of fatalities soon expected to pass 10,000. Today, the Royal College of Nursing has issued guidance advising that nurses should refuse to treat patients with coronavirus if they do not have sufficient personal protective equipment available to them. Sharma defended the government's record on PPE: https://twitter.com/RidgeOnSunday/status/1249242921808703489?

Saturday

Stephen Daisley

Over-zealous police put the entire lockdown strategy at risk

Coronavirus is bringing out the best in some public services and the worst in others. I’m still being a snob about clapping for the NHS — it’s not British and you can’t make me think it is — but there’s no doubt health service staff have put in an absolute shift and their unhesitating dart in the direction of danger has been admirable. The police, though, are a more complicated story. The vast majority are doing a fine job under tense circumstances. They are an unarmed constabulary enforcing an open-ended lockdown in the middle of a pandemic. Still, there have been a number of incidents now that risk chipping away at public support for the lockdown and the police themselves.

Isabel Hardman

Priti Patel’s domestic abuse campaign is better than nothing, but there’s a lot missing

In the past few minutes, Priti Patel has launched a public awareness campaign called #YouAreNotAlone on domestic abuse in the lockdown, along with an extra £2 million for domestic abuse helplines and online support. Charities helping domestic abuse victims say the number of calls to their hotlines has risen by around 25 per cent - 120 per cent in 24 hours in the case of the National Domestic Abuse Hotline - and their website traffic has soared even more since the public was told to stay at home. Police forces are also reporting an increase in calls about domestic violence.

Toby Young

Audio Reads: Toby Young, Douglas Murray, and Melissa Kite

19 min listen

The Spectator is meant for sharing. But in the age of coronavirus, that might not be possible. This new podcast will feature a few of our columnists reading out their articles from the issue each week, so that you don't miss out. It's a new format, so tell us what you think at podcast@spectator.co.uk.Toby Young on why Britain needs Boris; Douglas Murray on what he finds heartening about the national response to coronavirus; and Melissa Kite's Real Life column.

Friday

Cindy Yu

The human cost of the coronavirus lockdown

16 min listen

The government is trying to find out the human cost of the coronavirus lockdown, with one model seen by ministers estimating 150,000 'avoidable deaths'. So could the cure to the pandemic be worse than the disease itself?

Isabel Hardman

Matt Hancock’s PPE problem

After weeks of criticism that personal protection equipment isn't reaching front line health and care workers, Matt Hancock today launched a 'PPE plan' to ensure that gloves, face masks and so on reach hospitals and care homes as quickly as possible. But alongside it, he also issued a curious warning: don't use equipment you don't need. Hosting the Downing Street coronavirus briefing this evening, the Health Secretary said:  'There's enough PPE to go around, but only if it's used in line with our guidance. We need everyone to treat PPE like the precious resource that it is. That means only using it when there's a clinical need, and not using more than is needed.

Steerpike

Listen: Union boss confronted over sick Boris gag

Most people are delighted at the news that Boris Johnson's condition has improved enough for him to come out of intensive care. But not union boss Steve Hedley. Hedley, the assistant general secretary of the RMT Union, wrote on Facebook: 'I don't want to offend you, but if Bojo pops his clogs, I'm throwing a party. I hope the whole cabinet and higher echelons of the Tory party have been touching various bits of him.' Unfortunately for Hedley, his comments were picked up by LBC's Maajid Nawaz, who confronted him live on air.  https://twitter.com/LBC/status/1248580466577477632?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Hedley promptly hung up but the RMT has since announced that he has been suspended and is under formal investigation. Oh dear...

Isabel Hardman

No, MPs have not ‘given themselves’ £10,000 to work from home

In times of crisis, we all need someone to direct our anger at. There are some new candidates during this coronavirus epidemic: people who sit down in parks, people who panic bought toilet roll, and police officers threatening to check shopping baskets. But the old staples remain, and top of that list are the selfish, venal MPs who have just handed themselves £10,000 to work from home. This sort of story proves the point of all those who believe that MPs are out of touch and in it for themselves. It does such a good job of proving that point that it's too good a story to check. Which is just as well, because anyone bothering to check what's actually going on will find the facts rather less convenient. Here is what has really happened.

Isabel Hardman

Why isn’t No. 10 cracking down on overzealous police?

There are now daily examples of police forces either overstepping the regulations and guidance on social distancing to tell people off who are, for instance, in their own front gardens, or threatening to do so in the near future (see Northamptonshire police desperately trying to blame the media for writing up verbatim what its chief constable said about his force potentially checking shopping trolleys for non-essential items). While most police forces are doing a very difficult job in adjusting to new legislation while also putting their officers at risk of catching coronavirus in order to enforce it, these extreme examples do risk making it look as though some members of the thin blue line are enjoying a power trip, or have too much time on their hands.

Ross Clark

Covid antibody test in German town shows 15 per cent infection rate

This morning we have some data giving a little more insight into the great unknown of the coronavirus pandemic: just how widely among the population has SARS-CoV-2 – the virus which causes Covid-19 – spread among the general population. A team at the University of Bonn has tested a randomised sample of 1,000 residents of the town of Gangelt in the north-west of the country, one of the epicentres of the outbreak in Germany. The study found that two per cent of the population currently had the virus and that 14 per cent were carrying antibodies suggesting that they had already been infected – whether or not they experienced any symptoms.

Patrick O’Flynn

There might be a way to avoid higher taxes after coronavirus. Here’s how

‘Let us never forget this fundamental truth: the state has no source of money other than money which people earn themselves. If the state wishes to spend more it can only do so by borrowing your savings or by taxing you more. It is no good thinking someone else will pay – that “someone else” is you. There is no such thing as public money; there is only taxpayers’ money.’ These words, by Margaret Thatcher at the 1983 Conservative party conference, have often been used as a justification for rolling back the state so that private citizens can spend more of their own money. They seem to cast the state as a parasitical creature, eager to be active but always needing to be fed.

Thursday

Robert Peston

The cost of Britain’s coronavirus lockdown is mounting

Thursday's meeting of the emergency Cobra committee that takes decisions on how to protect us from the ravages of Covid-19 was supposed to be a 15-minute formality, to rubber-stamp a decision, to make no decision at all on when and whether to ease these unprecedented on our freedoms. But because the telecoms connections for this video conference call were ropey and the ministers chaired by the First Secretary of State Dominic Raab struggled to be understood, the 15 minutes extended to a frustrating 45 minutes. Even so, ministers did decide to mandate the government's scientists, on the so-called SAGE committee, to gather the data necessary to inform a political decision on how and when to return our way of life to something that feels a bit more like normal.

Katy Balls

The unknown factor that will help decide when the lockdown ends

Dominic Raab used the daily coronavirus press conference to confirm that the nationwide lockdown is unlikely to be lifted anytime soon. The First Secretary of State said that 'the measures will have to stay in place until we clearly have the evidence that we have moved beyond the peak'.  As for when we should start to see the number of fatalities fall, the chief scientific officer Patrick Vallance said that this could be around two weeks after the peak of Intensive Care Unit admissions. Given that no one thinks we have yet reached that point, there is some way to go. As for what happens after, the most sobering point of the conference came from Vallance when he was asked about the overall rate of infection.

Katy Balls

Boris Johnson moved out of intensive care

The Prime Minister was moved out of intensive care on Thursday evening but remains in hospital. After being moved on Monday night to an ICU where he received oxygen treatment, Boris Johnson's health has slowly improved in recent days. Now, in the clearest sign he is on the road to recovery, Johnson no longer requires a bed in intensive care. A No. 10 spokesman said: The Prime Minister has been moved this evening from intensive care back to the ward, where he will receive close monitoring during the early phase of his recovery. He is in extremely good spirits. This is not to say that Johnson should be expected to return to work imminently.

James Forsyth

Ending the lockdown is a decision that will have to wait for Boris Johnson

The news coming from St Thomas’ hospital is encouraging. Boris Johnson’s condition is continuing to improve. His close friends are audibly more relaxed when discussing his condition than they were a few days ago. But, as I say in the magazine this week, Boris Johnson is going to require a proper convalescence. Any idea that he can return to work as soon as he is discharged is deeply unwise. He will, as with anyone who has been in intensive care with this disease, need time to fully recover. The decision about when, and how, to end the lockdown is one that will almost certainly have to wait for Boris Johnson’s return to work.

Isabel Hardman

Lockdown confusion isn’t helping

The government is still refusing to give any details of whether, when and how the current coronavirus lockdown might lift. At this afternoon's lobby briefing with journalists, the Prime Minister's official spokesman repeated the line we have heard over the past few days that the government needs to be 'focused relentlessly' on ensuring that people abide by the current restrictions, saying: 'We need to focus in our public message in order to save lives.’ There is clearly anxiety that people will relax their approach to social distancing and staying at home over the Easter weekend, with the weather forecast promising warm temperatures and sunshine. No. 10 is accordingly rebuffing the endless questions from journalists about the lockdown.

Steerpike

Diane Abbott’s most memorable shadow cabinet moments

This week Keir Starmer's formed his new Shadow Cabinet replacing several Corbynista stalwarts with his own favoured MPs on the frontbenches. As a result the Labour party has lost some of the ‘titans’ and ‘heavyweights’ of the Corbyn-era, who are no longer shadowing the great offices of state. To commemorate their departure, Mr Steerpike is compiling the best moments of their careers in opposition. On Monday, Mr S highlighted Richard Burgon’s greatest hits, after he was booted out as Shadow Justice Minister. Today we look at Diane Abbott, who announced in advance of Starmer's election that she would be stepping down from the role. Her successor is Shadow Home Secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds.

Katy Balls

Why a lockdown extension is seen as inevitable

This afternoon Dominic Raab will chair a Cobra meeting where the issue of lifting the lockdown will be raised. When Boris Johnson first announced social distancing measures he said the arrangement would be re-examined in three weeks' time. Yet no one in government believes there is any prospect of an imminent lockdown lift – instead an extension is coming. If any change is on the menu it's likely an enhancement of the current arrangement – such as limits on the use of cars – ahead of the sunny Easter Bank Holiday weekend.  The view in No. 10 is that talk of an exit strategy is premature when the UK has not yet even reached its peak in coronavirus fatalities. Polling suggests that the majority of the general public still support the lockdown.