Politics

Read about the latest political news, views and analysis

Tuesday

Jawad Iqbal

Vigilante justice won’t stop the riots

There were ugly scenes in Birmingham last night after hundreds of men, some wearing masks, gathered in the Alum Rock and Bordesley Green areas of the city, following false reports that far-right protesters planned to march there. Rumours of a far-right gathering had been circulating all day and were the subject of discussions in a Telegram group linked to the initial violence in Southport after three girls were stabbed last week. In the event, the far-right protest failed to materialise, but West Midlands police are investigating reports of assault, criminal damage, and a man in possession of an offensive weapon.  Scores of demonstrators had gathered to ‘protect property’ and ‘defend

Matthew Lynn

Why fears of US recession are justified

The bubble in artificial intelligence stocks has started to pop, two decades of easy money in Japan have finally started to come to an end, and (after hitting all-time highs) share values are being reassessed. There are plenty of plausible explanations for the sudden plunge in stock markets around the world over the last few days. And yet the big one is this: investors have started to worry that the global economy is heading into a recession, and they are surely right to do so.  The markets are often volatile. Even so, the trading over the last few days has been wild, with Japan’s Nikkei dropping by 12 per cent

Lloyd Evans

Does Wes Streeting know what he’s doing?

Wes Streeting bounds onto the stage for a conversation with Matthew Stadlen (deputising for Iain Dale) at the Edinburgh festival. Labour’s new health secretary wears grey slacks, white trainers and an open-necked shirt. He hasn’t found time to put on a jacket or tie. ‘I came literally from the airport in my holiday get-up,’ he says. Stadlen opens with a softball question about Streeting’s emotional response to Labour’s victory. ‘Walking up Downing Street, it was all I could do not to burst into tears,’ says Streeting. The cosy atmosphere continues throughout their chat. ‘In your letter to GPs,’ says Stadlen, ‘there was real respect in your tone.’  ‘Do you dance?’

Steerpike

Jess Phillips accused of ‘making excuses’ for masked mob

Another day, another report of violent disorder. Protests broke out in Labour MP Jess Phillips’ Birmingham constituency on Monday night. Mobs of balaclava’d men ran riot across city, first gathering outside a McDonald’s restaurant before descending on a local pub. One Sky correspondent was intimidated by a masked man on a bike during a live broadcast, while another later attempted to slash the tyres of media vehicles. But instead of criticising the disturbance, Phillips – who is now a Home Office minister – appeared to, um, defend it.  Hitting out at a tweet by Reform’s Richard Tice which labelled ‘all violence, rioting and assault’ as ‘totally unacceptable’, Phillips responded on

David Shipley

The courts will struggle to bring the rioters to justice

Violent conflict, not traditionally a feature of life in Britain, arrived with brutal force this weekend. Angry mobs targeted mosques and attacked hotels housing migrants, setting at least one on fire. Businesses were looted, and groups of men have been seen gathering in force, holding weapons and attacking others. Although more than 400 arrests have been made so far, and no doubt more will follow, the police have often appeared outnumbered and unable to deploy sufficient force to quell the riots. The sight of officers in riot gear cowering against the wall of a hotel is a worrying one.  When the Prime Minister spoke on Sunday, he made it clear

Gareth Roberts

Should civil servants be allowed to wear inappropriate clothes to work?

Does His Majesty’s Government have a policy on civil servants wearing fetish clothing in the workplace? It’s not the sort of question you’d expect to find in the rather mind-numbing list of written inquiries asked by members of the House of Lords. But Baroness Jenkin, who is still waiting for her answer to that question, was at it again this week: she wanted to know if Keir Starmer’s administration considered ‘Bondage, Domination, Sadism, and Masochism to be a protected characteristic within the meaning of the Equality Act 2010’. Isn’t democracy a wonderful thing? If you think this bust-up is something that can only happen in the civil service, think again

Monday

Brendan O’Neill

Mark Rowley’s mic grab sets a dreadful example to police officers

A Sky News reporter having his microphone grabbed and dropped to the ground might seem like a trifling story right now, given everything that’s happening in the country. But when the mic-grabber is none other than Sir Mark Rowley, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, it’s a different matter. A very different matter. In a democracy, cops don’t treat journalists in such a dismissive, degrading fashion. It was outside the Cabinet Office that Sir Mark outrageously interfered with the property of a reporter. The man from Sky News asked him if he was going to ‘end two-tier policing’. And instead of answering – or not answering, if he wants to be

Katy Balls

Keir Starmer slaps down Elon Musk over ‘civil war’ comment

When Rishi Sunak was prime minister, he welcomed Elon Musk as a guest of honour at the government’s AI summit, with the pair even having a fireside chat. However, the new inhabitant of No. 10 takes a different approach to the billionaire owner of X and Tesla. This afternoon, Keir Starmer’s spokesman has slapped down Musk over comments he made online suggesting civil war in the UK was ‘inevitable’ following a wave of violent disorder in the past week. Asked by journalists about the remark that Musk made on his own social media platform, Starmer’s spokesperson said ‘there is no justification for comments like that’. They went on: What we’ve

David Bergman

The terrible error that ended Sheikh Hasina’s rule over Bangladesh

A month ago, no one in Bangladesh could ever have imagined that the country’s authoritarian prime minister Sheikh Hasina could be forcibly removed from power and sent by military helicopter out of the country to India. Least of all Hasina herself, as her party, the Awami League, controlled the police, the judiciary, and all other state institutions. But that is exactly what happened today. Sheikh Hasina, the aunt of the Labour MP Tulip Siddiq, had been in power for a 15-year stretch. Though the 2008 elections which first made her prime minister were free and fair, all three subsequent elections in 2014, 2018 and earlier this year were beset with allegations

Eliot Wilson

It’s not surprising Russia wants to spy on Britain

The British Army’s Field Army Threat Handbook has warned soldiers of potential Russian espionage at UK sites where Ukrainian military personnel are being trained. Possible methods identified include ‘the use of remotely piloted aircraft systems, mobile and foot surveillance, virtual and physical approaches to training providers and interest from investigative journalists’. This is a threat we should take seriously, but it should also serve to clarify the United Kingdom’s current adversarial relationship with Russia. There is no shortage of gloomy Jeremiahs in the public arena at the moment, arguing that we are unprepared for a potential major conflict, that the armed forces do not have the resources needed to meet

Steerpike

SNP under fire over handling of sex scandal complaints 

To Scotland, where the Nats are facing accusations of not dealing with sex offender complaints properly. Cameron Downing, former SNP equalities officer, was last month jailed for six years after being convicted of sexually assaulting six young adults and physically assaulting two women. Between 2016 and 2021, the ex-equalities officer was found to have attacked seven people and has been convicted of 10 charges – including sexual assault and domestic abuse. He resigned from the equalities post after his tweets from 2022 about how he wanted to ‘beat the f*** out of some terfs and transphobes’ emerged – but only had his SNP membership formally removed in January 2023. And

Oscar Edmondson

Can our prisons take these ‘thugs’?

16 min listen

Keir Starmer will be chairing his first Cobra meeting, as the government continues to grapple with the rioting that has broken out across the country. The weekend saw numerous examples of violence, including at hotels thought to be hosting asylum seekers. We had a statement from the prime minister condemning the ‘right wing thuggery’, but do we need a more complete approach to extremism? And will our prisons and our courts be able to accommodate the huge influx of offenders?  Oscar Edmondson speaks to Katy Balls and Ian Acheson, senior advisor to the Counter Extremism Project.  Produced by Oscar Edmondson. 

Steerpike

Watch: Met Police boss grabs mic after ‘two-tier policing’ question

As Britain braces itself for further outbreaks of violence, questions are being asked about the UK’s police response and how effective it has been. While a number of officers have been injured over the past week as they work to contain rioters, accusations have been levelled at officers for ‘two-tier policing’ – amidst fears that some protests are dealt with more harshly than others. So when Sir Mark Rowley, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, was spotted leaving the Cabinet Office by reporters today, it seemed only natural that he be quizzed on the matter. But when one journalist questioned Rowley about whether the UK would ‘end two-tier policing’, the Police Commissioner

Jay Mens

How will Iran seek to ‘punish’ Israel?

It was never just about Gaza. Since October, the Middle East has been in a regional war that, over the next few weeks, is likely to break into the open. After Israel’s airstrike on Beirut and assassination of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last week, Iran is promising a different approach. Following the killing of Qassem Soleimani in 2020, and the Israeli attack on Iran’s consulate in Damascus, they promised enteqam: revenge. Today, they say mojazat – punishment, or khun-khahi: literally ‘a desire for blood’. Israel has three outstanding blood debts accumulated over the past few weeks from across the self-styled ‘Axis of Resistance’. It bombed Hodeidah, the Houthi-controlled port in Yemen,

Freddy Gray

What will Biden do about Venezuela?

17 min listen

Venezuela’s leader President Nicolas Maduro is still manoeuvring to stay in power, following disputed election results and hundreds of thousands taking to the streets to protest. The opposition maintains that the result is fraudulent. Biden is facing increased pressure to intervene. What will his next move be? Freddy Gray is joined by Eli Lake, reporter for The Free Press.

Steerpike

Watch: Ed Balls interviews his Home Secretary wife on ITV

Good heavens. Now it’s ITV under fire after the broadcaster was accused of bias for allowing ex-politician-turned-presenter Ed Balls to interview Yvette Cooper, who also happens to be his, um, wife. Talk about keeping it in the family… The Home Secretary was across the airwaves this morning doing the media round after horrific riots – which included two attacks on hotels housing asylum seekers – spread across the country at the weekend. But her appearance has been slammed by viewers who were outraged to see her husband conducting part of the interview. Balls first quizzed his wife about what the government, police and social media companies can do to combat

Steerpike

Trump’s son blasts Lammy for ‘clickbait’ comments

Donald Trump’s second son Eric made a visit to Scotland this weekend, for a round of golf and a rather interesting media interview. While Eric Trump insisted that the Trumps have ‘tremendous respect’ for the country, the ex-president’s son was, however, a little less complimentary about David Lammy… The Foreign Secretary has a history of making rather, um, heated remarks about the former president – even calling Donald Trump a ‘neo-Nazi-sympathising sociopath’ as a backbench MP in 2018. That wasn’t the only criticism Lammy levelled at the presidential candidate. In 2017, Lammy slammed Theresa May’s invitation to Trump and his wife to the UK, writing: ‘A state visit to suck

Robert Tombs

Why talk of civil war is overblown

Are we really on the brink of civil war in Britain? Is it ‘inevitable’ in the foreseeable future? So thinks Elon Musk. It would be easy to dismiss this as absurd. Indeed it is absurd. But those of a nervous disposition might point to certain circumstances in 1642 – the start of what most English people think of as the Civil War – that might cause us worry today. In 1642 hardly anyone wanted civil war. Hardly anyone expected one. Most people didn’t want to get involved. And yet it happened: what one Parliamentary officer called poignantly ‘this war without an enemy’ was to be England’s worst internal conflict. It was not, in fact, the United Kingdom’s

Danny Shaw

How to stop the riots

For five days at the beginning of August 2011, it felt like we were on the brink of anarchy. Over the last few days, similar scenes have played out on British streets: shops have been smashed and looted; people attacked; and police officers on the front line have been injured. There is nothing more frightening than losing control of the streets Labour’s Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has vowed that ‘there will be a reckoning’ for those involved in the violence. In order to stop the riots, the authorities will have to adopt a similar approach to that taken 13 years ago. Lessons from that period must be applied now if

Ross Clark

The FTSE fall will upset Rachel Reeves’s October Budget

For a while it looked as if Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves were going to be lucky: they had walked into an economic recovery. The anaemic growth and market turmoil of the past few years – which Labour liked to blame entirely on ‘Tory chaos’ and absolutely nothing to do with the pandemic or energy crisis which followed the invasion of Ukraine – were going to be replaced by a period of stability and prosperity. Some governments are fortunate in their timing: Tony Blair walked into a decade of non-inflationary growth thanks to globalisation and the emergence of China as a major economy. But Starmer, it now looks, will not