Politics

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

Monday

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Will Trump 2.0 derail the Starmer Project?

Donald Trump is back. Later today, Trump will once again take the oath of office and be sworn in as the 47th President of the United States. A host of UK politicians are in Washington D. C. to watch the spectacle including Trump’s friend Nigel Farage, former prime ministers Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, shadow foreign secretary Priti Patel and former home secretary Suella Braverman along with her husband Rael (now a Reform supporter). However, one politician who will be missing from the festivities is David Lammy – the Foreign Secretary is not making the trip. A small group of ministers have been meeting to discuss what Trump means for

Steerpike Steerpike

The sad decline of the Westminster lunch

‘Lunch?’ growled Gordon Gekko in Wall Street. ‘Lunch is for wimps.’ Yet for half of Westminster the noble art of lunching is as much a part of political life as PMQs. For generations, hacks, flacks and MPs of all sides have wined and dined in various London establishments. Whether it is the pubs of SW1 or the wineries of Victoria, Kensington restaurants or the dive bars of Soho, many a long lunch has been enjoyed by the great and the not-so-good of British politics. Is that all now under threat? For Mr S was disturbed last week to discover that Rachel Reeves not only prepares her own lunch but takes

Kate Andrews Kate Andrews

Trump has upended the Davos dominion

It’s fitting that Donald Trump’s inauguration day coincides with the first day of the World Economic Forum’s infamous Davos conference. The new and the old world orders are, in theory, competing for attention. But this is not a competition. It’s not even close. This year’s conference theme is ‘Collaboration for the Intelligent Age’: an idea that means little to nothing if the world’s largest economy – and leader in AI development – is not on board. And ‘collaboration’ is hardly a word that suits the lead-up to inauguration day, as the 47th President of the United States has been gearing up for the return to an ‘America First’ policy, which

Sam Leith Sam Leith

The difference between Trump 45 and Trump 47

Him again? Donald Trump’s back in the White House. Those who thought his first term in office was an aberration – a dismaying blip in the long arc of history towards liberal democracy, properly corrected by Biden’s 2020 victory – have been proven wrong in the most painful possible way. He wasn’t some brainfart of the internet era, some moment of madness. He’s back, and all the evidence seems to suggest that what he represents is much more in tune with the global zeitgeist than what Kamala Harris or, for that matter, Keir Starmer, are selling. Trump once made a performance of fighting the deep state. Today he wants to

Jacob Heilbrunn

The quarrelling coalition behind Donald Trump

Like Ronald Reagan in 1985, Donald Trump is bowing to the elements and moving his inauguration indoors to the Capitol Rotunda, where only 500 guests can squeeze in to attend the ceremony. But that development isn’t putting a damper on the spirits of the tens of thousands of Trump followers who have traveled to Washington. Trump’s investiture isn’t so much an inauguration as a jubilant restoration, with the Biden presidency serving as an interregnum. Will any of it ruffle Trump? When I visited the Mayflower Hotel, located a few blocks from the White House, for breakfast at its ‘Edgar’ restaurant – named after former FBI director J. Edgar Hoover who

Freddy Gray Freddy Gray

Trump hypes America for his return

Biblical weather outside the rally for the sixtieth presidential inaugural in the Capitol One Arena in downtown Washington yesterday: hail plonked down onto streets of slush. The poor huddled Magas lined up for hours and hours, through labyrinthine perimeter fencing, just to see their leader. Inside, the atmosphere was electric and jubilant. ‘We won, we won,’ began Donald Trump, when he finally appeared. ‘Tomorrow at noon the curtain closes on four long years of American decline.’ Trump announced that he would order the publication of classified government documents on the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King. And he promised the crowd they would be

Gavin Mortimer Gavin Mortimer

Is it too late to Make Europe Great Again?

A poll published last week by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) found that much of the world is relishing the return of Donald Trump to the White House. Eighty-four per cent of Indians think Trump will be good for their country as do 61 per cent of Saudis. In Russia, South Africa, China and Brazil, more citizens have faith in The Donald than don’t. It is in Europe where pessimism reigns. Only 15 per cent of Britons believe Trump will benefit them, a figure that rises to 22 per cent in the EU. This is the same sorry percentage of Europeans who regard Trump’s America as an ally ‘that shares

Sunday

Joe Bedell-Brill

Sunday shows round-up: Labour reacts to the Gaza ceasefire

A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas tentatively came into effect at 9.15 a.m. UK time, following a three-hour delay caused by Israel not receiving the names of three female hostages to be freed later today. News of the imminent ceasefire emerged as Laura Kuenssberg interviewed Chief Secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones on the BBC. Among the names of the hostages due to be released today is British-Israeli Emily Damari. Kuenssberg asked Darren Jones what reassurance he could give to British families whose loved ones were captured. Jones said it would be an ‘increase in hope’ for the family of Emily Damari that her name was listed, but that families

Jonathan Sacerdoti

Can the ceasefire last?

The ceasefire in Gaza, scheduled to begin this morning, has been anything but straightforward. As the agreement unfolds, many have rushed to declare who are the winners and who are the losers. Yet victory does not lie with those who made the most military gains or acted most morally – it leans, perversely, towards those ruthless enough to exploit suffering without moral restraint. In this grim theatre of war the truth is far bleaker, that among the civilized, there can only be losers. After days of fraught negotiations, delays, and brinkmanship, the first steps of this tenuous agreement are now unfolding. The plan, as presented, is stark in its simplicity and devastating

Daniel DePetris

Trump is coming for Europe on defence

Hundreds of millions of Americans will have a new president tomorrow. Depending on where you land on America’s increasingly hyper-partisan political spectrum, 20 January will either be a day of dread or joy, a return to the good old times or a step back into rough, unpredictable waters.  The same could be said for policymakers across the Atlantic Ocean. Most of Europe’s political heavyweights, the majority of whom are still content to live in the 1990s as if the geopolitical changes of the last two decades didn’t occur, are dreading Trump’s return. Fresh off another victory, Trump and his administration want to see clear, unambiguous action It doesn’t take a

Lucy Dunn

What’s behind Reform’s surge in Scotland?

Five years ago, Reform UK had no presence in Scotland. Its Facebook and Twitter pages emerged during the latter half of the pandemic and despite briefly experiencing four months in Holyrood courtesy of a Tory defector, the group has since then remained very much out of sight and mind. Nigel Farage neglected Scotland during last year’s general election campaign, his deputy Richard Tice visited just once and the group still lacks a Scottish leader. Despite all that, however, Reform is shaping up to become kingmaker in the 2026 Holyrood election.  ‘Everywhere I went, people were talking about Reform. And I thought: there’s something really going on here.’  On Thursday, The Spectator revealed

John R. MacArthur

True-blue New Yorkers are bracing themselves for Trump’s return

Fleeing the United States ahead of a ‘fascist takeover’ by Donald Trump on 20 January has been the talk of liberal circles, and nowhere more than in deep-blue New York City. A New York Times story revealing that tech billionaire and Democratic donor Reid Hoffman was ‘weighing a move overseas’ because he feared ‘retribution’ from the next president added fuel to already smouldering speculation ignited by the relocation of the anti-Trump TV celebrity Ellen DeGeneres and her wife to England. I tend to ridicule such quailing as absurd and unpatriotic, if not downright cowardly.  I was thrown off my leftist assumptions, however, when my plumber visited our family’s weekend house on the East End

Sonia Sodha

How assisted dying changed my mind on religion

A couple of weeks ago, a friend voiced a sentiment that I wasn’t expecting. ‘I think your values are quite Christian, Sonia.’ What I found even more surprising was my own reaction to it. A year ago, I’d have felt patronised, maybe even a little insulted. Instead, I took it as a compliment. Growing up the daughter of East African Asian immigrants of different faiths – my father an atheistic Gujarati Hindu, my mother a lapsed Punjabi Sikh – faith wasn’t a strong feature of my childhood. As a young child, I’d quite often go to the gurdwara with my maternal grandparents, who were religious. I went to a school

John Jenkins

The UK still hasn’t come to terms with the Muslim Brotherhood

Earlier this month, the UAE announced it was sanctioning 11 individuals and eight rather obscure organisations for alleged connections to the Muslim Brotherhood (MB). The UAE proscribed the MB as a terrorist group in 2014, so you might be forgiven for thinking this was routine. But it wasn’t. All eight organisations were based in the UK. Normally this works the other way round: the UK bans or sanctions entities elsewhere. Having an Arab country – especially one we claim as a friend – do that in reverse should set alarm bells ringing. There was a brief flurry of press interest, then silence.  The Muslim Brotherhood is the mothership of all modern

Gavin Mortimer Gavin Mortimer

How France’s Jimmy Savile also got away with his evil

This week nine more charges of sexual abuse were levelled against Abbé Pierre, the late French Roman Catholic priest who for decades was regarded as a modern-day saint. This brings to 33 the number of charges, ranging from sexual assault to the rape of a boy, all alleged to have been committed between the 1960s and shortly before the priest’s death in 2007 at the age of 94. Among the latest complainants are a woman now 58, who detailed how she was assaulted by Abbé Pierre exactly fifty years ago. ‘Several times I’ve wanted to shout to the world that this man isn’t who he says he is,’ the woman said in an

Steerpike Steerpike

Will MAGA push out Mandelson?

They do say you shouldn’t take anything for granted and it seems Peter Mandelson is beginning to realise that too. He may have thought that his new appointment as UK ambassador to the US was set in stone – but it has emerged that the president-elect is considering, um, rejecting Sir Keir Starmer’s nominee. Ouch.  As first reported by the Independent, it transpires that the Trump team says it isn’t certain that Mandelson will be accepted by the Republican leader after he becomes president. For a nominee to officially take on the role, the country’s head of state has to accept the ‘letters of credence’ – and on this, Trump may

Saturday

Freddy Gray Freddy Gray

Trump’s plan for day one

Washington, DC On your marks, get set, executive orders.  Donald Trump will be sworn back into office on Monday, from inside the Capitol Rotunda, as Ronald Reagan was in 1985. Cold weather is the official reason for moving the ceremony from outside to in, and it seems true – the 78-year-old president-elect may wish to avoid the fate of his predecessor William Henry Harrison – although there’s plenty of speculation that security is the real factor. The Donald, in benevolent king mode, also didn’t want the poor horses to freeze to death on his big day. It’s funny what goes on in that very famous orange head.  Trump will then make

Katy Balls Katy Balls

The truth about a Tory-Reform pact

It’s been a mixed week for Kemi Badenoch. The Tory leader can – alongside Elon Musk and Nigel Farage – claim a partial win after Labour announced an audit and inquiries into grooming gangs (though stopped short of a national one). She also set out the first part of her plan for restoring trust – acknowledging that the Tories has made a series of mistakes while in office. However, an interview on the pensions triple lock was quickly weaponised by Labour, Tory MPs are hungry for a policy announcement and the Reform party is in the lead in several polls. It’s why talk of a ‘Reform-Tory pact’ is rising up

Kate Andrews Kate Andrews

Reeves’s worst week so far?

16 min listen

It’s been a tricky week for Rachel Reeves: an onslaught of criticism for the levels of borrowing costs, GDP at 0.1 per cent, and stagflation still gripping the UK economy. Remarkably she has come out of it looking stronger – politically at least. But can she afford to celebrate? The Spectator’s Kate Andrews and data editor Michael Simmons join the podcast to discuss the economy, and go through some of the most striking graphs from The Spectator’sdata hub this week. Produced by Natasha Feroze.

Andrew Liddle

The dilemma facing Scottish Labour MPs

For Scottish Labour’s significant crop of new MPs, the heady summer of electoral triumph is already a distant memory. In the days following the general election – where Anas Sarwar’s party swept the Central Belt, gaining a whopping 36 seats – it seemed Scottish Labour’s recovery was not only inevitable but already underway. In the months since that has all changed, with Scottish Labour’s popularity declining as much – if not more – than its UK counterpart. A Norstat poll in December, for instance, had Scottish Labour at its lowest ebb in three years and the SNP, remarkably, on course to once again form the Scottish Government following devolved elections