Politics

Read about the latest political news, views and analysis

Tuesday

Andrew Tettenborn

The European Court is powerless to stop Russia

Last Thursday saw a wry twist to the Ukraine war. The European Court of Human Rights solemnly intoned that Russia should stop the execution of two Englishmen condemned to death in the Donetsk People's Republic for fighting for Ukraine. It knew perfectly well it was screaming into the void. Russia, though technically in the ECHR till September, had said it would ignore any of the court’s orders; and there is no doubt whatsoever that the People’s Republic will do exactly the same. This is not the first time the court has raised eyebrows by issuing peremptory declarations of this kind. Just under three weeks ago, a plane was about to take off carrying asylum seekers to Rwanda. The English courts had refused to grant any injunction.

Monday

Isabel Hardman

Starmer’s cautious five-point plan to ‘make Brexit work’

Keir Starmer is delivering his latest instalment of Things Labour Would Just Do Better. In a speech to the Centre for European Reform this evening, the Labour leader is complaining that the government 'have missed Brexit opportunities time and time again'. He will also set out his party's 'five point plan to make Brexit work'. His memorable lines are that Brexit has become the 'wet wipe island' that was found in the Thames and that Labour will 'break that barrier down' - which frankly sounds like a disgusting job for anyone to do. Now, all of this initially seems to run along the general theme of Labour's policymaking, which is to hope that saying you wouldn't make the same mistakes as the government is a sufficient substitute for an actual policy position.

Katy Balls

What did Boris know about Chris Pincher?

12 min listen

Boris Johnson knew of media reports about Chris Pincher's conduct when he invited him to join the government, it emerged today. How serious a crisis is this for the government? And as the Prime Minister today returned from three international summits, was he able to put his domestic problems behind him in the Commons? Katy Balls speaks to James Forsyth and Isabel Hardman.

Robert Peston

Is Starmer trying to have his Brexit cake and eat it?

There are three big questions about Sir Keir Starmer's 'five point plan to make Brexit work'. First is whether it makes sense economically: will it help return the UK to growth? Second, will it impress the EU, and is there any chance that what Starmer wants will be agreed by EU leaders? Finally, does it make sense politically, will it reinforce support for the Labour party? In an interview this afternoon, I probed Starmer on all this, and didn't emerge much wiser. You can watch the whole (short) interview here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?

Kate Andrews

A greener future for the north

64 min listen

Will the government's plans for revitalising the north be hampered by its plans for decarbonisation? There's increasing concern in Whitehall that these agendas contradict each other, but there's no reason that green jobs and projects can't benefit Britain's 'forgotten communities' too.How do we ensure the north benefits from a greener, more prosperous future? How can industry best play a role? Join The Spectator's Kate Andrews as she hostsClare Harbord, Group Director of Corporate Affairs, Drax. Rt Hon Jake Berry MP, Chairman, NRG. Tom Pope, Deputy Chief Economist, Institute for Government and Valentine Quinio, Analyst, Centre for Cities.The event was kindly sponsored by Drax.

Steerpike

Diane Abbott’s baseless Boris blunder

Boris Johnson seems to be in enough bother without his opponents making unsubstantiated claims against him. But that’s exactly what Diane Abbott, the sexagenarian Stoke Newington MP, did yesterday when she appeared on yesterday’s episode of Broadcasting House, the BBC news review show. Abbott – who was ostensibly there to discuss allegations surrounding Chris Pincher – decided, er, to spout some of her own. The former shadow home secretary made claims instead about Boris Johnson when she was asked if a man sexually assaulting a woman would have been treated differently from Pincher allegedly groping two men. She replied that: 'It might be treated differently. But that's because Boris Johnson has been rumoured to be the one who likes assaulting women.

Susanne Mundschenk

Turkey’s grain diplomacy

Recep Tayyip Erdogan is once again using Turkey's geopolitical position for his own ends, this time dictating grain shipments from Ukraine through the Black Sea. Turkish customs authorities detained a Russian cargo ship carrying Ukrainian wheat on Sunday, following a request of Kyiv. The Russian cargo ship Zhibek Zholy left the south-eastern port of Berdyansk over the weekend carrying 7,000 tons of grain, worth about £1.75 million. The Russian-appointed head of the occupied region had hailed it as the first commercial ship to leave a Ukrainian port after months of war. He said this would take desperately-needed supplies to friendly countries, according to Politico. The reality is, of course, that the shipment is a provocative move from Russia given it isn't Moscow's grain.

Matthew Lynn

German industry is grinding to a halt

The Soviet Union had only just collapsed. John Major was still a relatively fresh-faced Prime Minister. And the internet consisted of a few desktop computers linking together a handful of laboratories. The world was a very different place when Germany last posted a trade deficit way back in 1991. But on Monday, the country recorded that imports outstripped exports for more than 30 years. True, other countries are recording huge deficits, not least the UK. For Germany, though, it matters more. Its entire economy has been built around creating an industrial machine that dominates global markets. That machine is now grinding to a halt.

Isabel Hardman

Ministers are getting more reluctant to defend Boris

It's long been the case that No. 10 has struggled to find ministers willing to go on the morning broadcast rounds to defend the latest government meltdown. Most of them leave their phones on 'do not disturb' or outright refuse to go out and defend the indefensible. That there are so many indefensible incidents that a minister might be asked about makes every interview feel like an obstacle course.  But now the ministers who do end up on the airwaves are making clear that they aren't even going to do much defending. The new formulation that figures like Therese Coffey and Will Quince (who was on the round this morning) have resorted to is to say that the No. 10 press office told them to say something, without showing much faith in or enthusiasm for that line.

Patrick O’Flynn

Starmer should never be allowed to forget his Brexit betrayal

Keir Starmer has set down Labour’s Brexit red lines: if his party wins power, he will not take the UK back into the EU’s single market or customs union, nor will he restore freedom of movement with the bloc. Instead, in a speech today, he will pledge to ‘break down’ the ‘fatberg of red tape’ that Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal has created for British businesses and he will get the Northern Ireland Protocol working too.

James Forsyth

Tory MPs are in despair over the Chris Pincher scandal

Tory MPs are exhausted. Speak to them and they just want all these scandals to go away. One normally cheerful backbencher told me they ‘have never been so depressed about politics’ and that most of their colleagues feel the same way. The Chris Pincher scandal is particularly grim. Regardless of whether No. 10 knew about any specific allegation or not, you can’t get round the fact that Pincher resigned in 2017 over unwanted advances and was then reappointed. (Interestingly, it was Theresa May who first brought him back. It is another demonstration that in Westminster when someone is very good at a job that is vital for the leader there is a tendency to overlook all sorts of things).

Steerpike

Pronoun badges backfire for embarrassed banks

Pride month means only one thing: the chance for corporations to embarrass themselves with the latest right-on social media stunt. This year it was the turn of Halifax, which took to Twitter last week to declare that 'Pronouns matter' alongside an image of its new-style staff name badge, featuring the words 'she/her/hers' underneath. Other banks quickly piled in, with HSBC heralding this 'positive step forward for equality and inclusion' as 'it's vital that everyone can be themselves in the workplace.' https://twitter.com/HalifaxBank/status/1541692892175110146?

Sunday

Matthew Taylor

Sunday shows round-up: PM did not know of ‘specific allegations’ about Pincher, says Coffey

Thérèse Coffey – PM did not know of ‘specific allegations’ about Pincher There was only one question for the government to answer while in the hotseat this morning, and that related to the conduct of the deputy chief whip Christopher Pincher. Pincher resigned following a complaint which alleged that he had groped two men while drunk at the Carlton Club on Thursday. Sophie Raworth asked the Work & Pensions Secretary Thérèse Coffey if the Prime Minister had been aware of any untoward behaviour before appointing Pincher to his role: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0kP0zm57s4 ‘I’m not part of the Westminster rumour mill’ Coffey’s answer to Raworth followed a difficult interview with Sophy Ridge on Sky News.

Nicholas Sheppard

Jacinda Ardern’s tricky China policy

New Zealand’s Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, has had a busy week on the international circuit. On Friday she appeared in front of a packed audience at London’s Chatham House to discuss New Zealand’s international outlook and to laud what she described as a ‘gold standard free trade agreement’ signed with the UK. And though New Zealand is not a member of Nato, Ardern was also invited to attend its leaders’ summit in Madrid on Wednesday, along with other leaders of the Asia Pacific. Arguably it was Ardern’s tempered warnings about China that stood out. In a speech to the summit, Ardern said: ‘China has in recent times… become more assertive and more willing to challenge international rules.

Steerpike

Guto puts his foot in it (again)

Oh dear. It seems that gabby Guto Harri has done it again. The revelations about Chris Pincher have put the No. 10 comms chief and his colleagues in No. 10 on the back foot –  not least because the Tamworth MP's promotion to deputy chief whip in February came just days after Harri's own appointment. Still, the Welsh wizard hasn't exactly responded well to reports about's Pincher's alleged drunken behaviour. First, Harri told a meeting on Friday morning that colleagues should support Pincher because he had lost his career: remarks which quickly leaked and triggered an avalanche of fury on Twitter. Later, in a wider meeting of ministerial aides – the infamous Friday night meeting of special advisors – Harri then sought to clarify these remarks.

Norman Davies

The forgotten history of Poland and Ukraine

Since the outbreak of war in February there has been an overwhelming focus on the historical links between Russia and Ukraine, partly to counter Putin’s grand assertions that Kyiv belongs to Moscow. But this spotlight on Russia has meant the important history of Poland and Ukraine has been fatally overlooked. Ukraine was part of the Polish state for longer than it was inside Russia – and this is key to understanding why Ukrainians are different from Russians. In other words, it is impossible to comprehend Ukraine’s history without examining the impact of both Poland and Russia. A thousand years ago the people who now call themselves ‘Ukrainian’ had not yet adopted this term.

Saturday

Isabel Hardman

Will Nicola Sturgeon get her way?

11 min listen

Isabel Hardman speaks to James Forsyth and Fraser Nelson about Nicola Sturgeon’s latest plans to hold a referendum on Scottish independence on 19th October 2023, and whether they will even get off the ground.

Mark Hollingsworth

How Prince Charles’s €1m bagman infiltrated the British establishment

The Queen rarely – if ever – accepts invitations to dinner at private houses, no matter how grand. But in the summer of 2014 the oil and gas rich Gulf state of Qatar became the first ‘official partner’ of Royal Ascot and secured branding rights for the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II stakes. The Qataris also agreed to pay for the upkeep of the Castle of Mey which is owned by the royal family. And so breaking with tradition the Queen accepted a dinner invitation and joined the ruling family of Qatar and assorted guests. The Qataris had just spent an estimated £75 million on their London mansion at Dudley House, Park Lane, and so were delighted.

Sam Ashworth-Hayes

50-year mortgages won’t fix Britain’s broken housing market

Downing Street has come up with another cunning plan to fix the housing crisis: 50-year mortgages, passed from parent to child. No longer will your ability to afford a home be dependent on your earnings. Once the scheme is in place, you will be able to borrow against the incomes of your future children, in a heart-warming recreation of the age-old tradition of indentured labour. The reasoning goes something like this: young people can’t afford to buy homes. Not only can they not afford to buy homes, they can’t afford to save for deposits. While accommodation has grown ever more cramped – with space per person dropping a quarter between 1996 and 2012 – rents have continued to eat into incomes.