Politics

Read about the latest political news, views and analysis

Monday

Kate Andrews

Can Kamala Harris rewrite her political past?

Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy podcast interview with Vice President Kamala Harris was largely a love-in. But when you have been actively avoiding the media for the majority of your presidential campaign, even the most innocuous of questions can accidentally bite. ‘You don’t do too many long-form interviews,’ Cooper put to Vice President Harris at the start of their 45 minute podcast recording. ‘What made you want to do Call Her Daddy today?’  It made complete sense to kick off Harris’s ‘media blitz’ with a long interview One answer is listenership. Republican circles may scoff at the platform Cooper gives to sex, drugs and rock n’ roll, but those topics – and

John McTernan

Morgan McSweeney is the new Peter Mandelson

It’s an iron law of politics that when the staffer becomes the story they have to go. Dominic Cummings had to leave Boris Johnson, and Theresa May’s joint chiefs Fiona Hill and Nick Timothy both took the blame for the disastrous 2017 election result. The reshuffle resolves a perplexing political question Lobby journalists leaving Liverpool at the end of Labour conference had concluded that Sue Gray would have to leave the role of as chief of staff to Keir Starmer. Yet her resignation yesterday came as a surprise. This is of a piece with Starmer’s leadership – he doesn’t brief his intentions in advance, but he can often be swift

Steerpike

Ex-Green leader declares war on strawberries

Who remembers Natalie Bennett, the Aussie-accented eco-warrior whose car crash interviews briefly enlivened the 2015 election campaign? The onetime Green leader has since been installed as one of our great unelected masters in the House of Lords. But it seems that all that the institutional knowledge there has not yet rubbed off on Bennett, who continues to suffer a chronic case of foot-in-mouth syndrome. Many such cases… In her never-ending quest to make life worse for the British people, Bennett has found a new scourge on which to direct her ire: strawberries. Yes, that’s right, apparently growing the popular red fruit in colder months is killing the planet and must

Matthew Lynn

It’s too late for tariffs to save British steel

Cheap Chinese imports will flood the market. Even more jobs will be lost, and the country’s industrial base will be even weaker than it already is. UK Steel, the lobby group for the industry, has today called for tariffs to stop the last remaining steel mills being wiped out by unfair competition from lower cost rivals. It would hardly be any great surprise if a protectionist, union-dominated Labour government agreed to that. There is, however, just one snag. The steel industry has already long been neglected – and there is no point in trying to rescue it now. It is futile to provoke Chinese retaliation against industries that actually make

Steerpike

Watch: Labour Red Prince flounders in GB News grilling

It’s been a golden start in politics for Hamish Falconer. The son of former Lord Chancellor Charlie, the ex-Westminster boy triumphed at his first tilt for parliament in July before being appointed a fortnight later as the Minister for the Middle East. Highly regarded by many in the Foreign Office, it was to some excitement then that he made his media round debut today on the one-year anniversary of the 7 October attack on Israel. Unfortunately for Falconer, his first series of TV interviews was not one to remember. Appearing on GB News this morning, he was completely skewered by host Isabel Webster over Sue Gray’s Downing Street departure and

Gareth Roberts

Why is Gary Lineker worth all the bother?

There’s been another development in the wearying saga of Gary Lineker, the over-salaried presenter of football on the BBC and banal takes on Twitter/ X. An email leak suggests that a draft BBC statement preparing to announce his departure from Match Of The Day is in the works, but he has laughed this off on screen and told a reporter to ‘f-off’ in the street.  I strongly suspect that not a single viewer would be lost if he departed from Match Of The Day The leaked message, seen by the Daily Mail, purports to be from the broadcaster’s director of sport, Alex Kay-Jelski, and features a statement announcing the former England striker’s departure after 25 years

Jonathan Sacerdoti

Israel’s triumphant response to 7 October

One year after the brutal attacks of 7 October 2023, Israel’s global reputation has undergone a remarkable transformation. Far from being undermined by the actions it has taken in Gaza and beyond, Israel’s standing has been fortified, its image strengthened with steel. While some voices –particularly in the West – have feigned concern about Israel sacrificing its international standing in its pursuit of victory, the reality is starkly different. Israel’s reputation has not been diminished but has evolved into one of decisiveness, strategic intelligence, and strength. This return to a decisive military posture restores the Israeli reputation of old Much of the concern surrounding Israel’s actions in the last year

Katy Balls

Will Keir Starmer’s No. 10 reset work?

Who’s in charge in Downing Street? Until recently, the answer to that question would tend to reveal whether you were a Sue Gray or Morgan McSweeney supporter. Keir Starmer’s two most senior aides were viewed to be in a power struggle over the direction of the government. As Chief of Staff, Gray was ultimately in charge of the day-to-day running of government, yet it was McSweeney who was meant to set the political direction. There were complaints that the operation was not sufficiently joined up and that it lacked a clear political direction. ‘There is no narrative,’ complains a party figure. ‘It’s all quite disjointed.’ As for what that focus

Gavin Mortimer

Macron would rather anger Israel than the banlieues

Emmanuel Macron has chosen to mark the first anniversary of Hamas’ murderous attack on Israel on 7 October by criticising their response. In a radio interview, the president of France announced that ‘the priority today is to return to a political solution, to stop delivering weapons to fight in Gaza’. Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, called the remarks shameful and said it was a ‘disgrace’ to call for an arms embargo on Israel. 1,600 French Jews have emigrated from France to Israel in the last year The distinguished French Jewish writer and philosopher, Bernard-Henri Levy, said on Sunday that he was ‘saddened and shocked’ by his president’s comments, particularly given

Steerpike

Sue Gray’s top five lowlights

Change is the flavour of the month and nobody knows that better than Sir Keir Starmer’s top team, which on Sunday saw the PM’s chief of staff Sue Gray swap out for Labour campaign guru Morgan McSweeney after weeks of negative briefings about the former civil servant. Gray is down but not quite out – taking on an ‘advisory’ position as ‘envoy for the regions and nations’ – and as she moves into her next role, Mr S thought it would be worth reflecting on the ex-Starmer staffer’s biggest lowlights in the top job… Previous professional controversies If readers cast their minds back to March 2023, they will remember Sue

Jawad Iqbal

Is Morgan McSweeney the answer to Keir Starmer’s troubles?

It might be best described as the war for Keir Starmer’s ear in Downing Street, a battle to the bitter end between two of the Prime Minister’s most senior advisers. There was, in reality, only going to be one winner, and so it has come to pass. Morgan McSweeney, Keir Starmer’s chief adviser and architect of Labour’s massive general election victory this summer, has been anointed as the PM’s new all-powerful chief of staff. Out goes Sue Gray, his embattled predecessor. Gray decided the game was up, saying she ‘risked becoming a distraction’.  How will he go about ensuring that Whitehall bends to his master’s will? This is Whitehall-speak for

Brendan O’Neill

Shame on the pro-Palestinian mob for hijacking 7 October

It is one year since the Jews suffered the worst act of anti-Semitic violence since the Nazi era, and what is the British left doing? Raging against the Jewish state. Hitting the streets in their thousands to fume against the nation that was the victim of that carnival of racist killing. They’re protesting not against the pogromists of Hamas who unleashed such horrors on 7 October 2023, but against the country and the people they did it to. It’s a new low It’s a new low. As Jews in Britain and around the world ready themselves for the painful commemoration of the slaughter of more than a thousand of their

Francis Pike

The long-forgotten history of the Chagos Islands

Now that Sir Keir Starmer has unilaterally decided to give up British ownership of the Chagos Islands, the last vestige of our imperial inheritance in the Indian Ocean, it seems an appropriate moment to look back at the long-forgotten history of this remote possession. Mauritius will be the happy recipient of the Chagos Archipelago, which consist of some 60 islands, mainly low-lying atolls and their lagoons. The Chagos Islands were ruled under Mauritius’s mantle until 1968.  Today Mauritius is largely known as a destination for the British middle class who cannot bear the thought of a winter without a week or two’s break on an island on which they can

Limor Simhony Philpott

Why did some people refuse to mourn with the Jews after 7 October?

A year has passed since the terrible events of 7 October 2023, but for Jews the pain of that day – when 1,200 were killed and 250 hostages snatched across Israel’s border into Gaza – remains vivid. Every call and every text on that dreadful Saturday morning brought awful news. Many of those murdered were friends and relatives. My cousin, who was at the Nova music festival, survived the massacre, but she was injured and remains traumatised by what she saw; she will never forget the rapes and shootings for as long as she lives. Another cousin’s son was murdered by Hamas. Sons, daughters and grandchildren were lost. Jews were

Sunday

Sam Leith

Sue Gray, Keir Starmer and the centre-left’s self-righteousness problem 

‘Could you write a piece,’ my colleague wondered aloud, ‘saying come back Jeremy Corbyn: all is forgiven?’ Ha ha ha, said I. No. We most certainly are not there yet. And it is hard to conceive of any sequence of events, up to and including an asteroid strike on SW1 or a Day of the Triffids style mass blinding, which would leave us thinking that a return of Jeremy Corbyn to the Labour leadership would be a step in the right direction.  And yet and yet. Keir Starmer has been squandering at quite startling speed the goodwill of those of us (I know that will not be all Spectator readers)

Steerpike

Pundits left red-faced over ‘serious politics’ claims

Another one bites the dust. Now Sue Gray has resigned from her top job as Sir Keir Starmer’s chief of staff, taking on an ‘advisory’ position while Labour campaign guru Morgan McSweeney moves into her role. The move follows weeks of bad briefings about Gray – from claims the Starmer staffer had ‘subverted’ Cabinet over Casement Park, refused to get paid less than the PM and was not seeing eye to eye with McSweeney himself. The drama never quite seemed to end. So much for serious government, eh? Certainly those commentators who gloated about Sir Keir’s Labour welcoming in a new age of mature politics must be feeling red-faced now.

Katy Balls

Sue Gray out, Morgan McSweeney in

11 min listen

Keir Starmer has not yet reached the 100 day mark but already he has lost his Chief of Staff. This afternoon, Downing Street has confirmed that Sue Gray is leaving her No. 10 role. Instead, she will be taking on an ‘advisory’ role as the Prime Minister’s envoy for nations and regions. In a statement announcing her departure, Gray referenced the media attention she had received as one of the reasons behind her decision to quit. Morgan McSweeney will take over from Gray in a move will be popular with parts of the Labour party and brings to a close the Gray vs McSweeney psychodrama. Will this steady the Labour

Steerpike

SNP police probe investigating fake company claim

Back to Scotland, where the police probe into the SNP’s funds and finances continues to rumble on. Now it transpires that prosecutors are looking into findings that suggests a non-existent company was paid for refurbishment work carried out at SNP HQ. More than £100,000 was coughed up for work on a ‘media suite’ in the party’s Edinburgh office – yet officers are probing evidence that suggests the company paid wasn’t, um, real. The SNP’s 2020 accounts detail the party paid £615,000 to refurb the party’s offices, with the money going on upgraded furniture and tech. One source told the Sunday Mail that: One of the biggest items being looked at

Joe Bedell-Brill

Tzipi Hotovely: Israel will dismantle Iranian threat

Israel won’t rule out strikes against Iranian nuclear capabilities Iran launched missiles against Israel this week, and the world is waiting anxiously to see how Israel will respond. On the BBC this morning, Laura Kuenssberg asked Israeli Ambassador Tzipi Hotovely if Israel would rule out a strike against Iran’s nuclear capabilities, which President Biden opposes. Hotovely said Israel had no interest in being attacked by Iranian missiles, and they would ‘dismantle the threat’. Hotovely implied that Israel were considering going against the US president’s wishes, telling Kuenssberg that the world needed to prevent ‘this regime of terror’ in Iran from having nuclear abilities. Masoumeh Ebtekar: Israel is ‘undermining every single

Katy Balls

What Sue Gray’s departure means for Starmer

Keir Starmer has not yet reached the 100 day mark but already he has lost his Chief of Staff. This afternoon, Downing Street has confirmed that Sue Gray is leaving her No. 10 role. Instead, she will be taking on an ‘advisory’ role as the Prime Minister’s envoy for nations and regions. In a statement announcing her departure, Gray referenced the media attention she had received as one of the reasons behind her decision to quit: It has been an honour to take on the role of Chief of Staff, and to play my part in the delivery of a Labour government. Throughout my career my first interest has always