Politics

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

Thursday

Freddy Gray Freddy Gray

A bluffer’s guide to (yet another) Tory leadership race

Here we go again – another leadership contest, another round of intense Westminster blather. Lightweight would-be commentators may feel their energy flagging as they prepare to analyse this next phase of high-level political violence. But alpha bluffers do not fret. We know that there is no such thing as a ‘tired talking point’ – although that is a handy phrase in any serious conversation. Try these ten fresh, handy sentences to keep you sounding shrewd as the Tories commit hara-kiri once more and everything falls apart: 1. Whither the one-nation caucus? Oh yes, you know your ‘Tory tribes’. You understand the complexities of the ‘uncivil war’ within the party. Say ‘whither’

Nigel Jones

Is this the end of the Conservatives?

Nothing, not even the world’s oldest and most successful political party, lasts forever. So could the current crisis convulsing the Conservative party mean its extinction as a significant force in British life? Only three years ago simply posing this question would have seemed ridiculous. Back in December 2019, it was not the Tories who were staring down the barrel of a gun, but Labour. Boris Johnson, promising to get Brexit done, delivered an 80-seat majority for the triumphant Tories, hoovering up working-class votes and seizing seats that had never elected a Conservative before. After suffering their worst defeat since 1935, it was Labour who looked as though they were on

Michael Simmons Michael Simmons

The metrics that will decide the next PM’s fate

Gone in a flash, Liz Truss becomes the shortest serving prime minister in British history. As it stands, she’s 75 days short of George Canning, who lasted some 119 days in office before dying from tuberculosis. If Truss’s successor wants to avoid joining her and Canning at the lower ends of the Wikipedia, they’ll need to keep a close eye on these seven metrics: 1. The value of the pound Kwasi Kwarteng’s (and Liz Truss’s) mini-Budget caused the pound to fall to its lowest ever level at just above $1.03. At the time there were fears it may even pass parity with the dollar. Since then it regained its losses and

Richard Luckett

Who was George Canning? (1973)

Until Liz Truss, George Canning was the shortest-serving prime minister. He needn’t be forgotten by pub quizzers, general knowledge collectors and historians alike. In 1973, Richard Luckett reviewed a major biography of Canning’s life for The Spectator. Every schoolboy knows about the duel with Castlereagh; students of that neglected subject, abusive language, remember Brougham’s description of his behaviour over the Catholic question (‘the most incredible specimen of monstrous truckling for the purpose of obtaining office which the whole history of political tergiversation could furnish’); historians recall his reputation as an orator, his part in the decision to bombard Copenhagen, his divisive effect on Tory ministries, his forceful conduct of foreign policy

John Curtice

What happens to the Tory party now?

Liz Truss is not quite the shortest-serving prime minister in history. George Cunning has that prize because he died while he was in office. But for somebody who is still alive, at least, this is the shortest running term. If MPs can whittle the number of candidates down to two by, let’s say, Tuesday the question that some of the party officials are currently trying to work out is whether the Conservative party has the ability to run an effective online ballot within a couple of days. That’s pretty much the only way of doing it. That obviously raises the question that there will be some members who don’t necessarily have

Ross Clark Ross Clark

How Truss’s resignation moved the markets

If anyone was expecting markets to be in jubilant mood after Liz Truss’s resignation, they will be feeling a little disappointed. True, the pound has risen and gilt yields have fallen this afternoon – but not by much. They moved far further on Monday when most of Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-Budget was ditched, which is perhaps only to be expected. We could be heading for a general election – and markets may not like it At 3.30 p.m. yields on the UK government’s ten-year gilt stood at 3.85 per cent, down from just below 4 per cent early this morning. This time last week, when Kwarteng was still chancellor,

James Kirkup James Kirkup

The Huntonomics trap

I don’t know who will become the next prime minister, and I’m not going to make a guess here. But I do make this prediction: the next leader is going to face a major internal Tory fight over immigration. That prediction is based on the thing that drove Liz Truss from office: the urgent need to reassure gilt markets that Britain has a growth plan that will help repair the public finances.  That need has not gone away. It will define the government whoever leads it. That government seems very, very likely to include Jeremy Hunt as Chancellor since a new PM taking office next Friday and removing him days

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Why Liz Truss had to go

The Liz Truss survival plan was, in the end, unworkable. She not only hired her enemies – Grant Shapps and Jeremy Hunt – but let them govern: tearing up her policies, while she held on in No. 10. She thought the Tory right had no candidate to replace her with and the Tory left would be happy because there had been a Cameroon restoration. So yes, it was a humiliation – but one that was supposed to keep her in post. The wheels feel off yesterday, and Truss had to accept that her game was over Could it last? Earlier this week I spoke to several MPs who could see Truss surviving

Katy Balls Katy Balls

‘The ultimate death match’: Will it be Boris vs Rishi?

It will take 100 MP nominations to qualify for the next Tory leadership race and the clock is ticking – with Boris Johnson out in front with 51 supporters so far. Rishi Sunak has 44 and Penny Mordaunt 20. It will go to the membership for a swift decision unless the finalists come to a gentleman’s agreement. So how will it unfold? I set out four scenarios of how this might unfold in The Spectator earlier this month. There are two that MPs have most recently got in touch about: Rishi by Christmas or the Boris restoration. A week is a long time in politics – and next week could

Damian Thompson Damian Thompson

Sixty years on, Vatican II turns nasty

14 min listen

Ten years ago the Catholic Church happily celebrated the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council. Most people thought it was a good thing – and those who had their doubts were careful to express them diplomatically. Sixty years on, by contrast, Vatican II is the source of rancorous division in a collapsing Church. Liberals, describing themselves as ‘The People of God’, are invoking it to propose surreal changes to the doctrine that would have scandalised the Council fathers. They like to portray the forthcoming two Synods on Synodality – whose consultations attracted only a minuscule number of lay Catholics – as the fulfilment of Vatican II.

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

After Truss, who?

Sir Graham Brady has just given a statement outside the St Stephen’s entrance of parliament. The chair of the 1922 Committee said the new prime minister will be in place before the fiscal statement on 31 October, and that the party rules currently mean members will be taking part in the truncated leadership election to replace Liz Truss. There are a lot of candidates who could stand to replace the Prime Minister. Including the membership means that some of those candidates who might be feared by a good chunk of their colleagues could still do extremely well if they make it through to the final round. Truss did not command

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Liz Truss resigns

11 min listen

Forty-four days into her premiership, Liz Truss said she was resigning as Prime Minister. There will now be a week-long race to elect a new leader. Who will be the contenders? Isabel Hardman speaks to Katy Balls and James Forsyth. Produced by Natasha Feroze.

Liz Truss

Why I resigned as Prime Minister

I came into office at a time of great economic and international instability. Families and businesses were worried about how to pay their bills. Putin’s illegal war in Ukraine threatens the security of our whole continent. And our country had been held back for too long by low economic growth.  I was elected by the Conservative party with a mandate to change this. We delivered on energy bills and on cutting national insurance. And we set out a vision for a low tax, high growth economy – that would take advantage of the freedoms of Brexit. I recognise though, given the situation, I cannot deliver the mandate on which I

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Liz Truss resigns

Liz Truss has just announced that she will be stepping down as Prime Minister. Forty-four days into her premiership, Truss said she was resigning as the leader of the party. Announcing her decision in a short speech outside Downing Street – accompanied by her husband – Truss said that she entered at a time of uncertainty where ‘families and businesses were worried about how to pay their bills’. She went on to say that she had delivered on energy bill support and reversed the National Insurance hike. But she recognised that given the situation the country now found itself in – both with economic turmoil and a divided party – she

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Who will push Truss out?

The number of MPs publicly calling for Liz Truss to resign is rising steadily (you can read the live list here). There are also a number of key meetings taking place over the next few days that could seal the Prime Minister’s fate for her. The 1922 executive is due to meet later. I am also told that the influential 92 Group of right-leaning Conservative MPs has invited its members to a meeting on Monday night ‘to discuss the current situation’. Truss is going to find herself pushed around by all parts of her party in the coming days The 92 Group might normally be the best group to bolster

Brendan O’Neill Brendan O’Neill

Is this a Remainer coup?

I don’t normally vote Tory. But I did in December 2019. And for one reason only. Because I wanted Brexit ‘done’, properly. I wanted a Brexit-leaning government after those two long years of the Remainer parliament and its various efforts to frustrate our leaving of the EU. Millions of people, especially in Red Wall areas, took a punt on Boris’s Tories for the same reason. Because they believed it was time Britain had a government that better reflected, or at least tried to better reflect, the views of ordinary people, especially the much-maligned masses in those ‘left-behind’ Brexit-backing areas. Fast forward nearly three years and I find myself in a

Coffee House

Full list: the Tory MPs calling for Truss to go

Following the disaster of last month’s mini-Budget, Liz Truss’s premiership is now hanging by a thread. The sacking of Kwasi Kwarteng and his replacement by Jeremy Hunt appears to have not placated many of Truss’s critics on the Tory benches. Veteran backbencher Crispin Blunt became the first elected member of her party to call for her to quit on Sunday with others now breaking cover to voice their concerns too. Keep track of all the MPs calling on Truss to go here on Coffee House. Crispin Blunt – ‘The game is up.’ Andrew Bridgen – ‘Liz has sunk her own leadership and her predecessor’s potential comeback at the same time, all in

Patrick O’Flynn Patrick O'Flynn

Booting Boris was a catastrophic error

To call it a shambles is an insult to the many perfectly respectable shambles that take place each day up and down this fine land. Yesterday’s performance across Westminster and Whitehall by the Conservative and Unionist party will surely be remembered for many years as the textbook example of the nadir to which a dysfunctional, divided and woefully-led governing party can plummet. The preposterous levels of self-belief exhibited by the Prime Minister across the despatch box made for a disquieting opening act, to be followed by the loss of yet another occupant of a great office of state and then, with grim inevitability, utterly farcical scenes in the voting lobbies

Nigel Jones

A brief history of Tory rebellion

One hundred years ago, on 19 October 1922, Conservative MPs gathered at the Carlton Club. There was only one subject on the agenda: whether the party should continue its coalition with Prime Minister David Lloyd George’s wing of the Liberal party, or fight the coming General Election on its own. Last night, by a savage irony, Tory MPs once again assembled at the Carlton Club for a dinner to commemorate that historic meeting – which resulted in the collapse of the coalition, the resignation of Lloyd George, and the formation of the 1922 Committee, the trade union of Tory backbenchers that now holds Liz Truss’s rapidly diminishing political future in