It’s difficult not to see parallels between chaos of US Republican party and UK Conservatives | Adam Boulton

Published

3 years ago

January 6, 2023

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Nations and political systems differ greatly but it is difficult not to see parallels between what is happening now in the US Republican party and the recent history of the UK Conservative party.

There is a brutal tussle under way over the direction which should be taken by Anglophone conservatism, as embodied a generation past by Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan.

Last year, the turmoil in Britain’s ruling party resulted in three prime ministers in a matter of months, as Tory MPs failed to agree on leaders capable of governing the nation reliably.

The Republican party actually “won” the mid-term elections for the lower House of Congress, taking control from the Democrats.

But as the 118th Congress met for the first time this week, the new majority party failed to agree on their first order of business, who should be their leader, for the first time since 1923, 100 years ago.

Although they share the same title, and preside over proceedings in their house, the US Speaker does not have the same role as the Speaker in the House of Commons.

Like his predecessors, Sir Lindsay Hoyle is expected to be neutral and has abandoned his ties to Labour. By convention the UK Speaker is effectively an incumbent, irrespective of general elections when he or she stands without opposition from the main political parties.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives is an entirely partisan figure. In practice they are the leader of the majority party, which makes them the equivalent of prime minister in UK terms.

In the US Constitution the Speaker is second in the line of succession to the Presidency, after the vice president. (Confusingly the Veep is also the presiding officer in the upper house, with the casting vote in the US Senate.)

The likes of Speakers Tip O’Neill, Newt Gingrich, Paul Ryan and Nancy Pelosi have made much of their role as major national political figures.

When there is no Speaker in place, the House of Representatives is what one frustrated congressman this week called “a useless entity”. Its members cannot be sworn in, so they cannot legislate or hold the executive to account. They don’t even have security clearance.

When, as now, the Presidency and the Senate are controlled by the other party, the Speaker of the House is more important than ever as the equivalent to the Leader of the Opposition.

When Kevin McCarthy, an eight-term congressman from California, led his party to victory over the Democrats in the mid-terms by 222 seats to 212, the Republicans might have been expected to stick with his leadership and to install him in the top job.

But no. In 11 painful roll call votes McCarthy failed to get the required overall majority of representatives because 20 members of his own Republican party resolutely refused to back him, including five US Representatives elected for the first time.

Meanwhile the Democrats settled immediately and unanimously on Hakeem Jeffries of New York as their minority leader, replacing Pelosi who has retired. Jeffries is the first African-American to lead a party in the US Congress.

The overwhelming majority of House Republicans – 201 out of 222 – back McCarthy but without most of the 20 holdouts they did not have enough votes to put him over the top on 218.

Nineteen of those blocking McCarthy belong to the right-wing Freedom Caucus. Their motivation is best summed up by the controversial congressman from Florida, Mike Gaetz, who declared “If you want to drain the swamp, you cannot put the biggest alligator in charge”.

“The swamp” is the fetid American version of what British populists like to write-off as the “Westminster bubble”.

Gaetz’s extremist language carries echoes of Jacob Rees-Mogg’s pronouncement that Rishi Sunak’s policies are “socialist”.

McCarthy is not a centrist member of the establishment. He courted and promoted candidates belonging to the Tea Party. He hesitated briefly after the attack on the Capitol on 6 January 2021, but within days voted against impeachment and flew to Mar-a-Lago to seek Donald Trump’s endorsement. McCarthy embraced the “big lie” that Trump won in 2020, and voted to challenge the official electors in key states.

If he becomes speaker, McCarthy says his first priority will be to cancel the hiring of 87,000 tax inspectors. He will also block the crucial bipartisan budget measures already agreed in the Senate.

He has promised to change the rules to make it easier to sack a speaker (a bit like the 1922 Committee and votes of no confidence). This eventually won “MY Martin” the backing of Trump on his own Truth Social platform: “He will do a good job and maybe even a GREAT JOB”.

Politically he is not much different from those refusing to back him but they still don’t trust him. Instead they deliberately plunged US politics into chaos, at one stage proposing an alternative candidate, Jim Jordan, who had himself nominated McCarthy.

Partisan Democrats relished their opponents’ plight and tweeted out images of the popcorn they were munching as the drama unfolded.

A critical columnist in The New York Times found it “grimly amusing to see that the party of insurrection can’t even manage the orderly transfer of power to itself”.

But the progressive newspaper took a more serious tone assessing the consequences of the refusenik’s behaviour: “They simply will not relent and join their colleagues even if it is for the greater good of their party, and perhaps the nation. They consider themselves conservative purists who cannot be placated unless all their demands are met – and maybe not even then. Their agenda is mostly to defund, disrupt and dismantle government, not to participate in it.”

The UK’s Conservatives have not disappeared down this rabbit hole. It is difficult to imagine Tory MPs celebrating the removal of metal detector arches, as symbols of oppression rather than security, as some Republicans did this week. Nor do they celebrate the right to bear arms.

Yet such groups as the European Research Group have been willing to use obstructionism and their position as de facto swing voters to force the bulk of their party in a more right-wing direction in policy and personnel matters.

They too have abandoned party loyalty in favour of ideology, allegedly supported by unelected and energised party activists.

On both sides of the Atlantic they have endorsed purges of those they disagree with in what was a “broad church” type of party. Their energy is focussed on fighting within their own party for control. Provided their party can eke out election wins, they disregard those who don’t vote for it.

Whether they call it the swamp or the bubble their suspicion of government and its agencies comes with demands for a smaller state, welfare cutbacks, scepticism about climate change measures, less regulation of business, and curtailed civil rights.

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The essential difference is that a significant minority of Republican representatives think that the best way to achieve their goals is to disrupt and overturn the system while the overwhelming majority of Conservative MPs still want to work within it.

Many Tory MPs disagree profoundly with the right’s atavism but, for self-preservation, they look over their shoulders anxiously before speaking up for One Nation values.

So far those most effective in forcing the Conservatives in a rightward direction have been outsiders. Significantly, in praising the Brexit negotiator Lord Frost this week, Nigel Farage bellowed “now is the time for all good men to leave the Conservative Party”. Farage’s sidekick Richard Tice relaunched their Reform Party.

Last year, the British public suffered the consequences of the unquiet soul of the right. This year the Republicans are already offering another lesson in real time.

US

Two National Guard members shot near White House in Washington DC

Published

9 hours ago

November 27, 2025

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Washington DC shooting: Trump condemns 'monstrous' attack near White House - and says suspect is Afghan national

Two military personnel have been shot near the White House in Washington DC.

A suspect has been taken into custody and the area secured, police said.

The White House was placed into lockdown, while US President Donald Trump is away in Florida.

Mr Trump posted on his Truth Social platform to say the two National Guard members had been “critically wounded”, adding that the “animal” that shot them “is also severely wounded, but regardless, will pay a very steep price”.

Washington DC shooting latest updates

Both guardsmen were shot in the head, according to Sky’s US partner network, NBC News, quoting an official and a senior official directly briefed on the investigation.

The shooting will be investigated by the FBI as a possible act of terror, two senior US law enforcement officials told NBC.

The suspect, who used a handgun in the attack, has been initially identified as an Afghan national, the officials said.

But investigators are still trying to confirm all of the individual’s details.

West Virginia’s governor initially said both victims were members of his state’s National Guard and had died from their injuries – but later posted to say there were “conflicting reports about the condition of our two Guard members”.

Patrick Morrisey had said: “These brave West Virginians lost their lives in the service of their country.”

FBI director Kash Patel said two National Guard members were “brazenly attacked in a horrendous act of violence”.

At a news conference he clarified they were in a “critical condition”.

Jeff Carroll, chief of the metropolitan police department in the area, said the attack began at 2.15pm local time (7.15pm in the UK) while National Guard members were on “high visibility patrols in the area”.

He said: “A suspect came around the corner, raised his arm with a firearm and discharged it at the National Guard.

“The National Guard members were… able to – after some back and forth – able to subdue the individual and bring them into custody.”

Washington DC mayor Muriel Bowser called the attack a “targeted shooting”.

Social media footage showed first responders attempting CPR on one of the soldiers as they treated the other on a pavement covered in glass.

Nearby other officers could be seen restraining an individual on the ground.

The scene has been cordoned off by police tape, while agents from the US Secret Service and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were on the scene, as National Guard troops stood sentry nearby. The FBI was also on the scene, the agency’s director said.

The Joint DC Task Force confirmed it was responding to an incident in the vicinity of the White House.

The DC Police Department posted on X: “Critical Incident: MPD is on the scene of a shooting at 17th and I Street, NW. Please avoid the area.”

In an update, the force said: “The scene is secured. One suspect is in custody.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said: “The White House is aware and actively monitoring this tragic situation.

“The president has been briefed.”

Mr Trump was at his resort in Palm Beach ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, while US vice president JD Vance was in Kentucky.

US defence secretary Pete Hegseth said Mr Trump had asked for 500 more troops to be deployed to Washington DC after the shooting.

Flights arriving at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport were temporarily halted due to its proximity to the scene of the shooting, the US Federal Aviation Administration said.

Hundreds of National Guard members have been patrolling the nation’s capital after Mr Trump issued an emergency order in August, which federalised the local police force and sent in the guard from eight states and the District of Columbia.

US

Girl, 13, arrested after teenager shot dead in Los Angeles

Published

15 hours ago

November 26, 2025

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Girl, 13, arrested after teenager shot dead in Los Angeles

A 13-year-old girl has been arrested following the fatal shooting a 16-year-old boy in Los Angeles County, California, police have said.

Officers responded on Sunday about 5pm to a report of a shooting in the city of Pomona.

They found a teenage boy suffering from a gunshot wound.

He was pronounced dead at the scene after firefighters arrived.

A motive for the crime is as yet unknown, police said.

Pomona Police Department said in a statement: “Due to the nature of the incident, investigators from the Pomona Police Department’s Major Crimes Unit responded to the scene and initiated an extensive investigation.

“During the course of their investigation, they identified a 13-year-old female as the possible perpetrator. She was taken into custody and transported to Juvenile Hall.”

The victim’s and the suspect’s identities have not been revealed.

US

Charges against Donald Trump in Georgia election interference case dismissed

Published

17 hours ago

November 26, 2025

admin

Charges against Donald Trump in Georgia election interference case dismissed

Charges against Donald Trump and others in an election interference case in the US state of Georgia have been dismissed.

Pete Skandalakis, the prosecutor who recently took over the case, said in court papers on Wednesday that he has decided to take no further action.

It was unlikely the legal action against the US president could have progressed while he was still in office, but the 14 others – including Mr Trump’s personal lawyer, the former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, and ex-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows – had still faced charges.

Budget latest – Reeves defends changes

The case was dismissed in full by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee after Mr Skandalakis submitted his decision.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis had alleged a wide-ranging conspiracy to illegally overturn Mr Trump’s narrow loss to Democrat Joe Biden in the key swing state in the 2020 presidential election.

Charges against Mr Trump centred around a phone call he made to Georgia’s top election official, secretary of state Brad Raffensperger.

Mr Trump told his fellow Republican: “I just want to find 11,780 votes”, recordings of the conversation showed.

Mr Trump and 18 co-defendants were initially accused.

Four of the accused made plea deals with prosecutors, while the others, including Mr Trump, Mr Giuliani and Mr Meadows, pleaded not guilty.

An angry-looking Mr Trump was pictured as he was booked on the charges at the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office, and copies of the mugshot generated sales of more than $7m (£5.3m) in a matter of days, his campaign said.

In a 22-page memo explaining his decision, Mr Skandalakis noted the entire case is “without precedent,” and pointed in part to the challenges of trying a case against a sitting president.

Mr Skandalakis wrote: “In my professional opinion, the citizens of Georgia are not served by pursuing this case in full for another five to ten years”.

He said he was ending the case “to serve the interests of justice and promote judicial finality” and his decision is “not guided by a desire to advance an agenda but is based on my beliefs and understanding of the law”.

Mr Trump’s lawyer in the case, Steve Sadow, welcomed the end of what he called a “political persecution” of the US president.

“This case should never have been brought. A fair and impartial prosecutor has put an end to this lawfare,” he said.

Ms Willis, who brought the case in August 2023, was disqualified from prosecuting it last December.

An appeals court in the state capital, Atlanta, ruled that a romantic relationship she had with Nathan Wade, the special prosecutor she chose to lead the case, created “a significant appearance of impropriety.”

Defence lawyers claimed the district attorney profited from the case when Wade used his earnings to pay for holidays the pair took.

She appealed the verdict, but lost her case in September, despite Mr Wade having quit his role.

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