Politics

Read about the latest political news, views and analysis

Saturday

Fraser Nelson

Iran has struck back – but is it war?

When Israel assassinated a top commander in Iran’s Quds Force in Damascus a fortnight ago, it knew that Tehran would have to respond with a direct attack. So news this evening – that Iran has sent a swarm of kamikaze drones that will take nine hours to reach Israel – is in line with those expectations. Israel had already called up reserve units for its air defence: tonight’s dispatch of about 50 Shahed drones (used regularly in Ukraine) was the minimum of what was expected. Israel says it will try to take them out as they fly over Iraq (they have already been filmed en route). The question is whether Iran will later reinforce

Steerpike

Watch: Pro-indy filmmaker’s bizarre currency claim

Another day, another nationalist gaffe. This time it’s pro-indy filmmaker and columnist — for that august journal the National — Lesley Riddoch in the spotlight. In a rather bizarre attempt to persuade the good people of Scotland that independence wouldn’t be a terrible idea, Riddoch has demonstrated exactly why the Nats should not be in charge.  In a stilted documentary clip, Riddoch tries to contrast the Denmark-Sweden crossing with one that could exist between Scotland and England in an alternate reality. As she’s driving, Riddoch tells the camera of the ‘frictionless border between two different countries’. They have ‘different systems, different languages and different currencies’. She goes on: Does that

Terry Barnes

The unimaginable tragedy of the Sydney stabbing attack

Bondi Junction, in Sydney’s affluent eastern suburbs, is well known to many British backpackers and tourists. Close to the city’s most famous beaches, it is where locals and visitors go to shop, enjoy the many cafes, or catch the train to town. The sprawling Westfield shopping complex there is a popular place. This Saturday afternoon, a pleasant autumn day, it was filled with shoppers, and people catching up with friends over coffee or just passing the time. None of them would have expected a rampage by a seemingly ordinary man, dressed in an Australian rugby league team jersey and shorts, wielding a knife. ‘He looked like a man on a

Steerpike

Diane Abbott’s private school hypocrisy

Oh dear. It seems that the sage of Hackney has blundered once more. Having lost the Labour whip last year for an asinine antisemitism letter, Diane Abbott is doing little it seems to try and win it back. She took to Twitter yesterday to criticise Wes Streeting, the Shadow Health Secretary, for daring to suggest that a Labour government would use private healthcare to cut the NHS backlog. ‘There is no principled case for using the private sector,’ she sniffed. ‘Just as the “spare capacity” in private health Wes talks about does not exist. Only #NHS doctors, nurses and the £million contracts Wes will give them.’ So it was left

Alan Dershowitz

Representing O.J. Simpson was a mixed blessing

When I was first asked to join the O.J. defence team, I declined, because I had appeared on television and opined that he was probably guilty. Bob Shapiro responded by saying, ‘At this time, everyone thinks he’s guilty, but we have to look at all the evidence.’ He also reminded me that O.J. was facing the death penalty and that I generally don’t decline capital cases. With these considerations in mind, I accepted the role as legal and constitutional consultant to the defence team and designated appellate lawyer in the event he was convicted. O.J. referred to me as his ‘God-forbid lawyer.’ Every defendant is entitled zealous representation, but many

Matthew Parris

Matthew Parris, Laurie Graham, Rachel Johnson, Laura Gascoigne and Angus Colwell

32 min listen

This week: Matthew Parris questions what’s left to say about the Tories (00:57), Laurie Graham discusses her struggle to see a GP (07:35), Rachel Johnson makes the case against women only clubs (13:38), Laura Gascoigne tells us the truth about Caravaggio’s last painting (19:21) and Angus Colwell reads his notes on wild garlic (28:58).  Produced by Oscar Edmondson, Margaret Mitchell and Patrick Gibbons.  Presented by Oscar Edmondson. 

Katy Balls

Harold Wilson’s secret Downing Street affair

10 min listen

On this special Saturday edition of Coffee House Shots we discuss Patrick Maguire’s scoop this week about former Labour leader Harold Wilson’s secret affair with his deputy press secretary. Where does this rank in the history of parliamentary affairs? And – on a more serious note – are there any lessons that Keir Starmer can learn from Harold Wilson?  Katy Balls speaks to Patrick Maguire and James Heale. 

Gavin Mortimer

Germanophobia is growing in France

There was a time earlier this century when few politicians in France would dare criticise Germany. The country was the powerhouse of Europe and Angela Merkel was the de facto president of the continent. Today there is political mileage to be had in attacking Germany, and the assaults have increased this year as campaigning intensifies ahead of June’s European elections. Relations between the two countries are at their lowest ebb in decades In an interview last week Marion Maréchal, the European candidate for Eric Zemmour’s Reconquest party, said that as far as Germany is concerned, ‘France is looking more and more like a battered wife who can’t manage to leave

Julius Strauss

Putin wants to create an unliveable no man’s land in Ukraine

The residents of Velyka Pysarivka had almost finished renovating their municipal library. They laid the floor with large white tiles, built a special section for hundreds of brightly-coloured children’s books which they brought in from the city, and even painted a large cartoon giraffe with oversized spectacles on one wall to make the place feel welcoming. Although the Ukrainian village was close to the Russian border it had, until last month, escaped the worst of the war. And with no end to the conflict in sight the townsfolk decided they had to get on with their lives and invest in the future. One glide bomb can turn even the most

Friday

Isabel Hardman

Rayner promises to quit if convicted

Angela Rayner has this evening announced that she would quit if convicted of breaking electoral law, saying: ‘If I committed a criminal offence, I would of course do the right thing and step down. The British public deserves politicians who know the rules apply to them.’ This line follows the announcement earlier today that Greater Manchester Police were investigating whether she gave false information about her home address on official documents. Rayner insisted once again that she was ‘completely confident I’ve followed the rules at all times’. This is the same approach that Keir Starmer took when being investigated over allegations that he broke lockdown rules: he said he would

Freddy Gray

Will abortion decide the 2024 election?

34 min listen

This week, the Arizona Supreme Court reinstated a law from 1864 that bans nearly all abortions in the state. But where do Trump and Biden stand on abortion, and will it be a deciding factor in the 2024 election?  Freddy’s joined by Inez Stepman, Fellow at the Claremont Institute, and Daniel McCarthy, Editor of Modern Age Journal.  Produced by Megan McElroy. 

James Heale

Rishi Sunak loses another minister

Graham Stuart has this afternoon quit the government, saying he wishes to focus on local issues after service in various ministerial posts. The Yorkshire MP has spent seven of the last eight years in office, including as energy minister since September 2022. But in a letter today to Rishi Sunak, he says that ‘I have decided that now is the time to step down’ from government. There had previously been reports that Stuart was unhappy with Sunak’s net zero speech reset and had even threatened to quit over the scrapping of the so-called ‘boiler tax.’ Stuart though is making clear that his resignation is about spending more time in his

Iain Macwhirter

The Greens are embarrassing the SNP

For an image of the ‘progressive nationalism’ that has disfigured Scottish public life over the past decade, look no further than the Scottish Green party MSP Maggie Chapman. She was one of the driving forces behind the SNP-Green government’s attempts to make Scotland a testing ground for transgender ideology. Along with her Green party colleagues, Chapman is a major reason why Scottish voters are turning against the coalition government. During the row over the SNP’s Gender Recognition Reform Bill, Chapman called for the Scottish government to ‘explore’ the possibility of allowing children to change legal sex from age 8. She also scolded textbooks that suggested sex is binary, and said

Ross Clark

Are we really reaching ‘farmaggedon’?

I happened to be walking in the Cambridgeshire fens this morning while listening to the latest instalment of ‘farmageddon’ – the narrative that Britain is facing food shortages due to biblical levels of rain over the winter. There was something of a conflict between the sight before my eyes with what Rachel Hallos, vice president of the National Farmers Union, was telling the Today programme as she begged the government for emergency money. These are some of the lowest-lying fields in England, with large parts lying four or five feet below sea level. They are formed largely of peat, which easily becomes waterlogged. Yet it was a pretty normal spring

Patrick O’Flynn

Never forget the politicians who pushed gender politics

The great trans hoax is coming to an end. The idea of thousands of people being ‘trapped’ in the wrong body is an interpretation of gender dysphoria that is increasingly being seen as damaging nonsense. The invasive treatment regimes, particularly for teenagers, carried out by the NHS, are unravelling too. And so is the claim that women don’t need protected spaces, separate from biological males. Giving campaign groups such as Mermaids and Stonewall influence in setting public policy in this area is looking more and more like the terrible mistake that many of us have long argued it was. It isn’t only Johnson seeking to carry out a rapid repositioning

Andrew Tettenborn

The courts can’t solve climate change

It was always a racing certainty that this week’s ‘Swiss grannies’ climate change judgment in Strasbourg would spawn a new wave of environmental lawfare and give new life to that already in progress. A taste of the brave new future duly came from the High Court in London yesterday. Section 58 of the Climate Change Act requires the government periodically to lay before parliament its objectives to deal with climate change. The government has duly produced a so-called ‘National Adaptation Programme 3’, but some people say it is not good enough. They include pressure group Friends of the Earth, and two individuals alleging injury due to climate change: the owner of a

Eliot Wilson

Can Starmer be trusted with Trident?

Three weeks after the Prime Minister visited Barrow-in-Furness to pose with models of submarines, the Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has made his way to BAE Systems in Cumbria to emphasise his support for the United Kingdom’s nuclear deterrent. He penned an accompanying manifesto for the Daily Mail, in which he said his party’s commitment to Trident was ‘total’ and ‘unshakeable’. He also expressed a ‘a cast-iron commitment’ to build the four new Dreadnought-class nuclear submarines which will carry Britain’s ballistic missiles from the early 2030s onwards. This is politics. Starmer remembers that at the last election barely one in ten voters trusted the Labour party on defence and national

James Heale

Is Angela Rayner unsackable?

13 min listen

The row over Angela Rayner’s tax affairs has deepened today. This morning, Greater Manchester police have announced that – following a reassessment of the case – they will open a formal investigation into Angela Rayner. What does this mean for Keir Starmer? And why would it be so difficult for him to sack her?  James Heale speaks to Katy Balls and Fraser Nelson.  Produced by Oscar Edmondson. 

Katy Balls

The Angela Rayner council house row deepens

The row over Angela Rayner’s tax affairs is becoming more serious. This morning, Greater Manchester Police launched an investigation into the Labour deputy leader over whether she broke electoral law by failing to properly disclose her main residence in official documents. The investigation relates to two properties in Stockport – one owned by Rayner (on Vicarage Road) and one by her then-husband Mark Rayner (on Lowndes Lane). Rayner is accused of potentially avoiding paying capital gains tax on her property – which she sold in 2015 – as well as potentially breaking electoral law. Rayner denies both allegations. A police spokesperson said: ‘We’re investigating whether any offences have been committed.

Steerpike

Scottish government spent £400,000 on promoting new hate crime law

Back to Scotland and Humza Yousaf’s controversial new hate law. The First Minister’s Hate Crime Act has left an already overstretched and under-resourced police force swamped with trivial complaints. Of the over 7,000 reports made in the first week, only three per cent of these were actual crimes. And now the spotlight is on the rather strange public information campaign released by the Scottish government. Not only was it pretty ineffective at communicating exactly what a hate crime is (hence the low crime to report ratio), it has now transpired that it cost the taxpayer nearly, um, £400,000. Crikey. The questionable ‘Hate Hurts’ campaign — plastered across billboards and TV