Politics

Read about the latest UK political news, views and analysis.

Tuesday

Philip Patrick Philip Patrick

What did Japan make of Jeremy Hunt’s Brexit mission? 

Attempting to explain Brexit in 90 seconds might remind you of a Monty Python sketch, but this is what Jeremy Hunt attempted in front of a class of Japanese high school students on Monday. The foreign secretary gave a carefully worded summary of the Brexit situation using the graded language of the English language teacher he used to be. It’s not clear whether the students were any the wiser after he spoke, but the real aim of the lesson was achieved: to generate positive headlines for the Foreign Secretary on his latest visit to Japan. Hunt has some advantages. He lived in Japan in his early 20s, mastered the language and

Steerpike Steerpike

Watch: Richard Burgon caught out saying ‘Zionism is the enemy of peace’

In 2016, Labour’s shadow justice secretary and Corbyn ally Richard Burgon was asked a rather simple question by Andrew Neil when he appeared on the Daily Politics. The show took place shortly after allegations were made in the Daily Mail that the MP has said ‘Zionism is the enemy of peace’. As you would expect, in the midst of Labour’s ongoing issues with the Jewish community, Burgon was therefore given the opportunity to correct the record by Neil, and asked if the reported remarks were correct. In response, Burgon shrugged off the accusations, replying at least three times when pressed that he ‘didn’t say that’, ‘didn’t make those comments’ and ‘would not

Monday

Kapil Komireddi

India should not ask Britain to apologise for the Amritsar massacre

On the afternoon of 13 April 1919, troops commanded by brigadier-general Reginald Dyer opened fire on thousands of unarmed Indian protesters massed at an enclosed garden in Amritsar in Punjab known as Jallianwala Bagh. When the shooting stopped – and it stopped only because Dyer ran out of ammunition – some 500 people, mostly Sikhs, lay dead. Dyer lost his job but kept his life, liberty, and reputation. Bigots in Britain, energetically vilifying those who denounced him, raised thousands of pounds to lubricate his transition from the subcontinent to the English countryside. Edwin Montagu, secretary of state for India, was traduced in the press and in the corridors of the Commons as

Daniel DePetris

Libya’s crisis exposes the deep divide at the heart of the EU

The European Union already has a lot on its plate. The continuing doom of Brexit, upcoming parliamentary elections, a resurgent and ever strident nationalist movement across the continent and migration to name only a few. But over the last week, Libya can be added to the list. The armed conflict just across the Mediterranean is splitting the EU. Not for the first time, it makes the institution look floundering, divided and unsure of its capacities. Libya has been a basket-case ever since a Nato and Arab-led military coalition helped the country’s rebel brigades kick Gaddafi from power. The North African nation is in reality not a nation at all, but

Nikki Da Costa

Can Britain really leave the EU before the European elections?

Last Thursday the Prime Minister told MPs that ‘if we were able to pass a deal by 22 May, we would not have to take part in European elections and, when the EU has also ratified, we would be able to leave at 11pm on 31 May.’ Her point – since picked up by ministers – was to ram home to Leave supporting MPs that ‘the date of our departure from the EU, and our participation in the European parliamentary elections’ was down to them. But is it realistic to think this timetable can be met? Can the government deliver? In my view, this would require a level of legislative

John Keiger John Keiger

How Britain can make life difficult for the EU during the Brexit extension | 15 April 2019

It is not good form for the British to be awkward and obstructive. The art of the compromise was the polite British way of doing things. Or so it used to be thought. But Europe’s axis has tilted since Theresa May’s inability to secure an exit from the EU. Jacob Rees-Mogg’s recent tweet calling for Britain to be ‘difficult’ and paralyse the workings of the EU from inside sums up this toppling of conventional etiquette. Now that the extension has been granted until 31 October with few constraints on British membership, should Britain form an awkward squad in Brussels to block Europe’s institutions? And if so, where do we look

Steerpike Steerpike

Dominic Raab takes inspiration from Game of Thrones

As Tory leadership rivals get their campaigns up and running – and start to work out how to torpedo their rivals – Game of Thrones returns to our screens. Now in its final series, the back-stabbing/front-stabbing fantasy drama sees various characters fight and plot their way to the Iron Throne. So, Mr S was curious to see Dominic Raab entering the debate on which character will emerge triumphant in the new series. The former Brexit secretary says he is backing Arya Stark who a mere 10pc of those surveyed want to see sit on the throne. ‘I’m not alone in backing Arya. It’s never the favourite.’ I’m not alone in

Sunday

Matthew Taylor

Sunday shows round-up: ERG attacks, Windrush and Labour anti-Semitism

David Lammy – ERG far-right comparisons ‘not strong enough’ Andrew Marr interviewed David Lammy, the MP for Tottenham who has been at the forefront of calls for a second Brexit referendum. Lammy doubled down on comments he has made about not ‘appeasing’ the pro-Brexit European Research Group. Marr challenged him on the remarks made to the crowd at the Put It to the People March last month: AM: By implication you’re comparing the ERG to the Nazi party… That was an unacceptable comparison wasn’t it? DL: I would say that that wasn’t strong enough… We must not appease…  I’m not backing off on this…  and the BBC should not allow

Steerpike Steerpike

David Lammy: comparing the ERG to the Nazis isn’t strong enough

As tensions in Westminster continue to grow over Brexit, it’s become commonplace for politicians to use language that would have been unheard of in the past. Yet, even in these febrile times, the Labour politician David Lammy managed to go a step further earlier this month when he compared the ERG faction of the Tories to the Nazi party, during a speech at a People’s Vote rally. But if anyone was hoping that the MP had toned down his language since his last intervention, they would have been disappointed by his remarkable appearance on Andrew Marr this morning. When Marr showed the Labour politician a clip of his recent speech,  and asked

Lucy Vickery

Spectator competition winners: Winnie-the-Pooh grows up

The latest challenge was to submit an extract from a novel that chronicles the adult life of a well-known fictional hero from children’s stories. I enjoyed Jess McAree’s account of Paddington Bear’s Conrad-esque voyage — ‘evicted by Brexit, residence visa revoked’ — to the heart of darkness in deepest Peru. Hugh King, D.A. Prince and A.R. Duncan-Jones also shone with their portrayals of the later lives of the stars of the Just William and Noddy stories. In Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, the play based on J.K. Rowling’s books, the boy wizard has grown up and become a father of three who works for the Ministry of Magic. David

Rory Sutherland Rory Sutherland

The unintended consequences of the new EU car speed limit

A once famous question posed to job-seekers at Microsoft was ‘Why are manhole covers round?’ The question was revealing not because there was a single right answer, but precisely because there wasn’t. It helped elicit whether the applicant was someone happy to supply one plausible answer or someone who looked beyond the obvious. At a simple level, manhole covers are round because manholes are round. But there are other reasons. A circular manhole cover cannot fall down the hole beneath; a square manhole, if aligned diagonally, could. Round manhole covers can also be moved easily by rolling and replaced in any orientation. They are probably stronger than square ones. And

Toby Young Toby Young

Being ‘down with the kids’ has turned the Tories into a laughing stock

The news that 83 per cent of Conservative voters are over 45, compared to 53 per cent of Labour voters, is depressing. That was a finding of a poll carried out by Hanbury Strategy for Onward, a right-of-centre think tank that’s just produced a report called ‘Generation Why?’. More alarmingly, Hanbury discovered that the ‘tipping point age’ — the median age at which a person is more likely to vote Conservative than Labour — is 51. That’s up from 47 at the 2017 general election and 34 just beforehand. ‘Yikes!’ as Lynton Crosby might say. No doubt the Tories’ close identification with Brexit and its stumbling attempts to get over

Charles Moore Charles Moore

General de Gaulle was wrong about Britain joining the EEC

In his famous speech to both Houses of Parliament in March 1960, General de Gaulle praised Britain: ‘Although, since 1940, you have gone through the hardest vicissitudes in your history, only four statesmen [Churchill, Attlee, Eden and Macmillan] have guided your affairs in these extraordinary years. Thus, lacking meticulously worked-out constitutional texts, but by virtue of an unchallengeable general consent, you find the means on each occasion to ensure the efficient functioning of democracy.’ De Gaulle admired us and disliked us, and concluded that we threatened France if we joined the EEC. So he blocked our entry. He was right about us, wrong about the effect of our joining. By

Saturday

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Which way will Corbyn go on Brexit?

In September, Labour conference will impose on Jeremy Corbyn a policy of backing a second referendum in all circumstances. So, I say in The Sun this morning, what will he do between now and then? Corbyn has two paths open to him. He can either decide to embrace a second referendum now or do a deal with Theresa May so that the UK is out of the EU before Labour conference meets. If Corbyn went the second referendum route, he would ensure that Labour did well in the European Parliament elections next month as it scoops up the votes of energised Remainers while the Tories have lumps taken out of

Anthony Browne

Brexit need not tear the Tories apart. Here’s why

The political dysfunction in Parliament seems to be rubbing off on much of our commentariat. Many have concluded that the whole political system is about to undergo an earthquake as seismic and landscape-changing as anything that mere plate tectonics can conjure up. The main political parties will no longer be Labour and Tory, defined by being working class or middle class, big state or little state, socialist or free enterprise. Instead, goes the new thinking, there will be two main parties defined by being anti-Brexit and pro-Brexit (which may or may not be Labour and Conservative). Now it is easy to see why people might start to claim this. There

Matthew Parris Matthew Parris

Why aren’t Leavers backing a second referendum?

My first encounter with a plan to hold not one but two referendums on Britain’s European Union membership happened more than three years ago. At least two individuals were actively entertaining the idea. Both were Leavers. Dominic Cummings had proposed it in one of his blogs. Boris Johnson had not publicly endorsed such a thing, but (I know) was discussing it with interest privately. The thinking, as I recall, was similar in both cases. The first referendum would be the one we then faced: asking voters for a yes or no to the idea that in principle we should quit. If the result was Remain, we’d remain. If Leave, there

Charles Moore Charles Moore

The Tories shouldn’t worry about losing the youth vote

There was publicity last weekend for a report (Generation Why?) by Onward, the think tank of semi-young ‘mainstream’ Tories. Its survey seemed to confirm the widespread belief that hardly anyone young supports the Tories, which may not matter quite as much as Onward thinks, since it also showed that the young have astonishing difficulty in working out how to get to a polling station and write a cross on a ballot paper. Although the results collected by Hanbury Strategy were obtained via ‘an online smartphone poll’ of 10,031 voters, I found myself losing confidence on page 46. There it was stated that ‘In our poll younger people seemed to be

Friday

Stephen Horvath

The Roger Scruton row brings shame on the Tories

A friend of mine – another twenty-one year old – has resigned his membership of the Conservative party this morning over a single issue. It’s not Brexit; it is the comments made by Conservative MPs James Brokenshire, Tom Tugendhat, and Johnny Mercer about the sacking of Roger Scruton from his unpaid government advisory role following an interview he gave to the New Statesman. In a week where Conservatives have spouted platitudes about appealing to young voters, they are putting off young people by pandering to the lynch-mob mentality that has been nurtured on university campuses and Twitter, and promoted by the luminaries of the Labour party. It is particularly disappointing

Gabriel Radonich

The Spectator Podcast: where did things go wrong for Emmanuel Macron?

While Friday may mean the end of the working week for most of us, for many in France, it means the start of a long weekend out in the streets clad in a gilet jaune. As Emmanuel Macron pushes for a tough stance against the UK in Brexit negotiations in Brussels, domestic problems continue to mount unabated. Jonathan Miller writes in this week’s cover piece that, despite initial optimism about the golden boy of global liberalism, Macron’s only major achievement so far has been to unite his country in opposition to him. He is joined on the podcast by Sophie Pedder, Paris Bureau Chief for the Economist, and author of

Mark Galeotti Mark Galeotti

Some Russians think Britain’s bungled Brexit is just an illusion

It’s hardly a surprise that Russian and American views of the world differ sharply. But there is one area of unexpected congruence in Moscow and Washington: Brexit. Travelling between both capitals, it is hard to tell the difference between the perplexity and even suspicion with which Britain’s ongoing and bungled departure from the EU is being viewed. Of course, the two administrations have rather different interests when it comes to Brexit. In the United States, there is some excitement among big business about the prospect of the UK market opening up. In the main though the feeling is one of dismay about the crisis gripping one of the country’s closest allies.