Politics

Read about the latest political news, views and analysis

Monday

Madeline Grant

Labour conference is a triumph of anti-talent

In German they have a concept whose equivalent is sorely needed in discussion of British politics: ‘anti-talent’. It means exactly what it sounds like – the opposite of talent, something any given person is uniquely ill-suited to doing.  The Chancellor criticised ‘the nagging voices of decline’, which, when you’re standing a matter of inches away from Sir Keir Starmer, is either very brave or very stupid Labour has an innate ability to recognise and reward anti-talent, by putting the very people least suited to run departments in charge of them. While Yvette Cooper is in charge of charming our foreign allies, Rachel Reeves, who is increasingly becoming the Florence Foster

Svitlana Morenets

Ukraine is determined to give Russia a taste of its own medicine

Russians living in the Belgorod region of Russia got a taste of what Ukrainians have been enduring for over three years of war last night, after they spent it without power, hot water or internet. Ukrainian forces set the Belgorod power plant ablaze with US-made Himars missiles after the Trump administration reportedly gave Kyiv the green light to target Russia’s energy grid with American weapons during the UN summit last week. With winter closing in, Russians once untouched by the war now dread that they will be forced to live just like Ukrainians, suffering from daily bombardments and power outages. The strike came after Moscow unleashed nearly 500 drones and

Lucy Dunn

Labour members back Burnham

Labour mayors are stealing the limelight at Labour conference. As Sir Keir Starmer continues to struggle with staffing issues, policy positions and a prevailing surge in support for Reform UK, new polling for Sky News has revealed that six in ten Labour members would back Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham to be leader, with fewer than half of that proportion backing Starmer. When it comes to the deputy leadership position, No. 10’s favourite pick – Bridget Phillipson – also comes in second place with the membership, as more than a third would prefer ex-cabinet minister Lucy Powell. Burnham is significantly ahead of elected Labour MPs among the membership. He was

Patrick Gibbons

Only EU membership will secure Moldova's future

‘The European path of Moldova must go on,’ a young Moldovan politician texted me as their parliamentary election results began to roll in yesterday. His party PAS, the pro-European Party of Action and Solidarity, won. The race was not as close as some supporters feared, with PAS receiving about 50 per cent of the vote. The main opposition, Patriotic Electoral Bloc – an alliance of pro-Russian socialist and communist parties – received around 25 per cent. This is a remarkable moment for Moldova. Just three weeks ago President Maia Sandu, the founder of PAS, addressed the European parliament in Strasbourg, warning of Russian interference. Calling the election a ‘battlefield’, Sandu

James Heale

Labour conference: 'a holiday from reality'?

11 min listen

Labour party conference has kicked off in Liverpool, and the Chancellor has just delivered her keynote speech. ‘Security, security, security’ was the message from Rachel Reeves as she addressed the Labour party faithful. The Labour government, she said, will create an economy that puts the British worker above all else. Aside from setting out her economic vision, she made time for a few jabs in Manchester mayor Andy Burnham’s direction and gave a nod to shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson (should we take that as an endorsement?). Has she been taking notes from Gordon Brown? Elsewhere, the mood in the bars is much more buoyant than it was last year

Michael Simmons

When will Rachel Reeves deliver on her promises?

Security, security, security was the message from Chancellor Rachel Reeves as she addressed the Labour party today in Liverpool. A Labour government, she said, would stand for a British economy first. An economy that would put the British worker above all else. That, Reeves proclaimed, was the key difference between a Labour government and a Tory one. In fact, the line ‘don’t let anyone tell you there is no difference between a Labour government and a Conservative government’ was delivered so many times that by the fifth or sixth iteration it received only limp applause. The Conservatives were the main target of Reeves’s speech; they mismanaged the economy and allowed

James Heale

Rachel Reeves takes the fight to Reform

The Chancellor has just finished her speech at the Labour party conference. It has been a pretty torrid 12 months since Rachel Reeves’ last appearance in Liverpool. Since then, the Budget and borrowing costs have left her precariously exposed, in both Westminster and the City. But Reeves – a Labour tribalist to her core – seemed to draw heart from the conference floor. In a solid, if unspectacular performance, her peroration contained some red meat for the party to cheer: the abolition of long-term youth unemployment, new libraries and plans for an EU youth mobility scheme. Yet it was the first half of Reeves’ speech which highlighted the ghosts of

Steerpike

Scottish Labour rule out deal with Reform

At the last Labour conference before the 2026 Holyrood election, Scottish Labour is enjoying the limelight. With less than eight months to go until the Scottish parliament election, the party is trying to prove that – despite its rather dire polling – it can win. But in an increasingly fractured political world, Labour may have to rely on another political party to prop itself up if it is to have any hope of governing in Scotland. And given Nigel Farage’s tartan outfit is doing pretty well north of the border, a Labour-Reform pact – informal or not – could be one solution. But would Anas Sarwar do a deal with

George Bridges

Is it too early to tell Rachel Reeves 'I told you so'?

‘I told you so’ – the most irritating four words in the English language, dripping with self-satisfaction and schadenfreude. So, forgive me. A year ago I – or rather, ‘we’, the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee of which I was chair – told you, the great British public, that the UK risked economic catastrophe. A cross-party group including Corbynites and Thatcherites, we came to one crushing conclusion: unless this government took tough decisions this Parliament, the UK’s sky-high debt might well become unsustainable.  A year on, what had been the subject of intense but largely ignored scrutiny in Lords’ Committee Room 2A has, at last, become the dominating issue. Being

Yossi Melman

Why Trump wants Blair to run Gaza

Tony Blair is a man for all seasons, a political operator who knows precisely on which side his bread is buttered, the side of the super-rich oil and gas sheikhs and the well-connected elites of the Middle East. It is no coincidence, then, that his name has emerged as a potential candidate for a role envisioned by President Donald Trump’s administration: effectively serving as governor of Gaza if, and when, the ongoing war there comes to an end. Driving his candidacy is Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, who continues to accumulate vast wealth from investments backed by Saudi, Qatari, and Emirati funds. Kushner is once again returning to mediation in the

Fred De Fossard

Reform has changed the conversation on immigration

Last week, Reform UK announced the most radical proposal on overhauling immigration by a mainstream political party in a generation. Under their new plans, migrants in the UK with indefinite leave to remain (ILR) would have to reapply for residency and would lose access to welfare benefits, unless they qualify to become British citizens. This is a British-preference immigration and welfare policy, the likes of which we have not seen since at least 1997. It is intended to avert the fiscal and social implications of giving permanent welfare access to the wave of migrants who entered the country after 2021 – the infamous ‘Boriswave’ – which saw net migration surpass

Patrick West

No, Keir Starmer: Reform’s migrant plans aren’t racist

Keir Starmer’s behaviour, demeanour and language has taken a rapid and strange turn of recent. Unable to do anything meaningful about this country’s economic woes or the chronic immigration crisis, the Prime Minister now resorts to words in preference to actions. He relies increasingly on alarmist rhetoric and hollow gestures in order to make us believe that he is a competent and purposeful leader. It’s the customary response of low-intelligence fringe-leftists The decision to officially recognise Palestine, a country with no borders, no capital city and no meaningful government, was merely one indication of this lurch. His endless pronouncements on his determination to ‘smash the gangs’, rather than do anything

Michael Simmons

Will Labour MPs stand for Rachel Reeves' benefits crackdown?

When Rachel Reeves speaks at Labour party conference today, she has a tough message to deliver. The Chancellor will announce her plans to ‘abolish youth unemployment’ by forcing Britain’s jobless youth into work. There’s a moral case to be made for welfare reform and the Chancellor must make it today The ‘youth guarantee’ scheme will offer the carrot of a guaranteed work placement once unemployed 18 to 21-year-olds have spent 18 months out of the workforce. Those who turn down job offers or training places, however, will face the stick via sanctions such as having their benefits docked. With nearly one million 16 to 24-year-olds classified as not in education,

Druin Burch

Starmer's 'racist' Reform remark is his 'deplorables' moment

Reform’s proposal to scrap indefinite leave to remain for foreigners is racist, according to Keir Starmer. ‘I do think it’s a racist policy,’ the Prime Minister told the BBC yesterday. ‘I do think it’s immoral – it needs to be called out for what it is.’ Removing people who were here legally, he said, was wrong. That’s a reasonable stance for a lawyer, but odd for a PM, whose role isn’t compliance with the law but deciding what new laws should say. Starmer is wrong about Britain. We live not only at the least racist point in history, but in one of the least racist countries in the world Supporters

Patrick West

How ID cards destroy freedom

Those who make the case in favour of national ID cards invariably do so on pragmatic grounds. As they have reminded us in recent days following Keir Starmer’s announcement of the rollout of digital ID, these would make life more simple, more convenient, secure easier access to public services, reduce fraud, criminal activity and even stem the tide of illegal immigration to this country. Those who repeat the canard of ‘nothing to hide, nothing to fear’ should ask themselves the underlying belief they are really articulating Who could possibly object to such reasonable-sounding arguments? National ID cards would be ‘for own good’ they continue, or more ominously: ‘if you’ve nothing

Alex Klaushofer

Britain's free speech crisis could get a whole lot worse

If you think Britain’s free speech crisis is bad now, if Ofcom gets its way it could get a whole lot worse. The broadcasting regulator-turned-internet-policeman is currently consulting on proposals to beef up the Online Safety Act. The proposals in its blandly-title ‘Additional Safety Measures‘ document could reduce the internet in Britain to a shadow of its varied, vibrant self. Ofcom’s proposals are alarming A big chunk of the 309-page consultation concerns livestreaming. In Ofcom’s world, livestreams are of particular concern because of the ‘risk’ posed by humans interacting with each other in real time. The proposed measures go way beyond protecting children from online predators, encompassing all livestreaming services

Sunday

Steerpike

Scottish Labour goes for Andy Burnham

Well, well, well. The atmosphere is more than a little tense as Labour conference kicks off in Liverpool. In recent weeks, Prime Minister Keir Starmer has suffered not just from poor poll results – with a recent MRP suggesting his party could fall to less than 100 seats at the next general election – but the PM has lost both his deputy and ambassador to the US. Further north, feathers were ruffled during Starmer’s reshuffle when Scottish Secretary Ian Murray – member of parliament for Edinburgh South since 2010 – was cut from the government in place of Douglas Alexander, onetime Scotland Secretary for Tony Blair. But while Sir Keir

Madeline Grant

Keir's cabinet of rotters are a comedy gift

Day one of the Labour conference – oh frabjous day! The annual gathering of people who hate each other just a little bit more than they hate themselves was underway. You really do wonder where they find some of these characters.  Sir Keir arrives in Liverpool as the least popular PM in history. Worse than Liz Truss or Boris Johnson at their nadirs, worse than Lloyd George when he did all his lady diddling, worse than Neville Chamberlain. I bet the ghost of Lord North is absolutely over the moon. Mr Starmer is a road traffic black spot of a PM. Most excruciating of all, inevitably, was the Prime Minister

Steerpike

Watch: Housing Secretary flails on house building

A glorious exchange on GB News this morning. Steve Reed, the new Housing Secretary, has been making a big song and dance this conference about his plans to ‘build baby build.’ Red caps bearing the slogan are being dispersed to delegates who are proudly displaying them around Liverpool. There is just one problem: the government is woefully off track on its pledge to build 1.5 million new homes by the end of this parliament. Asked by Camilla Tominey for how many homes have been build in the 14 months Labour have had thus far, Reed replied thus: I don’t have the exact – I’m not Wikipedia. No, I’m not Wikipedia,

Steerpike

Sarwar: Scotland will reject 'poisonous' Farage

To Liverpool, where politicians and delegates are gathering for Labour’s annual party conference. Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has just finished his speech on the main stage, where he lead out his vision for his party with just eight months to go until next year’s Holyrood elections. But it was a non-Labour politician that dominated Sarwar’s discussion today, as Reform UK support in Scotland continues to surge. Slamming Nigel Farage as a ‘pathetic and poisonous little man’, the Scottish Labour leader fumed: You are a pathetic and poisonous little man that doesn’t care about Scotland, doesn’t understand Scotland, and that’s why Scotland will utterly reject you. All Reform can do is