Politics Archives

Friday

15 Sep 2023

Osborne, Balls and a glimpse of Westminster’s rotten culture

Podcast mania continues at Westminster. Discarded grandees from all parties have noticed the success of The Rest is Politics, the hit podcast by Rory Stewart and Alastair Campbell, which has now become a lucrative roadshow. The two gasbags sold out the Albert Hall in a matter of minutes, and their popularity has drawn new players into the marketplace. Yesterday, George Osborne and Ed Balls showcased their contribution to the hot-air industry with Political Currency. The old prize-fighters buried their differences and treated listeners to 50 minutes of rambling chitchat about their half-forgotten careers. Ostensibly the ageing chatterboxes focused the discussion on financial matters but they kept shifting aimlessly from topic

Kate Andrews

Britain is heading for an autumn of discontent

Train drivers will strike for two days in the coming weeks, on 30 September and 4 October. These dates are no coincidence: they directly overlap with when MPs and attendees will be travelling to and from the Conservative party conference in Manchester. This move from Aslef and the RMT is far from subtle: the unions may be locked in a pay battle with train companies, but it’s the government’s attention they are hoping to get. The train strikes add to a growing list of other walkouts planned over the next few weeks. Consultants and junior doctors will also be walking out separately this month. But then in an unprecedented move,

Katy Balls

Is it right to cut back HS2?

12 min listen

The government is reportedly looking into whether it should cut the second phase of HS2. But with so much money having already been pumped into the project, should they just see it through to the end? Katy Balls speaks to Fraser Nelson and Kate Andrews.

Mary Dejevsky

20mph isn’t plenty: the war on motorists has gone too far

‘Absolutely insane’ is the verdict of Penny Mordaunt MP on the Welsh government’s introduction of a 20mph speed limit on residential roads. Having driven along not a few residential roads in Welsh towns and cities earlier this year, I can only agree, with one caveat. There are quite a few places in Wales, and not just in Wales, where the combination of narrow roads, parking and other traffic makes any thought of reaching even 20mph optimistic. Urban areas, in particular, are quite adept at imposing their own speed limits, in the form of traffic conditions. This is a reality that probably influences someone’s decision about what form of transport, if

Theo Hobson

In praise of Justin Welby’s ‘less bossy’ Church of England

Justin Welby is not my sort of Anglican. Or maybe he is, in a way. I’m not really sure who he is. And I don’t mean that entirely negatively. When he was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury, the Church seemed to be opting for cheesy banality after the intellectual roller-coaster of his predecessor, Rowan Williams. It was a slightly dangerous roller-coaster, to be sure, with some alarming rusty bits, and stomach-plunging drops, but always interesting. Welby looked like a beta male from the Alpha course, the slick evangelical outfit led by public school officer-class types. I had my gripes about Williams, but he seemed a Hyperion to this satyr. I have

Gavin Mortimer

Why rugby fans love to hate Macron

Emmanuel Macron was in Lille on Thursday evening to watch France defeat Uruguay as the Bleus made it two wins from two in the Rugby World Cup. The president was photographed swigging from a bottle of beer, just your normal rugby fan enjoying the game. Rugby fans and their president have little in common. He is the strutting epitome of the aloof Parisian elite Macron was also present last week in Paris when France beat New Zealand in the tournament opener, which suggests that either he hasn’t a busy agenda this month or there is a political purpose to his rugby supporting. The president has long been the self-appointed

Juan P. Villasmil

Hunter Biden indicted on gun charges

Hunter Biden, the ne’er-do-well son of the president, has been indicted by federal prosecutors on gun charges. Last night, a Delaware federal court indicted Biden on three counts following an investigation by Special Counsel David Weiss. Two of the counts concern the president’s son allegedly lying on a form when purchasing a Colt Cobra revolver five years ago, where, according to the indictment, he falsely claimed that he was not using illegal narcotics at the time of sale. The third count alleges that he was using the drugs while in possession of the firearm. The indictment attempts to lay out how Biden fibbed to the authorities when he agreed ‘that

Thursday

14 Sep 2023

Max Jeffery

What is Starmer’s small boats plan?

14 min listen

Keir Starmer today unveiled Labour’s plan to stop illegal migration. Trying to deport migrants to Rwanda is a waste of money, he said – the millions would be better spent on a ‘new security agreement’ with Europe. But what does that mean? Max Jeffery speaks to Fraser Nelson and Katy Balls.

Matthew Lynn

Is the EU sacrificing net zero to protect its electric car industry?

They are too expensive. There are not enough of them on the market. It’s too much hassle to charge them. There are lots of reasons why people are still reluctant to switch from petrol to electric cars, with their cost right at the very top of the list. Still, with the world about to be flooded with cheap Chinese electric vehicles (EVs), that is about to change. You might think that anyone seriously worried about combating climate change would welcome that. Except now it turns out that the EU, for all its rhetoric, cares more about protecting its own auto industry and is planning to slap tariffs on Chinese imports.

William Moore

Bombshell: Why aren’t we giving Ukraine what it needs?

36 min listen

On the podcast this week: Boris Johnson writes The Spectator’s cover piece, urging the West to supply more military assistance to Ukraine, in order to bring a swift end to the war. Former commander of the joint forces Sir Richard Barrons and The Spectator’s Svitlana Morenets join the podcast to ask why aren’t we giving Ukraine what it needs? (01:21) Also on the podcast: Charlie Taylor, His Majesty’s chief prisons inspector, writes in the magazine about the state of crisis in British prisons. This is in light of Daniel Khalife’s escape from Wandsworth prison last week. Charlie is joined by David Shipley, commentator and former inmate at Wandsworth to discuss the state of crisis

Ross Clark

Brexit Britain can benefit from Apple’s spat with Europe

Are the EU and the US heading for a trade war by dirty means? I ask because for the second time in a week Apple finds itself on the sharp end of European regulations. First, the company was obliged to provide a standard USB socket and charger for its iPhone 15, as opposed to the specific charger previously used by Apple. Now, French regulators have declared that the iPhone 12 doesn’t reach Europe’s radiological protection standards. According to the Agence Nationale des Frequences, the device emits 5.74 watts of electromagnetic radiation per kilogramme – above the 4.0 watts allowed by European product standards. Apple insists that the device is fully-compliant.

Steerpike

Sadiq Khan apologises after calling Tory rival ‘thick’

Ding ding! Over the river at City Hall things got heated this morning with London Mayor Sadiq Khan forced to apologise for labelling a Tory rival ‘thick’. Khan was being grilled over the expanded Ulez zone during Mayor’s Question Time, with Conservative London Assembly member Peter Fortune trying repeatedly to pin Khan down on when reports on the scheme’s expanded zone might be published. Frustrated by the Mayor’s refusal to give a straight answer, Fortune continued to probe Khan and said: ‘You know, you can be a bit slippy. You’re very good at this!’ After a bit of back and forth, the Mayor shot back, claiming his exchange with Fortune was ‘like

Steerpike

China hawks urge unity on spy row

It’s been a difficult week for Sinosceptics in Westminster, following the revelation that a parliamentary researcher was arrested in March on suspicion of spying for China. Much of the media attention has focused on the MPs to whom the researcher was linked: namely Alicia Kearns and Tom Tugendhat. For the past three years they have championed the ‘cautious engagement’ school of thought on China. This is in contrast to the more hardline position adopted by Sir Iain Duncan Smith and supporters in the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China. The two bands have sometimes clashed since Ipac’s formation in June 2020. But now, amid attempts by Chinese state media to turn the national

Patrick O’Flynn

Starmer’s migrant plan is even worse than the Tories’

Labour’s long-awaited approach to stopping the Channel boats is so pusillanimous that it ought to be a political gamechanger for the Conservatives. But it probably won’t be. As Sir Keir Starmer outlines in various newspapers today, an administration led by him will abandon the Rwanda removals plan and get rid of the Illegal Migration Act which puts in place a bar against people who have arrived illegally claiming asylum. Instead, he will enter talks with the EU about the UK taking a percentage of the ever-increasing flow of irregular migrants over its southern and eastern borders. As a quid pro quo, he hopes that EU nations, especially France – whose

Mark Galeotti

Putin’s North Korea summit was pure theatre

If a little tyrant theatre is your goal, then rumbling across the border in an armoured train decked out like a palace (if your palace was decorated in the 1970s) is hard to beat. As North Korea’s Kim Jong Un and Russia’s Vladimir Putin met at the Vostochny spaceport, the Bond villain vibes were strong – and one might suspect that was the point. As of writing, we don’t yet know the precise terms of whatever deal has been thrashed out. Even though his factories are running 24/7, Putin clearly wants more munitions for his war in Ukraine. North Korea’s are reportedly of stunningly poor quality, but something is better

Gavin Mortimer

Europe’s migrant crisis is only going to get worse

It is almost three years to the day since Ursula von der Leyen gave her inaugural State of the Union address in Brussels. The newly elected President of the European Commission touched on many subjects on September 16, 2020, among which was the migrant crisis, ‘an issue that has been discussed long enough’. It was time to move from words to actions, said von der Leyen: ‘If we are all ready to make compromises, without compromising on our principles, we can find that solution.’ Von der Leyen then explained that a ‘new pact on migration’ was to be unveiled the following week, one which ‘take action to fight smugglers, strengthen

Nigel Jones

Biden and Trump are too old for office

Like the little boy who pointed out that the emperor was naked, veteran US politician Mitt Romney has just voiced an uncomfortable truth that everyone knows, but few wish to utter: America is being run by men who are too old for office. At 76, the former Republican governor of Massachusetts and presidential contender is no spring chicken himself, but in announcing that he is retiring from being the junior senator for his native state of Utah, Romney called on both 80-year-old President Joe Biden and 77-year-old former President Donald Trump – who is running for a second term in the White House – to follow his example and step down

James Heale

Lords sink Sunak’s homebuilding plans

Tonight the House of Lords has blocked the government’s plan to relax restrictions on water pollution to encourage housebuilding. Ministers wanted to remove EU-era ‘nutrient neutrality rules’ so as to enable 100,000 new homes to be built by 2030. But the government was defeated by 203 votes to 156 over the issue. Three Conservative peers – including Lord Deben, the former chair of the climate change committee – voted against the government alongside opposition peers. Deben was especially caustic, describing the proposed changes as ‘one of the worst pieces of legislation I have ever seen and I’ve been around a long time.’ Normally, defeats in the Lords can be reversed

Wednesday

13 Sep 2023

Max Jeffery

Is Labour the party of the pensioner?

12 min listen

At PMQs, neither Labour nor the Tories wanted to commit to keeping the state pension triple lock. Have the two parties, awkwardly and unofficially, reached a consensus on dropping the promise? Max Jeffery speaks to Isabel Hardman and James Heale.

Steerpike

Tobias Ellwood out as Defence Select Committee chair

So. Farewell then. Tobias Ellwood. For more than three years, the Bournemouth East has run the Defence Select Committee with the tact of Alan Partridge and the foresight of Michael Fish. But today his luck finally ran out after committing a gaffe too far. Ellwood’s now-infamous Taliban video proved too much even for some of his fellow long-suffering Tories on the panel. Mr S first broke the news back in July that Ellwood’s colleagues joined forces with Labour MPs to table an unprecedented motion of no confidence. And this afternoon the former minister finally fell upon his sword, resigning rather than facing the ignominy of being the first elected select