Lisa Haseldine is The Spectator's online commissioning editor - foreign affairs.
Despite usually being a fan of escaping domestic trouble with travel abroad, Keir Starmer would be forgiven for thinking his trip today was terrible timing. The Prime Minister was in Paris this afternoon for a summit hosted by president Emmanuel Macron tackling the thorny issue of how to make the Strait of Hormuz safe again.
With a week to go until Hungary heads to the polls, Prime Minister Viktor Orban is fighting to save his political skin. Unusually for a set of Hungarian parliamentary elections, on 12 April, eyes across Europe and beyond will be glued to this set of results. Whether or not Orban remains in power will have
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On this week’s Spectator Out Loud: Lisa Haseldine reports from Svalbard; Matthew Parris reflects on the Iran crisis during Holy Week; Damian Thompson assesses how Pope Leo XIV is quietly reshaping the Vatican; Peter Pomerantsev reviews Jack Watling’s Statecraft; Chas Newkey-Burden provides his notes on marathons; and finally, from Provence, Catriona Olding reflects on comfort and companionship.
Svalbard The quiet hillside by Longyearbyen’s church gives visitors to the capital of Norway’s Svalbard archipelago an austere but beautiful panorama of the bay that cradles the town. Tall, sharply steep mountains, blanketed with snow, collide with the blue-grey waters of the Arctic below. From that hillside, I watched the quiet bustle of Longyearbyen. Since
Whenever Keir Starmer and his ministers are pressed on the lack of a plan to raise Britain’s defence spending with any speed, they skirt the question with the reply that ‘we are delivering the largest sustained increase in defence spending since the Cold War’. But are they actually? Earlier today, Nato published its general secretary
Could an agreement for Britain to join Europe’s defence fund ‘Security Action for Europe’ (Safe) be back on the cards? Speaking in Paris yesterday, European Council president Antonio Costa suggested as much. ‘It could take some weeks, months, but for sure, we will achieve an agreement with the UK on the Safe issue,’ he said.
Open the first page of any British passport and you will be met by a request on behalf of the King to give its ‘bearer such assistance and protection as may be necessary’. These words are a great source of pride: they symbolise the privilege any Brit abroad has to approach a British embassy and
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On this week’s Spectator Out Loud: James Heale reflects on Nigel Farage’s leadership team; Lisa Haseldine argues that Europe is in denial over its defence; Simon Heffer looks at the extraordinary rise – and tragic fall – of the first Labour Prime Minister, Ramsay MacDonald; and finally, Lloyd Evans reviews the plays I’m Sorry, Prime Minister and American
Munich, Germany The organisers of the Munich security conference weren’t subtle. A large statue of an elephant stood in one of the lobbies. The logo on all official documents was an elephant, this time with bits of countries printed on it. A poster for an exhibition celebrating the meeting’s 60th anniversary had an image of
Munich, Germany It’s no secret that Keir Starmer prefers foreign diplomacy to the domestic side of his job. So after perhaps the most difficult week of his leadership so far, the Prime Minister was no doubt relieved to have made it to the Munich security conference today, addressing delegates in the main conference hall this
As Marco Rubio boarded his flight for Munich on Thursday night, he sought to reassure nervous Europeans that they weren’t about to be berated by America. ‘We’ll be good,’ he said. It appears the US Secretary of State kept his word when he addressed the Munich security conference this morning. Rubio kicked off his speech
From our US edition
While all eyes and ears at the Munich security conference will be on US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Saturday, it was America’s Democrats who were able to enjoy their moment in the spotlight on Friday. The party was out in force: Californian governor Gavin Newsom, member of Congress Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Michigan governor
The Munich security conference started with a bang today. Breaking with tradition, German chancellor Friedrich Merz opened the conference with a punchy speech about relations between Europe and America. ‘A rift, a deep chasm, has opened up between Europe and the United States,’ he declared. ‘We need to talk,’ Merz said. ‘This is more urgent
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Keir Starmer has headed to Germany for the Munich Security Conference to meet allies and discuss defence, NATO and the war in Ukraine. He is expected to meet Chancellor Merz and President Macron later, before delivering a speech in the morning. But – after his worst week as Prime Minister – can Starmer use this
One of Russia’s top military generals, Vladimir Alekseev, is in a critical condition after being shot while leaving his Moscow apartment earlier this morning. Lieutenant General Alekseev, a deputy director in Russia’s military intelligence agency – still best-known by its former acronym, the GRU – has been taken to hospital following reports he was shot
European politicians had little rest this weekend after Donald Trump’s announcement on Saturday that he would be imposing punitive tariffs on the eight countries that had sent troops to Greenland last week. From 1 February, 10 per cent tariffs will be slapped on goods entering the United States from Britain, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany,
When Donald Trump sets his sights on something, it’s hard to prevent him getting what he wants. That hasn’t, however, stopped Greenland and Denmark from trying. The Danish army has announced that, from today, it is boosting its presence on Greenland. It will be backed up by a cohort of European troops, arriving over the
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On this week’s Spectator Out Loud: Justin Marozzi analyses what Trump’s coup in Venezuela means for Iran; Lisa Haseldine asks why Britain isn’t expanding its military capabilities, as European allies do so; William Atkinson argues that the MET’s attack on freemasonry is unjustified; and, Toby Young explains why the chickenpox vaccine is a positive health measure.
Following America’s extraordinary raid on Venezuela last week, Donald Trump has pointed to Greenland, which belongs to the Kingdom of Denmark, as the territory he plans to turn his attention to next, staking a claim he has made repeatedly since his return to the White House. Trump said this week that America needs Greenland ‘for
Britain should prepare for more rape cases involving illegal migrants, Dominic Cummings has warned. Speaking on The Spectator’s Quite right! podcast, the former advisor to Boris Johnson referenced the case of two young Afghan asylum seekers who were jailed earlier this month for the rape of a 15-year-old girl in Leamington Spa. Places like Leamington ‘better get used
