James Walker

James Walker is a political reporter at The National who uses long-form, investigative reporting to interrogate how power is exercised in and around Scottish and UK politics. His coverage blends close attention to party turmoil, corporate and institutional accountability, and the human impact of policy decisions. He also brings foreign affairs and social justice experience from wider freelancing into his day-to-day political beat.

Party crises and political accountability

Walker spends significant time inside the mechanics of party politics, particularly the turbulence around newer and smaller parties. His reporting on Reform UK’s problems in Scotland tracks successive candidate withdrawals and controversies, treating them as symptoms of deeper organisational weakness rather than isolated incidents. In coverage of Reform MSP Thomas Kerr’s company being struck off after failing to file accounts, he links business records and regulatory action back to questions of fitness for office and public trust.[anchor] This strand of his work focuses on what politicians do beyond the chamber, scrutinising their commercial interests and campaign infrastructure with the same intensity as their public statements.

Across these stories, Walker shows a preference for documentary detail - company filings, party announcements, and official decisions - over campaign rhetoric. He often writes in the aftermath of a crisis point, charting how parties respond under pressure and what those responses reveal about their internal culture and leadership.

That approach makes his pieces useful when a story touches both political narrative and underlying governance or compliance issues.

Rights, social justice and culture-war flashpoints

Another recurring strand of Walker’s beat is the intersection of politics with rights organisations, gender debates and broader culture-war disputes. His article on Amnesty International taking down an “anti-rights” report amid gender-critical backlash examines how a major NGO navigates internal and external pressure, and how language around rights is contested in the public square.

He uses that kind of controversy to show how advocacy groups, political actors and media ecosystems interact, rather than treating each as separate domains.

Walker’s broader portfolio outside The National reinforces this focus on social justice and marginalised groups.

He has written on foreign affairs, politics and social justice for outlets including The Economist, The Guardian, Vice, Wired, the New Statesman, The Week, OpenDemocracy, The Big Issue and Prospect. In Prospect, for example, he has explored “street politics” and the exclusion of homeless non-voters from electoral systems, linking individual lives to structural democratic questions.

The through-line is a willingness to stay with contentious or uncomfortable subjects and to centre the political consequences for people whose experiences are often at the edges of formal politics.

Investigative projects and technology infrastructure

Within The National, Walker takes part in multi-reporter investigations that treat technology and infrastructure as political stories. He contributed to the masthead’s special investigation into AI data centres, a series that examined planning, environmental, economic and governance questions around large-scale computing facilities. In that context his role sits alongside colleagues, but the project aligns with the investigative long-read focus described in his author bio.

These pieces treat data centres not simply as business or tech news but as decisions about land use, energy and public oversight.

Walker’s interest in complex, structural stories complements his more day-to-day coverage of party politics and rights debates. He gravitates towards subjects where multiple public interests collide - privacy, economic development, climate, and democratic accountability - and helps unpack how those conflicts are being managed or avoided.

That mix means he is a relevant contact when a story touches on the political implications of technology, infrastructure or regulation rather than just their technical details.

Long-form and multimedia political reporting

Walker describes himself as having “a particular passion for a good investigative long read,” and his portfolio reflects that emphasis on depth and narrative. His work across magazines and digital outlets often takes the form of extended reported features on foreign affairs, political movements and social justice campaigns. This long-form orientation shows up in his political reporting at The National, where he builds stories around sustained reporting and multiple sources rather than quick reactive commentary.

He also operates as an on-air explainer for The National’s podcast, regularly joining the editor and political team to discuss the day’s major stories.

Episodes feature him interviewing figures such as George Monbiot on neoliberalism and the state of UK politics, and speaking with SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn about energy, elections and independence strategy. In these formats he turns his reporting into conversational analysis, drawing out the wider implications of news events while keeping close to the underlying facts. Taken together, his print and audio work mark him out as a reporter who combines investigative depth with accessible political explanation.