Politics Archives

Monday

7 May 2018

It’s time to end the discussion on the customs union

This never-ending circular discussion on customs unions is painful, particularly because the question should have been settled during the referendum. It’s now nearly two years since the vote to Leave the EU in June 2016. But we’ve spent months and months rehashing endlessly the exact same points. That’s profoundly damaging. Rewind back to this time two years ago. The leaders of the Leave campaign were talking about the possibility of the UK signing new trade deals after Brexit with the US, Japan, China, Australia and New Zealand – they were talking of life outside a Customs Union. The other side said we would have more negotiating weight as a big

Sunday

6 May 2018

Matthew Taylor

Sunday shows round-up: Greg Clark – a customs partnership is ‘still on the table’

The Business Secretary joined Andrew Marr this morning to keep alive the Prime Minister’s aspiration for a customs partnership with the EU after Brexit. On Wednesday, the Brexit inner cabinet voted down Theresa May’s proposal, which would see the UK government collect tariffs on behalf of the EU in return for greater access to the European market. Despite this setback, Clark argued strongly in favour of a ‘customs agreement that has the minimum of frictions’, as it would allow importation of important goods and materials ‘without any checks at the border’, something which he described as ‘crucial’ for British business: AM: There are those of your colleagues who say that

Steerpike

Introducing the Labour representative for Small Heath: councillor who claimed Isis doesn’t exist

The Conservatives better-than-expected election result has been dampened somewhat by CCHQ’s decision to reinstate a councillor suspended for comparing an Asian man with a dog last June in order to take control of Pendle council. Labour have been quick to go on the attack – accusing the Tories of abandoning decency in favour of a power grab. However, Labour don’t have the monopoly on outrage over elected councillors. While the party failed to get the landslide it had hoped, there was one particular cause for celebration in Birmingham: Safia Alif Noor Akhtar, the party’s candidate in Birmingham Small Heath, ‘waltz[ed] to victory’ in the words of the local paper. Mr S

Peter Oborne

In defence of Olly Robbins

I dislike the attacks on Theresa May’s Brexit adviser Olly Robbins. Mr Robbins is a capable and patriotic official charged with the exceptionally demanding task of extricating Britain from the European Union. This job is as difficult and complicated as taking Arizona out of the United States. I detect no evidence to support claims that Mr Robbins, whom I have not met, is sabotaging Brexit. He understands that his job is to carry out the orders of the government of the day as smoothly and skilfully as possible. The Conservative party has historically been dedicated to the preservation of our great institutions: parliament, monarchy, civil service, rule of law, etc.

Saturday

5 May 2018

Madeleine Kearns

‘Toxic masculinity’ is a toxic phrase

To tackle London’s murder problem, Sarah Jones, Labour Party and Croydon Central MP, told the BBC that a ‘public health approach’ is needed. This, she says, involves going into schools and teaching ‘what it is to be a man.’ Quite so. Masculinity can and ought to be taught. But is this really a job for schools? A recent article in the New York Times, entitled, ‘Boys to Men: Teaching and Learning About Masculinity in an Age of Change’ thinks so. It discusses how to address what is often referred to as ‘toxic masculinity’ – a phrase applied to the notion of ‘manning up’, ‘growing a pair’; the idea that men

Stephen Daisley

Jewish voters didn’t just beat Labour, they shamed them

When it became clear that Labour had fallen far short of its overhyped expectations in the local elections, I tweeted this: https://twitter.com/JournoStephen/status/992317867004657664 I would now like to retract, but only in one instance. Adam Langleben, councillor for West Hendon in Barnet, lost his seat on Thursday. Given Barnet’s sizeable Jewish population, and Labour now being the Hampstead Hezbollah, in all likelihood his party’s antisemitism cost him re-election. Which is perverse since Langleben has been one of the bravest partisans in a counter-insurgency of Jews determined to expose and expel antisemites from Labour’s ranks. His has been a clarion voice for justice and decency in a party which has shown little

Steerpike

The FT remembers Karl Marx – ‘more relevant than ever’

Happy Karl Marx day. To mark the 200th anniversary of the revolutionary philosopher’s birth, a statue of the revolutionary philosopher (funded by the Chinese, natch) has been erected in his German hometown Trier to protests, Owen Jones has tweeted a picture of his cat reading Das Kapital and a range of pieces have been published across the media on his legacy. Only some articles are more gushing than others. Take for example, the Financial Times essay on new Marx biography ‘A World to Win: The Life and Works of Karl Marx’. The glowing piece sees the journalist offer a rather selective account and verdict of Marx’s life and legacy. Adam Tooze praises the

James Forsyth

Theresa May won’t abandon her customs partnership idea: but she should

Theresa May has received a shot in the arm from the local election results. But, as I say in The Sun this morning, she still needs to deal with the whole customs partnership question. Even after the remarkable rebuff that the ‘new customs partnership’ received from the Brexit inner Cabinet on Wednesday, despite the Prime Minister putting her authority on the line by making clear her support for it, Number 10 won’t give up on the idea. It believes that with a few changes it can be made to work. Already, ministers are being told that what really matters is getting out of the EU. The case is being made

Friday

4 May 2018

Alastair Benn

Why do Tories love Ayn Rand?

Our new Home Secretary Sajid Javid is a big Ayn Rand fan: twice a year, he reads the courtroom scene in ‘The Fountainhead’. He said so in an interview with The Spectator: “It’s about the power of the individual … About sticking up for your beliefs, against popular opinion. Being that individual that really believes in something and goes for it.” This curious fetish for Ayn Rand extends to conservatives on both sides of the Atlantic – Paul Ryan often gives Rand’s novel ‘Atlas Shrugged’ as a Christmas present. Javid is a capable figure who has no less of a chance of ascending to the top than any other of

Katy Balls

How Redditch, Peterborough and Nuneaton saved the bank holiday weekend

Ahead of the local elections – and the predictions of a bloodbath for the Conservatives – it seemed a safe bet that on the night the official Tory MP WhatsApp message group would be filled with complaints about bad results – possibly bad leadership – and a number of Conservative MPs warning emotional colleagues to hold it together and get behind Theresa May. Instead, the problem was of another variety: ‘where’s my graphic?’ Tory MPs used the thread to complain not about their leader but the fact the ‘Tory held’ or ‘Tory win’ Twitter banners weren’t ready in time to share. As Theresa May goes into the weekend, her position

Steerpike

Watch: Martin Lewis schools Labour MP on Question Time over tuition fees

In the flurry of excitement over the local elections, Chi Onwurah’s Question Time appearance has been cruelly overlooked. Happily, Mr S is on hand to right this wrong. The Labour MP’s attempt to criticise the Tories over student loans backfired last night. The Labour MP spoke of her apparent fears that a working-class student could be put off university by the amount they would have to pay back. But Onwurah didn’t account for a furious Martin Lewis, who was also on the Question Time panel, taking her to task for her comments: Astonishing scenes on #bbcqt as a furious moneysaving expert Martin Lewis destroys Labour’s Chi Onwurah over her attempts use student debt

James Kirkup

The Tories should learn from Wandsworth – not celebrate it

I live in Wandsworth. It’s nice. That’s not a political comment, just an observation on the borough. OK, it’s not edgy or cool or even wildly imaginative, but neither am I. It is also the sort of place the Tories should win at a canter. There’s a reason it’s called a flagship council, after all. It’s still Conservative today and Tories are celebrating that: Theresa May has been in the borough lauding “success” and noting that Labour threw a lot of resources at Wandsworth and appeared to believe that it really might turn the borough red. Of course, a win’s a win and nothing else really matters, but I can’t

Fraser Nelson

Jeremy Corbyn had a bad night – but the Tories still have much to fear from the left

It’s a bit mean to accuse the Tories of cynical expectations management, as Jeremy Corbyn has just done. Their panic was quite genuine. I’ve spoken to a great many Tories over the last few weeks, and none would have been so bold as to predict today’s results. Rallings & Thrasher had expected the Tories to lose 75 seats in aggregate, and so far they’re about flat. Given the awful time that Theresa May has had recently, it’s not a bad result. It was, as Tory chairman Brandon Lewis has said, a ‘reasonable’ night. But the fact that such a close result is described as ‘reasonable’ shows how far things have

Isabel Hardman

Jeremy Corbyn attacks Tory local election spin

If you want to know how last night was for the Labour Party, you need to look no further than the statement that Jeremy Corbyn has just released on the results. It is not a celebratory comment on Labour’s spectacular night, but a defensive one, describing the local elections as a ‘solid set of results’. He adds: ‘In a sign of how worried they are about Labour’s advance, the Tories talked up our chances to unrealistic levels, especially in London. The results show they’re right to be worried – we came within a whisker of winning Wandsworth for the first time in over 40 years.’ Corbyn is right, by the

Steerpike

Watch: Red Ken doubles down on Hitler

Has Labour’s anti-Semitism row cost the party in the local elections? Given their disappointing results in areas with a large number of Jewish voters, such as Barnet, it would seem so. So is Ken Livingstone feeling apologetic for repeatedly talking about Hitler? Not so, if his interview on Sky News just now was anything to go on. Instead of apologising for embarrassing his party, Ken doubled down on his comments, and again droned on about Adolf Hitler’s view of zionism: ‘There is a lot of Jewish people not just in Barnet but all over the place who believe I said Hitler was a zionist. That was the big smear on

Will Heaven

London shows that the more voters get to know Corbyn, the less they like him

It was always possible, I wrote a month ago, that the London elections would show voters baulking for the first time at the prospect of Jeremy Corbyn in power, especially after the protests in Westminster against anti-Semitism. That hasn’t quite happened: it seems there has been a slight swing to Labour in the capital, unlike the rest of the country. But fears of a Tory bloodbath in London – of Corbynistas and Sadiq Khan supporters painting the town red – were misplaced. The Tories have kept hold of their crown jewel boroughs: Westminster, Wandsworth, Kensington and Chelsea. Remarkably, they have even taken back control of Barnet, in north London, which

Steerpike

Ukip’s general secretary compares party to the black death

Ukip has had a dismal night in the local elections: the party is so far down 92 seats, and retains only two council seats across Britain. Some politicians might do their best to try and put a gloss on things – but not Ukip’s general secretary, Paul Oakley, who has compared his party to the black death. Oakley told the Today programme: UKIP’s general secretary @PaulJamesOakley compares his party to the Black Death. ☠️ He claims that’s not a bad thing and says it’s not over for his party. #Election2018 #r4today pic.twitter.com/dJ0Tim3Mns— BBC Radio 4 Today (@BBCr4today) May 4, 2018 ‘Think of the Black Death in the Middles Ages. It

Steerpike

Watch: John McDonnell loses his temper

It’s been a somewhat disappointing night for Labour, and Mr S wonders whether his party’s failure might have upset John McDonnell. Earlier this morning, the shadow chancellor was taken to task for his comments about Esther McVey being lynched. Claire Perry called for McDonnell to say sorry – an opportunity McDonnell turned down. Here’s how their exchange unfolded on BBC News: Perry: Are you going to apologise now? This is your chance to say sorry. Look at this hand gesture: get back in your box, woman. McDonnell: This is unacceptable in a programme like this So, Minister Claire Perry tries to get John McDonnell to apologise for saying he thought

Steerpike

Local election analysis: Owen Jones’s success* rate

Owen Jones has been on a mission of late – a mission to unseat Tories. The Guardian columnist has been taking his campaign to key Labour target seats. Only despite the Guardian columnist’s best efforts, Labour have had a rather underwhelming night in the local elections. So, in order to help with future planning, Mr S thought it might be helpful to examine the varying degrees of success* when it comes to Jones’s campaign work: Owen Jones visited Kensington Tory HOLD Owen Jones campaigned in Kensington where Labour had high hopes of making gains and perhaps even taking control of the council. This would have been the crown jewel in

James Forsyth

Theresa May’s good night

Theresa May has not had a good week. She has lost her Home Secretary and had the Brexit inner Cabinet knock back her customs partnership. But the overnight results in the local elections won’t increase the pressure on her. For the Tories have quite comfortably beaten expectations, which were—as Katy says —pretty low. Back in January, those Tory MPs who want May out thought that the local elections results would provide an opportunity for a renewed push against her. This is now clearly not the case. No one will be sending their letters in because of these results and no Tory MP will be more worried about losing their seat