Politics

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

Thursday

28 Mar 2019

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

James Kirkup

Nick Boles is a rare hero in a Parliament full of cowards

Failure. A failure of politics, a failure of courage. MPs have failed over Brexit, time and time again. Worse, many MPs fail to realise how badly they’re failing, the harm they are doing. This isn’t true of everyone in the Commons. There are still some heroes. Nick Boles is one. His cross-party Common Market 2.0 plan – a Norwegian model of Brexit – is not yet dead but has been grievously wounded. It was attacked from both sides. The hard Brexiteers said it wasn’t hard enough, even though it’s what many of them promised or wanted before the referendum. The People’s Vote campaign also helped to destroy it, and for

Steerpike

Lily Allen mulls a European election campaign

After MPs failed to reach a conclusion last night on their preferred Brexit outcome, and Theresa May’s own strategy stalled without an endorsement from the DUP, it’s looking increasingly likely that Britain will end up extending Article 50 and participating in European elections in May Already Brexiteers are gearing up for the fight, as a way to show the world that the UK still wants to leave the EU. Meanwhile, Remain parties will be hoping to show widespread support for a People’s Vote. But who could they possibly put forward as a candidate? Step forward pop-star and provocateur Lily Allen, who announced this morning she is considering standing as an

Steerpike

David Lidington’s new nickname

David Lidington found himself briefly trending on Twitter over the weekend after reports began to circulate that May’s de facto deputy was being talked up as a caretaker prime minister. The idea was that Lidington – a former Europe minister who voted Remain – could step in for May and act as a unifying leader who could reach some form of Brexit consensus in the House of Commons – later standing aside for a full blown leadership contest to take place. However, owing to the fact that Brexiteers suspected this form of Brexit consensus would involve reaching across the House and pivoting to a soft Brexit, the idea quickly fell

James Forsyth

After May

The most effective political insult of modern times was delivered by Norman Lamont in 1993, when he declared that John Major’s government gave ‘the impression of being in office but not in power’. But it is truer of Theresa May than it ever was of Major. Lamont argued that Major paid too much attention to opinion polls, meaning that the government reacted to events, rather than shaping them. But May’s position is far, far worse: she has lost control of the House of Commons. On the most important issue of the day, there is something close to a shadow government operating. Such is May’s predicament that the best card she

George Bridges

Where it all went wrong

Management books often repeat the dictum: ‘If there’s one thing worse than making mistakes, it’s not learning from them.’ So let’s apply that smug little idea to Brexit. Before I start, a couple of housekeeping points. I voted Remain, but believe we must leave the EU and honour the referendum result. Second, as a former Brexit minister, writing this is a form of therapy for me. Failure no. 1 — from which many other failures flow — was a lack of honesty. Brexit is the biggest challenge we’ve faced since 1939. It’s complex, existential and will take years. It demands a sense of national endeavour, of ‘let us go forward together’.

Robert Jackman

No ID, no entry

In just a few weeks, the government begins its crackdown on porn. From April, all UK-based internet users will be required to prove their age before accessing adult websites. And if they can’t? As they say on the doors, it’s no ID, no entry. Since the arrival of the internet, and then the smartphone, parents have fretted about how easy it is for children to watch porn, and the impossibility of enforcing age restrictions. In 2015, David Cameron included an age-verification scheme in his election-winning manifesto and, after some delays, Whitehall is now ready to go. But is the plan too intrusive? And is it even remotely feasible? Potentially, say

Lionel Shriver

Imagine if Remain had won but been thwarted

Sometimes it’s worth addressing what didn’t happen. For one exasperating aspect of appearing on television news is leaving the studio kicking yourself for what you failed to say. Heading home from Broadcasting House, I’ll often impotently mutter all those killer arguments that fled my head when they might have counted for something. Yet during my last panel on Newsnight, the trouble wasn’t the usual deer-in-the-headlights stupor, but the fact that the lovely Emily Maitlis wouldn’t let me in. So let’s run back the tape. Alastair Campbell is allowed a long riff on (surprise) Brexit. According to him, ‘Brexit’ means all things to all people. It is a ‘fantasy’ a-leap with

Owen Matthews

Ukraine’s reality TV

Servant of the People is a hilarious Ukrainian situation comedy currently running on Netflix. It opens with a young high-school teacher launching into a foul-mouthed rant against the corruption and venality of his country’s political class. ‘Why are all the honest people fools and the clever ones are thieves?’ shouts nerdy but honest history master Vasyl Holoborodko to a colleague. ‘What kind of people are we, that we keep voting for these mother–fucking liars knowing that they are crooks?’ One of Holoborodko’s pupils secretly films the rant through a window. The video goes viral. Millions of Ukrainians crowdfund the honest teacher to stand in an upcoming presidential election, which he

Wednesday

27 Mar 2019

Johannes de Jong

Theresa May’s departure won’t help the Brexiteers’ cause

Faced with the prospect of a softer Brexit, or no Brexit at all, Jacob Rees-Mogg is considering holding his nose and voting for Theresa May’s deal. Boris Johnson also appears to be considering doing the same. This shift among Tory backbenchers towards signing up to the deal seems to be contingent on May setting a date for her departure. The idea here is that with May gone, a new Prime Minister will make a big difference once the Withdrawal Agreement has passed the House of Commons. May’s successor, the thinking goes, will take a much tougher stance in the next round of negotiations with the EU. In doing so, they will

Isabel Hardman

Why John Bercow seems to delight in irritating Tory MPs

Once again, the Commons has concluded its day with rather chaotic scenes involving Tory MPs having a scrap with John Bercow. The Speaker managed to refrain from insulting anyone’s abilities as a whip, but he nevertheless irritated those who want a third meaningful vote by insisting throughout a series of points of order that he was not contradicting himself when he said he would not allow Theresa May to bring her deal back to the Commons while also allowing for another day of indicative votes. Some Conservative Brexiteers were angry that any more indicative votes are due to take place when the Commons has offered no one view tonight. But

Katy Balls

MPs reject every Brexit option – what next?

When a cross party group of MPs managed to seize control of the Commons and win backing for a plan to hold indicative votes on Brexit options, the hope was that this would show what type of Brexit – or no Brexit – there was a majority for in Parliament. In the end, things didn’t work out exactly as planned. MPs voted on eight proposed options – from a permanent customs union to a second referendum – but not one commanded a majority. Instead, the exercise appeared to show that there is currently no majority for any form of Brexit. The option which won the most votes was a proposal for

Isabel Hardman

105 MPs vote against changing Brexit date in bad omen for May

If Theresa May wants an indication of how well things are going for a third meaningful vote, she could do worse than to look at the result of a vote on a statutory instrument in the Commons tonight. MPs have just approved the official piece of legislation that acknowledges Britain is no longer leaving the European Union on 29 March – but with a substantial rebellion. There were 105 MPs who voted against this change of date, with impassioned speeches from Tory Brexiteers in the Commons arguing against the move, even though it had already been approved in international law. Their line was that Britain should just leave now, and

James Forsyth

The DUP delivers a big blow to Theresa May’s Brexit deal hopes

The DUP have just delivered a big blow to Number 10’s strategy for winning meaningful vote 3. They have announced that they won’t vote for it because the changes they wanted to the backstop have not been delivered. Without the DUP, it is very hard – if not impossible – to see how Theresa May can win any meaningful vote. So, where do the government go from here? Well, I suspect there’ll be a mad dash in the next 24 hours to see what further reassurances can be provided to the DUP on the Union. I wonder if there might be legislation to ensure the Northern Ireland First Minister’s role

The Spectator

MPs reject every option: the full results of the indicative votes

Parliamentarians were given the opportunity today to take control of the negotiations, after holding indicative votes on their preferred Brexit strategy. Now, the results are in, and we have found out that they don’t support any option at all. For Oliver Letwin’s vote, each MP was presented with eight Brexit motions, selected by the Speaker earlier today, on a piece of green voting paper. Inside the division lobby, they could either vote for, against, or abstain on each position, with no limit on the number they could support. Below are the number of votes for each option. Of the eight proposals, none managed to achieve a majority in the House of

Isabel Hardman

European Research Group descends into hugging fiesta as members insist they won’t back May’s deal

Despite a number of MPs announcing that they will back Theresa May’s Brexit now that she has said she will leave within weeks of it passing, senior members of the European Research Group have come out fighting this evening to insist the deal still doesn’t have the votes. Steve Baker received what one source described as an ‘enormous standing ovation’. The source said: ‘His voice was cracking with emotion, so much so that at the end he was hugged by Jacob [Rees-Mogg] and others at the top table. We are not a hugging group.’ Baker’s speech included the following lines: ‘What is our liberty for if not to govern ourselves?’

James Forsyth

Boris backs May’s deal – who is next?

Theresa May’s pledge to go before the second stage of the Brexit negotiation if her deal passes, is already reaping some rewards. Boris Johnson has told a meeting of the ERG that he is now backing the deal. His argument is that what is going on in Parliament means there is a real chance of losing Brexit and that a change of personnel will lead to a change of policy in stage two. This addresses his concern that Theresa May would interpret the withdrawal agreement passing as a license to go and negotiate a Chequers-style agreement. Boris Johnson isn’t the only big beast shifting tonight. Iain Duncan Smith, who played

James Forsyth

Theresa May has played her last card: if her deal passes, she’ll go

Theresa May has played her last card in her attempt to get her Brexit deal through. She has told Tory MPs that if it passes, she’ll go and let someone else do phase two of the negotiations. In this scenario, a new Prime Minister would be in place by the autumn. I’m told that no Tory MP in the room asked May for more specificity about her departure date. Some might have preferred a named date, but after the meeting I bumped into a couple of ERG members who voted against the deal last time who said they would now back it. Their logic is that a change in personnel