Politics

Read about the latest political news, views and analysis

Tuesday

Alexander Larman

Was the Emir of Qatar’s visit a good idea?

As the first day of the Emir of Qatar’s state visit to Britain draws to a close, all those involved in this its organisation might allow themselves a larger-than-usual measure of Christmas cheer. From Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani’s arrival in the country earlier today, the lavish pageantry of his welcome by the King, Prince and Princess of Wales and Keir Starmer, amongst many other dignitaries, has been precision-designed to make sure that the Emir has as enjoyable and eventful a visit to the country as possible. Tamim is a resolute Anglophile, who was educated at Harrow, Sherborne and Sandhurst, and Qatar remains a vital investor in

Steerpike

Conservative Home founder joins Reform

The ravens really are leaving the Tower. Last week, it was Andrea Jenkyns quitting the Tories; this week it is the turn of an even bigger name. Tim Montgomerie – the founder of Conservative Home – has today been announced as the latest prominent Conservative to switch to Reform UK. The party posted a picture of Montgomerie beaming with leader Nigel Farage and chairman Zia Yusuf on its X account. ‘After 33 years in the Conservative party’, it read, ‘Tim Montgomerie, former adviser to Boris Johnson and creator and editor of Conservative Home, has joined Reform UK.’ Ahead of a ‘special announcement’, new week a senior party source told Mr

Patrick West

Vegans aren’t saints or sinners

Vegans are a people both widely admired and hated. That is the conclusion of a report earlier this week, one that found that shoppers who opt for meat alternatives elicit fear and contempt from others. According to researchers from the University of Vaasa in Finland, who interviewed 3,600 people from four European countries, including the UK, people who choose plant-based options are perceived as ‘worthy of admiration’, yet at the same time their vegan lifestyle also arouses feelings of ‘envy, fear, contempt and anger.’ Before vegans let such news swell their heads – knowing now that they’re seen as both awesome and awful – further research, published in the Times

Freddy Gray

Is Trump an energy humanist?

27 min listen

Freddy speaks to Robert Bryce – author of an authoritative susbstack on energy – about Trump’s energy plans for his second term. The President elect’s Cabinet picks have been raising eyebrows, including the appointment of Chris Wright as Secretary of Energy. He is an ‘unapologetic energy humanist’ according to Robert and this is a statement of intent when it comes to energy production and driving energy costs down. But what exactly is an energy humanist? And will Chris Wright be able to ‘drill baby drill’? Freddy and Robert discuss. 

Steerpike

Commons back proportional representation bill

There have been a lot of political firsts this year: Labour’s supermajority, Reform UK’s Westminster seats and the incorporation of an, er, bungee jump into the Liberal Democrat election campaign. Now all eyes are on a curious development in Westminster today that has the potential to alter the UK’s entire voting system… In a rather interesting move, the Commons voted this afternoon to introduce a bill to legislate on proportional representation. The ten minute rule motion was introduced by Lib Dem MP Sarah Olney and calls for: Leave [to] be given to bring in a Bill to introduce a system of proportional representation for parliamentary elections and for local government

Philip Patrick

Why has South Korea’s president declared martial law?

In a dramatic and unnanounced move, South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law on Tuesday in a live broadcast on YTN television. Yoon did not specify exactly what measures would be taken but justified the decision as necessary to ‘safeguard constitutional order’.  Yoon accused opposition parties, which have a majority in the South Korean parliament, of taking the parliamentary process hostage, a reference presumably to a motion by the opposition Democratic party to impeach some of the country’s top prosecutors and the rejection of the government’s recent budget proposal.  What on earth is Yoon up to playing with fire like this? Rather more wildly, and perhaps to whip

Oscar Edmondson

Is Starmer planning a foreign policy reset too?

18 min listen

Keir Starmer is preparing to give his big reset speech on Thursday. But the more interesting address is perhaps the one he gave last night at the annual Lord Mayor’s Banquet, where the Prime Minister gave his first major speech on foreign policy. The most interesting passage saw Starmer reject the notion that Britain will need to pick sides between the US and the EU under the looming Trump presidency – particularly in the event of a trade war. How long can No. 10 afford to keep their foreign policy preferences ambiguous?  Also on the podcast, Sir Chris Wormald has been announced as the successor to Simon Case as Cabinet

James Heale

Why the Welsh Tory leader has quit

Andrew RT Davies has quit this lunchtime as the leader of the Conservative group in the Welsh parliament. It follows a confidence vote among the 16 Tory Senedd Members (MSs) who narrowly voted by nine to seven to keep him on as leader. With the group split how best to proceed, Davies has opted to fall on his sword. In a letter, he says he does so ‘with regret‘ after members of his frontbench threatened to resign last week if he did not. Davies described his position as ‘untenable’ following the vote, saying that ‘it was clear from the result that a substantial minority of the group do not support

Steerpike

Public trust in SNP government collapses

When it rains for Scotland’s Nats, it pours. It now transpires – according to the Scottish government’s very own survey – that between 2022 and 2023, the proportion of people who trust the SNP government has plummeted by a staggering 10 points. And that’s not all. Trust in all six public sector institutions has declined markedly in the last 12 months, with the results presenting a rather concerning picture for the SNP ahead of the 2026 Holyrood elections. Not that Mr S can say he’s particularly shocked… The Scottish government saw public trust fall from 55 per cent in 2022 to a mere 45 per cent the following year, while

Eliot Wilson

Starmer will struggle to keep both the EU and US happy

We do not have to make a choice between our alliance with the United States and closer relations with the European Union: that was the message of the Prime Minister’s traditional annual speech to the Lord Mayor’s Banquet at the Guildhall. Sir Keir Starmer called the supposed binary ‘plain wrong’, and prayed in aid some of his most illustrious predecessors. I reject it utterly. Attlee did not choose between allies. Churchill did not choose. The national interest demands that we work with both. He described the ‘special relationship’ with the United States in profound terms, written ‘in the ink of shared sacrifice… in Normandy, Flanders and around the world’, and

Gavin Mortimer

Is this the end for Barnier – and Macron?

Emmanuel Macron arrived in Saudi Arabia on Monday for trade talks with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Having signed a strategic partnership deal in Riyadh, the pair pledged to work for peace in the Middle East, particularly in Lebanon. An Élysée spokesman said Macron wants ‘presidential elections to be held in Lebanon, with the aim of bringing the Lebanese together and carrying out the reforms necessary for the country’s stability and security.’ No one wants to be seen trying to save Emmanuel Macron The irony won’t have been lost on the French. A recent poll revealed that nearly two-thirds of the country think their president should resign in the event that

Iain Macwhirter

NHS Scotland can’t go on like this

Another Scottish budget and another dire warning from the spending watchdog, Audit Scotland, that the National Health Service in Scotland is out of control and heading for disaster. With almost one sixth of the Scottish population on a waiting list, around 10 per cent of beds occupied by people who shouldn’t be there, and daily horror stories from accident and emergency, the service is long past breaking point. Yet the NHS is gobbling up 40 per cent of the entire Scottish budget, according to Audit Scotland’s director, Stephen Boyle. With increased staffing and higher pay, the health service is simply ‘unsustainable’. The NHS, free at the point of need, is no longer sustainable We

Steerpike

Will Louise Haigh receive a golden goodbye?

Well, well, well. Before Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour lot got into government, Starmer’s army was quite happy to commit to to suspending – and, in some cases, revoking altogether – severance pay over ministerial code breaches. But it appears Sir Keir’s crowd is a little less enthusiastic about the prospect now it threatens to affect one of their own. Former Transport Secretary Louise Haigh resigned on Friday after it emerged she had pleaded guilty to a criminal offence in 2014 – with No. 10 advising her to step away from the brief over a possible breach of the ministerial code. The former Transport Secretary did not declare her spent conviction

Matthew Lynn

Marine Le Pen’s reckless game with the French economy

The power probably feels good. And it may help her win the presidency eventually. Even so, there is a catch to Marine Le Pen’s decision to bring down Michel Barnier’s government in France, potentially as soon as tomorrow afternoon. If the government goes, the eurozone ay well go down with it. The financial plans of Le Pen’s National Rally’s (NR) party are completely reckless. And even if the chaos that will follow the vote does help win the Élysée Palace for Le Pen, she will inherit a ruined economy – for which she will only have herself to blame.  The NR’s only answer to excessive spending is to spend even

Damien Phillips

Why Britain is rolling out the red carpet for Qatar

This week’s state visit by the Emir of Qatar is the first of any Arab leader since King Charles ascended the throne. This is no coincidence: while its role is often misunderstood, Qatar has skilfully positioned itself as one of the West’s most important allies in the Middle East. Doha’s role as the world’s mediator-in-chief is only going to become more important With the current conflict in the Levant showing no signs of slowing, the Russo-Ukrainian War entering a critical phase, and events in Syria and Yemen increasing the risk of a wider conflict, Doha’s role as the world’s mediator-in-chief is only going to become more important. Yet the polarisation

James Heale

Is Starmer planning a foreign policy reset too?

Keir Starmer is preparing to give his big reset speech on Thursday. But the more interesting address is perhaps the one he gave last night. The annual Lord Mayor’s Banquet was the setting for the Prime Minister to give his first major speech on foreign policy since entering No. 10. The most interesting passage saw Starmer reject the notion that Britain will need to pick sides between the US and EU under the looming Trump presidency – particularly in the event of a trade war. ‘I reject it utterly. Attlee did not choose between allies, Churchill did not choose,’ he said. ‘The idea that we must choose between our allies,

Robin Ashenden

Things can only get worse for Keir Starmer

Finally a date has been set – 29 January 2025 – for the government to debate points posed by the now infamous ‘Call a General Election’ petition. ‘I would like there to be another General Election,’ reads the blurb on the website. ‘I believe the current Labour government have gone back on the promises they laid out in the lead up to the last election.’ Many of the nearly three million who signed – unless they’re fantasists – will have done it more in agreement with the second statement than hope of the first. But how did we get here in under five months? Will Keir Starmer, at his announced

Justin Marozzi

Britain is finally debating cousin marriage

It is a biting winter’s evening in Cambridge and apparently we are making history. This is the first serious public discussion in the UK of the law on cousin marriage, and the desirability of legislating against it, since the mid-Victorian era. At a time when British universities seem more interested in discussing diversity, equity and inclusion and decolonising the curricula than engaging with the great issues of the day, there is an unmistakable frisson as we gather around a long beechwood table in the brightly lit Weston Room of the interfaith Woolf Institute. A portrait of the no-nonsense Princess Anne, its patron, smiles down upon us. Charles Darwin, who was

Patrick Gibbons

Ireland’s centre has held

Two years ago, I secured an apartment in Dublin through a gay dating app. I was desperate and there was a housing shortage in Ireland so I was prepared to ignore safety concerns to get a roof over my head. ‘You must be used to this in London’, Irish friends would say to me. But I was not. In London if you’re happy to compromise on cost or location, there are plenty of rooms available. In Dublin you can double or triple your budget or look further afield and still not find a place. There are some very high-spec, new-build apartments in the city’s docklands (its ‘tech hub’), which can cost around

Monday

Jonathan Spyer

Success for Syria’s rebels is far from guaranteed

Syrian Sunni Islamist fighters are continuing to consolidate their gains in Syria’s Aleppo province. Almost the entirety of Aleppo city, sometimes called the capital of Syria’s north, is now in the hands of the Turkey-backed fighters. Russian and Assad regime airstrikes have begun in earnest on opposition-held parts of the country’s north west. The lightning advance of the insurgents has now slowed down. Fresh from their triumph in Aleppo, the Sunni fighters sought to push into Hama province further south. Elements of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS – or the ‘Organization for the liberation of Syria/the Levant’), which is spearheading the push south, entered the suburbs of the city but were