Politics

Read about the latest political news, views and analysis

Saturday

Zoe Strimpel

Sadiq Khan and the truth about Brick Lane curry

Sadiq Khan is exceedingly fond of ‘diversity’, not least the word itself. Perhaps as a result, London’s Mayor is willing to overcome his aversion to Donald Trump, even when the US president is looking increasingly like a menace to global peace and stability. “I think it’s important to show those people who believe the contrary that diversity is a strength, not a weakness,” Khan said. “I’d invite President Trump for a good curry in Brick Lane.” Warming to his theme, Khan told LBC: “I say in a non-patronising way, a lot of prejudice comes from pre-judging, and actually one of the joys of the great city of London is our

Jethro Norman

Why Mogadishu has better mobile phone reception than Manchester

While the UK government struggles to deliver reliable mobile coverage across some rural communities, Somalia – a country that hasn’t had a functioning central government for three decades – has built one of Africa’s most resilient telecommunications networks. As a British researcher who conducts fieldwork in Somalia, I’m often struck by an ironic reality: I can find more reliable mobile coverage in hard-to-reach Somali villages than in certain parts of Manchester, where I’m from. This connectivity paradox highlights how necessity can drive innovation in unexpected places. Upon arriving in a new town or village in Somalia, I’ve grown accustomed to an intriguing sight: elders – the traditional authorities in Somali

Friday

Michael Simmons

Labour is finally waking up to the benefits crisis

The welfare bill currently unsustainably stands at £314 billion. It is forecast to reach nearly £380 billion by the end of the decade. Rumoured Labour cuts, set to be announced as part of the Spring Statement on 26 March, have just been reported by ITV News and include plans for £6 billion of welfare cuts. That won’t do much to stop the bill rising to £380 billion, but the fact that this government is prepared to make cuts suggests it is finally waking up to this unsustainable issue. The reported reforms include £5 billion of savings through making Personal Independence Payments (PIP) – a disability-related benefit – harder to qualify

James Heale

Reform refer Rupert Lowe to the police

After months of leading in the polls, Reform UK is now in meltdown. This afternoon, the party chairman, Zia Yusuf, and the chief whip, Lee Anderson, released a joint statement which says that they have now referred Rupert Lowe to the police. The pair say that they have ‘received complaints from two female employees about serious bullying’ in Lowe’s offices and that ‘we understand complaints have been made to parliamentary authorities’. They allege that evidence has been provided of workplace bullying, with female staff who raised concerns being targeted. They suggest too that Lowe made ‘derogatory and discriminatory remarks’ about women, ‘including reference to a perceived disability’. Yusuf and Anderson

Andrew Roberts

America has changed sides on Ukraine

Andrew Roberts gave the following speech in the House of Lords, following the publication of the report ‘Ukraine: A Wake Up Call’ from the International Relations and Defence Committee. We must not underestimate the gravity of what has happened, which is that during a war against totalitarian dictatorship, the United States has effectively changed sides. It is very unusual for a country to change sides during a major war. Historically, Italy did it in 1943, but that was hardly decisive. However, the Saxons and Württembergers changed sides on the third day of the four-day Battle of Leipzig in October 1813, which doomed Napoleon in that campaign. Before that, the Stanleys

Harry Cole

Harry Cole, Zoe Strimpel, Michael Simmons, Nigel Warburton and Justin Marozzi

30 min listen

On this week’s Spectator Out Loud: Having returned from Washington D.C., Harry Cole reads his diary for the week (1:16); Zoe Strimpel reports on the Gen Z fliers obsessed with maximalising their air miles (5:37); Michael Simmons argues that Scotland is the worst when it comes to government waste (12:00); reviewing Quentin Skinner’s Liberty as Independence, Nigel Warburton examines what it means to be free (17:45); and, Justin Marozzi provides his notes on possum (25:02).  Produced and presented by Patrick Gibbons.

Damien Phillips

Egypt’s Gaza peace plan will never work

Another week, another peace plan for a seemingly intractable conflict. This time it’s Gaza’s turn, with the launch of a new peace and reconstruction plan for the rubble-strewn Strip. The proposal, created by Egypt and endorsed by the Arab League (a 22-strong group of Arab states) at a summit in Cairo, provides an alternative to President Trump’s ‘Gaza Riviera’ model. Trump’s idea to place Gaza under US control, depopulate it to redevelop the enclave, and decant its residents to nearby Egypt and Jordan was rejected out of hand by the Arab states. The US has signalled that it is open to hearing what an Arab plan for Gaza’s post-war reconstruction

Edward Howell

President Yoon’s trial is tearing South Korea apart

It is now only a matter of days before the 52 million-strong population in South Korea will know the fate of their suspended president, Yoon Suk Yeol. Since his first impeachment hearing at the end of 2024, after which he was arrested and indicted on charges of insurrection, the President has continued to defend his initial decision to impose martial law on the evening of 3 December. But with less than a week to go before the country’s constitutional court rules on his destiny, a central court in Seoul today ordered Yoon’s release from jail, a month after his initial detention. While this is a small victory for Yoon and

Steerpike

Mhairi Black blasts Sturgeon over careerist jibe

It’s a day ending in ‘y’, which means the Scottish Nats are arguing amongst themselves again. Ex-SNP MP Mhairi Black has taken a pop at the party’s former Dear Leader Nicola Sturgeon in a new BBC documentary released this week about her time in politics. In the programme – in which Black blasts Westminster culture and laments the toll it took on her mental health – the outspoken nationalist took a pop at Sturgeon over the SNP’s careerist culture. In the Beeb’s new show, one of Black’s friends read out an article about the former first minister’s comments that there were too many careerists in the Scottish National party. Speaking

Katy Balls

How long will Starmer’s ‘war bounce’ last?

11 min listen

Trump has been stealing the headlines when it comes to Ukraine this week, but Europe – and whether it can stay united in the face of the US pulling its support – remains an important subplot. At a summit yesterday, 27 countries backed the plan to increase spending on defence, but when will the cracks start to show? Thankfully, it seems that the Prime Minister is good in a crisis. Back at home, he has seen a modest bounce in popularity and he is making a good impression in Brussels, coming across as assured without grandstanding. He has also been leading on defence spending – could defence be the way

Ross Clark

Is Labour brave enough to say the unsayable about the NHS?

Will this finally be the government which gets on top of the voracious financial monster that is the NHS and tackles its chronic over-spending? No, I can’t quite see that, either. But it has to be said that the new interim Chief Executive of NHS England – Sir Jim Mackey, who has replaced Amanda Pritchard – has made a good start. Rather than just beg the government for more money he has turned on the leaders of NHS trusts, who have been told to go back and revise the spending plans which they recently submitted. Well he might. Even with an extra NHS England granted an extra £25.7 billion over two

Steerpike

Tories smash Labour on latest donations

Some good news for Kemi Badenoch today. The latest donation figures for the end of 2024 are out – and they make for happy reading for the beancounters in CCHQ. The Tories reported £3.8 million in donations between October and December, compared to £1.6 million for the Liberal Democrats, £1.4 million for Labour and £336,800 for Reform. When public funds are excluded, Badenoch’s party raised £1.9 million in donations compared to £1 million, £685,000 and £281,000 for those led by Keir Starmer, Ed Davey and Nigel Farage respectively. Reform’s sums included £100,000 from the financier and former Tory donor Roger Nagiof plus £50,000 from financial services firm JB Drax Honore,

Nigel Jones

Rupert Lowe won’t be the last to fall out with Nigel Farage

It was so predictable as to be almost inevitable: a massive row has erupted within the leadership of Reform UK. Rupert Lowe, one of Reform’s five MPs and the Member for Great Yarmouth – an outspoken keyboard warrior on social media and popular with many grassroots party members for his outspoken online comments – kicked off the row after he launched an open criticism of party founder and leader Nigel Farage. In an interview with the Daily Mail, Lowe, a millionaire businessman, said Reform was still a ‘protest party’ and that it was an open question about whether his ‘messianic’ leader would ‘deliver the goods’ and become prime minister. He suggested that Farage

Steerpike

Watch: Trudeau’s tears after Trump tariffs 

Donald Trump is intent on shaking things up in the White House and no one knows that better than neighbouring Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The US President ramped up his tariff war this week – and tensions between the pair seem to have taken their toll on Trudeau, even reducing him to tears during a Thursday press conference. Oh dear… The outgoing PM appears keen to prove that his time in office has been well spent. Yet Trump’s 25 per cent tariffs on all goods imported from Canada have sparked fear among the country’s business industry, while the US President’s mocking of ‘Governor Trudeau’ and threats to annex Canada

Andrew Tettenborn

Why should MPs tell parents not to smack their kids?

Is it about to become illegal for parents to smack their child? We might have known that the already top-heavy Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill would be hijacked by those with an agenda to push. Labour MP Jess Asato has tabled an amendment, backed by 26 MPs (including surprisingly one Tory), that would abolish the legal defence of reasonable chastisement. This would criminalise all physical punishment, even within the home, as has been done in Wales and Scotland. A number of organisations have already lined up behind her, including Humanists UK and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH). This amendment must be resisted. The movement for a

Philip Patrick

Japan and Britain are too weak to help each other

Foreign Secretary David Lammy and Business Secretary Jonathon Reynolds are in Tokyo for ‘2+2’ (two ministers for the price of one) talks with their Japanese counterparts. The sessions are expected to be at least superficially productive, with hopeful talk of enhanced cooperation on security and strengthened economic ties (particularly on AI). Apparently, details of a new trade and defence deal, including plans to develop a new industrial strategy partnership between the 4th and 6th biggest economies in the world, will be announced, along with some hot air about an offshore wind project. There is something faintly desperate in the idea that the UK can be of much help to Japan

Eliot Wilson

What hope does John Healey have of influencing Trump?

In the eight months since he was appointed Secretary of State for Defence, John Healey has undertaken so many foreign visits that his residency status must be dubious. The Yorkshireman, who turned 65 last month, has travelled to Ukraine, Estonia, Poland, Germany, Belgium, Israel, Cyprus, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Norway and the United States. On Wednesday, he returned to Washington for a meeting with his American counterpart, Pete Hegseth. It is a marker of these extraordinary times and the volatility of President Donald Trump’s instincts – they are not policies in any meaningful sense – that British ministers visiting Washington do so with trepidation. On the agenda for Healey were the

Katy Balls

The Julia Lopez Edition

33 min listen

Julia Lopez has been the Conservative MP for Hornchurch and Upminster since 2017. Her first political experience was working for the then-MP for the Cities of London and Westminster Mark Field, before she became a councillor for Tower Hamlets – working to improve the standards of an area marred in scandal and heightened community tensions. She went on to hold ministerial roles under three Prime Ministers and is now the PPS to Tory leader Kemi Badenoch. On the podcast, Julia talks to Katy Balls about the impact Margaret Thatcher had on the politics of her family, how she gained political experience touring London’s sewers and skyscrapers, and the mixed emotions of

David Spencer

Two-tier justice is taking over the courts

Two years ago, few had heard of the term ‘two-tier justice’. Indeed, Ministers and leaders across the criminal justice system have spent much of that time vigorously denying its existence. Yet the examples of a justice system which is failing to deliver ‘equality before the law’ are numerous: the failures of the police and prosecutors to act when individuals chanted for ‘jihad’ at a political rally; the sexual abuse of many hundreds of children in Rotherham because professionals feared being accused of racism; the postcode lottery of how non-crime hate incidents are recorded depending on which police force area you live in.  The publication of the sentencing council’s instructions on how judges and magistrates

Robin Ashenden

Help, I’ve become a news junkie!

I’ve always been something of a news addict, but recent events in America and Ukraine have turned me into the kind of junkie films get made about. ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome,’ an affliction you once sniggered at in others, is now sweeping the world faster than Covid-19, and is oddly easy, at the moment, to fall into. Speaking of the White House’s pivot to Russia and apparent abandonment of Europe, a friend said it was like ‘sitting in an articulated lorry being driven by someone who’s just downed an entire quart of bourbon.’ Another remarked: ‘There’s this complete, jaw-dropping disbelief at what’s happening. Each time I turn on the TV for