James Heale is The Spectator’s political correspondent.
At last, it’s happened. After months of warnings, the government has today activated emergency measures to ease prison overcrowding. Across the north of England defendants waiting for a court appearance will be kept in police cells until prison space is available. The system, known as ‘Operation Early Dawn’, was activated this morning – the second
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Labour is planning to reform the civil service into five ‘missions’ that will lead the agenda, moving away from the purely departmental way of arranging priorities at the moment. Cindy Yu talks to James Heale and Jill Rutter from the Institute for Government and UK In a Changing Europe (and a former civil servant) about
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Less than 48 hours after Transport Secretary Louise Haigh hailed a new deal with train drivers… the rail union Aslef announced further strike action. So what happened to Labour’s ‘relationship reset’ with the unions? And with recent pay deals, what incentive is there for workers to compromise with the government? Fraser Nelson and Isabel Hardman
It is less than 48 hours since the government hailed a new deal with train drivers as proof that two years of rail strikes would soon be coming to an end. So it will be some embarrassment that Aslef, the rail union, today announced a further 22 days of strike action on the east coast
After a year of speculation about how Keir Starmer would work with Donald Trump, the situation stateside has changed dramatically. Gone is the flailing Joe Biden as the Democratic presidential candidate; in his place is Kamala Harris, his resurgent vice president. She enters her party’s national convention as the bookmakers’ favourite to win the White
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The broader story this morning paints a positive picture for the UK economy. While growth in June took a pause, growth in Q2 for this year is estimated to be 0.6 per cent, roughly in line with what markets were predicting, as forecasts for UK growth have been repeatedly revised upwards since the start of
Labour backbenchers have spent years dreaming of the day they are in power and get ‘the call’ from the Prime Minister, inviting them to become ministers. But this time, a few were surprised that when the call came they heard the cut-glass accent of Sue Gray on the line. Perhaps it shouldn’t have surprised them.
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We’ve got some news today on the inflation rate, which rose to 2.2 per cent in July, slightly up from the Bank of England’s target of 2 per cent, where the rate sat in May and June. It’s the first rate uptick this year – and though widely expected, it will be used to explain
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After successful showings at NATO and Blenheim Palace Keir Starmer is facing his first foreign policy tests, with big developments in Ukraine and in the Middle East. On the one hand, Ukrainian troops are continuing push into the Kursk region of Russia and on the other it looked last night that Iran had ramped up
There is still a fortnight to go until parliament returns – but one Tory contender clearly cannot wait to get back to Westminster. Tom Tugendhat this afternoon gave a speech on a theme and at a venue which suited him perfectly: an address at the RUSI military think tank on security. This speech was billed
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Over the weekend we have had some news on Labour’s housing policy. The Times have splashed on the news that in order to meet their pledge to build 1.5 million houses by 2030, councils will be given the power to buy up green belt land. Will this actually get Britain building? Elsewhere, the Tory leadership race continues
In four weeks’ time, the Liberal Democrats will descend on Brighton for their annual conference. It’s likely to be the most enthusiastic such gathering in recent years, with the party celebrating the record 72 seats they won at last month’s election. The Lib Dems gained 61 more MPs than the paltry 11 they took in
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On this week’s Spectator Out Loud: James Heale interviews Woody Johnson, the former American Ambassador to the UK, about a possible second Trump term (1:19); Lara Prendergast reflects on the issue of smartphones for children and what lessons we could learn from Keir Starmer’s approach to privacy (6:35); reviewing Patrick Bishop’s book ‘Paris ’44: The Shame
If Donald Trump does return to the White House, then another restoration could soon follow. Woody Johnson, a confidant of the president since the 1980s, served as his man in London from 2017 to 2021 and is now tipped for a second spell as ambassador. ‘What I know about President Trump is if he asks
When you ask Tory MPs about Richard Fuller, you’re likely to get one of two replies. ‘Nice guy’ from those who know him; ‘Who?’ from those that don’t. It tells you why Rishi Sunak chose him to be Tory chairman, as the party dusts itself off from its electoral drubbing. Fuller, along with Bob Blackman
In a month full of parliamentary firsts, we now have another: the formation of the first new Labour caucus. More than 60 MPs have co-signed a letter, as part of the ‘Labour Growth Group,’ enthusiastically declaring their support for planning reform. ‘With such a strong mandate from the country,’ they write ‘it’s imperative that the
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It’s a busy day in Westminster as we await the new Chancellor’s ‘spending audit’ of the financial challenges Labour has ‘discovered’ on entering government. But in the meantime there has been some movement in the Tory leadership race, with the deadline for applicants later this afternoon. Kemi Badenoch is the latest to declare, whilst Suella
Priti Patel has tonight entered the race to be the next Tory leader. The former home secretary sets out her pitch in the Daily Telegraph on why she is best placed to succeed Rishi Sunak. It is framed by the newspaper as being an appeal to the party’s grassroots, with Patel suggesting that she would give party members
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The Chancellor Rachel Reeves is expected to give a statement to Parliament on Monday outlining the state of public finances, including a ‘£20 billion black hole’. James Heale talks to Katy Balls and Kate Andrews about the strategy behind this: will this speech lay the ground work for the Autumn budget? How new are these
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As more Conservative MPs declare their intentions to run for the Tory leadership, James Heale speaks to Katy Balls and Conservative peer Paul Goodman about the runners and riders. What can they learn from previous leadership elections? Who will play well with the members and the public at large? And what will the dividing lines
