Politics

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

Wednesday

Harry Warren

The SNP’s nonsensical Covid book ban

Why is the SNP banning books? On 5 January the Scottish government introduced a strict new lockdown in response to the spread of a more infectious strain of Covid-19. As a student at the University of Edinburgh, one particular restriction has baffled me ever since. Unlike in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, the Scottish government decided to ban students from reading, borrowing or even touching books in their university libraries. Even as fears rose over the rapidly spreading ‘Kent’ variant, it seemed that this policy lacked any scientific foundation. The Scottish government’s explanation for its book ban is baffling, and seems to be just copied and pasted advice from public

Nick Tyrone Nick Tyrone

The census is the latest Brexit battleground

The end of the Brexit wars have left some Remainers feeling redundant. A few are now turning their attention to a new target: the census. The small group of voters who are reluctant to accept the result of the referendum are responding to the question asking ‘How would you describe your national identity?’, not with ‘British’, or ‘English’ but, with the answer, ‘European’. As a Remainer, this strikes me as somewhat embarrassing. For a start, of course, ‘European’ is not a nationality. But that small point aside, how is this going to convince Brexit voters that their votes were a mistake? The idea seems to be that if you state your nationality on

Ed Shaw

What would a conversion therapy ban mean for gay Christians like me?

As a gay Christian, I’m worried about the calls to ban ‘gay conversion therapy’. Of course, it’s right that gay people are protected and some of the practices referred to as conversion therapy are deeply wrong. But there’s a danger that  badly-drafted legislation could make life impossible for those working in churches when gay people come to us for help. I’ve worked on the staff of Anglican churches for twenty years. Over that time the people I have served have asked to talk and pray with me about their families, workplaces, dreams, failures, marriages, singleness, finances, addictions, sexualities, gender – and more. I have heard it all, but have welcomed

Benedict Spence

The art of the public apology

If your genetic code survived the Pleistocene epoch, and prospered sufficiently that you find yourself reading this, I feel I ought to warn you that you are in great danger. For though the woolly marmoset and sabre-toothed sloth may be extinct, a new apex predator has emerged: human beings, or more specifically, other human beings. In this latest evolutionary cycle, they have turned cannibalistic, traversing great swathes of the webosphere at high speed to feast on their favoured delicacy: you and your opinions. Far from becoming a more civilised species, we are in the midst of an epidemic of cancellations. We have no dinner dates to bail on, so we

Tuesday

David Davis

David Davis: Scotland – A deficit of power and accountability

For the past few months, Scotland has been transfixed by the Holyrood inquiry seeking the truth of what went wrong with the investigations into the former First Minister, Alex Salmond.  The inquiry is investigating matters of the most serious kind. Serious for the proper handling of sexual harassment complaints in Scotland. Serious for the accountability of those in positions of power, including the Scottish Government’s Permanent Secretary and its Lord Advocate. And serious, if the former First Minister’s claims hold any water, for the future of the present First Minister’s administration of Scotland. These matters are unquestionably something that should properly be dealt with in Holyrood. But Holyrood has great difficulties exposing what went

Gus Carter Gus Carter

MPs question Johnson’s plan for Global Britain

Boris Johnson still has a journalist’s ear for snappy phrases — levelling up, an oven-ready Brexit, Global Britain. The PM attempted to flesh out one of those headlines on Tuesday with his integrated review — so called because it ties together foreign and defence policy alongside trade and international aid.  The 100-page document — designed to set the course for ‘Global Britain’ over the next ten years — identifies Russia and China as the UK’s two biggest international challenges. The former is described as an ‘active threat’, a dangerous rogue state, while the East Asian country is seen instead as a ‘systemic challenge’. The position is clear: China is the

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Is Boris being too soft on China?

11 min listen

Starting ‘a new Cold War on China’ would be ‘a mistake’, Boris Johnson said today as he set out the government’s integrated defence review. The military reassessment – the biggest in decades – also outlined plans to lift the UK’s cap on the number of nuclear warheads from 180 to 260. Why does the review matter, and is the PM being too soft on China? Isabel Hardman speaks to James Forsyth and Katy Balls.

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Why the hospital money row is going to the wire

The row over the NHS pay rise is taking up most of the political attention when it comes to the health service at the moment. But it’s not the only – or indeed the biggest – problem facing the politicians and officials involved. This morning Matt Hancock appeared before the Health Select Committee, and after being grilled on the proposed pay increase, found himself having to explain why, with just 16 days to go, hospitals still have no idea what their Covid-related funding is going to look like for the next six months and beyond. The NHS budget for 2021/22 still has not been signed off. Hancock insisted that the

Jade McGlynn

Boris’s Russia review will delight Putin

The strategy outlined within the integrated review lacks the urgency, agility, and need for ambiguity needed to take on the country it deems our ‘most acute threat’: Russia. Described as the ‘biggest review of our foreign, defence, security and development policy since the end of the Cold War’, in fact — when it comes to Russia — much of the IR reads more like a literature review than a 21st Century ‘Long Telegram’. Russia is referenced only fourteen times directly, and then with a great deal more descriptive analysis than comprehensive plans of action. Much of the content is welcome: one section deals with Russia under the new term of

Ross Clark Ross Clark

Don’t blame the EU for the latest Covid vaccine clash

Far from subsiding, as it seemed to be doing last week, the European war over the AstraZeneca vaccine has intensified. Over the past few weeks, EU leaders have swung from accusing the company – and Britain – of hoarding the vaccine and failing to supply it to EU countries, to claiming that it is ineffective, back to accusing us of hoarding it again. But the decision by several European countries to suspend rollout of the vaccine over fears of blood clots is the most serious challenge yet. This time, however, the blame cannot be laid at the door of the EU – the European Medicines Agency continues to declare the

Johnny Patterson

Boris’s China plan is a missed opportunity

From Brexit to China, ‘cakeism’ – the idea that it is possible to govern without making hard choices – appears to be the defining philosophy of Boris Johnson’s government. A hawk to the hawks and a dove to the doves; the Prime Minister wants to be all things to all men. The result is that the government have so far failed to make the hard decisions needed when it comes to China. But as with lockdown in March 2020, dither and delay is only going to increase the difficulty and trouble ahead down the road. The publication of the integrated review today makes this painfully clear. The report’s most significant passage is buried

Patrick O’Flynn Patrick O'Flynn

We’ll miss Cressida Dick when she’s gone

To all those – from Left and Right – joining in the clamour for Cressida Dick to resign as Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, a pertinent question hangs in the air: Who would you hire to replace her and what good do you think it would do? If you are on the old-fashioned right of politics, you’d probably have in mind a figure in the mould of the no-nonsense former Commissioner Lord Stevens, a ‘copper’s copper’. If you are on the liberal left, you are much more likely to demand a ‘Common Purpose’ clone, steeped in the fashionable jargon of the College of Policing and identifying structural racism and non-crime

Kristina Murkett

Undercover police in nightclubs is a terrible idea

It has been a dreadful week for the police. A police officer has been charged with the kidnap and murder of Sarah Everard; officers badly mishandled the Clapham Common vigil, drawing political criticism from all sides; there have been numerous calls for Commissioner Cressida Dick to resign; and now another officer involved in the search operation for Sarah Everard is under investigation for sending his colleagues a graphic meme about violence against women. In an attempt to get a grip on the situation, Boris Johnson has announced a new plan to protect women: bars and nightclubs will be patrolled by plain clothes officers to identify predatory men. There will also

Steerpike Steerpike

Coming soon: red wall by-election

Things are not going well for Labour’s Keir Starmer. After yesterday’s polling showed his first negative satisfaction ratings and a seven point Conservative lead, today brings news that Hartlepool MP Mike Hill has resigned from the Commons to trigger a by election deep in red wall territory. Given the suspension of last May’s mayoral and local elections, this will be the first time Boris Johnson’s popularity will be tested with the northern voters who gave him his majority in December 2019. While the timing of the contest is yet to be set, CCHQ will be licking their lips at Hill’s 3,595 majority. Ladbrokes have the party as odds-on favourites to win the Hartlepool

Steerpike Steerpike

Caprice the Covid seer

Today marks a special anniversary for those who have been following the course of the coronavirus since it first reared its ugly head in Wuhan. Exactly one year ago, arguably the UK’s finest scientific mind managed to predict how the UK would end up responding to the disease – weeks and months ahead of the scientists on Sage. This person wasn’t an academic or expert, however, but the businesswoman and model, Caprice. Speaking on the Jeremy Vine show, Caprice argued that we should close the borders and quarantine arrivals, wear masks and have a short, sharp lockdown to stop the disease before the outbreak got any worse. Caprice cited the

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Boris Johnson’s blueprint for ‘Global Britain’

Boris Johnson will today unveil the government’s integrated review which promises to set out the blueprint for ‘Global Britain’. The 100-page document – titled ‘Global Britain in a Competitive Age’ – has been heralded as the most radical reassessment of Britain’s place in the world since the Cold War. The Prime Minister is due to unveil the plans in the Commons to MPs this afternoon – but in the meantime the document has been leaked to several papers.  With Sino-scepticism building in the Tory party, the review appears to go a step further than many backbenchers would like So, what’s next for Global Britain? The aspect which is already leading to

Joanna Rossiter Joanna Rossiter

Why the British love Henry Hoover

What’s so endearing about Henry? It’s been the question on everybody’s lips since he spectacularly photobombed the unveiling of the new Downing Street press room. The friendly faced vacuum cleaner still manages to compete with the likes of Dyson forty years after he was first created. Made in Chard, Somerset, with his bowler hat shaped ‘cap’ and smiley face, Henry is arguably one of the last remaining bastions of British eccentricity.   Henry is that rare thing in British culture – a domestic appliance that transcends class. As Grayson Perry pointed out in his excellent series All in the Best Possible Taste, the British have a propensity to imbue ordinary household

Steerpike Steerpike

The EU-AstraZeneca row: a complete timeline

Oh dear. This morning Sweden has become the latest European country to suspend use of the AstraZeneca-Oxford University vaccine. It follows reports that some people have suffered blood clots after being given the jab despite AstraZeneca’s data showing there have only been 37 such reports among the 17 million people across Europe who have been given the vaccine. Yet while some European health ministries across the continent are raising concerns about its effectiveness, others are lambasting AstraZeneca for failing to deliver enough jabs. French Europe minister Clement Beaune appeared on Radio Classique this morning and raised the prospect of the EU actually suing the company over breach of contract. Citing

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Labour’s awkward opposition to the policing bill

MPs will continue debating the second reading of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill today, with a vote later. Last night’s debate gave us a pretty good idea of what the legislation’s progress through the Commons is going to look like: it is going to be far more partisan and noisy than anything Parliament has seen in the past year. There was a battle of interventions from Conservative and Labour backbenchers as their own sides set out their positions on the bill. Tory MPs had clearly come primed to argue that voting against the legislation would be a mistake for Labour, while Opposition MPs were busy pointing out that

Campbell Gunn

Is Nicola Sturgeon’s loyalty her big weakness?

Loyalty is an important virtue. Indeed, it was loyalty to my former boss which led me to offer to act as Alex Salmond’s spokesman during his Court of Session battle with the Scottish Government. It was, at the time, a thankless task, trying to persuade sceptical former media colleagues that the whole affair was a stitch-up. Those same journalists don’t require much persuasion today. Once the Scottish Government belatedly conceded the errors in their flawed complaints procedure, at a cost to the taxpayer of at least a million pounds, and the accusations against Salmond were thrown out by a criminal court, the repercussions began.  The Scottish Parliamentary Inquiry into how