Politics

Read about the latest political news, views and analysis

Thursday

James Heale

Cabinet Office forced to hand over Boris WhatsApp messages

It’s more bad news for the government today. The High Court has this afternoon ordered ministers to release Boris Johnson’s unredacted WhatsApp messages and notebooks to the Covid inquiry. Judges said there were no grounds to block inquiry chairwoman Baroness Hallett’s order to hand over the material. It will mean inquiry officials will have access to message exchanges between Johnson and former and current ministers and officials, including Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss. The Cabinet Office can apply to not provide documents if either they don’t have them, or if they think it would be ‘unreasonable’ to hand them over. But Baroness Hallett will rule on any application and there

Lara Prendergast

Why Europe riots

36 min listen

This week: In the magazine we look at the recent protests in France. The Spectator’s Douglas Murray argues that racism is not the problem but that a significant chunk of the unintegrated immigrant population is. He is joined by Dr Rakib Ehsan, author of Beyond Grievance: What the Left Gets Wrong about Ethnic Minorities, to investigate why Europe riots. (01:16) Also this week: Journalist Ivo Dawnay and The Spectator’s associate editor Toby Young discuss the plight of ‘politically exposed persons’ in the magazine this week. This is of course in light of the news that Nigel Farage has had his bank account closed, with many speculating he has been ‘debanked’ simply because of his political

Stephen Daisley

Humza Yousaf’s leadership isn’t dead yet

If you just ignore the opinion polls, Humza Yousaf’s first 100 days as First Minister have been an unqualified disaster. Yousaf eked across the finishing line after an internal election drenched in ruthless skullduggery and bitter factionalism. In the aftermath, he alienated and exiled his party rivals and turned the SNP backbenches from a North Korean military parade into a Holyrood remake of House of Cards.  His deposit return scheme imploded and his proposed ban on fishing in 10 per cent of Scottish waters was sunk by public opposition. His government just announced that two vessels commissioned for the state-owned ferry company in 2015, and which have never been delivered, will now cost an extra £20

Cindy Yu

Chris Pincher’s suspension spells more trouble for Rishi Sunak

14 min listen

A year on from allegations that Chris Pincher groped two young men at the Carlton Club (allegations that ultimately triggered the downfall of Boris Johnson), Parliament’s standards watchdog has now found that Pincher brought the House into disrepute and recommended an eight-week suspension. On the podcast, Isabel Hardman says that this makes a by-election in his constituency of Tamworth a question of when, not if. But even worse for the Conservative party, their newly-selected candidate in that constituency is the current MP of another constituency. Cindy Yu talks to Isabel and Katy Balls about the mess that CCHQ finds itself in now. Produced by Cindy Yu.

Steerpike

Watch: protestors disrupt Starmer speech

Hold a major sporting, political or national event these days and chances are you’re going to be disrupted by a gaggle of greenies. Today’s unlucky victim was Sir Keir Starmer, giving the latest of his much-hyped ‘five missions’ speeches. As the London lawyer droned away, a pair of eco-zealots unfurled a flag behind him, protesting Labour’s decision to U-turn on the £28 billion Green New Deal. The activists were from ‘Green New Deal Rising’, the latest Peoples’-Front-of-Judea style offshoot from the Extinction Rebellion and the other great unwashed types. One indignant protestor declared: ‘Young people want action, we need a green new deal right now’ to which Sir Keir coolly

Isabel Hardman

Starmer commits to oracy classes for children

Keir Starmer is giving another speech on one of his five missions (remember them?) today. The Labour leader has a lower bar to meet with his five pledges than Rishi Sunak. While the Prime Minister has to achieve things like halving inflation by the end of the year, the Labour leader just has to stick to his policies all the way to the election manifesto. On current form, that’s enough of a challenge, but today’s announcement on smashing the ‘class ceiling’ is a particularly personal interest of Starmer’s, which gives it a better chance of survival. In a speech in Kent, Starmer will commit to oracy being a key element

Steerpike

CCHQ’s by-election bind

The report into Chris Pincher is out and it makes for damning reading. An eight-week suspension is recommended for the Tamworth MP following allegations he groped two people at the Carlton Club last summer. This means that a by-election is now highly likely. A 10 per cent threshold of petitioners is necessary to trigger a contest; across the three previous recall cases, there has been an average of 18 per cent. Official announcement of a contest could come as soon as next month. This then raises the question as to what CCHQ has been doing to prepare for the contest. The Pincher scandal broke in July last year; the Standards

Isabel Hardman

Chris Pincher’s suspension spells more trouble for Rishi Sunak

Chris Pincher should be suspended as an MP for eight weeks following allegations he groped two people at the Carlton Club last summer, Parliament’s standards watchdog has recommended. The Standards Committee report into the Tamworth MP – who was a Tory MP – found that Pincher ‘groped [two people]…and that this was unwanted, inappropriate, and upsetting’. The lengthy suspension means that Pincher’s constituency can be subject to a recall petition – the threshold needed for these petitions is a suspension of ten days or more – and that a by-election is therefore on the horizon. Pincher may choose to quit straight away and trigger that election earlier, though a problem

Gavin Mortimer

Who really helped end the French riots?

It wasn’t president Macron who brought six days of rioting in France to an end, nor the brave bands of mothers who called for calm in some of the inner-city estates. It wasn’t even the presence of 45,000 police and gendarmes on the streets that persuaded the rioters, arsonists, vandals and looters to stand down. Instead, it seems that it was the drug gangs who decided enough is enough. Having so many boys in blue patrolling the streets was bad for business and so gang leaders exerted their influence and ordered the young hoodlums back to their bedrooms.  That, at least, was the news broken to Macron at the start of

Tony Abbott

The myth of Brexit-broken Britain

With inflation rampant, growth stagnant, government disintegrating, and nothing working – so I’d read, all due to Brexit, naturally – it was a wonder to fly into Heathrow, breeze through customs, and smartly get to a smoothly-functioning, clean and new London hotel via train and tube. What had happened to the strike-bound Britain that Poland was about to overtake in GDP per person? Largely the Remoaner fantasy, it seems, so prevalent even among Britons who should know better. Mind you, there were plenty of signs about disruption to come via a Pride march; and there was a vital street near Trafalgar Square partially dug up on the Sunday I arrived,

Wednesday

Steerpike

Spectator summer party 2023, in pictures

It’s 75 years today since the NHS was founded. So what better way for Westminster’s elite to mark the occasion than by knocking back a glass or four at The Spectator’s summer shindig? Last year’s event coincided with Boris Johnson’s resignation and the subsequent leadership contest. Tonight saw something of a reunion for the two main protagonists in that drama, with both Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss in attendance at 22 Old Queen Street. James Cleverly, Wes Streeting, Michael Gove and Lindsay Hoyle were among those enjoying the Pol Roger and political gossip, as Mr S mingled with SW1’s finest to hear all their secrets. Below are a selection of

Steerpike

Why is Mick Lynch now speaking up for railway passengers?

Mick Lynch, the tough-talking general secretary of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT), is on the warpath again. This time, it’s the train companies who are once again the object of his ire, over plans to close 1,000 ticket offices. Lynch says this proposal amounts to a ‘savage attack on railway workers, their families and the travelling public’ – and will prove ‘catastrophic for elderly, disabled and vulnerable passengers trying to access the rail network.’ Of course, many of those same elderly, disabled and vulnerable passengers have encountered difficulties ‘trying to access the rail network’ on numerous occasions throughout the last year: during train strikes. Later

Steerpike

The SNP Westminster group’s civil war continues

All is not well among the SNP’s Westminster group and this time, it’s not Mhairi Black causing them trouble. Leader Stephen Flynn has today suspended Salmond ally Angus MacNeil from the party after a public bust up with the Chief Whip Brendan O’Hara. Tension has been brewing between MacNeil and O’Hara for a while but it came to a head last night in the Commons division lobbies. O’Hara is alleged to have been sending MacNeil, the MP for Na h-Eileanan an Iar, disciplinary notices about his poor attendance in parliament. It became one notice too many for MacNeil who, in his latest disagreement with the whip, reportedly seethed ‘You’re a

Kate Andrews and Michael Simmons

Happy birthday NHS. Here’s why you’re not feeling too good

Today is the 75th anniversary of the National Health Service. There is very little to celebrate. Waiting lists are at record highs: 7.4 million waiting in England, and counting. Practically every international comparison ranks the NHS as mediocre to poor on outcomes. Well-above average funding is being funnelled into the health service, yet it doesn’t seem to be making its way to staff salaries or to the frontlines for additional care.  What’s worse, all these criticisms applied to the health service before the pandemic hit. The further deterioration of services since Covid is bringing to light all of its current – and previous – failings, as people increasingly ask if

Brendan O’Neill

Biden’s ‘Orwellian’ social media crackdown

Joe Biden cannot be trusted to protect the American people’s freedom of speech. He needs to be restrained, by law, from interfering with people’s First Amendment right to express themselves as they see fit. That is the implication of an extraordinary preliminary injunction slapped on the Biden administration this week by a federal judge. The injunction was issued by US District Court judge Terry Doughty. He says Biden officials likely conspired with social media companies to remove content, in particular content on Covid-19, that the government considered undesirable or dangerous. This would represent a flagrant usurping of the First Amendment, he says, which holds that the government shall take no action that

Ian Acheson

The Dartmoor prison hostage taking could have been far worse

Taking my son for a walk yesterday, we passed HMP Dartmoor, where I served as a prison governor. Unknown to us, a dramatic and serious incident was unfolding just behind its austere walls. A prisoner had taken an officer hostage in the establishment’s segregation unit. I understand that the officer was overpowered while letting the perpetrator out into the unit’s exercise yard. I’m told that this prisoner was armed with a bladed weapon and that the officer was overpowered with his own handcuffs. We won’t know whether all these details are accurate from the Ministry of Justice because they were only forced to reveal the scantest of details after the

James Heale

Did the NHS need a service at Westminster Abbey?

14 min listen

The NHS marks its 75th anniversary today, and in Westminster, both Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer attended a service at Westminster Abbey in honour of the organisation. James Heale talks to Katy Balls and Kate Andrews about why there was a church service for the NHS and whether Rishi Sunak’s time would have been better spent at Prime Minister’s Questions. Produced by Cindy Yu.

Isabel Hardman

Let us pray for the NHS

Why was there a service in Westminster Abbey thanking God for the NHS today? Some 1,500 NHS workers, many in uniform, packed into the Abbey along with politicians to mark 75 years of the service. As a celebration of the work those people have done, it was a good event: the Dean of Westminster, David Hoyle, paid tribute in his sermon to the ‘sheer bloody-minded persistence of tired, stressed, wonderful people in the NHS’. There were testimonies from healthcare workers who had treated sickle cell patients and children with cancer from Ukraine. And of course there were readings from Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer and an address from NHS chief

Annabel Denham

Is Labour really a credible government-in-waiting?

How long do you give it before Labour abandon their promise of golden hellos for new teachers? Shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson has insisted their proposed £2,400 welcome bonus wheeze will be fully costed, funded by a tax raid on fee-paying schools. It is not yet clear whether Labour has considered that putting private education beyond the reach of tens of thousands will mean many pupils pouring into the state system, at a cost of hundreds of millions every year. Nor whether party strategists realise they may be slightly overestimating how far they can make the £1.6 billion raised annually from this levy go. Labour’s U-turns are a reminder that fantastical

Andrew Tettenborn

The EU is heading for a clash with Poland over immigration

Failing to tackle immigration isn’t only a problem for Rishi Sunak. The European Union is also struggling to deal with the issue. Now, Brussels has devised a plan for dividing up among its member states the would-be migrants at the EU’s doors. But Poland and Hungary are not happy. The EU used qualified majority voting, which is intended to allow a sufficient number of its larger countries to override a small number of holdouts, to push the idea through. Essentially each member state will be given a quota and could then be charged €20,000 (£17,000) per head for falling short. This is legally fairly watertight, since, under EU law, immigration is generally