Politics

Read about the latest political news, views and analysis

Wednesday

Fraser Nelson

Liz Truss: what really happened

The parable of Liz Truss is, by now, world famous. A free-market idealogue was elected leader by the radical wing of her party, then trashed the economy by enacting her deficit-financed tax cuts. She invoked Hayek and Thatcher and was cheered on by their admirers. But her mini-Budget terrified the market and she had to quit – after doubling everyone’s mortgage rates. In the end, it was not the experts she was rebelling against, but economic reality. She had applied 1980s economics to the 2020s and it had ended in disaster, for her and for her country. As prime minister, Truss was stunned by the potency of this narrative. Not only the IMF but Joe Biden weighed in to criticise her for reasons she considered demonstrable nonsense.

James Heale

Lee Anderson: ‘Capital punishment? 100% effective!’

Who is the worst man in Britain? According to the Daily Mirror, it’s the 56-year-old former coal miner and Tory MP Lee Anderson, who clinched the award a year ago after criticising England’s footballers for ‘taking the knee’. How did Anderson, who this week was appointed Deputy Chairman of the Tory party, respond to the accolade? ‘I immediately rang my parents to thank them for all their support. It’s the first time anyone from my family has been voted the worst man in Britain, so I tried to win it two years on the trot.’  Since his election in December 2019, Anderson has emerged as the pugnacious ambassador for the Red Wall intake of Conservative MPs.

Douglas Murray

Where have all the grown-ups gone?

Last week 100,000 civil servants from 124 government departments went on strike. This fact prompts a number of questions, not least – who knew there were so many government departments? Also, when was the last time anyone saw that number of civil servants? Since Covid, the most noteworthy thing about the civil service has been that it has completely inverted its working week. Alongside those members who never turn up to the office, a goodly portion have managed to arrange it so that they spend a couple of days a week at their desk and a five-day stretch at home recuperating. Meaning that last week civil servants finally went back to the office in record numbers only in order to stand outside it and strike.

Martin Vander Weyer

Time for cautious optimism, not FTSE jubilation

What comfort can we draw from the FTSE 100 Index’s all-time high of 7905 last Friday? Yes, in a limited sense, it’s a reason to be cheerful: first, because it’s a boost to the value of pension and tracker funds; second, because it fits the current narrative of gloom receding, in which inflation has probably peaked, interest rates look set to follow soon and the Bank of England says the coming recession will be shallower than first thought. But the new top is less than a thousand points above the ‘dotcom bubble’ record of 6930 at the turn of the millennium, so no spectacular reward for long-term equity holders.

Gavin Mortimer

Will the Prevent review change our fear about ‘Islamophobia’?

The bombshell official review into the Government's anti-radicalisation Prevent programme will land on desks in Whitehall today – but will, as politicians like to say, any lessons be learnt? Its author, William Shawcross, is reported to have been bold in highlighting the deficiencies of the scheme, which, he says, has 'failed to tackle the ideological beliefs behind Islamist extremism with potentially serious consequences'.  The review was commissioned three years ago by Priti Patel, a woman who styled herself as a no-nonsense home secretary, but who proved nothing of the sort. Her successor, Suella Braverman, also likes to talk tough. Shawcross’s report has set her the challenge of proving her resolve in confronting the challenge of Islamic extremism.

Patrick O’Flynn

The unstoppable rise of Kemi Badenoch

The old socialist Ian Mikardo used to say that a political party was like a bird in that it needed a left wing and a right wing in order to fly. The guiding principle of Rishi Sunak’s mini-reshuffle seems to be that the Tory party needs a Blue Wall and a Red Wall in order to sustain a parliamentary majority. The appointment of Chelsea and Fulham MP and former George Osborne protégé Greg Hands as party chairman is about the most Blue Wall thing ever. Giving him the plain-speaking Ashfield MP Lee Anderson, a former coal miner, as deputy, could hardly be more Red Wall.

Matt Purple

Joe Biden got the reception he deserved at his State of the Union speech

At first, it sounded like Joe Biden’s 2023 State of the Union address was going to be another snoozer. Out of the gate came clanging all the usual paeans to bipartisanship: 'To my Republican friends,' Biden said, 'if we could work together in the last Congress, there is no reason we can’t work together in this new Congress!' Given that just five months ago Biden was pronouncing Trump supporters 'a threat to this country', that seemed a bit rich. Sure enough the fake bonhomie didn’t last. What unfolded over the next hour and a quarter was the weirdest, most disorienting State of the Union address I’ve ever seen. The president kept lowering his voice only to abruptly scream 'AMERICA! AMERICA!' Kamala Harris was slowly eaten alive by her chair.

Isabel Hardman

Does Rishi’s reshuffle show he’s given up on the Red Wall?

Tories in Red Wall seats are in a mixed mood after Rishi Sunak's reshuffle. They are pleased that Lee Anderson has been made deputy chair of the party, though this is in part to counterbalance the appointment of a south-west London MP as party chairman. There are also some wry smiles from Conservatives who had been planning a rebellion to force Rishi Sunak's hand on the European Convention on Human Rights: Anderson would have been a key figure in this revolt, which is presumably a good reason for giving him a government job.  The Conservative party is adopting a defensive crouch to stem losses in its heartlands at the next election Sunak has, though, ignored the plea of the Northern Research Group of Tory MPs to bring back the Minister for the North job at cabinet level.

Kelvin MacKenzie

Dominic Raab is no bully – and I should know

When I read the charges of bullying levelled against the justice secretary Dominic Raab it raised a wry smile. You call that bullying? Being icy with staff? Expecting high standards? Not recognising Nish Kumar? Instead of facing a KC-led disciplinary inquiry I would promote Raab with a handsome bonus. If you want to meet real bullies, despots or taskmasters could I suggest you go into the news business. I was certainly one of them. Being a decent brownnoser during my time editing the Sun, I found agreeing with a raging Rupert Murdoch that I was an incompetent idiot wasn’t always the answer he was looking for. In fact, it would sometimes make him even more angry. On one occasion, Murdoch called from New York.

Tuesday

Steerpike

The slow death of the media Blairites

How can you tell a political movement is well and truly dead? Easy – the Times newspaper finally drops said movement’s advocates from its opinion pages. It’s a process that can take time, as we've witnessed with the painfully slow demise of Britain’s media Blairites. RIP. Steerpike was as sad as anyone to learn last month that David Aaronovitch has left the Times, having spent almost two decades farting out his centrist dad radicalism from the paper of record. We can all take comfort in that fact he will have a new Substack, natch, and he continues to be a voice for the voiceless on Twitter.

Stephen Daisley

It will take more than a scolding from Salmond to see off Sturgeon

Watching Alex Salmond rail against Nicola Sturgeon for sidetracking the Scottish independence movement with gender identity ideology is both uncanny and oddly nostalgic. Salmond was Sturgeon’s mentor and is largely responsible for putting her in the post she now holds. For ten magical years between 2004 and 2014, they were the dream team of Scottish politics. Together they wrested control of Holyrood from Labour, lead a nationalist march through the institutions and civil society, and convinced 45 per cent of Scots to vote for secession. They made history and came damn near close to unmaking the United Kingdom.

Steerpike

Lee Anderson named Tory deputy chair

Talk about a broad church reshuffle. Having appointed the socially liberal London MP Greg Hands as the chairman of the Tory party this morning, this afternoon Rishi Sunak named Red Wall right-winger Lee Anderson as his new deputy too. The move has sparked something of a mixed reaction: his friends in the 2019 intake are delighted while one Tory staffer complained to Mr S that just five years ago he was taking the Labour whip under Jeremy Corbyn. Anderson's new gig binds the most vocal Tory critic of small boat crossings to the government's side, days before the Home Secretary unveils her flagship legislation. He is also popular on the constituency circuit, having spoken to roughly a dozen different associations in 12 months.

Nigel Jones

Rishi Sunak’s reshuffle won’t save him

Winston Churchill had a stamp on his office desk reading ‘Action this day’ with which he marked documents demanding immediate attention from his officials and ministers. It seems that Rishi Sunak has exchanged this stamp for one reading ‘Inaction this day’ to judge by his government’s paralysed inactivity in the face of pressing events. His answer to the multiple strikes, walkouts and disputes plaguing Britain is, erm, carrying out a mini-ministerial reshuffle of the same tired old faces. Such a massive irrelevancy is unlikely to impress public opinion or do anything  to close the Tories’ 20 point lag behind Labour in the opinion polls. Nor are many of the appointments so far exactly ‘new’.

Max Jeffery

What’s behind Rishi’s reshuffle?

13 min listen

Rishi Sunak announced a reshuffle of his cabinet this morning. Among other changes, Greg Hands will become the Tory party chair, and Michelle Donelan will become the culture secretary. Why is Sunak making these changes just 18 months before an election? Will they make any real difference to how his government works? Max Jeffery speaks to Katy Balls and Isabel Hardman. Produced by Max Jeffery.

Isabel Hardman

Three problems with Rishi Sunak’s reshuffle

Rishi Sunak’s reshuffle has confirmed a new set of government departments focused on science and business, and a new party chair. That's all well and good: the Prime Minister is very keen to make Britain a science superpower and wants to put the right people in the right jobs as he prepares for the next election. Civil servants are moving into new jobs, as are ministers. The new departments will use the existing government estate, but it isn't yet clear where they'll all be. But there are a number of potential problems with what's been announced today.Is this the right reorganisation of Whitehall?

David Spencer

Has the Met learnt anything from the case of David Carrick?

It’s another bad day for the Metropolitan police. The serial rapist former PC David Carrick has been given 36 life sentences and told he will not be released for at least 30 years. The details of the case are hard to believe: Carrick, known as 'Bastard Dave' to colleagues, has admitted using his status as a police officer to commit 48 rapes. The 48-year-old carried out a spree of dozens of offences against 12 women in a 17-year long campaign of depravity. The horrors of what Carrick did to his victims has led to another public examination of the inner workings of the Met. Once again, the force has been found wanting. That policing has had, for nearly two decades, one of the most prolific rapists in British legal history serving as an officer is shocking enough.

James Heale

Four things we learnt from Richard Sharp’s BBC grilling

This morning Richard Sharp, the BBC's Chairman, appeared before the Culture select committee of MPs. It was a difficult session for Sharp as the panel focused on reports that he helped Boris Johnson secure a loan, weeks before the then-prime minister recommended him for the role. Johnson has denied that Sharp had given him such advice. John Nicholson of the SNP and Labour's Kevin Brennan led the way on grilling Sharp about whether he had breached any conflict of interest rules. Below are four things we learned from his testimony. Sharp insists he did not given Johnson financial advice Boris Johnson has said he is 'ding dang sure' that Sharp did not give him advice about his finances – and the former Goldman banker concurred in his evidence today.

Freddy Gray

Will Biden’s docudrama fade away?

31 min listen

Freddy Gray speaks to Charles Lipson, a political scientist at the University of Chicago and regular contributor at Spectator World about Biden's ongoing docudrama. Image designed by Charles Lipson.

Katy Balls

Rishi Sunak shakes up his cabinet – and Whitehall

Rishi Sunak this morning embarked on a minor reshuffle of his cabinet as he restructures several Whitehall departments. Today's cabinet meeting has been pushed back from this morning to mid-afternoon so as to allow for the changes to take place. In a sign of Sunak's reluctance to ruffle feathers among Tory MPs, no sackings took place. Instead the focus was on rearranging government departments and then matching them largely with serving ministers.

Brendan O’Neill

The sinister celebrification of Shamima Begum

So is Shamima Begum a celebrity now? Tonight, a documentary about her airs on BBC Two. Over the weekend, her picture was splashed on the front page of the Times Magazine. ‘I was in love with the idea of the Islamic State. I was in denial. Now I have a lot of regret’, says the strapline, next to a pic of a madeover Begum sporting a fetching vest, baseball cap and fire-engine red nail polish. How long till she has her own reality TV show? The Only Way Is Raqqa, perhaps. The media’s sympathy for Shamima Begum is starting to creep me out. Lovingly framed, soft-lens photos accompany the interview. She stares doe-eyed into the camera and pleads for our understanding. The reason she fled Bethnal Green for Raqqa was because she was ‘not content’ with her life, she says.