Politics

Read about the latest political news, views and analysis

Thursday

Lisa Haseldine

Is Germany’s far right about to go mainstream?

‘We need to deport, deport, deport!’ Björn Höcke, leader of the Alternative für Deutschland in Thuringia, emphasises each word with a clenched fist. It’s a hot Saturday evening in the small town of Arnstadt and Höcke is launching the AfD’s state election campaign. His branch of the party has been categorised as ‘indisputably far right’ not just by the press but by German domestic intelligence. Nonetheless, it’s leading in the polls ahead of three east German state elections, two of which take place on Sunday. Höcke could well end up ‘Minister President’ of Thuringia. Germany, which Keir Starmer visited this week, is struggling not just with economic difficulties but with

Wednesday

Katy Balls

What’s behind Starmer’s ‘reset’ with Europe?

16 min listen

Keir Starmer has been in Germany today visiting Chancellor Olaf Scholz, before heading to Paris to meet President Macron. This is part of his plan to ‘reset’ relations with Europe – but how close does he want to get to the EU? And, given Brexit wounds are still raw, what’s achievable?  James Heale is joined by Katy Balls and Sophia Gaston, head of the foreign policy unit at Policy Exchange to discuss. Produced by Megan McElroy and Patrick Gibbons. 

Sean Thomas

Keir Starmer and the evil of banality

First, a little story. About three years ago I was given an eccentric but fun assignment between Covid lockdowns – I had to eat my way around the coast of East Anglia. On my gluttonous travels I met an extremely senior retired judge – whose wife now owns a posh boutique hotel in Suffolk. As we ate asparagus and hollandaise in his lovely, sun-dappled garden the amiable ex-beak told me that of all the lawyers who’d ever come before him, Keir Starmer was ‘the cleverest’. This matters because the banality – the lack of ideas, interest, freshness – extends to the content of the speech, not just the tone and prose I

David Shipley

Starmer can’t keep blaming the Tories for the prison crisis

Britain’s prisons are full: over the August Bank Holiday weekend, there were fewer than 100 men’s prison places remaining. The number of spaces has now risen slightly but the crisis remains: our prisons are running out of space. This will have serious consequences – and it isn’t good enough for Keir Starmer to keep blaming the Tories. Keir Starmer used a speech this week to blame the Tories Magistrates have been told to stop jailing people until after 10 September when Labour’s early release scheme will take effect. Under that system, most prisoners will be released after having served 40 per cent of their sentence; on day one, around 2,000

Matthew Lynn

Labour is exposing its economic ignorance

It must be the worst kept secret in the country. At almost every opportunity, the Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, and his Chancellor Rachel Reeves, keep telling us that the Budget in October will have to be ‘very painful’, that ‘taxes will have to rise’ and that the ‘broadest shoulders will have to bear the heaviest burden’. It now seems inevitable that there will be a big rise in capital gains tax. The trouble is, there is a catch. Almost everyone will have avoided it by then – and all Labour is doing is exposing its hopeless ignorance of how the economy actually works. Neither Starmer nor Reeves have worked

Gavin Mortimer

Britain should exploit the mess Macron has made of France

Whether one is a Leaver or a Remainer, for most Britons Brexit has not worked out the way they wanted. The blame for the imbroglio can be shared between Westminster and Brussels. Keir Starmer has stated his intention to ‘turn a corner’ on Brexit and he launches that mission today in Berlin when he meets German chancellor Olaf Scholz. Among the items on the agenda are trade relations and immigration in what Starmer calls a ‘once-in-a-generation opportunity’ to restore a good working relationship. Macron’s credibility has been on the wane within the EU long before this current crisis There is another reason why now is a propitious moment for Starmer

Ross Clark

A trade deal with Germany can only mean one thing

Britain will not be rejoining the EU, the single market nor the customs union – that ship has sailed, and all we seek now is a closer relationship with the EU. So Keir Starmer assures those who feel a little suspicious about his multiple meetings with Olaf Scholz in the weeks since becoming Prime Minister, the latest of which took place this morning. All he seeks, he says, is a better trade deal which would allow better access to EU markets for UK firms. Maybe Starmer dreams at night of being paraded through the streets of Brussels as the man who engineered Britain’s return to the EU Maybe Starmer dreams

John Ferry

The SNP can only blame itself for its budget mess

Higher-than-expected public sector pay deals, social security reform and the SNP’s freeze on council tax have all contributed to putting pressure on the Scottish government’s budget, according to a new report from Scotland’s fiscal watchdog.  In a statement accompanying its latest fiscal report, the Scottish Fiscal Commission (SFC) seems keen to remind Scots that the Scottish government bears most of the responsibility for the budget challenges it now faces. ‘While UK government policies contribute to the pressures on the Scottish budget, much of the pressure comes from the Scottish government’s own decisions,’ says the SFC. The SFC did not set out to put a spanner in the works of the SNP’s grievance machine but has

Tom Slater

Ofcom can’t be trusted to censor social media

It’s boom time at Ofcom. In the past few years, what was until recently the government-backed regulator for broadcasting, telecoms and postal industries (already an absurdly broad range of responsibilities) has seen its remit expanded beyond all recognition. Following the passage of the Online Safety Act 2023, Ofcom has been handed the famously straightforward task of regulating social-media companies – compelling them to clamp down on illegal speech and activity on their platforms. The Media Act 2024, which gained royal assent in May, has extended its reach to streaming services, too. Now, a think-tank has essentially suggested we should cut out the middleman and turn the Office of Communications into a full-blown Ministry of Truth.

Tuesday

Svitlana Morenets

Zelensky says Kursk offensive is collateral in a victory plan

At a press conference in Kyiv today, Volodymyr Zelensky spoke about his strategy to end Russia’s war. He has a plan which he says he will present next month to Joe Biden and to the two contenders to succeed him: Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. He also confirmed The Spectator’s report that the objective of the Kursk operation is ‘one of the key points’ as collateral in a negotiation which, he says, will ‘force Russia to end the war through diplomacy’. Zelensky’s peace plans have often seemed overly ambitious We’re now in week four of the battle in the Kursk region, with Ukrainian forces taking control of about 100 Russian

Steerpike

Tories fire starting gun on voluntary chair race

It’s the Tory race on everyone’s lips. No, not the battle to be the next party leader but rather the contest to chair the Conservatives’ National Convention. The body effectively serves as the parliament of the voluntary party and is contested annually, with chairmen elected for three year terms and subject to re-selection every year. Some 850-odd association chairmen and various bigwigs vote to decide which of their number takes the prize. But with voting opening tomorrow, this time there is actually something of a contest for the role. Former Hackney candidate Joanna Reeves has thrown her hat in the ring, pitching herself as an outsider railing against the ‘failed’

Eliot Wilson

What’s the real reason Starmer axed his national security adviser?

Keir Starmer is making a big mistake by cancelling the appointment of one of Britain’s top generals as national security adviser. General Gwyn Jenkins, the ex-vice-chief of the armed forces, was picked for the role by Rishi Sunak in April. Jenkins is a widely-respected military man and was a perfect choice for the job. But Starmer has reportedly axed Jenkins’s appointment and opted instead to re-run the application process. We can only guess at the motivation, because Downing Street has made no official announcement Jenkins is, technically, entitled to apply a second time. He is a formidably qualified candidate: a Royal Marines general who was vice-chief of the Defence Staff

Fraser Nelson

Just how ‘painful’ will Starmer’s October Budget be?

15 min listen

Winter is coming. That’s the message from Keir Starmer’s set-piece speech this morning from the No. 10 rose garden. After a tricky few weeks for the new Prime Minister on cronyism claims and anxiety about cuts to the winter fuel allowance, Starmer and his team attempted seize the agenda with a speech looking ahead to the months to come. However, anyone hoping for optimism will be disappointed, with Starmer warning things can only get worse. How bad can they be? James Heale speaks to Katy Balls and Fraser Nelson. 

Patrick O’Flynn

Keir Starmer can’t blame the Tories forever

Keir Starmer’s rose garden speech today should be seen as a companion piece to last month’s melodramatic Commons statement by Rachel Reeves on the condition of the public finances.  In each case the purpose was clear – to lower expectations and buy the government more time by heaping extra blame on the last Conservative administration for the state of the nation. So there we have it – any union that can bring a key industry to a standstill now knows there is a PM in office who will always seek to buy it off How much validity there is in a pitch saying things are much worse than they expected

Ross Clark

The Next equal pay victory is a dark day for British business

Who would bother to create jobs in modern Britain? Clothing retailer Next has done plenty of job-creation over the past few years – only to be whacked by an equal pay claim brought by 3,500 shop assistants. An employment tribunal has ruled that the company was wrong to pay them less than it paid staff at its warehouses. With back pay it could cost the company £30 million. The cost of this kind of case goes far beyond the potential legal liability itself Equal pay is one thing where it concerns men and women working alongside each other in the same jobs. It is quite another when it is extended

Katy Balls

Just how ‘painful’ will Starmer’s October Budget be?

Winter is coming. That’s the message from Keir Starmer’s set-piece speech this morning from the No. 10 rose garden. After a tricky few weeks for the new Prime Minister on cronyism claims and anxiety about cuts to the winter fuel allowance, Starmer and his team attempted seize the agenda with a speech looking ahead to the months to come. However, anyone hoping for optimism will be disappointed. While Tony Blair was associated with the D:Ream anthem of ‘things can only get better’, Starmer warned that things can only get worse – at least in the short term: Frankly – things will get worse before we get better. I didn’t want

Steerpike

Watch: Labour minister squirms on ‘passes for glasses’

At long last, it’s finally here. After five days of media trails, Keir Starmer’s equivalent of the Gettysburg Address will be made later today. The scintillating socialist will be doing a press conference in the Downing Street garden, with his address expected to feature such hard-hitting lines as – gasp – he will people ‘at the heart’ of his government and – stop the presses – under Labour it will no longer ‘be business as usual’. Riveting stuff. But before we are treated to the oratorical prowess of our Dear Leader, there comes the morning round: the much-fabled media ritual in which a hapless frontbencher is savaged by various broadcasters.

Monday

Jonathan Spyer

Iran and Hezbollah don’t want a war with Israel

Hezbollah’s response to the killing of senior official Fuad Shukr, when it finally came, was a more minor event than anticipated. For weeks, both the Lebanese Shia Islamist group and its Iranian patron have been threatening a terrible revenge for the recent assassinations in Beirut and Tehran. It is now clear, however, that neither Hezbollah or Iran wishes to risk a descent to all put war at the present time. Iran appears to have relegated its response to the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran to some point in the future. Hezbollah, meanwhile, sought to target two sites of high significance – the Mossad headquarters, and the HQ

Freddy Gray

John Mearsheimer on Ukraine, Israel-Gaza and the US election

44 min listen

Professor John Mearsheimer joins Freddy Gray to discuss the wars in Ukraine and in Gaza, and the influence of both on the US election. The Israel-Gaza conflict has led to internal divisions within the democratic party, how will Kamala Harris deal with this? And as the Russia-Ukraine conflict shows no signs of ebbing, what does he see as the west’s role in the war?  Produced by Natasha Feroze and Patrick Gibbons.

Katy Balls

How serious is the Starmer sleaze row?

Another week, another accusation of sleaze in relation to the Labour party. After initially winning some plaudits over the summer recess for his handling of the riots, the new Prime Minister is now fighting fire on several fronts – from growing unrest over the Treasury decision to limit the winter fuel allowance to questions over the wisdom of the party’s approach to settling trade union pay disputes. But the most striking of the criticisms is the ongoing standards row. In opposition, Starmer regularly promised to ‘clean up’ politics and launch a ‘total crackdown on cronyism’. This pledge makes up a chunk of Labour’s election manifesto with the promise of a