Politics

Read about the latest political news, views and analysis

Rupert Shortt

The revolutionary meaning of Christmas

As stale as it is flawed, the Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee’s view of Christmas nonetheless encapsulates secularist scepticism in revealing ways. Published three years ago, her broadside is a variation on complaints voiced every December in allied quarters for many decades. ‘Much as I dislike most Christian belief, the iconography of star, stable, manger, kings and shepherds to greet a new baby is a universal emblem of humanity . . . But the rest of it, I find loathsome. Why wear the symbol of a barbaric torture? Martyrdom is a repugnant virtue, so too the imposition of perpetual guilt.’ The Christian conviction is that God remakes human nature by defenceless love, rather

Druin Burch

The welcome tyranny of Christmas cheer

In 1946, buoyed by post-War optimism, the World Health Organisation adopted a famous definition. Health, it declared, was more than the mere absence of disease or infirmity, it was ‘a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being’. A beautiful and tyrannical idea, sentimentally idealistic and setting an impossible standard for human lives. In these qualities of cheerful and unreasonable despotism, it resembles Christmas. Our wish to make kids happy at Christmas turns us into untiring fifth columnists of festive tyranny On the first of November, collecting my cardboard cup of coffee in Costa, I noticed it was decorated with a festive scene. I scowled, which comes naturally, but felt

Marcus Solarz Hendriks

Prepare for ‘unpeace’ in the Middle East

On several occasions this year, US President Donald Trump has suggested that, thanks to his dealmaking prowess, long-coveted ‘peace in the Middle East’ may well be nigh. Yet 2026 is more likely to witness ‘unpeace’ in the region, as the long tail of the Iran-Israel conflict creates further instability and impedes the construction of a more stable order. ‘Unpeace’ is an Anglo-Saxon concept which describes the liminal point between open conflict and stability. The perennial cycle of war and peace that characterised the Early Medieval period would certainly be familiar to those living in the Middle East today. Equally, the Anglo-Saxons would recognise the persistent violence – in Gaza, the

Stephen Daisley

Starmer has nothing going for him

Why would anyone support this government? Keir Starmer has a near-invincible majority, a divided opposition and 14 years of Tory-managed decline against which to define his project. Problem is he doesn’t have a project, or a plan, or, at this rate, a policy.  Tim Shipman reveals that Labour will U-turn on inheritance tax changes which have been branded a ‘family farm tax’. The threshold will increase from £1 million to £2.5m, or £5m if there is a surviving spouse, which addresses many of the objections raised by farmers.  It joins a growing litany of policies jettisoned by a government that takes fright at public and especially backbench opposition. Labour has reversed course

Tuesday

Jonathan Sacerdoti

Iran has a ceaseless obsession with Israel

When Benjamin Netanyahu arrives in Florida at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in a few days’ time, near the top of his agenda will be a sober accounting of Iranian military activity and what it may yet presage. He will brief the President on a sustained sequence of Iranian ballistic-missile drills conducted across multiple regions, the visible movement of missile units, launchers and support infrastructure by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and Israel’s assessment that these actions serve a dual purpose. They resemble routine exercises in form, yet replicate with unnerving fidelity the preparations that would precede an actual strike. At the same time, they reflect a discernible Iranian shift toward

Tim Shipman

Starmer caves to the farmers

The government has delivered an early Christmas present to farmers by modifying the new rules on inheritance tax. Or that’s one way of looking at it. The other is that it’s a huge political U-turn, the latest of many, after months of digging in and insisting there was nothing to see here. Following talks last week between Keir Starmer and Tom Bradshaw, the president of the National Farmers Union, the government has increased the threshold at which IHT will apply from £1 million to £2.5 million. It allows spouses to pass on £5 million worth of assets between them before being hit by inheritance tax. The number of estates affected

Gareth Roberts

Where is the pop culture rage at Keir Starmer?

Keir Starmer is unpopular. You may have noticed this from his record-breakingly low approval ratings. The weekend just gone brought pungent public confirmation: booing at the mention of his name at the Royal Variety performance at the Albert Hall and a spirited chant among the crowd at the World Darts Championship at Alexandra Palace, which threw an accusation of onanism on to the critical palette. This is not a new phenomenon. You will remember that George Osborne was booed at the Olympics. And older readers will recall that Margaret Thatcher’s name was greeted with hisses and rumbles even in politer times. But above the street level, in the broad flow

Matthew Bowles

A Green Christmas would be more awful than you could imagine

It is remarkable how a country can adjust to diminished expectations. Think of Japan post-Fukushima, or even post-war Britain under rationing. By December 2029, Britain, governed by the Green-Your Party coalition under prime minister Zack Polanski, will have quickly learned how to make do with very little. Let’s wind forward four years. Four years from now, Polanski’s new government has spent its initial months in power congratulating itself on an historic decision to decommission all North Sea oil and gas sites and accelerate the phase-out of nuclear power. ‘A Christmas gift to the planet,’ ministers call it as they do the rounds on Good Morning Britain, Newsnight and PoliticsJOE. Yet, energy, it

Lucy Dunn

Stephen Flynn: Reform can learn from the SNP

Stephen Flynn’s Westminster group may consist of only nine MPs, but the SNP has still managed to make its mark in London. Flynn’s performance in Prime Minister’s Questions – when his group get a question – has marked him out as a savvy political operator and earned him grudging respect from politicians from all sides of the Chamber. The SNP has used parliamentary procedure to pile pressure on Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour government – the Gaza vote last year, for example, saw the PM suspend six politicians, one of whom has now gone on to form her own new party. Ahead of an election year in Scotland, the SNP has

Lucy Dunn

Stephen Flynn on Reform, Sturgeon & a second referendum

26 min listen

The SNP’s Westminster leader Stephen Flynn, MP for Aberdeen South, joins Lucy Dunn for a special episode to assess the place of the SNP in British politics as we approach the end of 2025. The SNP were ‘decimated’ to just nine MPs at the 2024 general election – yet, if polls are to be believed, they are on course for another record win in the 2026 Holyrood elections. But can the SNP really frame this election as a ‘fresh start’? Flynn explains what he made of the ‘bleak fallout’ of 2024, why he is standing for election to Holyrood next year and what he makes of SNP heavyweights such as

Monday

James Heale

Is Labour's 'war on farmers' cranking up a gear?

After a difficult year for No. 10, what better way to end it than by unveiling a nice package of feel-good animal welfare measures? Ministers have drip-fed a series of announcements over the past 48 hours, setting out plans and consultations for 2026. These include ending the use of hen cages, outlawing electric shock collars and, most controversially, banning trail hunting. In a nation of animal lovers, much of this will go down well with the British public. Inevitably, though, such law changes are not as simple as they might seem. This afternoon, Downing Street has been facing questions about fears that British farmers are going to be undercut from

Lance Forman

What my cod's roe saga reveals about British decline

If you want a miniature parable of British decline – a sort of Aesop’s fable for the age of the over-regulated state – allow me to present one and a half tonnes of perfectly good cod’s roe, currently trapped in a bureaucratic purgatory of our own making. My company smokes fish. We have done so for more than a century, which is to say we have some experience in identifying what is edible and what is not. Last October, as we’ve done many times before, we purchased £20,000 worth of Icelandic cod’s roes via our long-standing Norwegian supplier. They were processed in an approved EU plant, stored in an approved

Sam Leith

What binds the celebrities featured in the Epstein files

The new naughty list just dropped, as the kids say these days. The pre-Christmas release of the Epstein files, or at least some of them – elves heavily redacted – has brought much-needed good cheer to all of us. Not every red face on Christmas afternoon will be down to port and brandy this year. And the cast of characters – Mick Jagger, Bill Gates, Bill Clinton, Michael Jackson, Richard Branson and all the rest – sounds like the guest list for the worst Graham Norton Christmas Special ever. The release of the files as they stand, though, seems to me to add fuel to all sorts of conspiracy theories.

Ed Husain

How Britain can take on the Islamist threat 

I am writing this article from abroad because I do not currently feel safe in Britain, the country of my birth and where I grew up. Why? Because I have written books and articles exposing and warning about the danger of Islamism in the UK. I am not alone in feeling threatened. Many of our media organisations, universities, charities, government departments and judges live in fear of offending an extremist underworld, which has been strengthened by the disaster of the Israel-Gaza war. The Bondi beach attack is only its latest manifestation. Ten years ago, the Conservative government was willing to confront Islamist extremism when it commissioned a review into the Muslim Brotherhood.

Ross Clark

Would promising to rejoin the EU save Labour?

Could Labour, under a new leader, go into the next election with a manifesto promising to start negotiations to rejoin the EU? It is beginning to look like a real possibility given Wes Streeting’s assertion that Britain should rejoin the customs union. If Britain were to become part of the customs union, it would make questionable sense to remain outside the single market, and if Britain were to rejoin the single market, it could be sold as little more than a tidying-up exercise to apply for full membership of the EU.   Streeting’s remarks have left Keir Starmer – who spent months in opposition calling for a second referendum which he

Freddy Gray

Why is the West ignoring Jimmy Lai?

15 min listen

Father Robert Sirico joins Freddy Gray to discuss the imprisonment of Jimmy Lai – the British passport holder and Hong Kong media tycoon facing life in jail for opposing the Chinese Communist Party. Sirico reflects on Lai’s rise from poverty, his Catholic faith, the collapse of freedoms in Hong Kong, and why the West has failed to mount a serious campaign for his release.

Jonny Ford

How a late lunch can save Britain

Britain doesn’t have a productivity problem. We have a productivity mystery. The financial crisis was 17 years ago but still output per hour remains stagnant. The UK economy is predicted to grow at a slower rate than previously expected from next year, according to a November forecast by the Office for Budget Responsibility. It lowered its growth estimates to 1.4 per cent in 2026 and 1.5 per cent for the following four years. If they’re right, it could leave a huge hole in the public purse. No wonder economists and politicians are scratching their heads. But there might be a straightforward solution to Britain’s productivity problem: more workers need to opt

David Werdiger

Bondi Beach and Australia’s failed multiculturalism

I knew two of the people murdered at Bondi Beach. That beach has always felt like Australia distilled: sun-bleached, open, and unserious in the best way. It is where the country goes to exhale. You don’t brace yourself at Bondi Beach. You assume the day will end the way it began. My late father once thought that too. A Holocaust survivor, he arrived in Australia after the war with just a suitcase in his hand and a number on his arm. Australia took him in without interrogation of his past loyalties or beliefs, expecting only that whatever horrors he had fled would not be imported here. He honoured that bargain,

Julie Burchill

It's hard to take the Palestine Action hunger strikers seriously

The phrase ‘the silly led by the sinister’ was originally used by the late, singularly great Christopher Hitchens to describe the ‘Not In My Name’ anti-war coalition of the early 2000s. But in the spirit of the ‘if you’re going to steal, steal from the best’ quote generally attributed to Pablo Picasso, I’ve used it about various loony-tunes types since then; the extreme eco-lobby come to mind in particular, with their gnarled humanity-hating Malthusian theoreticians and their youthful soup-flinging activists. But on their recent showing, I don’t think it fits anyone as well as those Hamas maniacs who want to see the Middle East purged of every Jew – and

Stephen Daisley

America is increasingly worried about free speech in the UK

Of the many political headaches Keir Starmer does not need right now, further American warnings that Britain is suppressing speech are pretty high on the list.  Unfortunately for the Prime Minister, another prominent US public official has voiced concerns about a crackdown on freedom of expression in the UK – and a Supreme Court justice no less.  Justice Amy Coney Barrett was interviewed on Sunday’s edition of Bishop Barron Presents, a podcast hosted by Catholic prelate and public intellectual Robert Barron, bishop of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester. During a discussion of the purpose of law, the risks of using legislation and courts to inculcate virtue, and the maintenance of pluralism, Justice Barrett

Michael Gove

With Michael Gove

30 min listen

Surely needing no introduction to Spectator listeners, Michael Gove has been a staple of British politics for almost two decades. As a Christmas treat, he joins Lara Prendergast to talk about his memories of food including: the ‘brain food’ he grew up on in Aberdeen, his favourite Oxford pubs and the dining culture of 1980s Fleet Street. He also shares his memorable moments from his time in politics from dining with Elizabeth Hurley and Donald Trump’s first state visit to his reflections on food policy as a former Education and also Environment Secretary. Plus – what has he made of the Spectator’s parties since joining as editor? Produced by Patrick

Sunday

Melanie McDonagh

Banning trail hunting is part of Labour’s endless culture war

If you actually wanted to create a law that would genuinely transform animal welfare in the UK, the sane approach would be to follow the example of the organisation Compassion in World Farming. They call for farming practices that ‘enable animals to engage in their natural behaviours as identified by scientific research’ (not that we need much scientific research to know what makes chickens and pigs happy). We would then have to pay and protect farmers to provide that kind of husbandry. It would be a very big, very expensive ask. The provisions in the current animal welfare bill banning colony cages for hens and farrowing pens fall way short

Peter Lilley

There’s nothing Christian about trapping people on benefits

What in Heaven’s name should we do about the benefit bill? And what on earth can be done about it? Both those questions were recently addressed by Kemi Badenoch’s thoughtful Wilberforce lecture on ‘The influence of Christianity on Conservative thinking.’ In the lecture, Badenoch asserted that ‘work is good for the soul as well as the economy’; affirmed ‘the Christian recognition that we all have duties to ourselves, our families, and communities’; recognised that ‘the state matters – no decent society abandons those with severe needs’ and quoted St Paul’s epistle to Timothy that: ‘Anyone that does not provide for his own household … is worse than an unbeliever.’ Hard-working people