Politics

Read about the latest political news, views and analysis

Monday

Mark Galeotti

Britain is taking a punt on Ukraine’s future

There is a perverse congruence of interests between the British and Russian governments, as both sides seek to talk up London’s level of influence in Ukraine. This was particularly visible in the new agreement signed between the UK and Ukraine last week – and Moscow’s response to it. To the Kremlin, after all, Perfidious Albion remains its most devious antagonist. True to form, the Russian embassy in London tweeted out that Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s surprise visit to Kyiv represented ‘a desperate attempt by British handlers to keep the agonising Kiev [sic] regime afloat’ with ‘new highly provocative UK plans, including the establishment of military bases within Ukrainian territory’. It is a warning

Steerpike

Ex-Tory MPs gear up for Commons return

The new year is three weeks’ old – but some Tories are determined to stick to their resolutions. An impressive number of ex-MPs are keen to make a quick comeback to parliament and have already signalled their intention to stand again in 2029. Leading the charge is Grant Shapps, the former Defence Secretary rejected by the good people of Welwyn Hatfield last July. Just twelve weeks after losing his seat, Shapps wasted no time in setting up ‘Conservatives Together’. The new organisation aims to ‘support Conservative MPs, prospective parliamentary candidates, and activists’ – though some suspect it is mostly about supporting ex-Conservative MPs. Shapps’ outfit has been emailing around the

Patrick West

Jeremy Corbyn and the curse of the eternal 1968ers

Help the aged. Really, someone should help the aged. By this I don’t mean the poor pensioners who’ve been hit by the cut to their winter fuel allowance. Nor do I mean the Baby Boomers who are unfairly maligned for having bought a house when it was affordable to do so, and have held on to it ever since. I mean that generation who came of age in the 1960s and are still trapped in that decade. Like the callow youngsters they march with, they speak in a sloganeering, agitprop language befitting of the student union This was in evidence yesterday when the MPs Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell agreed

Matthew Lynn

Why would Trump give Starmer a trade deal?

As President Trump takes office later today, Keir Starmer has assembled his top team, tasking them with landing a trade deal with the United States. It’s a nice idea, sure, but he is not going to get a deal – and he will simply embarrass himself by very publicly failing.  The Prime Minister has put together a ‘mini-Cabinet’, made up of the Chancellor Rachel Reeves, the Foreign Secretary David Lammy, the Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds and Jonathan Powell, with help from the UK’s incoming ambassador to Washington, Peter Mandelson. It would be hard to describe any committee that includes David Lammy as the ‘A-Team’, but still, Starmer is at least

Iain Mansfield

The absurdity of funding ‘diverse’ research

Last week, the government made two major announcements on science and innovation. With backing from the Prime Minister and Chancellor, Science Secretary Peter Kyle laid out a detailed plan to ‘turbocharge AI’. The new ‘AI Opportunities Action Plan’ set out how the government will support AI to boost the economy and improve the productivity of the public sector. Given the Labour’s questionable commitment to growth, this was a rare ray of good hope. On the same day, Research England, a quango that allocates just over £2 billion of taxpayer funding a year, set out the next steps in its controversial plan to shift the emphasis of its funding from scientific

Ross Clark

Trump won’t respect David Lammy’s fawning

Dear, oh dear. Will David Lammy never get it right? This morning he told the Today programme that Donald Trump is ‘funny, friendly and warm’, that he has ‘incredible grace’ and that he is full of generosity – the last remark apparently based on Trump offering him a second helping of chicken when they met for dinner last September. This is the same Donald Trump, presumably, whom Lammy previously described as a ‘woman-hating, neo-Nazi-sympathising sociopath’ who was ‘deluded, dishonest, xenophobic, narcissistic’ and ‘no friend of Britain’. Lammy must really, really have wanted that extra helping of chicken. It isn’t hard to guess what Trump himself thinks about Lammy’s backflip. He

Michael Henderson

Erling Haaland could never match Denis Law

‘Talent is plentiful’, said Laurence Olivier. ‘Skill is much rarer’. Although the great actor was talking about the stage he was really acknowledging the nature of what Ken Tynan called ‘high definition’ performance. And in the world of football, there were few performers so highly defined as Denis Law. The tributes paid to ‘the Lawman’, who died on Friday at the age of 84, may surprise those too young to have seen him play for Manchester United. He kicked his last ball 51 years ago, retiring in 1974 after representing Scotland at the World Cup. Fans raised on that overheated global phenomenon, the Premier League, must take on trust the

Steerpike

Axel Rudakubana pleads guilty to Southport murders

To Liverpool and the case of the Southport murders. Today, 18-year-old Axel Rudakubana pleaded guilty to murdering three young girls in a knife attack last year on the first day of his trial. Rudakubana appeared at Liverpool Crown Court this morning over the horrific events of last year, which saw nine-year-old Alice da Silva Aguiar, seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe and six-year-old Bebe King lose their lives after being attacked at a dance class. At a previous hearing, not guilty pleas had been entered on Rudakubana’s behalf – but today he pleaded guilty to three counts of murder, 10 of attempted murder and two terror-related charges. He was also accused of

Katy Balls

Will Trump 2.0 derail the Starmer Project?

Donald Trump is back. Later today, Trump will once again take the oath of office and be sworn in as the 47th President of the United States. A host of UK politicians are in Washington D. C. to watch the spectacle including Trump’s friend Nigel Farage, former prime ministers Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, shadow foreign secretary Priti Patel and former home secretary Suella Braverman along with her husband Rael (now a Reform supporter). However, one politician who will be missing from the festivities is David Lammy – the Foreign Secretary is not making the trip. A small group of ministers have been meeting to discuss what Trump means for

Steerpike

The sad decline of the Westminster lunch

‘Lunch?’ growled Gordon Gekko in Wall Street. ‘Lunch is for wimps.’ Yet for half of Westminster the noble art of lunching is as much a part of political life as PMQs. For generations, hacks, flacks and MPs of all sides have wined and dined in various London establishments. Whether it is the pubs of SW1 or the wineries of Victoria, Kensington restaurants or the dive bars of Soho, many a long lunch has been enjoyed by the great and the not-so-good of British politics. Is that all now under threat? For Mr S was disturbed last week to discover that Rachel Reeves not only prepares her own lunch but takes

Kate Andrews

Trump has upended the Davos dominion

It’s fitting that Donald Trump’s inauguration day coincides with the first day of the World Economic Forum’s infamous Davos conference. The new and the old world orders are, in theory, competing for attention. But this is not a competition. It’s not even close. This year’s conference theme is ‘Collaboration for the Intelligent Age’: an idea that means little to nothing if the world’s largest economy – and leader in AI development – is not on board. And ‘collaboration’ is hardly a word that suits the lead-up to inauguration day, as the 47th President of the United States has been gearing up for the return to an ‘America First’ policy, which

Sam Leith

The difference between Trump 45 and Trump 47

Him again? Donald Trump’s back in the White House. Those who thought his first term in office was an aberration – a dismaying blip in the long arc of history towards liberal democracy, properly corrected by Biden’s 2020 victory – have been proven wrong in the most painful possible way. He wasn’t some brainfart of the internet era, some moment of madness. He’s back, and all the evidence seems to suggest that what he represents is much more in tune with the global zeitgeist than what Kamala Harris or, for that matter, Keir Starmer, are selling. Trump once made a performance of fighting the deep state. Today he wants to

Jacob Heilbrunn

The quarrelling coalition behind Donald Trump

Like Ronald Reagan in 1985, Donald Trump is bowing to the elements and moving his inauguration indoors to the Capitol Rotunda, where only 500 guests can squeeze in to attend the ceremony. But that development isn’t putting a damper on the spirits of the tens of thousands of Trump followers who have traveled to Washington. Trump’s investiture isn’t so much an inauguration as a jubilant restoration, with the Biden presidency serving as an interregnum. Will any of it ruffle Trump? When I visited the Mayflower Hotel, located a few blocks from the White House, for breakfast at its ‘Edgar’ restaurant – named after former FBI director J. Edgar Hoover who

Freddy Gray

Trump hypes America for his return

Biblical weather outside the rally for the sixtieth presidential inaugural in the Capitol One Arena in downtown Washington yesterday: hail plonked down onto streets of slush. The poor huddled Magas lined up for hours and hours, through labyrinthine perimeter fencing, just to see their leader. Inside, the atmosphere was electric and jubilant. ‘We won, we won,’ began Donald Trump, when he finally appeared. ‘Tomorrow at noon the curtain closes on four long years of American decline.’ Trump announced that he would order the publication of classified government documents on the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King. And he promised the crowd they would be

Gavin Mortimer

Is it too late to Make Europe Great Again?

A poll published last week by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) found that much of the world is relishing the return of Donald Trump to the White House. Eighty-four per cent of Indians think Trump will be good for their country as do 61 per cent of Saudis. In Russia, South Africa, China and Brazil, more citizens have faith in The Donald than don’t. It is in Europe where pessimism reigns. Only 15 per cent of Britons believe Trump will benefit them, a figure that rises to 22 per cent in the EU. This is the same sorry percentage of Europeans who regard Trump’s America as an ally ‘that shares

Sunday

Joe Bedell-Brill

Sunday shows round-up: Labour reacts to the Gaza ceasefire

A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas tentatively came into effect at 9.15 a.m. UK time, following a three-hour delay caused by Israel not receiving the names of three female hostages to be freed later today. News of the imminent ceasefire emerged as Laura Kuenssberg interviewed Chief Secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones on the BBC. Among the names of the hostages due to be released today is British-Israeli Emily Damari. Kuenssberg asked Darren Jones what reassurance he could give to British families whose loved ones were captured. Jones said it would be an ‘increase in hope’ for the family of Emily Damari that her name was listed, but that families

Jonathan Sacerdoti

Can the ceasefire last?

The ceasefire in Gaza, scheduled to begin this morning, has been anything but straightforward. As the agreement unfolds, many have rushed to declare who are the winners and who are the losers. Yet victory does not lie with those who made the most military gains or acted most morally – it leans, perversely, towards those ruthless enough to exploit suffering without moral restraint. In this grim theatre of war the truth is far bleaker, that among the civilized, there can only be losers. After days of fraught negotiations, delays, and brinkmanship, the first steps of this tenuous agreement are now unfolding. The plan, as presented, is stark in its simplicity and devastating

Daniel DePetris

Trump is coming for Europe on defence

Hundreds of millions of Americans will have a new president tomorrow. Depending on where you land on America’s increasingly hyper-partisan political spectrum, 20 January will either be a day of dread or joy, a return to the good old times or a step back into rough, unpredictable waters.  The same could be said for policymakers across the Atlantic Ocean. Most of Europe’s political heavyweights, the majority of whom are still content to live in the 1990s as if the geopolitical changes of the last two decades didn’t occur, are dreading Trump’s return. Fresh off another victory, Trump and his administration want to see clear, unambiguous action It doesn’t take a

Lucy Dunn

What’s behind Reform’s surge in Scotland?

Five years ago, Reform UK had no presence in Scotland. Its Facebook and Twitter pages emerged during the latter half of the pandemic and despite briefly experiencing four months in Holyrood courtesy of a Tory defector, the group has since then remained very much out of sight and mind. Nigel Farage neglected Scotland during last year’s general election campaign, his deputy Richard Tice visited just once and the group still lacks a Scottish leader. Despite all that, however, Reform is shaping up to become kingmaker in the 2026 Holyrood election.  ‘Everywhere I went, people were talking about Reform. And I thought: there’s something really going on here.’  On Thursday, The Spectator revealed

John R. MacArthur

True-blue New Yorkers are bracing themselves for Trump’s return

Fleeing the United States ahead of a ‘fascist takeover’ by Donald Trump on 20 January has been the talk of liberal circles, and nowhere more than in deep-blue New York City. A New York Times story revealing that tech billionaire and Democratic donor Reid Hoffman was ‘weighing a move overseas’ because he feared ‘retribution’ from the next president added fuel to already smouldering speculation ignited by the relocation of the anti-Trump TV celebrity Ellen DeGeneres and her wife to England. I tend to ridicule such quailing as absurd and unpatriotic, if not downright cowardly.  I was thrown off my leftist assumptions, however, when my plumber visited our family’s weekend house on the East End