Politics

Read about the latest political news, views and analysis

Thursday

Freddy Gray

Is Pope Leo XIV part of the ‘Trumplash’?

It feels a bit facile and tasteless to say that the first American Pope, Leo XIV, has been elected to counter the influence of Trumpism. Popes often change in the role and, since Catholicism is a religion and not an electoral party, the servants of the servants of God tend to defy political caricature.  Consider the limited evidence, however. Following an unusual social media spat between, of all people, the podcaster Rory Stewart and Vice President J.D. Vance about the Christian obligation to love (ordo amoris), in relation to the subject of immigration, the then Cardinal Robert Prevost posted an article entitled ‘J.D. Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn’t ask us

Kate Andrews

Is America really ‘OPEN FOR BUSINESS’?

‘America is OPEN FOR BUSINESS’, President Donald Trump shared on Truth Social, just as the details of the US-UK trade deal were coming to light. It was an important clarification. Not only did the substantial tariffs announced on ‘Liberation Day’ suggest, strongly, that this might not be the case, but the President’s rhetoric since then has ranged from ultra-protectionist to free-trade enthusiast.  ‘I’m just saying [children] don’t need to have 30 dolls. They can have three,’ Trump told NBC just days ago, when asked about the prospect of empty shelves and higher prices. ‘They don’t need to have 250 pencils. They can have five.’ The comments came at the same

Matthew Lynn

Is Starmer’s Trump trade deal the win he thinks it is?

Keir Starmer says it is a ‘fantastic, historic’ day after signing a trade deal with the United States, but is the agreement really something to celebrate? Ten per cent tariffs, announced last month, still apply to most UK goods entering the US The government is no doubt cock-a-hoop to be the first country to get a trade deal with President Donald Trump over the line, and there are a few wins: tariffs will come down for cars, steel, and potentially for pharmaceuticals, exempting UK exporters from the worst of the tariffs imposed on the oddly-named ‘Liberation Day’. But while, despite the dire warnings of some, we won’t be seeing chlorinated

Steerpike

Civil servants turn to AI ministers to test policy plans

Well, well, well. It transpires that civil servants working across Whitehall are turning to artificial intelligence to figure out how different policy proposals will be received by their real government ministers. Mandarins from the Department for Education, the Home Office and even the Cabinet Office have been clocked signing up to software that enables them to chat with and test new ideas on AI ‘clones’ of senior politicians – before they take them to their human equivalents. How very interesting… Civil servants working across Whitehall are turning to artificial intelligence to figure out how different policy proposals will be received by their real government ministers. The new tech, created by

Freddy Gray

Is the trade deal a coup for Starmer?

26 min listen

Trump has announced a beautiful new deal with the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and President shared a phone call to congratulate one another. It is the first trade deal agreed after Mr Trump began his second presidential term in January, and after he imposed strict tariffs on countries around the world in April. Freddy Gray speaks to Sarah Eliot and Kate Andrews about the negotiations and whether it is a coup for Trump or Starmer.

Oscar Edmondson

White smoke on a US trade deal

15 min listen

It’s a massive day for the Labour government and for Keir Starmer, as the UK becomes the first country to sign a trade deal with the US following the tariff turmoil of last month. Donald Trump described it as a ‘full and comprehensive deal’ … although we are still waiting for some of the details to be thrashed out. What we do know is this: the 25 per cent tariff on UK steel and aluminium has been removed and the rate on most car exports has been slashed from 27.5 per cent to 10 per cent. In return, the UK is removing the tariff on ethanol for US goods and

Tom Slater

Comparing a colleague to Darth Vader isn’t offensive

Calling someone Darth Vader. If that’s as bad as your workplace banter gets, I’d suggest you find a more entertaining place to work. Yet, incredibly, an NHS worker not only took enormous offence to being compared to the bucketheaded villain of the Star Wars franchise, she also took her employers to a tribunal. She’s just won £30,000 in compensation for her trouble. Snowflakery has become endemic among the British workforce Lorna Rooke claims she was prompted to leave the NHS Blood and Transplant service after an incident in 2021, when a team-building exercise turned to the dark side. In Rooke’s absence, her workmates filled out a Star Wars-themed personality quiz,

William Cash

This conclave is all about Portugal

With an inconclusive first and second day at the Conclave – to date – speculation in Rome is mounting that there may be deep divisions inside the Sistine Chapel. We may be in for an intense session of vote trading and complex geopolitical chess-board negotiations. The next pope, especially if it is one of the younger members of the Conclave – by which I mean under 70 – will shape the faith of some 1.4 billion Catholics for possibly as long as 20 years, maybe more.  Age may turn out to be a critical factor. The Conclave may want a younger pope from an entirely new generation not besmirched by the sins

Steerpike

No. 10 sends lobby journalists to Coventry

Another day, another Downing Street blunder. Now it transpires that No. 10 sent a group of lobby journalists halfway across the country for a meet with Prime Minister Keir Starmer – only to belatedly clock they’d been directed to the wrong place. A pack of political journalists have found themselves stranded in the West Midlands after a Downing Street directive gave them the address to, er, the wrong car factory. Or perhaps No. 10 hoped that by sending the press to Coventry, they’d silence their criticism a bit… No. 10 sent a group of lobby journalists halfway across the country for a meet with Prime Minister Keir Starmer – only

Lara Prendergast

Scuzz Nation, the death of English literature & are you a bad house guest?

40 min listen

Scuzz Nation: Britain’s slow and grubby declineIf you want to understand why voters flocked to Reform last week, Gus Carter says, look no further than Goat Man. In one ward in Runcorn, ‘residents found that no one would listen when a neighbour filled his derelict house with goats and burned the animals’ manure in his garden’. This embodies Scuzz Nation – a ‘grubbier and more unpleasant’ Britain, ‘where decay happens faster than repair, where crime largely goes unpunished, and where the social fabric has been slashed, graffitied and left by the side of the road’. On the podcast, Gus speaks to Dr Lawrence Newport, founder of Crush Crime, to diagnose

Steerpike

Will Jacob Rees-Mogg return to frontline politics?

On Wednesday evening an esteemed group of Spectator subscribers gathered in London for the latest Coffee House Shots live event, where editor Michael Gove interviewed Reform UK chairman Zia Yusuf and former Conservative MP Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg. The discussion focused on last week’s local elections, what they mean for both Labour and the Conservatives, and how Reform plans to build on its support. And on the subject of future planning, when quizzed whether he could see himself coming back to frontline politics, Rees-Mogg hinted he wouldn’t be opposed to making a return… When quizzed whether he could see himself coming back to frontline politics, Rees-Mogg hinted he wouldn’t be opposed

Michael Simmons

Why Britain is cutting interest rates – and the US isn’t

Interest rates have been cut to 4.25 per cent. The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted by five to four for what will be the fourth rate reduction since August. The decision breaks with the direction of the US Federal Reserve, which held rates yesterday after refusing to bow to pressure from President Donald Trump who wants to see rates cut. Jerome Powell, the Fed’s chairman, said America’s economy was ‘highly uncertain’ making it difficult to push ahead with a rate reduction. The government will hope that a trade deal will free Britain from the worst effects of the tariff war Back home, analysts are now anticipating the

Steerpike

Carla Denyer quits as Green party co-leader

The eco-activists are back in the news this morning after Carla Denyer announced she will not stand again as co-leader of the Green party of England and Wales. The parliamentarian has claimed she will instead focus her energies on her MP role after leading the environmentalists for the last four years alongside co-leader Adrian Ramsay. While Denyer achieved the party’s best result ever in winning her Bristol seat last year – ousting Labour frontbencher Thangam Debbonaire in the process – it hasn’t all been plain sailing in recent months… This morning Carla Denyer announced she will not stand again as co-leader of the Green party of England and Wales The

Steerpike

Could Reform become the official opposition in Scotland?

To Scotland, where some rather curious polling has been published – suggesting that after next year’s Holyrood election, Reform UK could become the largest opposition party north of the border. The Survation survey for True North projects the current party of government, the SNP, will become Scotland’s largest party – taking a third of the constituency and regional list vote and winning 58 seats – with Nigel Farage’s lot leapfrogging both the Tories and Scottish Labour to end up in second place, taking a fifth of the vote to end up with 21 seats. It’s quite the turnaround! Anas Sarwar’s Scottish Labour lot may be punished at next year’s poll

Owen Matthews

Ukraine’s Victory Day drone swarm is dangerous for Putin

Russia’s Victory Day celebrations on 9 May should mark a triumphal double apotheosis for Vladimir Putin. Not only will it be the 25th Victory parade since the beginning of his presidency, but is also the 80th anniversary of the Soviet defeat of Nazi Germany, which Putin has appropriated as a fundamental ideological pillar of his regime. Yet instead of marking the absolute high point of Putin’s reign, the traditional military parade on Red Square will be shadowed by jeopardy and haunted by the ghosts of future failure.   The Russians are apoplectic that Zelensky has so far ignored the unilateral three day ceasefire around Victory Day that Putin proposed last

Ross Clark

Could Trump’s UK deal start a golden age of free trade?

We had the shock of ‘Liberation day’ when punitive tariffs were levied on imports from virtually every country in the world. That was the destructive part of Donald Trump’s trade war. Now we enter phase two: trying to put things back together again. The announcement of trade deal with a ‘big and highly-respected country’ (believed to be the UK) on Thursday morning is significant not just in itself but because Trump added the suggestion that this will be ‘the first of many’. His strategy has become clear: last month’s tariffs were shock therapy intended to precipitate a round of trade deals which would rebalance trade in America’s favour. They were

Michael Simmons

What would a US trade deal mean for the UK?

Later today, Donald Trump is reportedly set to unveil a trade deal with the UK. He’ll make the announcement alongside ‘a big and highly respected country’ which is said to be Britain. If the reports are true then it would make the UK the first country to secure a deal since Trump’s tariff turmoil began.  The announcement will come at 3 p.m. UK time and could be worth billions in what would be an unarguable win for Rachel Reeves and Keir Starmer.  Britain has already been somewhat shielded from the president’s wrath (and tariffs) because our trade in goods with the Americans is pretty much balanced (roughly £59 billion each way).

Freddy Gray

Is the US-UK trade deal a coup for Starmer — or Trump?

It’s musical deals in world politics at the moment. Last week, Donald Trump and his senior officials intimated that a big new trade accord with India was imminent. Yet on Tuesday, Keir Starmer announced that he had reached a major agreement with Delhi. Then, late last night, the New York Times reported that Trump will today announce a beautiful new deal with the United Kingdom.  The British embassy in Washington has yet to comment. But earlier, Donald Trump had written on social media: The President loves announcing deals more than anything: the symbolism is what counts ‘Big News Conference tomorrow morning at 10:00 A.M., The Oval Office, concerning a MAJOR

John Charmley

How Churchill shaped our view of the second world war

When Winston Churchill told Franklin D. Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin at Tehran that history would treat them kindly, he spoke with the certainty of a man who would write that history. Churchill’s The Second World War has not only shaped our view of that war, but also of Britain’s place in the world that followed it. From Anglo-American relations, through to the role Britain ought to play as Greeks in the new Roman empire, Churchill set the tone for successive British prime ministers. It is only now, 80 years after VE Day and with the dawning of the age of Trump, that some aspects of his account are coming to

Francis Pike

For most of the world, VE Day did not mean peace

While drinking, dancing and laughter were the order of the day in Britain on the VE Day, things were not so hunky dory in Germany. At the liberated Belsen concentration camp situated 65 miles to the south of Hamburg, nurse Joan Rudman cut a depressed and lonely figure. She recalled: ‘One could hardly think of peace when there’s so much human misery here.’ Meanwhile for many Germans, there were mixed feelings. Relief that the war was ended combined with bitterness and a sense of humiliation. These were feelings that led to most Germans blotting out their memories of this period. In Germany is known as Tag der Befreiung (day of