Politics Archives

Saturday

28 January 2023

Should politicians stick out a scandal?

18 min listen

It emerged this week that Nadhim Zahawi was in a row last year with HMRC over tax payments, but he is currently holding onto his post as Conservative party chairman. When should a politician resign? And is it worth fighting back? Ten years ago, the News of the World broke a story about then Liberal Democrat MP Mark Oaten’s personal life. On the podcast, Mark joins Fraser Nelson and James Heale to talk about what it’s like to be in the centre of a scandal.

Theodore Dalrymple

Why are we letting dangerous criminals roam the streets?

If you repeatedly ask someone to do something that is inherently, and obviously, impossible, and then blame him for not having done it, you might be suspected of ulterior motives, such as a desire to hide something such as your own incompetence. And so it is with the criticism constantly levelled at the Probation Service, which is accused of not keeping the public safe. It does not do so because it cannot do so. Blaming it diverts attention from the defects of policing and criminal justice policy now going back over decades.

Patrick O’Flynn

Keir Starmer has been exposed by the ‘Isla Bryson’ rapist

Last year, after several instances of grimacing in front of broadcast inquisitors who delighted in his discomfort, it appeared that Keir Starmer had finally reached a clear position on trans issues. ‘A woman is a female adult and in addition to that transwomen are women,’ he told the Times. But here’s a thing: if transwomen are women, then clearly the serial rapist Adam Graham/Isla Bryson should be in a women’s jail – as it would be an outrage to expect a woman to serve her sentence in a men’s jail. What’s a quick 180 on a core human rights issue between friends?

Friday

27 January 2023

Steerpike

Who was the second Tory MP probed by HMRC?

The Nadhim Zahawi saga shows no sign of concluding. Every time the story looks like burning out, a new disclosure gives it legs. Tonight, it's the revelation by the Financial Times that a second senior Tory MP was being investigated by HMRC last summer around the same time as Zahawi. It's a curious tale, based on a freedom of information request by tax expert Dan Neidle – a man who ought to earn some sort of gong for services to the Labour party. In response to Neidle's request for information, HMRC admitted on 15 June that an unnamed minister was under investigation. Eight days later though, as the FT was about to publish a story on 23 June, HMRC claimed that no ministers were in fact being scrutinised, prompting the paper to pull the planned article.

Steerpike

Alan Cumming’s bizarre OBE stunt

Congratulations must go to Alan Cumming who has today worked out what the acronym 'OBE' stands for – a mere 14 years after receiving the award. It's one thing to refuse an honour on the grounds of political developments (John Lennon), taste (Michael Winner) or historic objections (Benjamin Zephaniah). But it's quite another to do as Cumming has done which is accept the Order of the British Empire, wear proudly and then renounce it more than a decade later. The Scottish actor was given the honour to mark his work as an actor and LGBT activist. But now, apparently, the fight for same-sex rights has changed so much since 2009 that the 'great good the award brought to the LGBTQ+ cause back in 2009 is now less potent than the misgivings I have being associated with the toxicity of empire.

Steerpike

Is Prince Harry holding Meghan back?

A big house, Californian sunshine, oodles of dosh and, of course, priceless privacy – life in Montecito must be pretty awesome for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. But does one detect a tiny hint of trouble in paradise? For much of 2021 and 2022 it seems that one of the pair could not appear anywhere without the other popping up moments later. Whether it was the joint Oprah interview, Harry's cameo role in Meghan's podcast or his sudden appearance from 'somewhere in the house' in her interview with the Cut, the two have been keen to encourage the impression that they are inseparable. Yet in recent weeks there seems to have been something of a 'vibe shift', as the kids like to say.

Natasha Feroze

Does Hunt’s growth agenda add up?

14 min listen

Jeremy Hunt unveiled his plans to grow the economy in a speech this morning. His strategy will focus on four pillars or 'four E's': enterprise, education, employment and everywhere. Natasha Feroze speaks to Kate Andrews and Fraser Nelson – who were at the Bloomberg headquarters, on their key takeaways from the speech.

Gareth Roberts

Did Sandi Toksvig think she could change Justin Welby’s views on gay sex?

An urgent ecumenical update: the conclave has taken place. The great community leader has descended from the summit of Sinai, bearing, not tablets of law, but sorrowful tidings. Yes: the Archbishop of Canterbury has ‘grabbed a coffee’ with Sandi Toksvig, following her twee plea for an audience a few months ago on the subject of the Church of England’s attitude to gay sex. The good news is that the ‘long-promised coffee’ was 'calm and considered,’ according to Toksvig. The bad news is that Sandi is sad: Justin Welby had to report, unsurprisingly to anyone paying the slightest attention, that any change in the Anglican Communion’s stance on same-sex relations is likely to be – in Sandi’s words – ‘glacial’.

Stephen Daisley

Why do young people fall for Holocaust conspiracies?

Millennials and Generation Z pride themselves on being ‘anti-racist’. We might, then, expect that remembering the Holocaust properly would be important to them – it was the largest act of racial hatred in modern history. The truth is very different and more troubling. New research commissioned by the Claims Conference finds Dutch millennials and Gen Z are more likely than the rest of the public to be ignorant of the Holocaust, deny the facts, oppose acknowledging the Netherlands’s role, and be sympathetic to contemporary Nazism. While 12 per cent of Dutch adults believe ‘the Holocaust is a myth’ or ‘the number of Jews who died has been greatly exaggerated’, that jumps to 23 per cent among those aged 18 to 39.

Kate Andrews

Can Jeremy Hunt’s gamble pay off?

As the UK – and indeed the world – faces the prospect of an economic downturn this year, what exactly can the government do about it? This remains an ongoing debate within the Tory party, as Rishi Sunak continues to emphasise the importance of stability, while Liz Truss’s most loyal supporters keep pressuring the government to revive her focus on economic growth. This morning a trio of cabinet members showed up in the City to suggest that it doesn’t have to be one or the other. Culture Secretary Michelle Donelan, Business Secretary Grant Shapps and the main act, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, opened this morning’s conference at Bloomberg by insisting the UK has all the resources it needs to see its digital and tech sectors thrive.

Steerpike

Johnsonites face off in TV wars

You'd think after the last few years, viewers have had enough of politicians on their screens. But studio bosses clearly disagree, given the increasing number of MPs who are now hosting their own television shows. This morning TalkTV have announced that former Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries will be joining the channel as a regular presenter, with her first guest being none other than one Boris Johnson. Expect that one to be a tough grilling... And it's not just TalkTV who have signed up a diehard Johnsonite. For GB News have poached their own 'Boris backer' in the form of Jacob Rees-Mogg, a longtime podcast host on ConservativeHome.

Brendan O’Neill

Is Nicola Sturgeon a transphobe?

Is Nicola Sturgeon a transphobe? I ask because she has decreed that Isla Bryson, a violent man who identifies as a woman, should not be locked up at a women’s prison. And every woman who has said similar in recent years, every feminist who has said that no blokes should be allowed into women’s prisons, women’s domestic-violence shelters and women’s changing areas, has been horribly attacked by the right-on. They’ve been denounced as phobes, bigots, TERFs and worse. So is Sturgeon a bigot, too? Should she be cancelled? This is the disturbing story of the male rapist who says he is a woman. Scot Isla Bryson, whose birth name is Adam Graham, was found guilty of raping two women. Following his conviction he was remanded to Cornton Vale, a women’s prison in Stirling.

Isabel Hardman

Will Jeremy Hunt relent and agree to lower taxes?

Jeremy Hunt is giving a speech that is part of the government's economic relaunch this morning. The Chancellor is going to argue that the 'declinism' narrative about Britain is wrong and that 'the UK is poised to play a leading role in Europe and across the world on the growth sectors which will define this century'. He is trying to switch from his own previously downbeat tone about things getting worse before they get better, in part as a response to the Trussite Tories who are highlighting Britain's anaemic growth. The interesting thing about the Truss bunch is that while many Tory MPs dismiss them as 'deranged', they then add in the same breath 'but Liz did have a point about growth, funnily enough'.

Philip Patrick

Is Japan doomed?

Japan is heading for trouble, the country's prime minster Fumio Kishida has suggested. ‘Our country is on the brink of being unable to maintain the functions of society,’ he said in a speech earlier this week. Japan’s birth rate, the average number of children a woman will have, is too low, and still falling. It’s 1.3, and needs to be 2.1 to keep the population stable. With every year that passes, there are hundreds of thousands fewer Japanese people. Economics is mostly to blame. Once, there was a secure and predictable life was for the average Japanese person. The men would toil away at a big company in return for the assurance of lifetime employment.

Thursday

26 January 2023

Steerpike

Hong Kong row embroils Commonwealth group

A most undiplomatic row has engulfed one of Westminster’s most prestigious groups. The Commonwealth Parliamentary Association boasts 180 branches around the world, with the late Queen Elizabeth among its former patrons, with former Cabinet minister Maria Miller now serving as its chair. But among those upcoming speakers due to address it in London include two controversial Hong Kong legislators in March. Whether one can call the current assembly of apparatchiks a ‘parliament’ is of course debatable. But one of the pair in question is Dominic Lee Tsz-king, who is especially objectionable, even by the standards of Hong King’s debased assembly.

William Moore

Rolling in it: the return of Tory sleaze

43 min listen

Katy Balls, The Spectator’s political editor, writes about the return of Tory sleaze. She’s joined by Jill Rutter, a senior fellow at the Institute for Government, to discuss the problems piling up for Rishi Sunak and the Tories. (00:50) Also this week, security expert Mark Galeotti writes about why Europe has been reluctant to give Ukraine tanks. Journalist Owen Matthews and Ben Hodges, former commanding general of the United States Army (Europe), join the podcast. (18:44) And finally, Gus Carter, The Spectator’s deputy features editor, writes in this week’s magazine about bison being reintroduced into the UK. He joins the podcast with the environmentalist Stanley Johnson. (33:40) Hosted by William Moore. Produced by Oscar Edmondson.

Cindy Yu

Is No. 10 preparing to let Zahawi go?

12 min listen

Over the last few days, Downing Street has been quietly distancing itself from Nadhim Zahawi, though seems unwilling to do anything until the investigation into Zahawi's tax affairs finishes. Today, the Tory chairman's plight was made worse by comments from Jim Harra, chief executive of HMRC. Cindy Yu discusses with Katy Balls and Isabel Hardman. Produced by Cindy Yu.

Steerpike

Rod Stewart calls time on the Tories

Rod Stewart has been a Conservative supporter for some time – but no longer. The ageing rocker, who congratulated Boris Johnson after his landslide election win in 2019, says it is time for the party to move over and give Labour a turn. 'This is a bad time for us in Great Britain – change the bloody government,' he told Sky News viewers after phoning in during a discussion on the dire state of the NHS. Stewart described the cost-of-living crisis as 'heartbreaking' and suggested that Rishi Sunak's government was failing: 'I personally have been a Tory for a long time and I think this government should stand down now and give the Labour Party a go at it, because this is heartbreaking for the nurses - it really is heartbreaking.

Steerpike

Guardian in ‘institutional racism’ storm

Oh dear. It seems that the world's wokest newspaper is in a bit of a mess of its own making. Stung by criticism of its historic slave trade links and support for the Confederacy in 2020, the Guardian resolved to create an editorial project on its past. This included an upcoming podcast about the connections between its founder, John Edward Taylor, and transatlantic slavery. But in an unfortunate twist, three producers who were working on the series have accused the holier-than-thou media outlet of 'institutional racism.' The trio all complained in writing to the Graun last year about their treatment before leaving the project. After hearing on Monday that the paper is still trying to complete the project, they made their allegations public to a number of audio professionals.

James Innes-Smith

Tyre Nichols and the muted response of Black Lives Matter

The reaction to the brutal death of Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old, after he was stopped by police has been strangely muted. Nichols, a father-of-one, died of his injuries on 10 January, three days after a confrontation with five black officers in Memphis, Tennessee. Lawyers for the family said Nichols, an African-American, was beaten 'like a human piñata’. The heartbreaking footage of Nichols's mother, Rowvaughn Wells, breaking down in tears has made the headlines. But the coverage marks a sharp contrast to the fallout after the death of another man, George Floyd, at the hands of police. That incident back in 2020 triggered a worldwide outpouring of grief and anger; the response to Nichols’s death has been much quieter.