Politics

Read about the latest UK political news, views and analysis.

Friday

20 Jun 2025

Palestine Action’s RAF vandalism was no protest

Members of an activist group called Palestine Action have broken into the Royal Air Force’s largest base, RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, and vandalised two Airbus Voyager refuelling aircraft. With breathless self-congratulation, the organisation said its members ‘used electric scooters to swiftly manoeuvre towards the planes’, sprayed red paint into the turbine engines and used crowbars to damage the fuselages of the aircraft. The red paint, of course, is symbolic of Palestinian bloodshed. If you are wondering why RAF aircraft in Oxfordshire were targeted by a group concerned with events in the Middle East, allow Palestine Action to remove the scales from your eyes: ‘Despite publicly condemning the Israeli government, Britain

John Jenkins

Has the Islamophobia ‘Working Group’ already made up its mind?

Sir John Jenkins was invited by the Government-appointed ‘Working Group’ to offer his views on a proposed definition of ‘Islamophobia’. Here is his response to Dominic Grieve, the Group’s chair: Dear Dominic Grieve, It is kind of you to seek my views on ‘whether a definition [of Islamophobia] would be helpful‘. I have some fundamental reservations about both the process you are overseeing and its likely trajectory. I owe you the courtesy of explaining what these are. I remain unconvinced that anything I might say would make a difference to the Working Group on Anti Muslim Hatred/ Islamophobia Definition’s deliberations. But I am always open to being persuaded otherwise. The charge of special treatment may in fact

Isabel Hardman

The assisted dying debate is not ‘Parliament at its best’

MPs are coming to the end of the assisted dying debate. The speeches can be roughly divided into the following camps: those who, like the Bill’s sponsor Kim Leadbeater, are very much in favour of the Bill and confident in its drafting; those who are in favour of the principle of assisted dying but who are so concerned about the drafting of the Bill that they are opposed to it; and the implacable opponents to the principle. The speeches from the latter two camps largely focused on the argument that today’s vote is not about the principle of assisted dying but about the Bill as it stands. The proponents of

Steerpike

Will Emily Maitlis now apologise to Rupert Lowe?

The News Agents podcasters appear increasingly less focused on facts and more on taking a pop at people who hold different views to them. Ex-Reform man Rupert Lowe was a recent casualty. He was invited onto the podcast to speak to Maitlis – who wasted no time in tearing into him, going so far as to suggest the independent parliamentarian was ‘racist’ after he spoke about Pakistani grooming gangs. But after the publication of Baroness Casey’s review this week, it would appear Maitlis is due a rather large slice of humble pie… On the episode, Maitlis asked Lowe quizzically: ‘Why do you only talk about Pakistani grooming gangs? There are

Lucy Dunn

Ewing snubs SNP ahead of Holyrood election

With less than 11 months to go until the Holyrood election, things aren’t looking quite as rosy for the SNP as in previous elections. The party is 15 points down on where it was 2021, it lost the recent Hamilton by-election with Reform hot on its heels and now it has been dealt another blow. SNP veteran Fergus Ewing has confirmed that he will run as an independent at the 2026 Scottish parliament election, turning his back on a political institution he has represented in Holyrood for over a quarter of a century. It’s quite the move from a politician who grew up as SNP royalty, being the son of

Oscar Edmondson

What you need to know ahead of the assisted dying vote

14 min listen

It’s a historic day in Westminster, where MPs will vote on the assisted dying bill – the outcome of which could have huge repercussions for healthcare, politics and the courts. It’s such a significant day, in fact, that we’ll be recording another podcast just after the result is announced at around 2.30 p.m. Kim Leadbeater’s camp remains confident that the bill will pass, although many anticipate a much closer vote than at the second reading. This is in no small part due to high-profile members of the party being opposed to the legislation, and Keir Starmer remaining characteristically evasive on the issue. The backdrop, of course, is the resignation of

Alexander Kolyandr

Has Putin pushed the Russian economy to its limits?

The remarkable resurgence the Russian economy has experienced since Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is losing momentum. Where once Putin could boast about 4.3 per cent growth rates for two years in a row – thumbing his nose at Western sanctions with all the aplomb of a man who’d discovered alchemy – the numbers now tell a somewhat different story. The party, as they say, is over – and the time to crank up sanctions against Moscow has come. For two years running, Putin’s propagandists have crowed about Russia’s economic vitality as proof that Western sanctions were about as effective as a chocolate teapot. The economy’s steroid-fuelled growth, pumped up

Maurizio Geri

Is Iran about to choke the West’s energy supply?

Nato has learned nothing from Russia’s energy blackmail – and Iran is about to prove it. With precision warheads and hypersonic payloads tearing Israeli and Iranian skies, you might think we’re witnessing the next frontier in modern warfare. But it’s an old game, played with old rules. And once again, Tehran reaches for its well-worn lever of power: energy blackmail. Already, markets are twitching. Crude has jumped over 10 per cent Senior Iranian officials, including Revolutionary Guard commander Esmail Kowsari, have warned that, if Israeli attacks continue, Tehran will not only exit the non-proliferation treaty (thus tearing up its last fig-leaf of nuclear restraint), but will also close the Strait of Hormuz. That’s

Kunwar Khuldune Shahid

Why Muslim-majority countries have turned against Iran

Swift condemnations have poured in from the Muslim world castigating Israel for bombing Iran. The UAE condemned Israel ‘in the strongest terms’, Jordan spoke up against Israeli attacks ‘threatening regional stability’, Saudi Arabia denounced ‘blatant Israeli aggressions’, Turkey espoused ‘an end to Israel’s banditry’, while various Muslim diplomatic groups, including the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), demanded ‘international action’ against the Jewish State. But cloaked underneath this predictably farcical rhetoric of ‘Muslim unity’ are the evolving interests of many of these states, which today align seamlessly with Israel. Saudi Arabia has described ‘evil’ Iran as the ‘head of the snake’ In Israel’s immediate neighbourhood, Lebanese officials are blocking the depleted Iranian jihadist proxy Hezbollah from taking action against Israel. Meanwhile, the Ahmed al-Sharaa-led Syria,

Thursday

19 Jun 2025

Isabel Hardman

Labour whip resigns over disability benefit cuts

This evening, the Labour MP Vicky Foxcroft has resigned as a government whip over the disability benefit cuts. In a letter to Keir Starmer, she writes that she is quitting the frontbench ‘with a heavy heart’, adding: Foxcroft’s resignation suggests that the rebellion over disability benefit cuts really is quite serious I have wrestled with whether I should resign or remain in the government and fight for change from within. Sadly it now seems that we are not going to get the changes I desperately wanted to see. I therefore tender my resignation as I know I will not be able to do the job that is required or me

Steerpike

Poll: public want care home opt out for assisted dying

It’s a big day in parliament tomorrow. Both sides of the assisted dying debate are gearing up for a crunch Commons clash when Kim Leadbeater’s Bill returns for its Third Reading. One key flashpoint in its recently-completed Report Stage was when Rebecca Paul’s amendment to allow hospices to opt out of providing assisted dying was voted down by Leadbeater and 278 other MPs. Now, Mr S has got his hands on some polling which shows that Paul’s position is backed by nearly two-thirds of the British public (quelle surprise). According to a Whitestone Insights poll of 2,091 adults commissioned by the Scottish Council on Human Bioethics, 64 per cent of

Steerpike

Watch: SNP housing secretary slips up on social housing

SNP MSP Mairi McAllan appears to be rated rather highly by First Minister John Swinney, who created an entirely new job for her on her return to Holyrood from maternity leave – but the Scottish government’s new housing secretary hasn’t had the smoothest start to the job. A rather awkward interview with STV this week highlighted the Cabinet minister isn’t quite as on top of her brief as she should be. Oh dear… The SNP claims on its website that ‘since taking office, we have delivered 96,750 affordable homes, nearly 67,000 of which were for social rent’. But on how many people are currently waiting for a social home in

Jonathan Spyer

Only regime change will solve the problem of Iran

The Middle East currently stands at a crossroads. The future geopolitical balance and perhaps also the historical direction of the region depend on the outcome of the war currently underway between Israel and Iran. With the US poised on the cusp of possible intervention, it’s important to grasp the nature and dimension of what is at stake. To understand the weight of the present moment, it is necessary to accurately define the nature of the current conflict and its roots. This is a war not only or primarily between states. It is a conflict between systems of governance and between rival visions of the region. The objective needs to

Steerpike

JK Rowling blasts the National as ‘anti-women’

Scotland’s self-identifying ‘newspaper’ is at it again – and this time it has provoked the wrath of renowned writer JK Rowling. The National has chosen to dunk, yet again, on women’s rights organisation Sex Matters, dubbing it an ‘anti-trans campaign group’ which is ‘threatening’ legal action after it raised concerns about how the Scottish government is – or, more to the point, is not – implementing the recent Supreme Court judgment that backed the biological definition of a woman. But feminist-in-chief Rowling has had enough – and was quick to slam the Nat-obsessed tabloid as ‘anti-woman’. Ouch. Taking to Twitter, Rowling defended women’s rights groups – the piece is concerning

Lara Prendergast

Starmer at sea, Iran on the brink & the importance of shame

46 min listen

Starmer’s war zone: the Prime Minister’s perilous position This week, our new political editor Tim Shipman takes the helm and, in his cover piece, examines how Keir Starmer can no longer find political refuge in foreign affairs. After a period of globe-trotting in which the Prime Minister was dubbed ‘never-here Keir’, Starmer’s handling of international matters had largely been seen as a strength. But as tensions escalate in the Iran–Israel conflict, global events are beginning to create serious challenges. They threaten not only to derail the government’s economic plans but also to deepen divisions within the Labour party, particularly between the leadership and much of the parliamentary party. Tim joined

James Heale

The understudied importance of political slogans

‘Make America Great Again’. ‘Take Back Control’. ‘Yes We Can’. There are many political slogans – but only a handful are truly memorable. Done properly, they can win votes, define narratives and shape the great issues of our times. Yet, oddly, there are few, if any, publications which centre on election slogans – despite a plethora of political books being published since 2016. Now, a new work seeks to rectify this deficiency. ‘Eight Words That Changed The World‘ centres on the specific words which help political parties win elections. Chris Bruni-Lowe, a veteran election strategist, has created an impressive database of 20,000 slogans from two centuries of elections across the

Tim Shipman

The inside story of how Labour is dealing with Iran

16 min listen

This week, our new political editor Tim Shipman takes the helm and, in his cover piece, gives us the inside track on how Labour is dealing with Iran, Donald Trump and the prospect of escalating war in the Middle East. He writes that this could be the moment when all of Keir Starmer’s chickens come home to roost: his well-curated international image is at risk of crumbling as global crises present greater challenges; his hands are tied by legal advice from the controversial Lord Hermer; the Chagos Islands are being drawn into the US’s retaliation plans; and there remains the looming threat of backbench rebellion over Labour’s national security strategy.

Steerpike

NSPCC refuses to apologise to Braverman over grooming gangs letter

Baroness Casey’s landmark review into Britain’s grooming gangs contained some truly horrific revelations. The damning audit found that disproportionate numbers of Asian men were responsible for child sexual exploitation gangs. Shockingly, it revealed that the authorities failed to crack down on these men for fear of being racist. It has prompted outrage from those who had been vilified for suggesting particular groups of people were more likely to be perpetrators than others – and Mr S is curious about whether the organisations who were quick to cry racism will now retract their criticism. The NSPCC signed a joint letter in which they huffed and puffed about comments made by Suella

Michael Simmons

Why the Bank of England may welcome job losses

Interest rates have been held at 4.25 per cent. The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted by six to three to hold rates after cutting them in May. The move mirrors that of the US Federal Reserve, which yesterday held rates for the fourth time in a row. Their decision came despite badgering from President Trump, desperate for a rate cut as inflation remains hard to tame and forecasts predict sluggish growth and rising unemployment. In Britain, the cost of borrowing on credit cards rose to its highest ever level on record in the second quarter of the year, according to Moneyfacts – despite the rate cut from

Ross Clark

Three simple ways to stamp out benefits fraud

According to official figures from the Department for Work and Pensions, benefits fraud costs the taxpayer £9.5 billion a year. But does anyone really believe it isn’t higher, given the massive rise in people apparently so incapacitated by poor mental health that they are incapable of working? It transpires that Liz Kendall’s efforts to save the taxpayer £5 billion a year will do nothing of the sort. A government impact assessment estimates that the benefits bill will actually rise by £8 billion over the next few years as the claimant count increases by 750,000. And even Kendall’s reforms may end up being watered down if Labour backbenchers have their way. Enough