Politics

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

Monday

Steerpike Steerpike

Sarah Vine goes on the offensive over Brexit u-turn

Oh dear. It’s been a testing day for Her Majesty’s government after Theresa May decided to postpone the vote on her Brexit deal in order to avoid a humiliating defeat. The problem is no-one bothered to tell May’s so-called inner circle and just hours before the vote was pulled Michael Gove was sent on the Today programme to explain that the vote was going ahead. Could the communications meltdown prove the trigger to ministers turning on May? Mr S only asks after Michael Gove’s wife Sarah Vine – the Daily Mail columnist – appeared to suggest on social media that she was running out of patience with the Prime Minister.

Steerpike Steerpike

Six denials in six days about Theresa May’s Brexit vote

Faced with the prospect of overwhelming defeat, Theresa May has once again decided to kick the Brexit can down the road and delay the meaningful vote on her Brexit deal. Standing before the House of Commons, the Prime Minister told MPs that ‘it is clear that while there is broad support for many of the key aspects of the deal, on one issue – the Northern Ireland backstop – there remains widespread and deep concern.’ which is why she is shelving the vote. All of which rather confused Mr Steerpike. After all, nothing had really changed in the past week, and Mr S was sure he had heard multiple times

Steerpike Steerpike

Watch: MP tells May: No PM is better than a bad PM

Not for the first time, Theresa May’s words on Brexit are coming back to haunt her. The PM once famously said that no deal is better than a bad deal. But in the Commons just now, Labour MP Peter Kyle had this to say to the PM: ‘Isn’t it true that no Prime Minister is better than a bad Prime Minister?’ Mr S thinks that Kyle has a point. But given that the Labour MP is no fan of the party’s leader, does his logic also apply to the prospect of a Labour government under Jeremy Corbyn?

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Pulling the vote won’t be enough to save Theresa May’s Brexit deal

Few Prime Ministers can have come to the House in more humiliating circumstances than Theresa May did today. In her statement, May acknowledged that she was pulling the vote as she would have lost it by a significant margin if it had gone ahead. But in that odd way of hers, May then delivered her best defence of her deal as she was saying that she would head back to Brussels to try and change it. However, it is worth noting that May does not seem to be seeking a change to the withdrawal agreement itself. In response to a question from Iain Duncan Smith, she warned that reopening the

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Speaker Bercow says MPs should get a say in delaying Brexit vote

Speaker Bercow has told MPs that they do deserve a vote on the government’s plan to delay its Brexit deal vote. He told the Commons this afternoon that ‘any courteous, respectful and mature environment, allowing the House to have its say on the matter would be the right and obvious course to take’. We will find out more details on the procedural aspects of the government’s plan later when Andrea Leadsom gives a statement. Bercow’s statement shows why Labour were so keen to protect him as Speaker when his job was in peril over the bullying and harassment scandal. He was always likely to be an interventionist speaker over Brexit,

Steerpike Steerpike

Watch: Beast of Bolsover takes Theresa May to task

Theresa May is having a hard time in the Commons on all sides but the most outspoken attack has come from a typical suspect. Step forward, Dennis Skinner. The Beast of Bolsover took the PM to task for delaying the Brexit vote, saying that by doing so she had handed over power to Brussels: ‘Mrs Thatcher had a word for it. What she has done today: F – R – I – T. She’s frit.’ Mr S is pleased to see that Skinner appears to have found some common ground with the Iron Lady…

Robert Peston Robert Peston

Theresa May must now admit she has failed. What happens next?

The Prime Minister had one job, after she took the greatest office in the land in July 2016 – which was to negotiate an orderly sensible Brexit. Today she will admit she has failed. Because rather than risk seeing an overwhelming majority of MPs vote down the Brexit plan she has meticulously and painstakingly agreed with the EU, she will today tell MPs she is pulling the vote. Two questions follow. What on earth can she say at 3.30pm today to persuade MPs and the nation that she has a strategy for a better Brexit outcome? And will MPs actually let her pull that vote? MPs of ALL parties –

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Eurosceptics threaten to block Government delay to Brexit vote 

Could we end up with Parliament voting on the Brexit deal tomorrow anyway? Eurosceptic Tory MPs have reacted with fury to the announcement that the government will delay the vote, with a number threatening to vote against the delay.  I understand that the European Research Group is currently discussing whether this is actually possible as an official position, but in the meantime MPs such as James Duddridge and Andrea Jenkyns have already made their threats public.  However, sources tell me that the advice given to the ERG has been that the Government might not even have to call a vote on delaying the vote, as it can merely avoid moving

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Why Theresa May has decided to postpone the Brexit vote

Faced with a choice between a humiliating defeat or moving a vote in order to delay a humiliating defeat, Theresa May has plumped for the latter. This morning, cabinet sources say the Prime Minister made the decision to delay the vote on her Brexit deal. Despite No.10 insisting repeatedly this morning that the vote would go ahead on Tuesday, the scale of defeat appears to have become too much and there are now plans to try and shelve it. Cabinet sources suggest that the vote will be moved to January. The vote could still go ahead if May’s opponents find a procedural ruse by which to thwart the government. This

Katy Balls Katy Balls

No.10 schedule emergency cabinet conference call

Cabinet ministers have been invited to an 11.30am emergency conference call, Coffee House understands. Not in the diary until the last hour, this has led to speculation that Theresa May could be about to delay the vote. As one Cabinet minister told me this morning: ‘I don’t expect the vote to go ahead this week.’ But is this just wishful thinking? It’s been clear for several days now that there has been an effort by ministers to get No.10 to delay the vote. Gavin Williamson has been seen as a key actor in all this – making the point that a large defeat could spell the end of the government.

Ross Clark Ross Clark

The ECJ Brexit ruling hands power back to Britain

The “People’s Vote” is celebrating the judgement by the European Court of Justice that Britain could unilaterally revoke Article 50 at any point up until 29 March next year and remain in the EU under existing terms. It destroys the argument that Michael Gove made last weekend: that reversing our decision to stay in the EU would lead to vastly inferior terms, the loss of Britain’s rebate and so on. And while the government still describes the judgement as hypothetical, it will also heap huge pressure on Theresa May if she loses tomorrow’s seemingly doomed vote on her withdrawal bill. Like it or not, she will have to fend off

Gavin Mortimer Gavin Mortimer

How the Gilets jaunes movement could spread across Europe

The eminent historian Emmanuel Todd was on the radio in France last week. He had much to say, none of which would have made for easy listening at the Élysée Palace, particularly his warning that Emmanuel Macron is facing a coup d’etat that has been fomenting for years. Todd believes that fundamental to the rise of the Yellow Vest movement is what happened in 2005. That was the year France, in the words of the Guardian at the time, “decisively rejected the new European constitution”. The ‘non’ votes were 54 per cent (out of an overall turnout of almost 70 per cent) and jubilant campaigners demanded the resignation of Jacques Chirac

Sunday

Alexander S. Mckibbin

The terrifying prospect of a Corbyn-led government

Hats off to Ross Clark for his timely highlighting of the perils of a Corbyn-led government. For those who remember the 1970s, the spectre of an unreconstructed far-left socialist and his acolyte ensconced as neighbours in Downing Street is a terrifying yet wearyingly predictable scenario. Unfettered by opposition, they would see Britain’s economy as being ripe for experimentation. Some of Corbyn’s policy pronouncements which are already in the public domain are alarming enough. Even more concerning should be the as yet unuttered thoughts lurking in the corners of Corbynista minds; the authoritarian student politics and divisive dogma. If Corbyn is elected, we can look forward to a huge amount of

Matthew Taylor

Sunday shows roundup: Boris on Brexit

Boris Johnson – I feel ‘deep sense of personal responsibility’ for Brexit Perhaps the star guest of the day was the former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson who joined Andrew Marr ahead of what looks to be another difficult week for the government. Having resigned his position after the Chequers summit in July, Johnson has since been a leading voice of opposition to Theresa May’s Brexit plan, and has argued that not reaching a deal with the EU would be a preferable outcome to what is currently on offer. Marr asked him about the possible impact of ‘no deal’, a scenario which has become ever more likely by the day: AM:

Charles Moore Charles Moore

The Mail may suffer yet for its Brexit volte-face

I may have spoken too soon when I predicted that the Daily Mail might not suffer from its Brexit volte-face. At the Daily Telegraph’s Christmas charity phone-in last Sunday, I was struck by how many donating readers mentioned the Mail’s desertion, and by reports of recruitment by the Telegraph of disconsolate Mail readers. There are rumours that the Mail’s new editor, Geordie Greig, has personally rung to plead with readers who are cancelling their subscriptions. Geordie is a charming man, but obviously he cannot speak to all the disgruntled tens of thousands. The Mail has chosen to switch from an insurgent to an establishment position just when that establishment is

Saturday

James Ball

We Remainers need to stop trying to convince ourselves the referendum was stolen

Anyone looking at the Independent’s front page the other day – or at least its electronic mock-up, made primarily for social media and TV paper reviews – will have seen a bombshell of a headline: ‘Illegal Facebook spending “won 2016 vote for Leave”’. That’s a seismic claim if it can be confirmed: the once-in-a-generation vote to leave the EU was won through what we now know was an illegal overspend of £500,000 or so. Except the Independent adopted an old newspaper trick: the biggest news is in quotes, suggesting that it’s not the newspaper claiming it, but rather someone else. At first, that someone looks credible. It is from a

Katy Balls Katy Balls

More resignation trouble on the horizon for May as vote approaches

With three days to go until the vote on Theresa May’s deal, this had been the point in the process that No 10 hoped the Whips would be closing in on the swing rebels. Instead the number of rebels is growing with every day. This evening Will Quince has resigned as a PPS – urging the Prime Minister to go back to the EU and renegotiate the detail so it becomes something MPs can support. Now Quince is no household name but he is also not an ardent Brexiteer or an ardent Remainer. The fact that he has resigned shows how MPs sense a sinking ship and have no plans

Ross Clark Ross Clark

The ‘People’s Vote’ campaign’s latest struggle with the truth

Given how Remainers have lost no opportunity to accuse the official Leave campaign of telling porkies about how much money we send to the EU – £350 million per week according to Vote Leave but closer to a net £250 million once the UK rebate is taken into account – one might imagine that the ‘People’s Vote’ campaign would take extra special care over statements relating to financial contributions to the EU. But it seems not. It has been caught out doctoring a report written by an outside expert, leading to inaccurate claims about how EFTA members’ contributions to the EU are spent. Yesterday, ‘People’s Vote’ published a report entitled

Steerpike Steerpike

Watch: Jenni Russell schools Alastair Campbell on Remainer arrogance

When it comes to columnists who lean towards Remain, few are more vocal in their criticism of Brexit than Times columnist Jenni Russell. So, when Russell has to step in to warn arch-Remainer Alastair Campbell that he has gone too far, you know something has gone seriously wrong. This was the case on Newsnight on Friday evening. Russell used her appearance on the Brexit panel to explain why she had now gone cold on the idea of a second referendum: there has not been a big shift in public opinion and a no deal Brexit could win: ‘The point is that absolutely no effort so far has gone into saying

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Will the government find a way to avoid Tuesday’s vote?

Key Cabinet Ministers are urging Theresa May to avoid a vote on her Brexit deal on Tuesday night. I report in The Sun this morning that they fear that if it goes ahead, the government will lose by a margin so large that it could bring the whole thing crashing down. One Secretary of State tells me that it would be ‘group suicide’ to press ahead with the vote. Number 10 say that no decision on whether to find a way to avoid the vote has been taken yet; senior figures there say that decision will not be taken until Monday. But they do admit that they are making little