James Ball

London

Political Editor at The New European

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Articles

Donald Trump’s digital landgrab

1 week ago | theneweuropean.co.uk | James Ball

Here in the maelstrom of Donald Trump’s second term, the state department sets out the US government’s diplomatic position on Substack. That is, at this stage, perhaps the most normal thing that it does. While the delivery mechanism may be unconventional, it is nothing when compared to the content of the message.
If universities sink, then so will Starmer

1 week ago | theneweuropean.co.uk | James Ball

The UK’s universities have had a tough few decades, in both political and financial terms. The Conservative-led coalition transformed their funding model by tripling tuition fees, destroying the Liberal Democrats’ credibility for a generation in the process.
Why is Kemi Badenoch so bad at politics?

1 week ago | theneweuropean.co.uk | James Ball

Kemi Badenoch has spent five years as a government minister, two of them in the Cabinet. This is relatively extensive government experience – more than most of the people in Keir Starmer’s administration, given Labour’s long time in opposition. She is not an ingenue. Moreover, Badenoch’s experience in Cabinet was in international-facing departments (specifically trade), not domestic ones.
The ‘secret plan’ to dim the sun

2 weeks ago | theneweuropean.co.uk | James Ball

In recent days, most of the traditional media has been obsessed with Keir Starmer’s plans and rhetoric on immigration. But across much of social media, a different UK story is dominating: that Keir Starmer is spending fortunes to dim the sun. “The UK government is planning to block out the sun,” said one TikToker, in a post with hundreds of comments and thousands of likes. “This isn’t a joke”.
It’s taken a Remainer to fix the Brexiteers’ mess

2 weeks ago | theneweuropean.co.uk | James Ball

Almost nine years after the UK narrowly voted to leave the EU, a strange political reality has emerged – and it is that Remainers are the only politicians taking Brexit seriously. With his long-trailed Brexit ‘reset’ on Monday, Keir Starmer sought to settle a long-term trading relationship with, but outside of, the European Union, which wouldn’t need revisiting on a near-constant basis.
The complete unknown who could wreck Labour

3 weeks ago | theneweuropean.co.uk | James Ball

On November 6 last year – the day after Donald Trump defeated Kamala Harris in the US election – around 30 influential figures gathered for a closed-door symposium to discuss the future of the left in Britain, looking at everything from the aftermath of the August riots to how the left should tackle the rise of populism. Several things were notably unusual about the gathering.
The ‘Brexit benefit’ trade deal shows we’re weaker out of the EU

4 weeks ago | theneweuropean.co.uk | James Ball

There was no real reason for the UK to be the first country to agree a “deal” with Donald Trump to mitigate the damage of his erratic and devastating global tariffs. The UK is less affected than most countries, trades less in goods with America than others, and was exempted from many of the harshest measures.
This shameful dogwhistling over the India trade deal

1 month ago | theneweuropean.co.uk | James Ball

Robert Jenrick is not a man who can be accused of letting anything stand in the way of his open campaign to supplant Kemi Badenoch as leader of the remnants of the Conservative Party. His latest salvo in that battle came after Labour secured a post-Brexit trade deal with India that the Conservatives had promised for more than a decade. “This trade deal means Indian workers here for less than 3 years will not pay National Insurance in the UK,” Jenrick posted on Elon’s Musk’s X.
Labour’s lunacy and asylum policy

1 month ago | theneweuropean.co.uk | James Ball

In opposition, the simple answer often works: you are battling for a few seconds of airtime anywhere you can get it, and so the short, sharp, popular answer is the good one. The difference in government is that you can actually make it happen. You also have to deal with the consequences. Promising to end the practice of placing asylum seekers in hotels, exactly the kind of socially conservative policy the government is embracing, is a great example of those unintended consequences.
Labour’s right wing takeover

1 month ago | theneweuropean.co.uk | James Ball

There are few things in politics so seductive as a simple answer. A welfare benefit costing billions is going mostly to the people who don’t need it? Scrap it. Reform are winning in areas with Labour MPs? Fight for their votes. The public are unhappy with asylum seekers being housed in hotels? Put them in tents instead. In opposition, the simple answer often works: you are battling for a few seconds of airtime anywhere you can get it, and so the short, sharp, popular answer is the good one.