Politics Archives

Saturday

8 July 2023

The dark history of the SNP

The Scottish National party, under new and inferior management, continues to struggle out from under English oppression – colonialist oppression, as seems to be the view of the outward bound Mhairi Black, who wants Scotland to be the sixty-third country to escape from England. Yet, running through the SNP’s history has been a thin line of tenderness for authoritarian rule and rulers that contradicts its own struggle for freedom. Despotic ideologies attracted thousands of followers in the 20s and 30s. Communism, inspired by the Bolshevik takeover in Russia, carried the promise of freedom and power for the working class, while fascism gained a hold in the 20s after the success of Benito

Mark Hollingsworth

Russian sanctions are hurting Putin’s enemies

‘Ukrainians fight for their homeland, Russians fight for Putin’s ambitions’, declared the TV presenter on his YouTube channel earlier this year. This was not a Ukrainian propagandist. In fact, the commentator was Russian and talking on ‘TV Rain’, the most popular and effective opposition channel broadcasting into Russia. In TV Rain’s final programme from Moscow before the station was forced to shut down and move abroad, the founder declared: ‘No to war. Putin cannot win the war’. In exile, the channel remained robust. ‘The war has no justification and has to be stopped’, says the editor Tikhon Dzyadko. ‘Russia must withdraw its troops from Ukraine’. The most effective vehicle of

Kate Andrews

Kate Andrews, Igor Toronyi-Lalic and Ivo Dawnay

17 min listen

This week: Kate Andrews on the NHS and the celebrations that marked its 75th birthday (01:05), Igor Toronyi-Lalic is in Marseille watching with interest as the riots happen around him (06:57) and Ivo Dawnay describes how being related to Boris is cramping his style oversees (11:13). Produced and presented by Linden Kemkaran.

Patrick O’Flynn

Have the Tories given up?

When confronted with a list of problems and setbacks afflicting the Government, a minister recently told me: ‘The darkest hour is just before the dawn.’ I doubt she really believed it, which is just as well because, in a scientific sense at least, it turns out not to be true. But Tory ministers – aware of the party’s looming fate at the next election – are seeking such crumbs of comfort. In recent weeks, there has been a tsunami of announcements from backbenchers and former ministers that they won’t be standing again. Unhelpful by-elections look set to confirm what many suspect: the Tories are heading for defeat, come the next

Nigel Jones

Dutch government collapses following migration row

The growing continent-wide crisis caused by mass immigration into Europe has claimed another country with the collapse of the Dutch coalition government led by veteran centrist politician Mark Rutte. The Dutch prime minister announced that he will hand in his government’s resignation to King Willem-Alexander today because of ‘profound differences’ among the four coalition parties over how to handle immigration. Applications for asylum from migrants into the densely populated Netherlands have been running at almost 50,000 a year and likely to hit 70,000 by the year’s end. Rutte proposed to limit the numbers by drastically capping the rights of foreign family members to join migrants already in the country. Mass

Graham Watts

‘We don’t have time to waste’: An interview with Ukraine’s Azov brigade commander

The acting commander of the Azov brigade, Major Bohdan (pronounced Bogdan) Krotevych, is a hero in Ukraine. In last year’s Siege of Mariupol, he and 2,000 men – together with civilians and other units of the Ukrainian armed forces – held out for almost three months as defenders of the Azovstal Iron and Steel works. That huge network of tunnels and bunkers provided shelter to withstand daily bombardments from far more numerous Russian forces. Ironically, it was the Soviet Union that built this enormous infrastructure to withstand such aerial bombardment. Major Krotevych – his call sign is ‘Tavr’, meaning a native of Crimea – spoke to me from the Azov

Friday

7 July 2023

Lucy Dunn

Will Scottish junior doctors accept Humza’s record pay deal?

As of this afternoon, the junior doctor strikes in Scotland have been called off. Today, the Scottish government and the BMA Scotland’s Junior Doctor Committee announced a brand new, three-pronged deal in a bid to end the pay dispute. Junior doctors in Scotland will receive a single pay rise of 12.4 per cent for this year, and over the following three years, the government has guaranteed a minimum pay rise in line with the rate of inflation for each financial year. Not only that, contract negotiations with the aim of improving both working conditions and training will begin this autumn, to be implemented by April 2026. First Minister Humza Yousaf

James Heale

SNP calls for drugs to be decriminalised

It’s Humza Yousaf’s 100th day in office today. So what better way to mark this milestone than with a fresh clash with Westminster? A policy paper put out by the Scottish government this morning calls for the decriminalisation of all drugs for personal use. Drugs are a reserved matter but Holyrood ministers want that changed to allow people found in possession to be ‘treated and supported rather than criminalised and excluded’. Scotland would only be able to implement this approach if the UK government granted a section 30 order: an opt-out from the reserved power laws in the Scotland Act. Other proposals that the SNP want include law changes to

Ross Clark

The housing crash we’re heading for might not be the one you think

Are house prices falling? The Halifax house price index, published today, is finally showing a significant year on year fall: average prices are 2.6 per cent down in the 12 months to June. This is the biggest annual fall shown by the index in 12 years. But it is still hard to depict what is happening in the housing market as a bloodbath. The finer print shows that prices are actually up over the last quarter, by 0.3 per cent – with the 12 monthly figure pulled down by what happened by last autumn. As has happens so often in the housing market, predictions of deep gloom (or deep joy, if you

Katy Balls

What if Boris Johnson was still prime minister?

It’s one year today since Boris Johnson resigned as prime minister, following mass resignations in the ministerial ranks. At the time Johnson hinted he would return, but 12 months later he is no longer an MP. Meanwhile the Tories have fallen further back in the polls. The last YouGov poll taken before Johnson resigned had Labour on an 11-point lead. The latest YouGov poll finds that this has extended to a 25-point lead, with Rishi Sunak struggling to reverse the party’s fortunes. So, where did it all go wrong? As expected, those who back Johnson look at those poll differences and argue it is evidence that the Tory party collectively

James Heale

Was booting Boris a mistake?

15 min listen

It is one year since Boris Johnson announced his resignation as prime minister. That day, Labour held an 11 point lead in the polls but new YouGov polling today indicates that gap has widened to 25 points. Is there any hope the Tories can turn it around? What if Boris had stayed? James Heale speaks to Katy Balls and Fraser Nelson. Produced by Natasha Feroze and Oscar Edmondson.

Joanna Williams

Spare us from Keir Starmer’s vacuous education pledges

Keir Starmer clearly does not abide by the principle ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’. On the contrary, with this week’s announcement of Labour’s plans to overhaul England’s education sector, Starmer has proven that even in the rare instance of something working well, Labour can be relied upon to make it worse. Come the next election, Conservative activists looking to tally up the party’s successes will almost certainly land on education. Sure, they will have to close their eyes to the devastating impact of lockdown school closures and continued disruption by striking teachers. And they might have to cross their fingers and hope no one quizzes them on the

Mark Galeotti

The Kremlin is trying to humiliate Prigozhin

When corrupt Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was toppled in 2014, his private estate at Mezhyhirya turned out to contain an ostrich farm, chandeliers worth thousands and and a two-kilo gold loaf of bread. When Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin’s St Petersburg estate was raided, investigators found cash, guns – and a bizarre collection of wigs. But what does the eager ‘through the keyhole’ leak of footage from the raid tell us about the state of play in the Putin-Prigozhin grudge match? A giant sledgehammer in one room was inscribed, ‘For use in important negotiations’ Prigozhin himself is still at large. Although we were told the deal was for him to

Jawad Iqbal

Why won’t James Cleverly stand up to Iran?

The Foreign Office is making a big mistake in failing to designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) as a terrorist group. The 100,000 strong organisation, the most powerful wing of Iran’s security apparatus, was established after the 1979 Islamic revolution. For decades it has been at the heart of Iranian support for global terrorism on foreign soil, including the UK and Europe. It also arms and supports militant groups across the Middle East. By any rational measure the group meets all the criteria for a ban under the 2000 Terrorism Act. Yet the Foreign Office continues to avoid the necessary step of proscribing the revolutionary guards, despite fresh evidence from

Steerpike

Watch: Question Time audience member takes Johnny Mercer to task

As Tory MP Johnny Mercer found out last night, any politician who chooses to go on BBC’s Question Time is brave soul indeed. Following an evening of bullish debate, one member of the audience decided to take the veterans minister to task after Mercer complained about people voicing their anger on social media. Pulling him up on what he branded ‘collective bed-wetting’, she said: Given that a number of Conservatives and the Conservative party have shut down any form of meaningful protest, and he’s shouting across every member of this panel tonight, how else are we meant to get our point across other than on social media? Now that’s a

Euan McColm

Has Humza Yousaf achieved anything in his first 100 days?

Perhaps Humza Yousaf’s greatest achievement in his first 100 days as First Minister is that he has survived them. Since succeeding Nicola Sturgeon in March, Yousaf has stumbled from crisis to crisis. His leadership has played out like an extended episode of The Twilight Zone where, long ago, the lead character got the message that they should be careful what they wish for. The new First Minister inherited a party that showed no sign of losing its position as the dominant force in Scottish politics. Three months on, the SNP is in a mess with voters abandoning it in favour of a unionist Labour party. Yousaf took power promising his supporters

Iain Macwhirter

Humza Yousaf is heading for an election drubbing

Today Humza Yousaf’s 100 days as First Minister, yet not even that has gone right: the nationalist leader has been upstaged by the departure of Mhairi Black earlier this week. The SNP Westminster group’s deputy leader announced she would not be standing for re-election on Tuesday, claiming that the culture of Westminster politics is too ‘toxic’. That makes six nationalist MPs who have now thrown in the towel, or six ‘Nats deserting the sinking ship’, as Scottish Labour’s deputy leader Jackie Baillie put it. But this is certainly not the first time that Humza Yousaf has had the limelight stolen from him. His debut speech to Holyrood as First Minister

Thursday

6 July 2023

Steerpike

Keir and Khan clash on Ulez

Ding, ding, ding! That sound you can hear is two monumental egos colliding in a bit of vintage Labour politicking. In the red corner is Keir Starmer, the party leader and chameleon extraordinaire – a man with more positions than the Karma Sutra. And, er, also in the red corner is Sadiq Khan, London Mayor and virtue-signaller-in-chief. The pair have clashed today over the latter’s unpopular plans to extend the capital’s ultra low emission zone (Ulez) to try to improve London’s air quality. Ulez has gone down like a bucket of cold sick with ‘white van man’ types whose votes London Tories hope to win in next year’s elections. Keir

Brendan O’Neill

When will Jolyon Maugham take the hint?

So Jolyon Maugham loses again. The crusading barrister is now almost as famous for losing cases as he is for battering to death a defenceless fox. And he hasn’t disappointed with his latest legal shenanigans. The appeal against the LGB Alliance’s charitable status, which was spearheaded by troubled trans charity Mermaids and backed by Maugham’s Good Law Project, has been comprehensively dismissed. Clearly the gays are not as easy to beat as a fox. We must be grateful for every flash of sanity in these strange times. And the tribunal’s decision not to rescind the LGB Alliance’s charitable status is very sane indeed. The judges ruled that Mermaids and the

Ross Clark

Starmer’s right to roam pledge puts the Tories in a bind

Keir Starmer has come up with a good policy for once. He is promising to offer a Scottish-style right to roam across England, which would open up vastly more tracts of land for public recreation. The right to roam granted by the Blair government 20 years ago applies only to moorland, which is rare in the South East, while Starmer’s proposal would extend to woodland and other areas of uncultivated land. It is a clever policy not just because it is popular in itself – according to a YouGov poll today 62 per cent of voters are in favour and 19 per cent against; even among Conservative voters it is supported