Politics Archives

Monday

2 March 2026

International law is not a suicide pact

There is a certain type of British parliamentarian for whom the world is not a complex web of shifting allegiances and existential threats, but a neatly ruled jurisdictional straightjacket for the West. To hear Emily Thornberry or the leadership of the Green Party tell it, the recent US and Israeli operations against the Iranian regime are not a necessary excision of a regional cancer, but a simple “breach of international law.” Case closed. Bring in the tea. The legal case for action against Iran is not merely “arguable”; it is compelling One expects this kind of reductionism from the protest lines, but it is deeply unsettling to see it calcify

James Heale

Starmer has few good options on Iran

Next month marks forty years since the United States bombed Libya. Ronald Reagan requested the use of British air bases for F-111s to retaliate against Colonel Gaddafi after the West Berlin discotheque bombing. Margaret Thatcher readily agreed, despite the refusal of France and other European allies. She later reflected on the episode as cementing the ‘Anglo-American alliance’, arguing ‘What’s the good of having bases if, when you want to use them, you’re not allowed to by the home country? It made America realise that Britain was her real and true friend.’ Keir Starmer has taken a rather different view of the ongoing United States action against Iran. His government has

Jawad Iqbal

An Iranian uprising remains unlikely

President Donald Trump was crystal clear at the start of the military action against Iran that it was all about regime change. The United States, in co-ordination with Israel, would do its bit by targeting Iran’s leadership and command structure – but it was up to ordinary Iranians to rise up and finish the job. “The hour of your freedom is at hand, “he declared as US and Israeli warplanes bombed Iran, targeting the country’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his inner circle. “When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take…”. There is no figurehead or leader to galvanise the masses, nor is

Patrick West

Were fans wrong to boo the Ramadan fast-breaking footballers?

So much of what is commonly understood to mean multiculturalism has in truth been class warfare by other means. A great deal of it has entailed affluent, white middle-class types telling the white working-class that their culture and values are of unexceptional or lesser worth. Much state-sanctioned multiculturalism has been an exercise in scolding the proletariat for being unenlightened, denouncing them as bigots and racists when their behaviour fails to fall into line with modern, cosmopolitan, metropolitan mores. This kind of gesture can be seen as an irresponsible provocation towards the working class This tendency and tension was on full display on Saturday at Elland Road, home of Leeds United,

Sam Leith

Khamenei and the difficult truth about dictators

So farewell then, Ayatollah Khamenei. I’m put in mind of Private Eye’s cover on the death of Hendrik Verwoerd. “A Nation Mourns” read the headline, under a photograph of four black Africans in ceremonial dress leaping joyfully in the air in a traditional dance. Nobody’s going to be sorry he’s gone. The received wisdom tends to skirt the possibility that some senior Nazis may have been quite cultured But reading his obituary, I confess to surprise and dismay. What was to be found there was not, at least at first, an austere and viciously power-hungry religious monomaniac. Here, from what we know, was somebody who at least in his younger years was disciplined, modest, intellectually curious, and artistically inclined. “He was said to live an austere, ascetic existence and enjoy gardening,” the Sunday Times reports. “As a young man he loved Persian poetry and

Theo Hobson

Andy, Mandy and the dark side of liberalism

Our public morality has two parts. Part A: people are free to do what they want, even if they do things that most people disapprove of, like getting drunk a lot, or sleeping around. Unless you harm others in some tangible way, you can do what you want. This is good, in my opinion. Andy and Mandy are scapegoats. We condemn them with special force, in order to reassert the moral code that unites us Despite this, our culture is not amoral. Part B: we value some forms of life over others. We value people who help others, who are trustworthy, faithful to their spouses – people who are not

Fabian Green

John Davidson and the truth about living with Tourette’s Syndrome

Those like me who live with Tourette’s Syndrome look up to John Davidson. The actor and activist’s biopic, I Swear, has shed some much-needed light on the condition. Unfortunately, the backlash against his appearance at the BAFTAs ceremony last weekend shows that plenty of people remain ignorant about Tourette’s. Davidson should never have felt the need to apologise in the days after the ceremony During the awards ceremony, Davidson shouted a tic while the two stars of Sinners, Michael B. Jordan and Delray Lindo, were on stage. The word he used was deeply offensive. But here’s the thing: Davidson didn’t mean what he said, and he couldn’t help it. Yet

Sunday

1 March 2026

Joe Bedell-Brill

Sunday shows round-up: Healey says few 'will mourn the Ayatollah's death'

John Healey: ‘Few people will mourn the Ayatollah’s death’ Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is dead, after the US and Israel launched joint military attacks on Saturday. The conflict is ongoing, with Iran firing retaliatory strikes at multiple countries, and the outcome of President Donald Trump’s actions is highly unpredictable. In a statement, Keir Starmer made clear that the UK had ‘no role’ in the attacks, but said British planes were ‘in the sky’ to protect allies. On Sky News this morning, John Healey, the Defence Secretary, told Trevor Phillips that Khamenei and his regime were a ‘source of evil’ who had murdered thousands of protestors and exported terror

Ellen Pasternack

Graduates are right to be furious about student loans

When I was seventeen, I signed up for a student loan to cover the cost of going to university. Teachers, parents and the university system were in unanimous agreement that the loan was a good deal, enabling me to study and then pay back what I owed once I started earning a good salary. I was not told that going to university would mean allowing the state to seize arbitrary amounts of my income to plug gaps in its budget for most of the rest of my working life. But that is what is happening, as is quite transparently admitted by the current government. Those on a Plan 2 loan,

Rosie Lewis

Pushy parents are making the special needs crisis worse

As a foster carer since the early 2000s, I’ve witnessed the human cost of Britain’s broken SEND (special educational needs and disabilities) system at close quarters: children sent home after uncontrollable outbursts in class, or simply crumpling into a heap at the end of the school day because their needs go unmet. So when Keir Starmer took to the airwaves this week, pledging a £4 billion overhaul of the SEND system, inspired by his late brother’s struggles, I wanted to believe it was the lifeline these children deserve. A growing minority of well-advised parents have learnt how to navigate, and sometimes game, the system to secure one-to-one teaching But let’s

James Wolff

My mission to avoid breaking the Official Secrets Act

Whether compelling or not, a case can probably be made for most of the heavy-handed things the British state finds itself doing. Lockdowns and curfews are unthinkable until a pandemic comes along, and however unseemly it might look to pursue unpaid carers through the courts, the books do have to be balanced. The optics of imprisoning retired vicars are terrible, but no one is forcing them to march in support of a proscribed terrorist organisation. There might even be a case to be made for censorship. Of all people, I should know: the spies have been making it repeatedly over eight years of polite and not-so-polite discussion about what I

Saturday

28 February 2026

Jonathan Spyer

Even Khamenei’s death might not finish the Iranian regime

As of now, it is possible to draw a number of immediate conclusions from the war currently under way between the alliance of the United States and Israel, and the Islamic Republic of Iran. Firstly, the range and nature of US and Israeli targeting indicates that a determined attempt to destroy the 47 year old regime in Iran is now finally under way. The most senior leadership, up to and including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, appear to have been targeted – and possibly killed – by Israel. Action of this kind make sense only as part of a comprehensive attempt at regime destruction. History provides no unambiguous examples of regimes removed by

Steerpike

Minister quits after 'smeargate' row

So. Farewell then Josh Simons. The Macclesfield MP has quit his job at the Cabinet Office following the revelations about his time as head of Labour Together. Back in 2023, the think tank – which helped Keir Starmer get elected party leader – spent thousands paying APCO Worldwide to dig into the background of journalists who wrote stories about them. Simons has now quit as a minister, days after Starmer asked his ethics adviser to investigate him. He’s not having a great week, eh? In a statement, Simons said he welcomed being cleared by Sir Laurie Magnus but that he was resigning as he had ‘become a distraction from this government’s

Jacob Heilbrunn

The Iran strikes might be Trump’s Sarajevo moment

Here we go again. Switch out Saddam Hussein for the Ayatollah Khamenei and Ahmed Chalabi for Reza Pahlavi and you have a fresh war for regime change in the Middle East, this time with Israel as America’s sidekick. With Operation Epic Fury, the American and Israeli bombing of Iran and push for regime change, the self-proclaimed “President of Peace” runs the risk not only of triggering wider upheaval in the Middle East, but also globally. Is this a new Sarajevo moment? With Trump’s own generals having warned him that attacking Iran could be a debacle, he may have torched his own presidency Unlike George W. Bush in 2003, who worked

Jonathan Sacerdoti

Donald Trump makes his move against Iran

This morning, the long-anticipated Israeli and American strikes on Iran finally arrived. At 08:10 am local time, Israel and the United States began a coordinated military operation against Iran. Dozens of Israeli Air Force aircraft took part in the opening strike. Blasts were heard in Tehran. Within hours, explosions were reported in Isfahan, Qom, Karaj and Kermanshah. Videos circulated of Iranian citizens laughing and cheering as Israeli and American aircraft crossed the capital’s skies The news established something that had been contested for months: Donald Trump meant what he said. The thresholds he articulated were fixed and public. Those who accused him of bad faith, those who doubted that he

Daniel DePetris

The US and Israel launch a major attack on Iran

Donald Trump has urged Iranians to ‘take over’ their government after the United States and Israel struck targets across the country. A multitude of Iranian military and government targets were hit by missiles in what is turning out to be a joint operation far more comprehensive than the 12-day air campaign last June. Back then, Trump’s objectives were limited: degrade Iran’s three largest nuclear facilities. This time, Trump’s eyes are on a bigger prize – a full-scale decapitation of the Iranian leadership and a degradation of Tehran’s military power. Trump has just rolled the dice and plunged the United States into yet another war in the Middle East “We are

Patrick West

‘Family voting’ allegations cannot be ignored

If allegations of ‘family voting’ taking place at Thursday’s Gorton and Denton by-election prove substantiated, the incidents will not only mark a grave infraction of the law, they will give further weight to the fear that this country is becoming perilously fragmented, terminally Balkanised and mired in sectarianism. Polling had scarcely closed when, a few minutes after 10 p.m., Sam Coates of Sky News posted on X intelligence related to him by a team from Democracy Volunteers, a group of voluntary election observers, in which they claimed to have witnessed a total of 32 cases of family voting in 15 of the 22 polling stations in the constituency. Speaking that night,

Lara Brown

LIVE: The Spectator’s Alternative Covid Inquiry

53 min listen

As the official Covid Inquiry comes to an end, the Spectator has convened a panel of our own experts to ask the questions that the Inquiry didn’t – or wouldn’t – answer. The Spectator’s commissioning editor Lara Brown is joined by science writer and Conservative peer Matt Ridley, Oxford professor of theoretical epidemiology Sunetra Gupta, former Supreme Court judge Jonathan Sumption, journalist Christopher Snowdon and science writer Tom Whipple. This is a condensed version of the event. Subscribers can access the full event via Spectator TV and you can find more events from the Spectator here.

Brendan O’Neill

The Islamo-left is coming to Parliament

Imagine if Matt Goodwin had given an interview to a media outlet that regularly platforms far-right agitators like Nick Griffin. Imagine if he’d been pictured dancing next to a man who once called a Jewish rabbi a ‘kind of animal’. Imagine if he had made a campaign video trying to tap into the animus that certain white-skinned bigots feel towards India and her people. The media’s failure to grapple with the iffy worldview of the modern Greens is deeply worrying We would never have heard the end of it. It would have been on the front page of the Guardian every day. The left would be hoarse from hollering ‘Fascist!’

Robin Ashenden

The tortured life of Stalin’s daughter

Svetlana Alliluyeva, Joseph Stalin’s daughter, would have been 100 years old today, and she is one of history’s curios worth remembering. Born when Stalin was already installed as Lenin’s successor, and dying in 2011, well into the rule of Vladimir Putin – whom she referred to as an ‘awful former KGB-SPY’ – Alliluyeva, who defected to the West in 1967, embodied all the violent ups and downs of her age. As her biographer Rosemary Sullivan put it, ‘The epoch drove right through her because she was Stalin’s daughter; all the pluses and minuses of this system went straight through her.’ ‘Something in me was destroyed’, she wrote. ‘I was no