Politics

Read about the latest political news, views and analysis

Tuesday

Kate Andrews

The junior doctors’ pay deal won’t stop them striking

After 22 months of on-and-off strikes, junior doctors have voted to accept the government’s offer of a 22.3 per cent pay rise over the next two years. But this doesn’t mean the strikes have come to an end. Rather, the government seems to have secured itself only a brief pause from the walkouts, before the negotiation process (and potential strikes) start up again next year. The British Medical Association announced last night that 66 per cent of the 46,000 junior doctors who voted agreed to the deal. This includes an additional backdated 4 per cent pay increase on top of the 9 per cent awarded by the previous government for the last

Steerpike

Starmer’s Frockgate saga rumbles on

Back to Westminster, where the Prime Minister is facing some rather uncomfortable questions about freebies received from top Labour donor Lord Alli. Last month, it emerged that Alli received a No. 10 pass after funding the PM’s wardrobe – before the Sunday Times revealed at the weekend that Lady Starmer had also been a beneficiary of Alli’s donations, but had not declared these in line with parliamentary directives. Rules for thee, but not for me… The Tories were quick to call for a ‘robust’ standards probe into the matter (which Downing Street announced yesterday would not be going ahead) but the ‘Frockgate’ saga continues to rumble on – in no

Ross Clark

The problem with Labour’s green energy plan

Ed Miliband told the EnergyUK conference this morning that he wants to take on the ‘blockers, delayers and obstructionists’ who stand in the way of Britain’s energy security. Oh good, does that mean that finally he appreciates that the North Sea needs some encouragement? And that a UK fracking industry will finally be allowed to commence, after years of being blocked in the courts by environmentalists spinning false stories about how it will cause your water taps to burst into flames and cause devastating earthquakes (including those actually felt at the Earth’s surface)? Er, sadly not. Miliband, of course, rather likes blockers and delayers when they are on his side. Indeed,

Katy Balls

Where do the Lib Dems go next?

11 min listen

Liberal Democrat Conference wraps up today in Brighton. It could well be the happiest conference we visit this season with the party riding high after winning 72 seats at the election. The challenge that they face now is improving on that number, providing some opposition to the Labour party and protecting their new Surrey MPs once the new Tory leader is decided. We have heard Ed Davey speak passionately on social care, but can they carve a distinct position on other big policy issues, such as Europe? Or the NHS?  Katy Balls speaks to James Heale and Stephen Bush, associate editor of the Financial Times. 

Jonathan Miller

It’s a pity Thierry Breton didn’t resign sooner

The spectacular resignation of Thierry Breton from the European Commission suggests that the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen is not quite as useless as her numerous critics suggest. Breton’s departure was overdue. Credit to von der Leyen for wielding the long knife. Breton’s arrogance was exceeded only by his uselessness. After Mario Draghi’s taxonomy of European decline last week, the role of Breton as commissioner in charge of the single market was a nonsense. Draghi said Europe is on a path to self-destruction, becoming nothing more than an open-air museum, sustained by tourism. Breton’s arrogance was exceeded only by his uselessness Gavin Mortimer wrote here that Draghi

Freddy Gray

Donald Trump could have the last laugh on crypto

A day after nearly being shot again, the 78-year-old Donald Trump is once more being mocked for sounding like a fool while talking about cryptocurrency. In an interview with Farokh Sarmad, another of these hugely popular male influencers whom the vast majority of people have never heard of, Trump ruminated on the importance of making America the ‘crypto capital’ of the planet.  Sitting in Mar-a-Lago, underneath the hilariously kitsch ‘Visionary’ portrait of young Donald in white trousers and a tennis jumper, Trump told the Persian-Canadian Farokh that he learns about crypto from his sons. ‘Barron is a young guy,’ he said. ‘He’s got four wallets or something. I’m saying “explain this

Damien Phillips

Labour can’t afford to ignore the war in Sudan

‘The UK-UAE relationship is central to driving economic growth – it’s our largest trading partner in the region.’ So tweeted David Lammy earlier this month following a meeting with Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed, the Emirati foreign minister. Perhaps the Foreign Secretary should think twice before making such boasts. The UAE is up to its neck in the crisis unfolding in Sudan – and the United Kingdom’s warm relations with Abu Dhabi may soon develop into a diplomatic minefield for the government. Between the latest offensives in the Russo-Ukrainian war and the ongoing conflict in Gaza, there has been too little space even in the international pages of the papers for

Freddy Gray

Are Democrats to blame for the repeated attempts to kill Trump?

23 min listen

As if there hadn’t been enough drama in America in 2024, Donald Trump has survived another assassination attempt. The attempted killing of the 45th president at his golf course in Palm Beach, Florida yesterday afternoon was not nearly as threatening or deadly as the shooting nine weeks ago in Butler, Pennsylvania – but questions remain about how the incident could have happened.  Freddy Gray is joined by Kate Andrews to discuss the second assassination attempt, the state of the race, and what’s next for Donald Trump. 

Jonathan Maitland

The Huw Edwards scandal shows that the BBC never learns

Albert Einstein wasn’t thinking about the BBC when he defined insanity as ‘doing the same thing over and over again but expecting a different result’, but he could have been. The BBC’s latest scandal, involving its former star presenter Huw Edwards, has followed a remarkably similar trajectory to the last two marmalade droppers that embroiled the Corporation. So will the BBC finally learn its lesson? The way the BBC dealt with Huw Edwards – once the embodiment of BBC culture and values but now a disgraced sex offender who admitted making indecent images of children – has strong echoes of the Jimmy Savile and Martin Bashir scandals. In both those cases,

Steerpike

Diane Abbott: Keir Starmer treated me like a ‘non-person’

All is not well in the Labour party. Diane Abbott has launched an attack on the Prime Minister over his behaviour towards her during the Frank Hester racism row. The Labour MP for Hackney North has told the Beeb that she felt Sir Keir Starmer treated her like a ‘non-person’ following the Tory donor fallout, that her suspension from Labour was a ‘move against me’ and also revealed she had been offered a deal via a ‘third party’ to stand down ahead of the election. In March it emerged that a prominent Tory donor had told colleagues that looking at Abbott makes ‘you just want to hate all black women

Brendan O’Neill

Coconut placards and the truth about free speech in Britain

When you describe what happened, you realise how ridiculous it was. A woman was dragged to court for holding up a placard that featured a drawing of a palm tree with coconuts falling from it. Superimposed on two of the coconuts were the faces of Suella Braverman and Rishi Sunak, who was Prime Minister at the time. And that was it. Hauled before magistrates for carrying a daft illustration through the streets. Anyone who doubted that our liberty to speak is in peril has surely been shaken awake now. So, yes, I believe it is hateful. But should it be illegal? No This is the case of Marieha Hussain, a

Gareth Roberts

When will EU flag wavers get the message?

Arguing about the last night of the Proms is as much of an annual tradition as the music itself. Usually this hubbub has something to do with it being the very last place, or occasion, where people sing along with a straight face to ‘Rule, Britannia’. This year though the storm revolves around EU flags being confiscated by Proms’ security staff. There is nobody more committed to the EU than a certain type of British Remainer What seems to have sparked the flag crackdown at the Royal Albert Hall on Saturday was a gathering outside by a pro-EU campaign group called ‘Thank EU For The Music’. Ten thousand EU flags

Monday

Danny Shaw

Martin Hewitt is the right pick for ‘border tsar’

The ‘border tsar’ isn’t the official title for Martin Hewitt. The former police chief has been appointed to the new role of ‘Border Security Commander’, but it won’t be long before he ascends to tsardom, given the hype around the job. The Border Security Command, which Hewitt will lead, was a key part of Labour’s general election manifesto, as part of their plan to ‘smash’ the criminal gangs bringing people across the Channel in small boats. It was one of the first announcements after Labour were elected, with an advert for the post of commander going out within five days. Managing expectations should be top of the list of his

Steerpike

Starmer faces backlash over Meloni meeting

There’s trouble in Sir Keir’s Labour paradise, it seems, after the Prime Minister jetted off to Italy for a migration-focused meet-up with Giorgia Meloni. The PM is struggling to find a small boat-busting strategy; with over 800 migrants crossing the Channel to English shores on Saturday alone, Starmer has turned to his European allies for help. Meloni’s Italy has seen a rather large drop in small boat arrivals this year compared to last, with the help of a deterrent in the form of Albania – and the Labour leader is hoping to pick up some tips during his jaunt around Rome. Yet not everyone is particularly thrilled about the meeting…

Steerpike

Fergus Ewing: Alex Salmond case is ‘scandal of our age’

To Glasgow’s Science Centre, where on Saturday Scotland’s former first minister Alex Salmond brought together a whole host of pro-indy voices for a nationalist natter. Featuring former SNP MPs Joanna Cherry, Alex Neil and Dr Philippa Whitford as well as online blogger Stuart Campbell (aka. Wings Over Scotland), Salmond’s ‘The Ayes Still Have It!’ was presented to an enthusiastic crowd. But for Mr S, there was one interview in particular that rather stood out… SNP MSP Fergus Ewing has made headlines in recent months for his overt criticism of his own party – and on Saturday, the Inverness and Nairn politician was certainly pulling no punches. Bringing his segment to

Steerpike

Lib Dem conference plunged into gender row storm

The Liberal Democrat party conference: surely a bastion of good old-fashioned free speech? Sadly not, it seems, given the storm which a single stall has provoked among activists down in Brighton.The party’s leadership has now been accused of ‘authoritarianism and intolerance’ over a backlash to a campaign group prompting single-sex spaces. Liberal Voice for Women, has this week been given a stall in Brighton following legal advice after a ban at last year’s conference. Yet the group has faced opposition from opponents of single-sex spaces, with transgender flags and posters being depicted all around them at neighbouring stands. And now the party’s president Mark Pack has weighed in to suggest

Eliot Wilson

Ukraine can’t wait for a decision on long-range missiles for ever

Last week was electric with anticipation. The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, visited London for a UK-US ‘strategic dialogue’, then he and Foreign Secretary David Lammy both travelled to Ukraine to meet with political and military leaders and discuss the ongoing conflict. Heading in the other direction was the Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, who made for Washington DC with his outgoing national security adviser, Sir Tim Barrow, to meet President Joe Biden and hold talks on the global situation. By accident or design, the government allowed speculation to grow that the United Kingdom and the United States were close to an announcement that they were lifting restrictions on

James Tidmarsh

The lesson Keir Starmer could learn from Francois Fillon

Sir Keir Starmer, the man often dubbed ‘Mr. Rules’ for his reputation as a stickler for ethical conduct, now finds himself facing an ethics probe over undeclared gifts. The accusations concern luxury suits gifted to Starmer and dresses for his wife, Victoria, reportedly paid for by Lord Alli, a Labour peer and supporter. Starmer’s team failed to declare the gifts given to Lady Starmer, a mistake apparently made after receiving incorrect advice from Downing Street. The suits themselves were declared in line with parliamentary rules, but the same was not true for the dresses. Now, questions are swirling as the Prime Minister scrambles to explain the late declaration. This recalls

Steerpike

Huw Edwards avoids jail time over child abuse images

To Westminster magistrates’ court where Huw Edwards has this afternoon been handed a suspended jail sentence of six months imprisonment, suspended for two years after pleading guilty in July to making indecent images of children. The former TV star admitted to having 41 indecent images of children, which had been sent to him by another man on WhatsApp between 2020 and 2021. Edwards will also be put on the sex offenders’ register for seven years. It transpires that the ex-Beeb man paid a student hundreds of pounds, and even gifted him a Christmas present, after he was sent indecent images of children. 25-year-old Alex Williams, also from Wales, was given

Oscar Edmondson

Do the Starmers need a personal shopper?

12 min listen

This weekend we had another twist in the story involving Labour donor Lord Alli, who was caught up in a ‘cash for access’ scandal a couple of weeks back. It now seems he has forked out the thick end of 20k on clothes and glasses for Keir Starmer and his wife. Foreign sec David Lammy was on the Sunday media round and gave a less than convincing defence of the prime minister and Lady Victoria. Has the PM broken the rules already?  Also today, Keir Starmer is in Rome meeting Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni today where they will be discussing boat crossings and Italy’s deal with Albania. It’s a