WSJ What’s News - What the U.K. Populist Surge Says About Politics Everywhere

Episode Date: May 8, 2026

A.M. Edition for May 8. Early U.K. election results point to a surge in populism and deep voter dissatisfaction with the incumbent Labour party. WSJ U.K. correspondent Max Colchester explains how voters are becoming increasingly polarised and what that means for governments around the world. Plus, President Trump’s tariffs face another legal setback. And WSJ’s Te-Ping Chen details the extremes writers go to, in order to prove that they are not AI. Luke Vargas hosts. Sign up for the WSJ’s free What’s News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Another legal setback for President Trump's tariffs, plus a populist surge in Britain, as Nigel Farage's Reform U.K. Storms to a major win in local elections. What we're seeing here is a clear anti-incumbency shift, whether you're in the U.S. or Europe. If you're in power, you're unpopular. People feel that they are not as well off as they once were, and that is a problem that takes a lot of time and is very difficult to fix. and why some writers are ditching the perfectionism and polish honed over their careers. It's Friday, May 8th.

I'm Luke Vargas for the Wall Street Journal, and here is the AM edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories moving your world today. A federal trade court has invalidated President Trump's 10% global tariffs, which he'd imposed after his broader tariff strategy was struck down by the Supreme Court in February. In a two-to-one ruling, the Court of International Trade said that, Trump failed to meet the criteria for imposing the 10% levies under powers meant to address persistent trade imbalances. Journal Legal Affairs reporter Lydia Wheeler said the ruling's immediate impact could be limited as Trump had already been planning to replace the time-limited tariffs in July.

Thursday's ruling on the Section 122 tariffs is significant, but it's important to note here that importers aren't going to get immediate relief from this decision. The court decided not to issue a universal injunction to block the levies from being imposed on everyone who's paid them. The court said only the two importers that challenged the levies and also the state of Washington must be repaid with interest. But other importers can now go to court and point to this decision and say, hey, I'm also owed a refund here because the court said that these tariffs are invalid. That could add complexity to an already sprawling government effort to refund the more than $160 billion in collected tariffs that were involved.

validated by the Supreme Court. A White House spokesman didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. The administration is expected to appeal the decision. Tensions are flaring again in the Middle East this morning after the U.S. and Iran exchanged fire in the Persian Gulf yesterday. The U.S. military says that Iran launched a series of attacks Thursday on American warships transiting through the Strait of Hormuz, leading it to strike a number of military sites in response. while President Trump has downplayed the Iranian attacks as a trifle and said that a ceasefire remains in effect. Fresh attacks on the United Arab Emirates today could test that assessment. British voters have voiced their displeasure with Labor Prime Minister Kier Starmor handing Nigel Farage's Reform UK party a major win in local elections.

As we heard in conversations with voters in London, Starmor, who had set out to prove that pragmatism could hold off a populist tide, faced pressure from both the right and left. Reform, because I'm fed up with the way the country's run. I just want Stama out and I want the people to think of us, like British citizens. I do just feel that they're not left-wing enough. I think unfortunately, under Kirst Stama, they've become really quite right-wing party. And there's a lot of stuff which they say and do, which I disagree with. Yeah, I've always been a labourer of voter this time reform,

because his promises, Danny O'Pan. He hasn't kept to none of his manifestos. So no, I've lost all confidence in Labor Party. And that's it, basically. So I voted Green today. First time, actually. I'm not saying Greens are perfect, but I think they just have a bit more of a pulse of,

yeah, what really matters to people. Max Colchester is the journal's UK correspondent. Max, for the benefit of our international audience, these weren't national elections. And Starrmer, who secured a massive election victory for the Centre Left Labour Party back in 2024. ending, we should say, 14 years of conservative control, still has a very big majority in Parliament. And yet the vibe today is that his mandate is now massively eroded. Explain that.

Yes, what we're seeing here is a series of local elections. And these are normally fairly mundane affairs where people select local councillors who deal with things like potholes and trash collection. But what this has turned into is a litmus test of Stama and the Labour Party's popularity with the British public. And the message that we're seeing loud and clear is that people are fed up with him. Now, Labor's problem is that the Labor Party vote is fracturing. Those on the left of the Labor Party are voting for the Green Party. Those on the right of the party, the working class, are voting for the Reform Party, the anti-immigration populist party. And it seems like Starmus base is eroding very rapidly. We spoke to at least one person who tried to make the case,

hey, give this guy a bit more time. Let's hear from them. It wouldn't be right to desert Labor so early on, such an early stage. I think we need to give them a bit more of a chance on a national level. Max, I'm getting the impression that is a bit of an outlier in sentiment. But I will say also, don't the British tabloids and isn't this sort of political culture one of always trying to call for a challenge to leadership? How serious is the threat to Starmers' prime ministership? Well, that's a good point. And you're right, the tabloids and the press here are very, very vicious and always eager to dethrone a prime minister. And it would be quite astounding if you did leave.

We would then be on to our sixth prime minister in seven years in this country, which is really an extraordinary turnover. But I think what we're seeing from these local election results as they come in and we have to be clear, they haven't yet all been counted and we don't have the full picture yet. I think we can see three things coming out of this. One, the Anti-immigration Party Reform UK, led by Nigel Farage, which is really running on a message that Britain is broken

and that we need to have an anti-establishment political order come in and shake things up. and ditch the status quo. Their message has resonated really very deeply, especially across post-industrial parts of the UK and among working-class voters. The second thing is we're seeing that Keir Stama really now is in a fight to secure his position in No.10 Downing Street,

and there's already talk of whether he should be pressured by lawmakers into setting out an orderly transition for his departure. He's already come out and said he won't and that he's going to hang in there. But what we've seen in recent years in British. politics is once that narrative takes hold, it's quite hard to shake. So it's definitely going to be a very bumpy ride for him in the next few months. And the last factor is we're seeing really the reordering of a political system here that has been in place for about a century, which was a duopoly, which was the Conservatives and Labor, controlling British politics. And we're seeing

that fraying. We're seeing a bunch of populist parties on the left and the right, making inroads into the electorate. And we're seeing a fracturing of that political order. And I think that That's really what's going to make the weather here in the longer time. Though probably of greatest interest to listeners abroad is which of the dynamics you just pointed to is most relevant to them. And we look forward to midterm elections in the US this year. Is it a global right-wing populist wave or is this just anti-incumbency based on the cost of living, just frustration that persistent challenges just aren't being addressed by whoever's in office? Well, we're definitely seeing a trend of anti-incomeency.

I think voters are frustrated that change. isn't happening fast enough and we're in an era especially in Europe of low growth so it's very hard for politicians to come in and actually affect change without difficult trade-offs which are actually quite hard to sell to the general public so that's definitely one factor we're seeing and it is extraordinary that you know people in power become so unpopular so quickly as people become more polarized and more willing to switch between parties or rebel against incumbents and that does have serious consequences it raises questions about how you do actually govern countries if you have six months to a year to actually do something, and often

it takes years to turn around and solve problems. So that is a broader question, and I think Kirstarmer has definitely looks likely to become a victim of that trend. Max Colchester is the journal's UK correspondent Max. As always, thanks so much. Thank you very much. In markets news, the owner of British Airways IAG is forecasting that higher fuel costs will dent its full year profits, even as travel demand remains. strong. That forecast comes as new data shows that U.S. airlines saw a 56% jump in their fuel bills for March. Meanwhile, Toyota is warning that the Iran War will drag its profits by more than $4 billion, while 15% U.S. tariffs do more than double that damage. Toyota shares are down

11% this year through Thursday. And a Coinbase Global has swung to a loss as a weak crypto market dragged down the exchanges top line. Earlier this week, the company cut 14% of staff, with its CEO pointing to a broader downmarket for crypto, as Bitcoin and other major tokens struggle to reclaim last year's highs. And it's heads up that we've got a special bonus episode coming later today. In the latest What's News and Earnings, we'll be looking at the high stakes race to win the weight loss pill market. That'll be right here in your What's News feed at midday. We will be right back after a quick break. Okay, when I sell my business, I want the best tax and investment advice. I want to help my kids.

And I want to give back to the community. Ooh, then it's the vacation of a lifetime. I wonder if my out of office has a forever setting. An IG Private Wealth Advisor creates the clarity you need with plans that harmonize your business, your family, and your dreams. Get financial advice that puts you at the center. Find your advisor at IDPrivatewealth.com. We are learning more about the Trump administration.

response to the emergence of powerful new AI tools. As we mentioned earlier in the week, that includes Anthropics, Mythos, and others capable of finding software vulnerabilities on their own, which has sparked alarm within the White House. According to general reporter Amrith Ram Kumar, Vice President J.D. Vance held a call last month where he told top tech CEOs that they might have to get used to more federal oversight, exactly what the industry had lobbied against. He was worried that that capability could really inflict damage on small town, community banks, water plants, and hospitals. He told a group of tech CEOs that basically they

needed to work with the federal government and the Trump administration hand in hand to make sure that everyone was protected, especially those that don't have the resources to bolster their cyber defenses. It was a remarkable moment in that Vice President in advance was on the call and Secretary of State Marka Rubio was on the call to potential front runners for the 2028 Republican nomination. You also had five the nation's top tech CEOs on the same call, Sam Altman from OpenAI, Dario Amadei from Anthropic, Elon Musk of SpaceX, Sundar Pichai of Google, and Satanadella from Microsoft. That group rarely gets together, and the fact that they all were on this call to talk about mythos shows how important that moment was for the White House and for the tech industry at large.

Since the call, administration officials have said they are balancing proper oversight and innovation. Still, there's concern talk about the government getting involved in the rollout of AI models, a shift away from the administration's previous hands-off approach. In recent days, Kevin Hassett, a top economic official in the administration, compared the White House's potential approach in an upcoming executive order to the process used by the FDA to approve new drugs. That comment sparked widespread alarm from allies and opponents of the administration, who said that approach would not work for a technology like AI.

that is growing rapidly. Some administration officials we spoke to cautioned that they're still committed to their industry-friendly approach with limited guardrails, and this is just about managing the cyber risk. White House officials said that any discussion about executive orders is speculation unless announced by President Trump. And finally, it's not just the administration trying to handle the impacts of AI. With AI-generated writing flooding the Internet from quippy LinkedIn posts to insightful substacks, Reporter to Ping Chen says that readers are increasingly trying to spot what's AI, prompting writers to try and master a skill that they'd never previously questioned, how to ensure that their work sounds authentically human. Some of the things people are doing, inserting maybe deliberate typos to make it seem more authentic, not as many sort of short, punchy staccato like sentence breaks, trying to do more things like even inject references to maybe obscure moments from sitcoms like The Office to make them.

sound more human. But as Tuping explains, even for a human, sounding more human can be tricky. It is getting harder to tell when something is AI written. That's partly because AI, the writing is improving. And also, one aspect is that people are increasingly kind of absorbing this AI style of writing and voice. And so some of the people I spoke to said that they don't necessarily use AI, but they find themselves sort of emulating its ticks.

a number of people I spoke who likened it to sort of this New McCarthyism, and wishing that they could just write like themselves, even if sometimes that self does sound maybe a little bit more like AI, because AI, of course, learn from a lot of good writing out there. And that's it for what's news for this Friday morning, something I'm jazzed about, because what does a workaholic AI know about the joy of weekends? Today's show was produced by Hattie Moyer and Daniel Bach, our supervising producer is Sandra Kilhoff, and I'm Luke Vargas. for the Wall Street Journal. We will be back tonight with a new show. Until then, thanks for listening.