Politics Archives

Saturday

30 Mar 2019

Why Matt Hancock is likely to be the next prime minister

As MP for the constituency which covers Newmarket, health secretary Matt Hancock will have met a few bookmakers in his time. He has even won a horse race himself, of amateur jockeys in a charity event. He will know the Conservative leadership is the sort of open race with appetising prices – not least the 10-1 which William Hill is today offering on him. I have never met Mr Hancock, and can’t say I even particularly like him, but I am sorely tempted to have a flutter. Why? Because Conservative leadership contests, for all their drama, are pretty easy to read. The winner is almost invariably the credible candidate who, at

Friday

29 Mar 2019

Cindy Yu

The Spectator Podcast: life after May and the Victorian women who explored

This week, Theresa May finally promised to leave – but only after her Brexit deal passes. Anticipation of her departure has already triggered a leadership race within the Conservative party – who will take after her, and what does Brexit and the country look like after May leaves? On the podcast, Katy Balls talks to James Forsyth and former cabinet minister Nicky Morgan. Despite Brexit, the government’s domestic agenda tries to rumble on. A long-planned and long-delayed plan to use technology to place age restrictions on watching pornography is due to come in imminently. Ostensibly, the goal is to prevent under-18s from accessing it, but Robert Jackman reports in this

Robert Peston

A no-deal Brexit or general election are now likelier than ever

Maybe I am simply in the thrall of the powerful emotions manifested by MPs in their debate on Friday, but their rejection of the Withdrawal Agreement just now feels the most significant event to date on the long and tortuous road to Brexit or revocation. Because the EU just a week ago bent its rules to accommodate the Prime Minister’s request for a modest Brexit delay, and also tried to make it easier for her to ratify the deal by saying only the divorce part – the Withdrawal Agreement – would need MPs’ approval to secure a postponed Brexit date of May 22 for leaving the EU. Parliament has thrown

James Forsyth

May’s loss means Britain is heading for a lengthy Brexit delay

The chances of a lengthy delay to Brexit have just increased substantially. The withdrawal agreement has been defeated by 58 votes, which means that there’s little point in the government bringing it back next week even if it could find a procedural way to do so. The 34 Tory rebels means that even if some way could be found to reassure the DUP, the government still wouldn’t have the numbers to win. Parliament’s actions mean that this country’s immediate future is now in the hands of the EU. There’ll be a special EU Council on the 10 of April to decide whether or not to grant the UK a further extension.

Tom Goodenough

Theresa May’s Brexit deal rejected again by Parliament

Theresa May’s Brexit deal has been voted down for a third time by MPs. Parliament rejected the Prime Minister’s withdrawal agreement by 344 to 286 votes, a margin of 58. May said it is a ‘matter of profound regret that once again we have been unable to support leaving the EU in an orderly manner’. The PM also hinted at the possibility of an early general election: ‘I fear we are reaching the limits of the process in this House,’ she told MPs. The EU reacted to May’s third defeat in Parliament by calling an emergency Brexit summit on April 10, just days before Britain could leave the EU under

The Spectator

Full list: the MPs that voted down May’s Brexit deal

Theresa May’s Brexit deal has been voted down for a third time in Parliament. MPs rejected the Prime Minister’s withdrawal agreement by 344 to 286 votes, a margin of 58. Here is the full list, split by party, of who voted it down: Conservative: Adam Afriyie, Steve Baker, John Baron, Guto Bebb, Peter Bone, Suella Braverman, Andrew Bridgen, William Cash, Christopher Chope, James Duddridge, Mark Francois, Marcus Fysh, Justine Greening, Dominic Grieve, Sam Gyimah, Philip Hollobone, Adam Holloway, Ranil Jayawardena, Bernard Jenkin, Andrea Jenkyns, Jo Johnson, David Jones, Phillip Lee, Julian Lewis, Julia Lopez, Craig Mackinlay, Anne Marie Morris, Priti Patel, Owen Paterson, John Redwood, Laurence Robertson, Andrew Rosindell, Lee

The Spectator

Full list: the MPs who voted for May’s Brexit deal

MPs have rejected Theresa May’s Brexit deal for a third time in the House of Commons. This time, the Withdrawal Agreement had been split from the Political Declaration, which laid out the future relationship the UK would have with the EU. The deal was rejected by 344 votes to 286 – a majority of 58. 277 out of 314 Tory MPs voted in favour of the deal, but only five Labour MPs rebelled to join them in the division lobbies. Below are all the MPs, split by party, who supported Theresa May’s government in this vote: Conservatives (277): Nigel Adams Bim Afolami Peter Aldous Lucy Allan David Amess Stuart Andrew

Dominic Raab

Dominic Raab: why I backed May’s deal

I resigned from the Cabinet because I could not support the government’s Brexit deal. And I still judge it to be a poor deal. But I also recognise that with the government purporting to take no deal off the table, and its acquiescence in the extension of Article 50, that we potentially face an even worse alternative that could reverse Brexit and betray our democracy. In extending Article 50 and signalling it was taking a WTO exit off the table, the Government weakened its own negotiating position in Brussels, and I’m afraid it heartened those in Parliament trying to frustrate Brexit. This was a serious mistake, one which breached the

Isabel Hardman

The Independent Group becomes a political party: Change UK

The Independent Group has brought forward its plans to become a political party, called Change UK, and appointed Heidi Allen as its interim leader. This is so it can stand candidates in the European elections, should Britain end up having to participate in them. The party will have its inaugural conference in the autumn. This comes at a rather awkward time for the group of MPs who left their parties last month. They haven’t yet been joined by any more colleagues, with many Labourites who were wavering now putting their faith in Tom Watson’s attempts to renew the party. Some TIG/CHUK MPs have also made things more awkward with strange

Steerpike

The Independent Group gives Brexit a bad name

The Independent Group of pro-Remain MPs announced this morning that they would be officially forming a political party so they are ready to fight in potential upcoming European elections. The group also made the surprising decision, after only being formed for one month, to announce a new leader and adopt a new name: Change UK. Mr S isn’t sure how much thought the group put into their new moniker though. As well as a slightly odd choice for a group whose only real policy is to Remain in the EU (rather than change anything), it also clashes with another political group which has been around for three years: Change Britain.

The Spectator

Full list: the Tory MPs who have switched to backing May’s deal

Despite suffering two historic losses in the House of Commons, Theresa May will bring her Brexit deal back for a third time today, after separating the withdrawal agreement from the political declaration. At the last vote on her deal, the Prime Minister lost by a majority of 149, which included 75 Tory rebels and 10 DUP MPs. Ahead of MV3, Coffee House will be keeping track of the Tory rebels who voted against May’s deal last time, but have now publicly announced that they are supporting it. To have any chance of winning, May will need the support of the DUP (who have said they oppose the deal) and roughly

Thursday

28 Mar 2019

Peter Jones

Petitioning, Roman-style

The petition calling on the UK to remain in the EU has garnered 8,000 votes from Jacob Rees-Mogg and 700 from Idi Amin. Ho-ho, what wits these Remainers are, could be one response. But Romans knew all about this sort of game-playing, and there could be a different explanation. We have records of about 180 jobs of one sort or another across the Roman world. These include tinkers, tailors, soldiers, sailors, entertainers, artists, designers, clerks, lawyers, engineers, cobblers, shoemakers, weavers, lace-makers, porters, dye-sellers, launderers, plasterers and butchers to teachers, builders, cooks, farmers, merchants, fish-sellers, goldsmiths, muff-makers, labourers, carters, hairdressers, and more. What united them all was the person appointed to

The Spectator

Letters | 28 March 2019

Still better than Cameron Sir: I disagree with your editorial (‘Agony prolonged’, 23 March) that Theresa May is the worst prime minister in our history. Unlike her predecessor, Mrs May — for all the flaws that have been ruthlessly exposed by the Brexit process — did not fail to learn the readily accessible lessons from the 1975 referendum. Harold Wilson played something of a blinder, and even a brief reading of this history would have guided a premier willing to learn. David Cameron clearly failed to do this and must assume the mantle of the worst. History will surely judge the PM who caused our current malaise more harshly than its

Charles Moore

The Spectator’s Notes | 28 March 2019

There is an obvious solution to the Brexit problem. It is based on a recognition that we want out and that the EU leaders want the moral high ground. Give it to them. Get them to expel us from the European Union. It cannot be too hard for them to persuade the ECJ, or some new body invented for the purpose, to declare the United Kingdom in breach of ‘European values’, and kick us out. Then we would leave with nothing at all, except our liberty. We might even bribe them for the privilege. As it is, we are committed by Mrs May to paying £39 billion, but that is over several

The Spectator

Portrait of the week | 28 March 2019

Home The House of Commons voted to take Brexit business into its own hands, passing by 329 to 302 an amendment by Sir Oliver Letwin. This was immediately described by Sir Bill Cash in the House as ‘constitutional revolution’. Three ministers resigned so as to vote for the amendment: Alistair Burt, Richard Harrington and Steve Brine. The Commons move followed a sorry visit to the EU summit of the other 27 heads of government by Theresa May, the Prime Minister, who ate pizza outside the room where they all enjoyed dinner. She had asked for Brexit to be delayed till the end of June, but was told that it would

Will Robinson

The big problem with the ‘Revoke Article 50’ petition

Writing a piece on why the ‘Revoke Article 50’ petition is a waste of time, for an audience consisting of the student body of the fourth most Remain city in the country (Oxford), is not the easiest task. So I’ll try to avoid making the arguments that the petition-signatories amongst you might be expecting me to make: I could frame my argument around the fact that some of the signatures appear to have come from all over the globe – including from North Korea – and that, therefore, this petition is broken and should have no bearing over our politics: this is why we register to vote and then do so at

Nikki Da Costa

The Speaker is no longer impartial: here’s how May should take back control

Almost 400 years ago, in 1642, Speaker Lenthall famously declared ‘I have neither eyes to see nor tongue to speak in this place but as the House is pleased to direct me, whose servant I am here.’ That tradition died yesterday. Speaker Bercow took the powers of the House for himself, ruling that it could not make a decision about holding a third Meaningful Vote, and that he had instructed the Table Office not to accept such motions. This is extraordinary – while the Speaker has the power to rule motions and amendments in order, he has no power to prevent the tabling of them. Yet how can the parliamentary

Robert Peston

The PM is setting herself up for humiliation today

Truthfully I don’t really understand why the prime minister is holding a vote tomorrow to approve the Withdrawal Agreement she negotiated with the EU – other than the symbolism of showing that on the day she originally set as Brexit day, 29 March 2019, she is still working hard to extricate the UK from the EU. Because I don’t see how she wins it. It’s almost irrelevant that tomorrow’s vote won’t be a ‘meaningful vote’, under the terms of the EU Withdrawal Agreement act. It is to all intents and purposes a meaningful vote: if the motion laid tonight is passed tomorrow, MPs WOULD be approving Brexit, under the terms

Steerpike

Nadhim Zahawi’s dishonourable abstention

Last night, before the results of the indicative votes were announced, MPs voted on a Statutory Instrument which aimed to change the date of Brexit in domestic law. As you’d expect for a vote of such importance, a three-line-whip was placed on all Tory MPs to support the secondary legislation, and to prevent a ‘clash’ taking place between EU and UK law. Despite this, 93 Tory MPs voted against changing the date, and 67 defied the whip by abstaining, including 5 Cabinet ministers. Among these rebels was government minister for children and families, Nadhim Zahawi, who decided to abstain on this pivotal vote. This was a clear break with collective

Robert Peston

Rees-Mogg: it’s Cameron’s fault that May could not bully me

On a very odd day, perhaps the weirdest moment on my show last night was when Jacob Rees-Mogg effectively blamed the current Brexit mess – for which some would say he shares some responsibility (ahem) – on David Cameron and Sir Oliver Letwin, for making it very hard to call general elections. The chairman of the Tory Brexiter European Research Group said that he would probably not have voted against the prime minister’s deal in January, when she held her first meaningful vote, if she had made that vote a confidence motion – such that losing it would have triggered a general election and seen him thrown out of the