Politics

Read about the latest political news, views and analysis

Thursday

Steerpike

Andy Burnham demands grooming gangs inquiry

Following the defeat of the Tory amendment in parliament last night, No. 10 might have hoped that calls for a public inquiry into grooming gangs are now dying down. But the impetus for such a move has been given fresh life today by another helpful intervention from that well-known Starmer ally, Andy Burnham. Yes, that’s right – the Mayor of Greater Manchester has decided that today of all days is the perfect time to add his voice to the chorus of demands. The self-identified ‘King in the North’ told BBC Radio Manchester today that while he rejected the Tories’ ‘opportunism’: I do think there is the case for a limited

Ian Williams

What is the point of Rachel Reeves’s visit to Beijing?

The Chinese communist party claims to know a thing or two about humiliation – the ‘century of humiliation’ at the hands of rapacious foreigners is a founding myth of the CCP, which presents itself as a redemptive power. It will no doubt derive some satisfaction in making Rachel Reeves look foolish, as she heads to China today with a selection of City grandees. In reality though, the damage will be largely self-inflicted. Starmer’s China strategy seems even more incoherent than that of his predecessors For multiple reasons, the timing of a visit designed to build closer economic links with Beijing is awful. It comes just weeks after the UK confirmed

Lara Prendergast

The truth about grooming gangs, ‘why I’m voting for the AfD’ & exploring YouTube rabbit holes

47 min listen

This week: what does justice look like for the victims of the grooming gangs?In the cover piece for the magazine, Douglas Murray writes about the conspiracy of silence on the grooming gangs and offers his view on what justice should look like for the perpetrators. He also encourages the government to take a step back and consider its own failings. He writes: ‘If any government or political party wants to do something about the scandal, they will need to stop reviewing and start acting. Where to begin? One good starting point would be to work out why Pakistani rapists in Britain seem to have more rights than their victims.’ To

Steerpike

BBC presenter loses job after releasing anti-Starmer song

Back to the Beeb, which continues to get better at being the focus of news headlines rather than, er, producing them. Now a freelance weekend newsreader is on the warpath, with the ex-BBC presenter claiming he was let go from the public service broadcaster after it emerged he made an anti-Keir Starmer charity Christmas single. Good heavens… Chris Middleton worked at BBC Radio Newcastle for six years before producing the ‘Freezing This Christmas’ hit. The tongue-in-cheek tune intended to make a serious point about the winter fuel payment cuts introduced by Starmer’s army, with the rather creative lyrics including: And she told me that she doesn’t get out of bed

Patrick O’Flynn

Is Reform about to top the polls?

Is Reform about to become the most popular political party in Britain, overtaking both Labour and the Tories in national opinion polls? The rise of the light blue peril in opinion surveys since the general election at the expense of both major parties has certainly caused jitters in Westminster. MPs from more established parties know that Reform hitting the front would be a major story in itself and could generate a ‘feedback loop’ that could further stretch its lead.  Following a bumpy Christmas for Kemi Badenoch, the latest Spectator poll tracker which aggregates surveys up to 8 January, has Labour averaging 27 per cent, the Tories just over 23 per cent and

Kate Andrews

Borrowing costs soar – will Rachel Reeves have to go back on her word?

12 min listen

Long term borrowing costs for the government have reached levels not seen since 1998, and 10 year UK gilts are now at their highest point since the 2008 financial crash. Both surpass the levels seen during the Liz Truss premiership – and this hasn’t gone unnoticed by the former PM. A set of similar circumstances, but could the consequences be the same? What are the economic – and political – challenges facing Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves? James Heales speaks to Kate Andrews and Katy Balls to unpack the latest tranche of economic data. Produced by Patrick Gibbons. 

Steerpike

Watch: Scottish Tory leader mocks FM over Musk comments

Twitter CEO Elon Musk has been the talk of London town this week and north of the border things are no different. The first First Minister’s Questions of the year has just concluded in Holyrood and, surprise surprise, the tech titan got a pretty prominent mention. In a speech on Monday, First Minister John Swinney rather bizarrely suggested that if the SNP government’s budget failed to pass next month it would play into the hands of ‘Elon Musk and other populists’. Er, right. Keen to clarify exactly why Swinney decided to throw that rather odd warning around, new Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay was quick on the attack today. Taking

Steerpike

Watch: Steve Reed heckled by farmers

Who was the least popular man in Oxford this morning? Environment Secretary Steve Reed was certainly up there. The Labour man travelled through to the City of Dreaming Spires today to deliver a speech at the Oxford Farming Conference, with the Environment Secretary keen to discuss matters like how farmers can ‘diversify’ their incomes and how Labour will help ‘tear down the barriers to trade’ with the EU. But the farmers in attendance had other ideas… Anger over Rachel Reeves’ inheritance tax hike on farmland has certainly not dissipated and farming delegates were more than happy to remind the Labour MP of this fact. The Cabinet Secretary’s car was accompanied

Ross Clark

Liz Truss’s legal threat against Keir Starmer is a mistake

In politics as in everyday life it is possible to be right at the same time as being terribly, terribly wrong. Look no further than Liz Truss instructing her lawyers to send a ‘cease and desist letter’ to Keir Starmer demanding that he stops accusing her of “crashing the economy”. The claim, she alleges, is not only false but contributed to her losing her South West Norfolk seat in last year’s general election. Truss is right, as it happens – the mini budget delivered by her Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng during her micro-premiership may have precipitated a run on bond markets, but it had little effect on the economy, and Britain did

Matthew Lynn

Where is Rachel Reeves?

Bond yields are soaring to their highest levels in almost 30 years and sterling is sliding. The government’s economic strategy is facing its first real test, and where is the chancellor? So far Rachel Reeves has been silent, preparing for a jaunt to China. At some point she will have to address the markets – or risk turning a round of jitters into a full-blown crisis. Over the last few days, the markets have turned decisively on the UK. Yesterday, the yield on 10-year gilts hit its highest level since the financial crisis of 2008, while the yield on the 30-year gilt hit the highest level for 30 years. The

Steerpike

SNP government could boycott Twitter, FM warns

Elon Musk has kept the British media busy in recent days, after persistently posting criticism of UK politicians over the grooming gangs scandal – and even calling for Prime Minister Keir Starmer to be incarcerated. But actions have consequences and the billionaire businessman may soon be about to see what happens when he’s deemed to have gone too far. In fact the Twitter CEO may be about to feel the wrath of the Scottish National party which, reports claim, is considering leaving the social media site for greener pastures. However will Musk cope? Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney has admitted that he is still on Twitter at the moment because

Terry Barnes

Beach turf wars are dividing Australia

At a time when Donald Trump threatens to annex Greenland and the Panama Canal, China is flexing its military and economic muscles, Britain is in a state of seemingly permanent political crisis, Los Angeles tragically burns, and murderous conflicts still ravage Ukraine and the Middle East, here in Australia just one issue dominates public debate this week: whether a true Australian has the right to reserve beach space by setting up an American-style beach shelter – a cabana – to stake a claim, whether or not it’s occupied. Even the country’s prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has waded in on the subject – and finally found popularity by condemning the canvas

James Tidmarsh

Why the French state fears Elon Musk

The French government on Wednesday declared war on X and on Elon Musk, directly threatening to ban the platform. Speaking on France Inter, Jean-Noël Barrot, France’s Foreign Minister, accused Musk of allowing X to become a platform for interference undermining European ‘public discourse’. Barrot demanded that the European Commission act with ‘the utmost firmness’. He has repeatedly complained to Brussels and said that if the EU fails to act, potentially by banning X outright, France may demand the power to protect itself. ‘The debate on public platforms,’ he declared, ‘cannot be outsourced to unregulated social networks controlled by billionaires.’ Make no mistake – this isn’t about interference or democracy. It’s

Ben Domenech

The Democrats are changing their tune on Trump

The early attitudes from Democrats toward the new Trump administration are difficult to judge in a vacuum – and that’s the context we’re currently in a dozen days before the second inaugural. Last time around, it was only after the combination hits of the Women’s March and the manufactured Russiagate freakout that we saw elected Democrats put in a position where anything less than loud resistance was unacceptable. So here, in the in-between time before Trump returns to the White House, the positioning may not accurately reflect where things will be a month from now. That being said, there are signals – and they already reflect a different attitude from

Philip Patrick

The ‘MAGA’ South Koreans still supporting President Yoon

In extraordinary scenes more reminiscent of a South American coup than a supposedly stable first world democracy, fights broke out between protestors supporting and opposing South Korean President Yoon Suk-Yeol, outside his presidential compound in an upscale suburb of Seoul. They were there to demand or resist Yoon’s arrest for his declaration of martial law last month.  Yoon, whose powers are currently suspended, is being defended by the PSS (Presidential Security Service) who are barring the way to government investigators now trying to figure out how to gain entry. Yoon’s personal security detail (200 strong) has fortified his compound and so far kept investigators at bay.  Unless the authorities seek

Simon Heffer

Does Kemi Badenoch have a plan?

We are nearing the 50th anniversary, next month, of Margaret Thatcher becoming leader of the Conservative party. Only one other woman has ever become leader while the party was in opposition, and that is Kemi Badenoch. Mrs Badenoch is well aware of the strategy her legendary predecessor pursued between becoming leader of the opposition in 1975 and prime minister in 1979, and is sensibly emulating it: a willingness to include rivals in her shadow administration, and to take her time setting out policies (there is, after all, unlikely to be an election before the spring of 2028, by when anything could happen); but to precede the announcement of specific policies

Michael Gove

Keir Starmer, school harmer

Twin studies are one of the most useful exercises in scientific inquiry. Take two biologically identical children who are brought up in different environments, and study their progress through life. Pioneered by Francis Galton in the late 19th century, they can demonstrate how much of our destiny is dictated by nature or nurture. This government is precise in seeking to destroy the policies that have given children the best education possible Over the past two decades we have been conducting a twin study on an epic scale across these islands. Children in England have been educated in accordance with one set of principles. Children in Wales and Scotland have been

Rod Liddle

Who’ll join my war against liberalism?

I can see one possible benefit of having a full inquiry into the almost exclusively Muslim grooming gangs who raped and assaulted and in some cases murdered young white girls and are perhaps still doing so in a selection of Britain’s ghastliest towns. The number of lawyers it would employ and the enormous salaries they received might just about tilt us out of a recession next quarter. I can’t see much other benefit. Anyone who thinks it might provide justice for the thousands of girls and their families is living under a grave delusion. We do not need a public inquiry to inform us that we have been consistently lied to

Katy Balls

‘There’s been a vibe shift’: welcome to the new political disorder

Donald Trump isn’t back in the White House yet, but already his victory is being felt across the world. Greenland is pondering the prospect of an invasion after the President-elect refused to rule it out during a Mar-a-Lago press conference. In Canada, the last western leader from the days before Trump has just exited the stage. Justin Trudeau, the one-time liberal hero, quit earlier this week in the face of tanking ratings. Nick Clegg, the former Liberal Democrat leader, is out at Meta and the billionaires of Silicon Valley are bracing themselves for what comes next. Mark Zuckerberg has announced sweeping changes (including an end to fact-checkers) in response to

Wednesday

Isabel Hardman

Reform and Tories accused of weaponising grooming gangs scandal

Unsurprisingly, the Conservative attempt to amend/kill off the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill failed tonight, with MPs voting 364 to 111 against the reasoned amendment tabled by Kemi Badenoch. The amendment declined to give the bill its second reading on the basis of a lengthy list of issues, with the call for a national inquiry on grooming gangs at the very end.  The question of the inquiry did not fully dominate the debate, though there were some tense moments, particularly when Reform UK MPs were speaking. Labour backbencher Sarah Champion, who had long been outspoken on sexual exploitation, called the speech by Rupert Lowe ‘disgusting’ because of the language he