Politics

Read about the latest political news, views and analysis

Tuesday

Steerpike

BBC still taking money from sanctioned Huawei

Things are tough these days at the BBC: stars are leaving, budgets are tight and the licence fee future looking uncertain. Still, in their desperation to plug some holes, it seems the Beeb has developed some questionable new corporate partnerships. One of them is with Huawei, the Chinese tech giant which was sanctioned by the US in 2019 and barred from the UK’s 5G network in 2020 over security concerns. Since then, the controversial company has been alleged to have aided the Chinese authorities in creating surveillance technology that targets the country’s Uyghur minority population. But all that’s not enough to deter the BBC, which is still taking Huawei’s money to fund its overseas journalism. Adverts displayed on BBC.

Stephen Daisley

Sturgeon isn’t an ‘attention seeker’

There is a lot of pearl-clutching over Liz Truss’s dismissive remarks about Nicola Sturgeon. Much of it involves conflating a dig at the leader of the SNP with a grave insult to Scotland. This is symptomatic not only of the fetid culture of grievance that permeates Scottish politics but of the steady merging of the party of government and the state itself. Were Emmanuel Macron to brand Boris Johnson an ‘attention seeker’, these same guardians of the public discourse would scoff at the suggestion it represented a slight against the British people. In fact, they would regard anyone proposing such an interpretation as a hysterical ideologue and perhaps even a jingoist. The difference is that Boris Johnson isn’t regarded as a semi-monarchical figure.

William Nattrass

Is war brewing between Serbia and Kosovo?

Serbia and Kosovo are close to conflict. Of all things, a dispute over car number plates is threatening the fragile peace won 23 years ago, after a Nato bombing campaign against then-Yugoslavia. For that, Serbs have never truly forgiven the West. On Sunday night, roads were blockaded by Serbs in northern Kosovo. Their anger was directed at an edict from the Kosovan government requiring Serbs to re-register their cars with Kosovar number plates. Serbs currently use number plates with acronyms of Kosovar cities, just one example of Serbia’s ongoing refusal to accept Kosovan independence. New documentation requirements were also to be imposed on Serbs entering and leaving Kosovo. Some have claimed that tensions have calmed, but they are only on hold.

Cindy Yu

Has Liz Truss had her first stumble?

21 min listen

Liz Truss has U-turned on a public worker pay plan announced just last night – the idea being that pay would reflect the cost of living in regional areas. What made her backtrack on the announcement? And how damaging has this been to her campaign?'Any discussion of lowering pay right now is politically intolerable. Timing matters a lot here' - Kate Andrews.Also on the podcast, Kate and James discuss the political tensions behind 'fat cat' pay and windfall taxes on the day BP announce its largest profit in 14 years.Cindy Yu is joined by Kate Andrews and James Forsyth.Produced by Natasha Feroze.

John Jenkins

Ayman al-Zawahiri got the death he deserved

At times like this, it’s tempting to channel Bette Davis: only speak good of the dead. Ayman al-Zawahiri’s dead. Good. But perhaps the moment deserves some more considered reflection. There’s striking footage (see below) of al-Zawahiri in the defendants’ cage during the 1982 trial of Islamic Jihad members implicated in the assassination of Anwar al-Sadat. Al-Zawahiri alone speaks in English for the cameras. He is uncompromising and belligerent. But his command of the language of international communication reveals his background: educated and middle class. That made him different to most of his fellow accused. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AY3nM9I19c4 He had been a member of the Muslim Brotherhood since adolescence.

Nicholas Sheppard

New Zealand’s bailout blunder is Jacinda Ardern’s latest error

This week more than two million New Zealanders are expected to receive roughly $116 (£60) in their bank accounts as the government paid out the first instalment of its cost-of-living payment. A further two instalments over the next two months have been promised to those earning below $70,000 (£36,000). These payments are part of a plan by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to address the soaring everyday costs Kiwis are facing. Speaking yesterday, she declared that the grant would help New Zealanders through the ‘peak of the global inflation storm’. But, it seems that something of a blunder has occurred.

Freddy Gray

Is Nancy Pelosi about to cause world war three?

14 min listen

Freddy Gray speaks with Jacob Heilbrunn, editor of The National Interest, ahead of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan. They discuss if this is a turning point in US relations with Taiwan, whether we are heading for World War Three, or if Pelosi is calling China’s bluff.

James Forsyth

Nancy Pelosi knows how much Taiwan matters

In the coming hours, Nancy Pelosi is expected to arrive in Taiwan. The plane that is thought to be carrying her is approaching the island from the east to avoid the Taiwan Strait and any attempt by the Chinese to fly close to her. As Speaker of the House of Representatives, she will be the most senior US figure to visit Taipei this century. The economic effects of a Taiwan invasion would dwarf those of the Russian invasion of Ukraine Beijing is furious about Pelosi’s decision to go. It has warned that its military ‘won’t sit idly by’ if she does touch down and is planning various displays of military strength. While no one expects the Chinese to actually attack the island, there is talk of buzzing the Taiwanese air defence zone and other intimidatory acts.

Kate Andrews

Why Liz Truss u-turned over public sector pay

That was quick. Less than 15 hours after pledging a robust reform of public sector pay, Liz Truss has performed a u-turn on plans to bring national pay bargaining to an end. It comes after criticism mounted that slashing pay for new frontline staff was not the most obvious way to handle an escalating cost-of-living crisis. In a sense, it’s a crime of poor timing rather than poor policy. National pay bargaining has long been questioned as a fair way to compensate staff on the government payroll. In part it’s due to the reasons laid out by Truss: there are obvious differences in the cost-of-living throughout the country, which might justify a rethink (housing being a key factor).

David Loyn

Al-Zawahiri’s killing exposes the US’s shame in Afghanistan

Sherpur District, to the north of central Kabul, where al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed, lies at the western end of a huge former military base where British forces were besieged in the winter of 1879, during the second Anglo-Afghan war. The parade ground, still a wide open area until 2001, was quickly built over by warlords allied to the U.S. when the Taliban were pushed out of power after the attacks of 9/11. I went there with a military commander who was transformed overnight into a building contractor as the plots were parcelled out and garish concrete villas rose out of the dust. Built by one set of warlords after 9/11, those Sherpur villas were seized by other warlords last August when the Taliban took power again.

Alex Massie

Truss’s Sturgeon jibe is bound to backfire

If the first rule of leadership is, as Barack Obama once said, ‘don’t do stupid shit’ then this Tory leadership contest offers ample reasons for thinking neither Rishi Sunak nor Liz Truss is remotely capable of being prime minister. Having advertised himself as the only adult in the race, the only candidate prepared to tell the truth, the former Chancellor has proceeded to set ablaze the rationale for his own campaign. Sunak’s imbecilities on the green belt and farming, to say nothing of his fantastical pledges on income tax, are the mark of a man spooked by the discovery that pandering to the worst instincts of the Conservative party membership is the only way to make progress in a race to the bottom.

Steerpike

Northern Tories savage Truss’s ‘war on waste’

Oh dear. It seems that Liz Truss's winning run has come to an end. After a week of riding high, the Foreign Secretary's campaign for leader has hit a bit of a bump in the road. Her campaign last night sent out a press release declaring: 'Truss: I'll wage a war on Whitehall waste to save taxpayers £11 billion.' It promised that diversity and inclusion posts in the civil service will be scrapped and that taxpayer-funded trade union facility time will be curbed too. So far, so good. But it was the pledge that 'a Truss government will introduce Regional Pay Boards so pay accurately reflects where civil servants work' that has got alarm bells ringing across the country.

Steerpike

After Tavistock, will Mermaids be next?

'Mermaids must fall next.' That was the response of Professor Kathleen Stock to the news that last week that the NHS was closing its Tavistock gender identity clinic for children. Stock, who quit Sussex University over what she called a trans rights 'witch-hunt', added that it was now time for 'a no-holds barred journalistic dive' into Mermaids, the British charity which supports 'gender variant and transgender youth.' Their methods of doing this have come under much scrutiny, such as by promoting breast binding at an event last year. Mermaids is also involved in lobbying and has provided training in public sector bodies. In May this year, the TaxPayers' Alliance revealed that Mermaids had received £20,483 in taxpayer funding between 2018 and 2021.

Steerpike

Truss u-turns on regional pay

The sound of screeching gears could be heard across Westminster this morning as Team Truss executed a dramatic U-turn from their headquarters in Lord North Street. A midday press statement confirmed that the Foreign Secretary has now dropped her policy adopted, er, just last night, to introduce regional pay boards. The move would have seen salary reductions for public sector workers – including teachers and nurses –  outside of London and the South East on future contracts. Naturally this went down like a cup of cold sick in every area except London and the South East, with MPs queuing up from Cornwall to County Durham to lambast the move.

Matthew Lynn

Only one tax cut can save Rishi Sunak

Rishi Sunak's promises on tax are lacklustre. He's announced a fiddly one-off tax break on energy that will last for just a year which hardly anyone will notice due to inflation. There's also income tax cuts up to seven years in the future, even though he is hardly likely to be Prime Minister by then (and he seldom keeps any promises on taxation for more than a few hours anyway).  Sunak’s promises and u-turns on taxes are making him look inconsistent at best, and a cynical opportunist at worst. The Tory members are right to regard his words with suspicion. But there is one tax cut that could still win the membership over: abolishing inheritance tax.

Monday

Isabel Hardman

Is Liz Truss too comfortable?

After England scored their first goal last night, the team visibly relaxed and had a spell of playing happily until Germany equalised. Liz Truss was in the crowd and saw that sudden surge in confidence up close. Tonight we saw the same from the frontrunner. She enjoyed the latest hustings in Exeter, making jokes about how all the popular misconceptions of her were true. At times it seemed as though the interviewer (Seb Payne, formerly of this parish) and the audience were trying to find out more about what she'd do when she was in No. 10, not if. By contrast, the questions to Rishi Sunak were more about why members should give him a hearing when he had been disloyal to Boris Johnson and had put up their taxes.

Steerpike

Penny Mordaunt endorses Liz Truss

If a week is a long time in politics, then a fortnight is an eternity. Two weeks ago, Penny Mordaunt was the bookies' favourite to be our next Prime Minister, riding high in the polls and second among MPs. Now, after a bruising campaign, the vanquished candidate has opted to back the woman who defeated her to the runner-up spot behind Rishi Sunak: Liz Truss. It's a somewhat awkward endorsement, given how many of Truss's prominent backers were sent out to attack Mordaunt on the airwaves. No less than three of the Foreign Secretary's onetime Cabinet colleagues – Lord Frost, Simon Clarke and Anne-Marie Trevelyan – took aim at Mordaunt's credentials over the course of the campaign.

Steerpike

Team Sunak gear up for ground war

With most signs pointing to a Liz Truss triumph, team Sunak have been pulling out all the stops in a bid to make up lost ground. Tory membership ballots go out this week and although the rules technically allow members to vote a second time online if they change their mind, neither camp expects this to play a big factor. This means the next few days will be critical to the final result, announced on 5 September. And now that the 'air war' of TV debates and initial hustings has concluded, it means that the 'ground game' of face-to-face meetings with members matters all the more. Rishi Sunak has therefore been out pressing the flesh with the grassroots all weekend, to try to win as many over in-person as possible.

James Forsyth

What will China do if Nancy Pelosi visits Taiwan?

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the subsequent sanctions, are roiling European energy markets and threatening a continent-wide recession. But we live in an age of multiple crises, and tensions over Taiwan are bound to flare in the coming days. There are reports that Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, will visit tomorrow. She would be the most senior US figure to visit this century. The Chinese have said that their military ‘won’t sit idly by’ if she does go there. Now to be clear, this almost certainly means military exercises rather than anything else. But it is worth noting that Joe Biden has said the US military do not consider it ‘a good idea right now’.