Politics

Read about the latest political news, views and analysis

Wednesday

James Heale

Can Laila Cunningham win London for Reform?

Laila Cunningham has been unveiled as Reform’s candidate for the 2028 London mayoralty race. Cunningham, who was elected as a Tory Westminster City councillor in 2022 and defected to Reform last June, has since become Reform’s most prominent female face, frequently handling media appearances and speaking out on crime during last summer’s campaign as a former Crown Prosecution Service lawyer. ‘She was the standout candidate,’ says one senior Reform figure. ‘A massive hit with London branches and members.’ ‘Cunningham was the standout candidate,’ says one senior Reform figure Inevitably, crime was the predominant focus of Cunningham’s initial remarks at Reform’s press conference this morning. She promised that there was ‘A

Páll Vilhjálmsson

Does Greenland really belong to Denmark?

Nordic politicians are trying to stir up anxiety following Donald Trump’s operation in Venezuela – and his threat to grab Greenland. They are failing. Ultimately, it is a matter of time before the United States takes control of the world’s largest island. Trump’s approach is bullying and aggressive, but Denmark’s argument for why Greenland belongs to it is rather shaky. The truth is that Greenland never chose to become part of the Danish state Denmark’s prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, has said ‘the US has no right to annex any of the three nations in the Danish kingdom’, including Greenland. Denmark claims that other states have historically either recognised, or made

Ross Clark

There’s a better way for Farage to win the motorist vote

It is easy to see the political attraction for Nigel Farage of promising to reverse Rachel Reeves’s decision to end the 5 pence cut in road fuel duty. The idea that we are in the midst of a cost of living crisis has not gone away – in spite of the fact that, notionally, average wages are rising well ahead of inflation. It will seem a very different picture for homebuyers who are coming off fixed-rate mortgages this year – rates which were fixed in the months of ultra-low interest rates during and immediately after the pandemic. But is it really such a good thing to suppress taxes on road

Jonathan Spyer

It’s a matter of when, not if, Israel steps up its war on Hezbollah

Israeli aircraft struck targets in Lebanon on Monday. Hezbollah and Hamas military infrastructure was targeted in the Hezbollah heartland of the Beka’a, and in Hatta and Aanan villages in the south of the country, according to a Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman. The Israeli strikes came days after the expiry of the 31 December deadline set for the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) to complete the disarmament of Hezbollah south of the Litani River. This runs according to the terms of the ceasefire agreement which ended the last war between Israel and the Iran-supported Shia Islamist militia in November 2024. The LAF has predictably failed to complete its mission. No one

Eliot Wilson

Britain will struggle to put ‘boots on the ground’ in Ukraine

The current conflict in Ukraine has frequently been compared to the first world war. There is an echo of the same grimness and intensity: the huge artillery barrages, the sprawling network of trenches, the horrifying casualty rates. Amid all that, Sir Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron, clinging on to their ‘coalition of the willing’, are invoking another memory. If they can make The Big Push, we will reach a peace settlement monitored by their ad hoc European-led alliance. The two leaders have made a genuine step forward. At a meeting in Paris with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, American envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner and two dozen heads of state and

James Tidmarsh

Trump’s Greenland grab would expose Europe’s ultimate weakness

As Donald Trump weighs up taking control of Greenland, Britain and the EU has fallen back on a familiar strategy: talk tough, and do nothing. The UK joined France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and Denmark yesterday in making a joint statement affirming that ‘Greenland belongs to its people’. Arctic security, it said, must respect ‘sovereignty, territorial integrity and the inviolability of borders’. Greenland would be the moment when that pretence finally collapses If Donald Trump decides to take Greenland, much like today’s statement, Europe’s initial response would be loud, formal and legally impeccable. Europe and the UK would protest loudly, threaten, – and then do almost nothing at all. There

Daniel Thorpe

Is Viktor Orban about to lose power?

Hungary is bracing for its next general election in April. It is the tightest race since Viktor Orban came to power almost 16 years ago. Challenging Orban is Peter Magyar. Once a member of the ruling Fidesz party, he defected to become its fiercest critic. Compared to the traditional Hungarian opposition, Magyar seems to be more successful. Only a couple of months after launching his own party, TISZA – an acronym that stands for the ‘Respect and Freedom party’ – in 2024, it came second in the European parliament elections. Now, Magyar is aiming for the main prize. He is confident that he can win it. Orban’s attacks on Magyar

Michael Gove

Venezuela vs Chagos: what Britain can learn from America’s ‘audacity’

50 min listen

This week: Michael and Maddie dissect Donald Trump’s audacious raid on Venezuela and ask what it reveals about power, national interest and the unravelling of the rules-based order. Was America acting like a rogue state – or simply doing what states do when their interests are at stake? And could Britain learn a thing or two from how they conduct their foreign policy, specifically with regard to the Chagos Islands? Then, closer to home, they unpack the scandal surrounding West Midlands Police and the banning of Maccabi Tel Aviv fans. Who really made the call – and what does it tell us about two-tier policing and the erosion of equal

Tuesday

Isabel Hardman

It’s a bit rich for Keir Starmer to urge ministers to hold their nerve

Before Keir Starmer managed to escape Westminster for the relative safety of a European summit discussing war, the Prime Minister had to hold a cabinet meeting. The PM told colleagues they needed to hold their nerve, arguing that: ‘I do not underestimate the scale of the task. But I have no doubt about this team. Governments do not lose because polls go down. They lose when they lose belief or nerve. We will do neither.’ The readout from Downing Street also said that ministers discussed ‘successful recoveries of centre-left parties in Norway, Australia and Canada through focusing on delivery and cost of living issues’. Once again, Starmer was giving instructions

Madeline Grant

The Maccabi mess has exposed Britain’s babbling bobbies

You may recall the cancellation of the Maccabi Tel Aviv-Aston Villa game back in November. What has happened since is that, due to constant scrutiny by Nick Timothy MP, Lord Austin and a small number of journalists, the narrative that West Midlands police spun at the time – that the Israeli fans were too dangerous to host – has slowly been unravelling. The force stands accused of retroactively cobbling together evidence for a ban that was actually rooted in fears about sectarian violence in Birmingham; ‘elements’ of the local community reportedly wished to ‘arm themselves‘ and target visiting fans. So far, so reassuring. Four senior officers were called to the Home

Roger Kimball

Why the US should annex Greenland

What do you think: is it manifest destiny that the United States acquire or at least exercise control over Greenland? That’s pretty much how America got Texas, California, New Mexico, Hawaii, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Guam and American Samoa. Then there was the Louisiana purchase. In 1803, Thomas Jefferson doubled the size of the United States, paying France $15 million or a bit less than three cents per acre for a landmass that is about 26 per cent of the contiguous United States. And let’s not forget about Alaska. A few facts about Greenland. It is big: 836,000 square miles. It is home to about 50,000 people, mostly Inuits. Historically, it has

Patrick Gibbons

International statesman or ‘never here Keir’?

18 min listen

From ‘regime change’ in Venezuela to Russia’s war in Ukraine, the Labour government is trying to navigate complicated situations across foreign affairs. Having appeared to weather the domestic reaction to the situation in Venezuela, Keir Starmer is in Paris today to discuss Ukraine alongside Chancellor Merz and Presidents Macron and Zelensky. This is undoubtably important – but to what extent will this fuel the criticism that the Prime Minister spends too much time abroad? And how can Starmer reconcile the demands of foreign affairs with his domestic priorities? James Heale and Tim Shipman join Patrick Gibbons to discuss. Produced by Patrick Gibbons.

Matthew Lynn

Venezuela could transform the global oil industry

No one really knows how the situation in Venezuela will unfold over the next few years following President Trump’s audacious kidnap of its former leader Nicolas Maduro. It may or may not be legal. It might restore democracy or it might just pave the way for another dictator. But one point is certain: America looks set to reinvent the country’s oil industry. It is hardly surprising that investors are already jumping on that bandwagon.  Oil shares have been soaring ever since the news broke over the weekend of America’s raid in Caracas, propelling the FTSE-100 – which is dominated by giants such as Shell and BP – to record highs.

James Gray

Why would anyone want to rule Greenland?

It was the Viking, Eric the Red who, in AD 986, first saw Greenland’s potential. He wanted to colonise his newly-discovered island, and in a blatant piece of tenth-century spin-doctoring hit on a wizard wheeze to encourage other Norse people to come to this bleak, icy and remote corner of the unknown world: ‘In the summer, Erik left to settle in the country he had found, which he called Greenland, as he said people would be attracted there if it had a favourable name.‘ More than a thousand years later, US president Donald Trump is proposing something similar. ‘It’s a large real estate deal. Owning Greenland is vital for US

Stephen Daisley

Britain can still escape Starmer’s dreadful Chagos deal

The government’s latest difficulties in the House of Lords over plans to surrender the Chagos islands is another humiliation for Keir Starmer, but it is also one last opportunity to avert a historic mistake. The Prime Minister proposes to hand over the Chagos to Mauritius, which has never exercised sovereignty over a cluster of Indian Ocean islands which have been British for two centuries. Starmer has agreed to pay Mauritius £101 million every year for 99 years to lease back one of the islands, Diego Garcia, which is home to a joint UK-US military base.  On Monday, peers outvoted the government on four key amendments. These would require ministers to publish

Alexander Larman

The decline of British Airways is a parable for modern Britain

British Airways used to bill itself, without irony, as ‘the nation’s favourite airline’. The days when it could legitimately use such a slogan are long gone. Now, the unfortunate passengers who endure a substandard service on the carrier are more likely to regard it as the nation’s least beloved airline, vying only with Ryanair for a distinctly lacklustre experience from start to finish. Flying with BA used to be about glamour, excitement and quiet customer satisfaction. More recently, it is all about penny-pinching, discomfort and boredom, with a side helping of inexplicable fear creeping in. Those travelling with the airline are paying a premium cost for a budget service The

Iram Ramzan

Iranians feel emboldened – but protestors are paying a heavy price

For the past fortnight, Rozita (not her real name) has been out on the streets of Tehran, calling for an end to the Islamic Republic. The 37-year-old witnessed the anti-riot police shooting indiscriminately at her fellow citizens. ‘They don’t think about who or where they are shooting. I’ve been beaten up by them many times before,’ she tells me. Fortunately, Rozita’s quick on her feet. She learned her lesson from the Woman, Life, Freedom protest in 2022. Rozita was hit in the face with tear gas and she needed medical treatment, which she still takes to this day. She was also shot with plastic bullets. She would have been hit with real

Ross Clark

The truth about Keir Starmer’s EU ‘reset’

As Keir Starmer found out with digital ID, what the public initially says it wants isn’t always what it turns out to want once the details become clear. A large majority in favour of digital ID turned into a significant majority against once people started to ask themselves: is this scheme really going to tackle illegal migration or is it just going to be another bureaucratic burden on our lives?     Might the same turn out to be true with Starmer’s ‘reset’ of relations between Britain and the EU? Notionally, there is strong support for the idea. A YouGov poll at the time of Starmer’s reset negotiations last May for example,

Jacob Heilbrunn

Venezuela has left Trump feeling cocky

There was no dancing, let alone prancing, in the Brooklyn courtroom as former Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro was arraigned on four charges, including narco-terrorism and weapons trafficking, following his capture by American forces on a military base in Caracas on Saturday. Instead, Maduro, whose terpsichorean moves to a musical remix of his ‘No War, Yes Peace’ speech had apparently incurred Trump’s ire, seemed like a shrunken figure as he appeared in prison attire and ankle shackles. ‘I’m still president,’ Maduro stated. But the no-nonsense 92-year-old federal Judge Alvin Hellerstein quashed his attempt at delivering a personal liberation theology speech. The dictator’s wife, Cilia Flores, the former first lady of Venezuela

Brendan O’Neill

The hypocrisy of the Maduro fanclub

Finally, the left has found a ‘kidnap victim’ it cares about. Having spent more than two years making excuses for Hamas’s savage seizing of 251 Israelis, having violently torn down posters of those stolen Jews, now the activist class has suddenly decided that abduction is bad after all. Why? Because a dictator they admire, Nicolas Maduro, has been abducted by the United States. What do we even say about people who get more agitated by the seizing of a 63-year-old corrupt ruler than they do by the abduction of a nine-month-old Jew? That was Kfir Bibas, kidnapped along with his mother and his four-year-old brother during Hamas’s carnival of fascist