Politics

Read about the latest political news, views and analysis

Wednesday

Lloyd Evans

Who’s more embarrassing: Corbyn or Truss?

Sir Keir Starmer’s advisers have very short memories. At PMQs, the Labour leader mocked Liz Truss for visiting America to ‘flog a new book in search of fame and wealth’. He jeered at her suggestion that ‘the deep state’ had sabotaged her career, and he put it to Rishi Sunak that the Tories have become ‘the political wing of the Flat Earth Society.’ Sir Keir forgets that his predecessor, Jeremy Corbyn, is far more embarrassing than Liz Truss whose premiership was over in less time than it takes to eat a toffee apple. Corbyn was Labour leader for four years and Sir Keir was one of his favoured lieutenants. Rishi

Isabel Hardman

PMQs: Starmer and Sunak argue over who has the bigger racism problem

Today’s Prime Minister’s Questions was less about Rishi Sunak and more about the Tories around him. Keir Starmer opened his attack by describing the Conservatives as ‘the political wing of the flat earth society’. He said that ‘Tory MPs spent last week claiming that Britain is run by a shadowy cabal made up of activists, the deep state and most chillingly of all, the Financial Times’. Starmer’s second question referenced Liz Truss directly, but the first question was clearly designed to take in Lee Anderson’s comments about Sadiq Khan handing control of London to Islamists. His argument on both was that the Tories weren’t serious about governing any more, and

Freddy Gray

Nikki Haley isn’t running to win

Commentators find it tedious to keep pointing out that Donald Trump has won yet another primary by yet another huge margin. He just defeated Nikki Haley by more than 40 points in Michigan, for instance, and many journalists seem to be focusing on his struggle to win over key ‘voter blocs’. She will inevitably cave to reality after Super Tuesday next week A lot of this talk is pure wind. Yes, Haley performed well in suburbs around Detroit and Michigan among voter groups that Trump will have to do better with in order to win in a general election against Joe Biden. But Michigan, like South Carolina and New Hampshire,

Coffee House

Which MPs have no confidence in the Speaker?

It’s not looking good for Lindsay Hoyle, with MPs continuing to sign Will Wragg’s Early Day Motion of no-confidence in the Speaker. The current number now stands at 93 signatories – more than one in eight MPs who sit in the House of 650 Members. Among them are 47 Tories, 42 SNP, three Plaid Cymru and one independent. MPs who have signed the EDM of no-confidence:

Katy Balls

Jeremy Hunt is about to disappoint his party

In a week’s time, Jeremy Hunt will stand up at the despatch box and unveil the Spring Budget. This event has long been seen by Tory MPs as a key marker ahead of the general election. It is the last big set piece event in the calendar between now and the short campaign. Ministers, too, have raised expectations about what could be in it – with Rishi Sunak telling The Spectator in December to expect a ‘gear shift’ in taxation. However, the problem for Sunak and Hunt is that they are likely to disappoint. Despite the government recouping record revenues in January, the public finances are not as healthy as

Steerpike

Prince Harry loses against the Home Office

Prince Harry just can’t seem to catch a break. The renegade royal this morning lost his High Court legal challenge against the British government over the level of his security protection provided when he is in the UK. It comes after he quit being a ‘working royal’ back in February 2020, a decision that led to him being accorded a lesser degree of security in line with his reduced status. The dilettante Duke though, did not take this decision well. First, he launched a legal bid to be allowed to make private payments for police protection when he was visiting the UK. Having lost that, he then launched a second

Matthew Lynn

Apple is right to steer clear of the electric car market

Apple’s much-hyped electric car appears to have been killed off before it ever hit the road. For years, the tech firm’s plan to branch out into developing an electric, semi-autonomous car have been the subject of much excitement. Codenamed Project Titan, fans speculated that Apple would turn its magic to designing a car that would revolutionise driving. The template of a square box with four wheels underneath that has dominated auto design for more than a hundred years would become a thing of the past. Over the last decade, as rumours emerged about the project – which was never officially announced – Apple nerds, who admittedly have a tendency to

David Shipley

Why Britain’s prison guards are losing control

Prisons are terrifying places when guards lose control. The authorities retreat and angry prisoners are left in charge – until the cavalry arrives. That comes in the form of the National Tactical Response Group (NTRG), which resolves hostage situations, work ‘at height’ when prisoners have scaled buildings or refuse to leave safety netting on the wings or are standing on a table. If things aren’t resolved amicably, the NTRG can instruct Tornado riot squads to storm prison wings. Worryingly, Britain’s prison guards are becoming more reliant on these methods to regain charge of out-of-control jails. Last year, these squads were deployed nearly 800 times – a 40 per cent increase since

Steerpike

Tony Blair bolsters his empire (again)

Ping! An email arrives in Steerpike’s inbox. It seems that the Tony Blair Institute – the eponymous creature of the perma-tanned politician – has gone on a bit of a recruitment drive. Not content with having, in their words, ‘100 staff embedded in governments around the world’, Blair’s babes have now bagged themself a general and top scientist too. How long before they add an Archbishop? For this week, Sir Tony’s Institute proudly announced that Sir Patrick Vallance, the UK’s Chief Scientific Adviser during Covid, is joining them as a ‘Strategic counsellor’ alongside Sir Nick Carter, the former Chief of the Defence Staff. All those knights, let’s hope they have

Gavin Mortimer

Macron has embarrassed and embittered his military

Emmanuel Macron is the first president of the Fifth Republic to have never served in the military, and it shows. His bellicose declaration on Monday that the West might deploy ground troops to Ukraine has been roundly rejected by France’s allies. No chance, was the retort of Germany, Britain, Poland and others. Russia also warned that such a deployment would be very unwise. Macron has never recovered the confidence of his armed forces As a result, Macron has been left looking foolish and inexperienced, accused of war-mongering in order to boost his self-esteem after a bruising few weeks domestically. A dismissive editorial in today’s Le Figaro, the newspaper of choice

Freddy Gray

A Donald Trump debate

28 min listen

In this special episode of Americano, The Spectator’s editor Fraser Nelson explores Trump’s candidacy with political commentator Deroy Murdock, and The Spectator’s economics editor Kate Andrews.  They debate the influence of his rhetoric on American politics. How important is language? Will his achievements as President be enough to secure his re-election? Does personality Trump policy?  Produced by Natasha Feroze and Patrick Gibbons

Amber Duke

Why this Gaza protest vote is dangerous for Joe Biden

Earlier this month, ‘none of these candidates’ turned out to be a political spoiler for former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley in the Nevada Republican primary. Even though her main rival, former president Donald Trump, opted not to participate in the state GOP’s caucus and Haley was essentially running unopposed in the primary, ‘none of these candidates’ trounced her by 33 points. An unnamed third party showed up on Tuesday night for the Democratic and Republican primaries in Michigan too, this time against the Democratic incumbent, President Joe Biden. At the time of writing, ‘Uncommitted’ is teetering around 15 per cent of voters in the Michigan primary against Joe Biden. Progressive activists in the state,

Bob Seely

The West is being too slow to arm Ukraine

A dangerous truth is emerging from Ukraine. Kyiv is slowly starting to lose the war against Russia because it is running short of ammunition, in large part because promises made by the EU and the USA are not being honoured. Concurrently, Russia has moved to a wartime economic footing, with 40 per cent of government spending now on the military. The result has seen Ukraine start to lose territory. In the east of the country, where I visited last week, talk is turning to which town will fall next. Soldiers are angry that they are dying because they do not have the ammunition – and specifically artillery shells – to return fire

Tuesday

James Heale

Post Office ex-chairman hits back at Badenoch

Kemi Badenoch emerged from this morning’s Commons evidence session strengthened by the testimony of one of her top officials. But this afternoon a very different story emerged as Henry Staunton – the man she forced out as Post Office chairman – got his say before the Business Select Committee. He said he had been the target of a ‘smear campaign’ led by Badenoch and fought back against allegations that he had told ‘lies’. The key moment of Staunton’s evidence concerned claims that he was forced out at the Post Office after bullying allegations were made against him. But, in an astonishing turn of events, he insisted it was the company’s

Isabel Hardman

David Neal vs the Home Office

‘I’ve been sacked for doing my job. I think I’ve been sacked for doing what the law asks of me and I’ve breached, I’ve fallen down over a clause in my employment contract, which I think is a crying shame.’ That was just one of the bombs that former independent chief inspector of borders and immigration David Neal dropped at his select committee hearing this afternoon. It was never going to be a comfortable hearing, given he was sacked for being awkward to ministers in the reports he was writing on the state of border security (although they would say he was sacked for being awkward by leaking the contents

Cindy Yu

David Neal vs the Home Office

12 min listen

Until recently the government’s independent chief inspector of borders and immigration, David Neal has been in front of the Home Affairs select committee today to hit out at his erstwhile employers. Cindy Yu talks to Isabel Hardman and Katy Balls on the episode about Neal’s abrupt sacking and just how ‘independent’ an independent inspector can be. Produced by Cindy Yu.

Seth J. Frantzman

There should be no ceasefire in Gaza

Joe Biden appears to be pushing for a ceasefire in Gaza between Israel and Hamas. ‘My hope is that by next Monday we’ll have a ceasefire,’ the US president said yesterday. Hamas has said the comments are ‘premature’ and Israeli sources have reportedly said prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu was surprised by Biden’s remarks. Pressure for a ceasefire would benefit Hamas, which has been demanding a stop in the fighting since mid-October after it attacked Israel and massacred 1,000 people and took 240 hostages. Hamas’ approach in this latest conflict is nothing new: it has often sought to leverage the suffering of Gazan civilians, which it hides behind to fire rockets and build tunnels, to

James Heale

Officials back Kemi Badenoch in Post Office row

The row over compensation for wrongly convicted postmasters returned to parliament again today. Kemi Badenoch, the Business Secretary, is currently embroiled in a war of words with Henry Staunton, the man whom she sacked as chairman of the Post Office. He claims that he was told to delay compensation to victims of the Horizon scandal; she denies this and insists Staunton ‘had a lack of grip getting justice for postmasters.’ It was left to the Business Committee to try and establish the veracity of the pair’s claims. Oral evidence was this morning submitted by officials in the Department for Trade. The panel of MPs heard from Carl Creswell, who oversees

Kate Andrews

Can Jeremy Hunt actually afford to cut taxes?

Does Jeremy Hunt have the cash to spend on tax cuts in his spring Budget next week? That’s the billion pound question that the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) focused on during its pre-Budget briefing this morning, hosted by Director Paul Johnson and Deputy Director Carl Emmerson.  As Ross Clark notes on Coffee House, the latest rumours suggest that the Chancellor is pivoting away from an income tax, inheritance tax or stamp duty cut (the last of which is considered most desirable by economists, including those over at the IFS, due to how badly it distorts the housing market and weighs down growth). Instead he may be opting for another penny

Mark Galeotti

Why Macron won’t send troops to Ukraine

French President Emmanuel Macron does enjoy a good grandstanding. Having once been keen to present himself as a possible bridge-builder with Moscow, he is now suggesting that western troops might go fight in Ukraine – secure in the knowledge that his bluff is unlikely to be called. At a press conference at the end of a summit in Paris on supporting Kyiv he said: ‘there is no consensus to officially send ground troops. That said, nothing should be ruled out.’ He wouldn’t say any more. He wanted to maintain some ‘strategic ambiguity.’ It is certainly true that manpower is a key Ukrainian constraint. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky recently admitted that