Politics

Read about the latest political news, views and analysis

Friday

Kristina Murkett

The truth about the surge in home-schooling

Historically, home-schooling has been seen as a niche or eccentric choice of education: an option only really considered by hippies, conspiracy theorists, religious fanatics or socially awkward geniuses. Its reputation has not been a positive one: critics argue that home-schooled children are at risk of abuse and radicalisation; that it is a form of social imprisonment, keeping students away from their peers; and that it is more about pleasing over-protective, paranoid parents than doing what is best for the child. Banning home-schooling is not the answer Not anymore. Despite the stigma, an ever-growing minority of parents are choosing to home-school their children: 175,000 students were home-schooled in 2024/5, an increase

Oscar Edmondson

Jenrick vs Badenoch: who won yesterday’s defection?

10 min listen

Yesterday was a breathless day in Westminster. The defection of Robert Jenrick spawned plenty of headlines and even more memes. But now that the dust has settled, how has the news been received? Was it a total victory for Reform, and evidence that they are slowly swallowing up the Tory party, or is Kemi still in the race? Today, the assisted dying bill is back in the Lords. As discussions about this legislation drag on, does its implementation look increasingly unlikely? Oscar Edmondson speaks to Tim Shipman and James Heale. Produced by Oscar Edmondson.

Jenrick vs Badenoch: who won yesterday's defection?
Edward Howell

Putting Yoon Suk Yeol on trial won’t unify South Korea

Think of the death penalty and North Korea’s executions of individuals convicted of so-called ‘anti-state crimes’ may spring to mind. The resilient democracy of South Korea, however, probably would not. Nevertheless, this week has seen South Korean prosecutors call for the country’s former president, Yoon Suk Yeol, to be handed the most extreme of all punishments for his notorious declaration of martial law on 3 December 2024. At the first of his four trials this morning, the former president was handed a five-year prison sentence for having ‘plunged the country into political crisis’. But as his left-wing successor, Lee Jae-myung, reaches his six-month anniversary in office, putting Yoon on trial

Brendan O’Neill

London is finally about to show its support for a free Iran

Over the years, on the streets of London, I have heard so much praise for the Iranian regime and its brutish proxies. I’ve seen witless radicals cry: ‘We are all Hezbollah!’ I’ve seen leftists cheer the Houthis, that avowedly anti-Semitic army that does the mullahs’ bidding in Yemen. I’ve seen Islamists with placards featuring the face of Ayatollah Khamenei, praising him for being ‘on the right side of history’, as if he were some kind of god rather than a ruthless religious dictator. There is a silent majority here that is sickened by Islamist tyranny. On Sunday, that silent majority will make some noise Every time, I have felt mortified.

Stephen Pollard

Is Robert Jenrick really welcome in Reform?

Robert Jenrick isn’t often compared to Groucho Marx, but there’s something apposite about the latter’s line, ‘I don’t want to belong to any club that will accept me as a member’. Clearly Jenrick, who was sacked by Tory leader Kemi Badenoch yesterday before being unveiled as Reform’s latest recruit, does want to be a member of Reform. He began talks with Tim Montgomerie and then Nigel Farage last September, we learned yesterday – and, equally clearly, Reform is happy to have him as a member. But in both cases, only sort of. Jenrick has spent the past few years telling everyone why he would never want to be a member

Julie Burchill

London is wild – and no longer in a good way

London is the focus of the world as since no time since the Swinging Sixties. Personally, I find it rather thrilling – but it doesn’t make me want to move back. With all the kerfuffles going on at assorted hotspots around the globe, you’d think Elon Musk and JD Vance wouldn’t have much time for little old us. But there they are, setting the agenda on rape gangs (thank goodness we got rid of the police and politicians’ twee little ‘grooming gangs’ which sounded like mobile poodle parlours) and freedom of speech (interesting how Keir Starmer dismissed those calling for an inquiry into the rape gangs as right-wing bandwagon jumpers

Catherine Perez-Shakdam

Iran’s regime is failing at home. Prepare for it to export its revolution abroad

The mullahs are learning – again – that one can beat a crowd, but not indefinitely beat a people. A state founded on permanent emergency eventually discovers that emergency is its only language, and coercion cannot persuade forever. The protests convulsing Iran, met with familiar brutality, are not just street politics. They are a referendum on clerical rule, the terror apparatus sustaining it, and the international indulgence keeping it alive. Britain’s complacency in the face of Tehran’s terror isn’t naïve; it’s strategic self-harm Britain’s response to foreign despotism is tepid: ‘urge restraint,’ ‘call for calm,’ ‘monitor closely.’ As Tehran accelerates punishments and enforcers hunt the defiant, Westminster persists in therapeutic

Per Koustrup

Why Denmark’s success could cost it Greenland

Remember when the President of the United States casually enquired about purchasing Greenland in 2019? The world scoffed. Denmark, a nation whose greatest geopolitical aspiration usually involves a decent bridge or tunnel, emitted a collective gasp of ‘Oh no, he didn’t’. It was all very quickly dismissed with a chuckle as just another example of Donald Trump’s fantasy of embiggening America. But fast forward seven years, and the laughter is stuck in Copenhagen’s throat. This is because the Arctic, far from being a frozen curiosity, is rapidly becoming the next great theatre of global power. Trump, with his signature sledgehammer, may well have been years ahead of the curve in a way that

Michael Gove

Q&A: Rory Stewart vs Dominic Cummings – the problem with political prophets

30 min listen

This week: Michael and Maddie examine the rise of the Green party and ask whether it represents a passing protest vote or a genuine realignment on the British left. As Labour’s support continues to leak away and figures once loyal to Jeremy Corbyn drift towards the Greens, are Keir Starmer’s U-turns finally catching up with him – and how far can a ‘hipster–hobbit alliance’ really go? Then: the row between Rory Stewart and Dominic Cummings, after claims about overseas students and radicalisation in Britain were dismissed – only to be vindicated. What does the episode reveal about political forecasting, expert class overconfidence, and why some of Westminster’s most celebrated commentators

Christopher Snowdon

Labour’s zero-alcohol crackdown makes no sense

Labour is weighing up a crackdown on people under 18 buying ‘no and low-alcohol’ drinks. On current form, this means Keir Starmer’s government will launch a public consultation, commit itself to a ban, endure weeks of mockery and abuse from the public and then perform a humiliating U-turn. But when the inevitable climbdown comes, what will be the main reason? Let us consider the options. Firstly, it is impractical. Where do zero-alcohol drinks end and soft drinks begin? The very definition of a soft drink is that it has no alcohol. Assuming that the government doesn’t want to ban teenagers from buying Fanta and Pepsi Max, it is going to have to

Tim Shipman

Iran’s useful idiots, Gordon Brown’s second term & the Right’s race obsession

43 min listen

As the world watches events in Iran, and wonders whether the US will intervene, the Spectator’s cover this week examines ‘British complicity in Tehran’s terror’. When thinking about what could happen next in the crisis, there is a false dichotomy presented between regime survival and revolution; the reality is more complicated, though there is no doubt that this is the biggest threat to the theocratic regime in decades.  For this week’s Edition, host Lara Prendergast is joined by political editor Tim Shipman, columnist Rachel Johnson and features editor – and Edition co-host – William Moore. They commend the bravery of Iran’s protestors but criticise the ‘inept, naive and wrong’ response of the Foreign Office.

Thursday

Tim Shipman

Inside Jenrick & Reform’s shotgun marriage

15 min listen

Robert Jenrick has sensationally defected to Reform. After a day that started with his sacking from the Conservatives – over plotting to reject – continued with the will-he-won’t-he drama of whether Farage would accept him as a new Reform member this afternoon; it ends with a press conference welcoming him to Farage’s gang. So what happens now? Kemi Badenoch was praised for her show of strength in swiftly expelling Jenrick, but she is undoubtedly weakened after this news and her frontbencher looks considerably lighter. Is this an inflection point for the Conservative party? And what role will Bobby J play in Reform – could he be their new shadow chancellor?

Inside Jenrick & Reform's shotgun marriage
Madeline Grant

Jenrick is Reform’s most coveted debutante

Westminster has its faults, but if you’re looking for a good old-fashioned day of mistakes, backbiting, and last-minute drama, there really is nowhere like it. Today it was there in spades: Titus Andronicus by the cast of Rainbow. The Jenrick sacking had everything – apparent incompetence by a junior aide, wild conspiratorial accusations and a hastily convened press conference. Never mind tea or pomp or sarcasm, nobody does this sort of clattering political cock-up quite like the British. Reform had always planned to have a press conference today. In fact, they had two. Spare a thought for Lord Offord, unveiled as Reform’s leader in Scotland but destined to be only

Madeline Grant

What does Jenrick’s defection mean for the right?

Robert Jenrick arrived late to his own defection. ‘It’s time for the truth,’ he said, before launching into a speech that he would have no doubt preferred to deliver at a more opportune moment. In Nigel Farage’s opening remarks, which he had to pad out as Jenrick failed to arrive at the lectern, he implied that his new recruit had only been pushed into jumping by the actions of an over-hasty Kemi Badenoch. He described her sacking of Jenrick as an avoidable own goal, ‘the latest Christmas present I’ve ever had’. In reality, Jenrick could scarcely have been allowed to stay on after senior Reform UK figures had publicly admitted

James Heale

Robert Jenrick joins Reform

Robert Jenrick has rounded off an extraordinary day on the British right by formally joining Reform. Sacked by Kemi Badenoch at 11 a.m., he was in Milbank Tower announcing his defection at 4:30 p.m. A grinning Nigel Farage gave him a brief introduction – only for there to be an awkward 30-second pause before Jenrick finally appeared. The Newark MP gave a 15-minute speech which set out his reasons for quitting. After a fairly dry first half which echoed his 2024 leadership campaign – with a detailed litany of state capacity failings – he then moved onto the crucial section of the speech: a denunciation of the party he served

Lisa Haseldine

Will a military boost be enough to stop Trump grabbing Greenland?

When Donald Trump sets his sights on something, it’s hard to prevent him getting what he wants. That hasn’t, however, stopped Greenland and Denmark from trying. The Danish army has announced that, from today, it is boosting its presence on Greenland. It will be backed up by a cohort of European troops, arriving over the coming days as part of an effort to prove to the US that Copenhagen can secure the island’s defences. Earlier today, France confirmed that 15 troops had arrived on the island. In the coming hours they will be joined by 13 soldiers from Germany, two from Norway, one from Britain, one from the Netherlands and an undisclosed

Steerpike

Nick Timothy takes Jenrick’s job

It’s a treacherous business, politics. One day you’re the future Tory leader, the next you’re sitting on the independent benches with Ayoub Khan. But Robert Jenrick’s expulsion from the shadow cabinet has meant a spot has opened up at the top table for another leading light. To replace Jenrick as shadow justice secretary, Kemi Badenoch has turned to a man who backed him for leader in 2024: Nick Timothy, the long time tormentor of West Midlands Police. Timothy is both a newbie and a veteran: a longtime Westminster operator and the first of the 2024 Tory intake to join the shadow cabinet. Like many of the best and brightest, he

Steerpike

Tory chairman: ‘This was treachery’

So. Farewell then Robert Jenrick. The most popular member of the shadow cabinet (according to ConservativeHome at least) was this morning axed from the top team. Kemi Badenoch claims that she has been handed ‘clear irrefutable evidence’ that he was about to switch sides, ahead of a Reform press conference later today. There is still no word from the man in question just yet… One person who certainly was happy to comment was Kevin Hollinrake, the Yorkshire terrier of 4 Matthew Parker Street. The Tory chairman delighted in sticking the boot in to Jenrick on the BBC’s flagship Politics Live show this lunchtime, declaring that the now-ex Shadow Justice Secretary

Ross Clark

Reform risk becoming the face of Tory failure

How grim things are suddenly looking for Nigel Farage and Reform UK. It isn’t that their poll ratings are crashing – in spite of a minor decline in the polls in recent weeks, the party still holds a commanding lead. For the moment, the outcome of the next election continues to look like being either a Reform UK government of a Reform UK-led coalition with the Tories. At the current rate there is a serious chance that by 2029 the Conservatives could end up looking fresher than Reform UK Conservative MPs are certainly convinced that their party is dying, which is why so many are defecting. Robert Jenrick – assuming

Tom Slater

Why are illegal migrants welcome in Britain but not Eva Vlaardingerbroek?

So they can control our borders after all. After the government presided over a near-record high for small-boats crossings last year, swinging open the doors of the nation’s hotels to anyone who can buy a spot on a dinghy, the British state has banned a Dutch right-wing activist who pals around with Tommy Robinson. Starmer’s government presides over an illegal migration free-for-all while fussing over a few crankish influencers Eva Vlaardingerbroek, 29, has had her electronic travel authorisation (ETA) revoked by the Home Office. ‘Your presence in the UK is not considered to be conducive to the public good’, read an email, shared on X by Vlaardingerbroek. ‘You cannot appeal this decision.’ If only