Politics

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

Brendan O’Neill

Bring on the Brexit songs, England fans

Fifa is worried. It is freaking out over the possibility that England fans will take a Brexit-related swipe at Belgian fans in tomorrow’s game. Our boys face the Belgians at Kaliningrad tomorrow evening. And given that a great many England fans are a) fond of Brexit and b) known to have a few pints ahead of a game, Fifa stiffs are concerned that a bit of Brexit-loving and Belgium-bashing might leak into their chants. ‘There is a risk of punishment’, Fifa has warned members of the En-ger-land lobby who are thinking of mentioning Brexit. What a bunch of miserabilists. It is further proof that the overlords of football don’t actually

Steerpike

Liz Truss and the last straw

Oh dear. Although free-thinking Cabinet members are not hard to come by nowadays, Liz Truss still managed to cause a stir with her speech to the London School of Economics. Only it was notable not just for her defence of free markets and fiscal restraint but for what she didn’t say. In the pre-released speech on the government website, Truss took a swipe at her Cabinet colleague Michael Gove over his plan to save turtles and ban plastic straws: Only – despite the speech being pre-published – Truss appears to have decided it was a straw too far and taken the line out at the last minute. Happily, she was still

Katy Balls

The latest Cabinet misbehaviour is a symptom, not a cause

Collective responsibility is dead. Long live cabinet irresponsibility. This seems to be the message from Theresa May’s government this week. After Gavin Williamson kicked off the week with a supposed threat to bring down the Prime Minister unless she gave him £10bn ASAP, Boris Johnson and Philip Hammond have kept busy with a proxy battle over business Brexit warnings. The bad behaviour appears to be contagious. In a speech last night to the London School of Economics, Liz Truss – the Chief Secretary to the Treasury – took aim at Michael Gove’s eco-warrior status and the Defence Secretary’s ‘macho’ calls for cash. Even the mild-mannered Greg Clark has been going

Nick Cohen

Brexit exposes the truth about the Corbyn personality cult

The far left’s argument in favour of Brexit is a mess of invented histories, smears, crocodile tears and paranoia. Worse, it’s a party line that is repeated by propagandists out of deference to the leadership. If the leadership should stand on its head and announce it supported Britain staying in the EU or remaining a member of the single market, Corbyn’s supporters would stand on their heads too. The radicals who are now chanting “where’s Jeremy Corbyn?” may not study the intricacies of Labour Party politics – why should they waste their time when we are facing a national crisis? – but they cannot miss the overpowering odour of insincerity.

Steerpike

David Miliband takes in the refugee crisis… from Aspen

Oh David Miliband – never change. Labour’s prince across the water continues to surprise. Although friends of Ed Miliband’s brother have reported that David is ‘still attracted’ to Britain, as of yet the former Labour politician has not been tempted enough by Blighty to quit his £425,000 a year job as the chair of the refugee charity International Rescue. It looks like that isn’t about to change any time soon. Today Miliband has shared his working day – and it’s a ‘beautiful day to discuss refugees and political crisis of our times’. And where is the perfect spot to do this? Aspen, natch – the millionaires’ playground. It seems £425,000 a

Businesses should try and shape Brexit – not fight it | 26 June 2018

Airbus will abandon the UK. The car factories will all be closed down. Trade will grind to a halt, we will run out of food and medicines, and Harry Kane will be sold to Real Madrid and made captain of Spain instead of England. Okay, I made that last one up, but all the others are among the dire warnings that big business have issued over Brexit in the last few weeks. Project Fear III, or IV, or possibly XXVII by now, keeps coming back. Right now, it seems to have as many sequels as Jurassic World, and with plot-lines that are about as original. That, however, is a mistake,

Steerpike

John McDonnell fails to put on a united front

Is Len McCluskey a signed up member of a ‘corporate cartel’? That’s what his close ally John McDonnell appeared to suggest in the Chamber as Tory MPs voted en masse to back plans for a third runway at Heathrow. With the shadow chancellor representing a constituency in the flight path of the proposed runway, McDonnell was quick to attack all those behind it and the ‘corporate cartels’ pushing for it: ‘Does this House stand up for people and communities, especially working class communities or does it stand up for the interests of a corporate cartel that’s ripped us off for decades?’ Only McDonnell seems to have forgotten who his friends

Steerpike

Tom Watson’s gambling hypocrisy

When it was announced that the crackdown on fixed-odds betting machines could be delayed for up to two years, Labour’s deputy leader Tom Watson made his feelings loud and clear: ‘The state of this government. It’s pathetic,’ he tweeted. That outburst wasn’t the only time Watson has called for action against the bookmakers. Here he is describing gambling as Britain’s ‘hidden epidemic’ and urging football clubs to cut their ties with the bookies: ‘Kids more than ever are exposed to gambling adverts, and it’s no surprise to me then…that gambling addiction has gone up by an estimated third in recent years. There is a problem: the current arrangements are not

Steerpike

Two years on: six of the worst Brexit predictions | 25 June 2018

It’s just over two years since the UK voted to leave the European Union in what proved to be a shock result that caught both politicians and commentators off guard. Unlike Lord Ashdown’s hat-eating, or Matthew Goodwin’s book eating after the two most recent General Elections, many didn’t get held accountable to their off the mark Brexit predictions. Happily, Mr S is on hand to correct that. Steerpike has compiled a list of some of the Brexit predictions that failed to come true: 1. JP Morgan: Scotland will leave the UK and get a new currency Days after the EU referendum, investment company JP Morgan announced in an email to

Katy Balls

What is Jeremy Hunt up to?

‘What you can see is someone who has the instincts of a Brexiteer, but the cautious pragmatism of a Remainer, which is where I think the British people are.’ This is how Jeremy Hunt tried to sell Theresa May’s leadership on the Andrew Marr sofa this Sunday. After a choppy few weeks for No. 10, the Health Secretary made clear that he felt May was still the right person for the job of Prime Minister. Perhaps it’s just pure coincidence then that one could also substitute Hunt’s name with May’s in that endorsement. Like May, Hunt is a Remainer turned Brexiteer. A point he also proved on Sunday when he

Steerpike

Greg Hands makes life difficult for the Foreign Secretary

With a key vote on Heathrow’s third runway due later today, the bulldozers ominously loom whilst the Foreign Secretary is missing in action. The once anti-Heathrow Boris Johnson will helpfully miss today’s vote though the exact whereabouts of Johnson remain unknown – with the Prime Minister saying last Thursday that ‘[he] will be what I would describe as the living embodiment of global Britain’. Alas not all of Johnson’s colleagues seem so impressed. Robert Halfon hypothesised on Daily Politics that he might be in India or China ‘to buy a cheaper bulldozer’ than the one he previously threatened to lie down in front of should Heathrow expansion occur. Meanwhile, Greg Hands

Katy Balls

Heathrow vote: Conservatives attempt to look decisive

Today Parliament is expected to finally give plans for a third runway at Heathrow airport the green light. The vote will not be without its dramas. The Conservatives (along with their friends the DUP) are on a three-line whip to vote for it. This decision has seen Greg Hands resign as a trade minister and Boris Johnson mysteriously absent for the vote – thanks to Foreign Office business. Given that the Foreign Secretary once said that he would ‘lie down in front of those bulldozers’ were the expansion to happen it may be that his protest will come later. As for Labour, Jeremy Corbyn’s party have been granted a free vote

Steerpike

Tory MPs turn on Gavin Williamson

Despite the good weather and England’s good World Cup result, it hasn’t been a relaxing weekend for all. Step forward Gavin Williamson. The ambitious defence secretary has found himself in the line of fire, with the Mail on Sunday splashing on reports that he has threatened to topple the prime minister unless defence spending is increased by £20bn. Given that Theresa May doesn’t yet have a firm plan in place to fund her £20bn NHS pledge, it’s hard to see her signing up to this anytime soon. Allies of Williamson – known as Private Pike in the Treasury – have moved to deny the reports. However, regardless, the incident has not

Steerpike

Anti-Brexit protesters turn on Labour leader: ‘Where’s Jeremy Corbyn?’

This time last year, Jeremy Corbyn was standing on the Pyramid stage at Glastonbury to adoring chants of ‘Oh-Jeremy-Corbyn’. Last weekend, Corbyn-mania attempting a resurgence at JezFest – Labour’s very own music festival – but failed to deliver the Labour leader another Glastonbury moment – with only faint chants to be heard. Happily, Corbyn can take heart that his name was chanted en masse this weekend. Only it wasn’t for the reason that his supporters had in mind. At the anti-Brexit People’s Vote march in London, protesters angrily chanted ‘where’s Jeremy Corbyn?’ https://twitter.com/Jack_Slater/status/1010519215034560513 It turns out that Corbyn was busy visiting a refugee camp. However, the point remains that had Corbyn

Why has Brexit made some people uncontrollably angry?

After any major interview, I turn with great interest to discover from Twitter whether I am currently a sinister Marxist undermining the Tories; a foam-flecked believer in the hardest of hard Brexits; or a mildly outdated Blairite propagandist. Maybe, I’m all three. Or, just possibly, I ask the questions, rather than taking responsibility for the answers. Our job at the BBC is not to denounce, lampoon, deride or sneer at elected politicians but to ask them, politely, direct and relevant questions — pause — and let the viewers decide. The number of viewers watching the show suggests the majority understand this. But there’s no doubt that the vote to leave

Charles Moore

Dealing with Question Time’s left-wing claque

The departure of David Dimbleby from Question Time is certainly sad from the point of view of the panellist. He was, in recent years, one’s sole protector. Calm, humorous, very slightly bored (but too polite to show it), David reminded one by his mere presence that there is a world of sane and civilised people outside the studio. He cheered me in adversity, rather as I once felt when I discovered Château Latour for £12 in an otherwise unremarkable hotel in Blackpool during a party conference. I also got no sense of his politics. Because he is rich, successful and on the BBC, I assume he must be mildly left-wing; but he

Melanie McDonagh

How Balkan politics dominated the Switzerland-Serbia game

Enjoying the football? The politics of it, obviously. The Switzerland-Serbia game was a cracker in this context. The innocents in the BBC box obviously bought the fiction that this was a Swiss team though the two Swiss goals should have put paid to that notion. The hand gesture from Shaqiri when he scored his goal, replicating the more subtle version by Xhaka may have escaped the unfortunate pundits who were focused solely on the sport, but it was, obviously, the Albanian eagle – flapping fingers, got it? And the gesture certainly wasn’t lost either on Serbian observers or on the crowds going nuts over the game in Pristina. This was