Politics

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

Saturday

5 Jul 2025

Labour’s first year (in review) with Tim Shipman & Quentin Letts

22 min listen

Cast your mind back a year. Labour had just won a storming majority, promising ‘change’ to a stale Tory party that was struggling to govern. But have things got any better? In the magazine this week, Tim Shipman writes the cover piece to mark the occasion of Labour’s first year in government. He takes readers through three chapters: from Sue Gray (freebies scandal and winter fuel cut) to Morgan McSweeney (a degree of professionalisation and dealing with the Donald) to the point at which ‘things fall apart’ (assisted dying, the welfare vote and Reeves’s tears). On the podcast, Tim is joined by The Spectator’s James Heale as well as sketchwriter

Kunwar Khuldune Shahid

Islam has a rich history of depicting Muhammad

Journalists at LeMan are in fear for their lives after the Turkish satirical magazine published cartoons appearing to depict the Prophet Muhammad. The publication’s editor-in-chief Tuncay Akgun denied that the picture showed Muhammad, but his pleas have fallen on deaf ears. A mob gathered outside the magazine’s office in Istanbul on Monday. In the days since, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has slammed the cartoon as a ‘vile provocation’, and Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan described the image as an ‘immoral…attack against our Prophet’. But LeMan‘s critics appear to be blind to Islam’s rich tradition of depicting Muhammad. The idea of a categorical ban on drawings of Muhammad appears to be

Caleb Quinley

Myanmar’s junta is losing its grip on power

A Myanmar military jet continued to fly sorties just over our hidden frontline hospital. Every time it screamed low over the tree line, the entire clinic would crouch down and pray that this wouldn’t be the strike that hit us. These hospitals are prime targets; the military has no qualms about bombing groups of wounded fighters and civilians alike. Myanmar’s civil war has reached its most volatile and fragmented stage since the coup I was on the frontlines in Karenni State, at the township of Bawlakhe, where the resistance was launching a large, multi-pronged offensive to seize one of the most strategically important towns in the region. The two main

Friday

4 Jul 2025

Tim Shipman

Revealed: Morgan McSweeney’s memo to the PM on how Labour could fail

In this week’s cover story, I revealed details of a memo written by Morgan McSweeney, the prime minister’s chief of staff, written in May last year, before the general election, which predicted exactly how Labour would struggle in power, because of its historical tendency to want to ‘change the world’, rather than focusing on re-election in the way Conservative governments do. Central to this uncanny act of clairvoyance was the insight that even a large majority (at the time the memo was written, possible but not certain) would not insulate Starmer from the tendency of Labour MPs to drift into activism and campaigning against their own government, something we saw

Svitlana Morenets

Trump’s weapons pause will help Putin win

Vladimir Putin launched one of the largest air assaults of the war overnight, just hours after admitting to Donald Trump that Russia would not abandon its war aims in Ukraine. Some 550 missiles and drones were fired over more than 11 hours, most targeting Kyiv. Residents who endured another sleepless night were advised to keep their windows shut as smoke and dust from the blasts turned the air toxic. The civilian death toll would have been catastrophic had 90 per cent of the incoming missiles and drones not been intercepted. But Ukrainians will not be able to count on such protection for much longer as the Trump Administration halted air

Freddy Gray

Did Condé Nast shape the world?

35 min listen

In this episode of Americano, Freddy Gray speaks with New York Times writer and debut author Michael Grynbaum about his new book Empire of the Elite, a sweeping history of Condé Nast – the media empire that once dictated American taste, fashion, and celebrity. From Anna Wintour’s carefully staged exit to the vanished world of glossy magazine grandeur, Grynbaum charts how the institution that once crowned cultural royalty is struggling to stay relevant in an era of TikTok stars and Substack columnists. On the podcast they explore the rise of celebrity culture, the influence of British identity on Condé’s editorial direction, and the complex relationship between Donald Trump and the

Tom Harwood

Why is TfL’s boss attacking me for cleaning up his filthy trains?

If at first you don’t succeed; deny, deflect, attack. This is apparently the mantra of Sadiq Khan and his Transport for London (TfL) Commissioner, Andy Lord. This week both men hit out at volunteers like me and my friends at the Looking for Growth (LfG) movement, who in recent weeks have taken it upon ourselves to make the state of certain Tube lines ever so slightly less terrible. Anyone who has travelled on the Bakerloo or Central line in London over the last six months will have seen the state of the rolling stock. The clear deterioration of standards, and surging sea of graffiti tags. Astonishing. Sadiq Khan says @lfg_uk

Steerpike

Spectator summer party 2025, in pictures

It’s been a tumultuous first year for Sir Keir Starmer, and with backbenchers and opposition politicians alike becoming far more vocal, where better to take the temperature of Westminster then at The Spectator’s annual summer party? The party, always in early July, is typically a scene of political drama: it comes just days after Labour’s latest U-turn on Labour and the Chancellor’s tears in the Commons. From Sir Paul Marshall to the SNP’s Westminster leader Stephen Flynn, there are a number of notable faces. And despite all the Labour drama, Mr S has noted a Labour presence while Reform UK and the Conservatives turn out in force. Several Cabinet ministers appeared, including

Lucy Dunn

Corbyn is back! … or is he?

13 min listen

Some sore heads on Coffee House Shots this morning, after last night’s Spectator summer party. But while we were having fun, a drama was brewing in the Labour party after it was finally confirmed that Jeremy Corbyn is starting a new left-wing party… or is he? The news was broken last night by another MP: Zarah Sultana, a long-time admirer of Corbyn. Elected as a Labour MP in 2019, she lost the whip last July for voting to lift the two-child-benefit cap. However, after discussions with figures within the Labour party, it has become apparent that Sultana took many of those involved completely by surprise. She has, in the words

Steerpike

Watch: Steve Coogan’s accidental Partridge moment

Mr Steerpike is a fan of Accidental Partridge moments, and this one was back of the net. Lefty actor Steve Coogan popped up on BBC Breakfast this morning to talk up his appearance at this weekend’s Co-op congress in Rochdale. Amid swipes at the government and big business, the comedian was becoming visibly exasperated by presenters Charlie Stayt and Naga Munchetty who kept interrupting with inane and repetitive questions about how cooperatives work. So it was unfortunate that with his attempt to define the concept, things took a sharp turn to the right. Giving the example of tenant collectives, Coogan said: ‘When you act as individuals, you have no power. If you’ve got cockroaches and

James Heale

Corbyn allies blindsided by Zarah Sultana

After months of discussion, it has finally been confirmed that Jeremy Corbyn is starting a new left-wing party. The news was broken last night by another MP: Zarah Sultana, a longtime admirer of Corbyn. Elected as a Labour MP in 2019, she lost the whip last July for voting to lift the two-child-benefit cap. This week, she was reprimanded in the House for declaring ‘We are all Palestine Action’ – which will shortly be proscribed as a terrorist organisation, following the Brize Norton attack. With readmission to Labour ‘clearly impossible’, in the words of government aide, Sultana decided that now was the time to announce her next steps. In a message

Stephen Pollard

Corbyn and Sultana’s party launch gets off to the worst possible start

There could be no more deliciously appropriate start to the new party supposedly co-led by Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana, than the news that the ex-Labour leader is said to be ‘furious and bewildered’ that it was launched without him even knowing that he is a member of the party, let alone that he is its leader. Although I’m not sure it is really news that Jeremy Corbyn – who has yet to comment on the new party – is either furious or bewildered, since he has spent his entire career being both. Although I’m not sure it is really news that Jeremy Corbyn – who has yet to comment

Steerpike

Reform catches Vance’s eye

Support for Nigel Farage’s Reform party is surging in the UK, and it appears the group is making waves across the pond too. As reported by the Telegraph, US Vice-President JD Vance is getting interested in Farage’s outfit, even quizzing UK ambassador to the US Peter Mandelson about the rise of Reform. It’s one sign your campaign is cutting through, eh? During a recent chat, it transpires that Vance questioned Mandelson: ‘So what’s going on with Reform? I see that they’re doing very well.’ Certainly Reform is continuing to top polls, while YouGov’s recent MRP suggests, just a year on from Sir Keir Starmer’s landslide victory, that if an election

Gavin Mortimer

Corbyn is following in the footsteps of the French left

Labour has reacted with scorn to the news that Zarah Sultana has resigned from the party to create a new movement with Jeremy Corbyn. It’s reported that the MP for Coventry South, who has sat as an independent since July 2024, is still discussing the details of the new party with Corbyn – who is yet to comment on the new outfit – but whatever its form, Labour is unfazed. Gurinder Singh Josan, the MP for Smethwick, mocked Sultana for returning to ‘the irrelevance of the far left’. Another MP, David Taylor said it was a case of ‘good riddance’ and suggested any other Labour MP opposed to the proscription of

Michael Simmons

How the Home Office created the Boriswave

The Home Office opened Britain’s doors to record numbers of migrants without properly assessing the risks or consequences, according to a damning new report from parliament’s Public Accounts Committee. The report, released overnight, finds that the department ‘made changes to the Skilled Worker Visa route without a full assessment of the risks or potential impacts, including the risks of non-compliance with visa rules and exploitation of migrant workers.’ The Tories turned on the immigration tap without asking what would happen when these workers’ visas expired – or what they would do while they were here In other words, the Tories turned on the immigration tap without asking what would happen

John Power

Ipso owes Suella Braverman an apology

When Suella Braverman wrote in April 2023 that ‘the perpetrators [of group-based child sexual exploitation] are groups of men, almost all British-Pakistani,’ the then-Home Secretary was roundly condemned. ‘Hacked Off’, a lobby group which seeks to tighten regulation of the press, said her article in the Mail on Sunday was part of a ‘toxic libel’. Guardian columnist Owen Jones went on to describe her ‘claims’ as ‘designed to foment racist division and hate’. Lewis Goodall of LBC confronted her live on air, saying that she was chastised ‘entirely rightly’ for her ‘false claim’. Last week, Suella Braverman wrote to Ipso to demand a retraction of that ruling. She is right to do so One entity

Philip Patrick

Will China interfere in choosing the next Dalai Lama?

Tenzin Gyatso, otherwise known as His Holiness the XIVth Dalai Lama, spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, will celebrate his 90th birthday on Sunday. Despite once predicting he would live to 110, the Dalai Lama has perhaps prudently decided that the time is right to discuss his succession. He will host a conference of Lamas and luminaries (including the actor Richard Gere) to discuss the question. China, which annexed Tibet in 1959, causing the then young holy man to flee to India, will be following the preemptive Buddhist conclave with great interest. Whoever the next Dalai lama is will have large sandals to fill and is unlikely to be as charismatic

Matthew Lynn

Raising taxes would be a relief for Rachel Reeves

The Chancellor Rachel Reeves was in far better form when she appeared again in public alongside the Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer yesterday. The tears have been wiped away and she has a smile, even if a slightly forced one, back on her face. The reason is not hard to work out. She has started preparing the ground for another round of big tax rises in the autumn. And that is the one thing she is good at. Reeves is back in her comfort zone. In the wake of the backbench rebellion that forced the government to abandon its welfare reforms, and with the U-turn on the winter fuel allowance,

Druin Burch

Wes Streeting has learnt nothing from the NHS’s past mistakes

Yesterday, Wes Streeting and Keir Starmer announced a ten-year plan to save the NHS. ‘There are moments in our national story when our choices define who are,’ Streeting explained. ‘Unless the NHS changes, the argument that it is unsustainable will grow more compelling. It really is change or bust. We choose change.’ One wonders whether he was tempted otherwise. Starmer says the plan will oversee ‘three fundamental shifts in how the NHS works’. First, care will move from hospitals to the community. Second, new technology will reduce admin and ‘make booking appointments and managing your care as easy as online banking or shopping’. Third, the NHS will shift its focus

Kristina Murkett

The biggest reason people aren’t having babies? FOMO

In his book Selfish Reasons To Have More Kids, economist Bryan Caplan notes that, due to modern conveniences and our better quality of life, parenting should be easier than ever. Plus, in theory, as society grows richer, people should have more children. Instead, we have fewer, and parenting seems harder than ever. Why is this? Caplan argues that it is because we have placed many new requirements and expectations on parents that previous generations never had. He contends that parenting has morphed into a suite of ever-changing, high-pressure social obligations – many of which are neurotic, consumerist and status-obsessed, such as saturating your child’s timetable with extracurricular activities to ensure that