Politics

Downing Street has rejected William Hague’s call for a snap general election. The former Conservative leader argues in his Telegraph column today that this would ‘strengthen the government’s hand at home and abroad’, but Number 10 says this isn’t something Theresa May ‘plans to do or wishes to do’.  Theresa May is often compared to Gordon Brown, but one thing she will have learned from that previous Prime Minister was that to talk about an early election is a very bad idea, especially if it then turns out that it isn’t something that you wish to do either. But is she secretly keen on an early election? Those who are

As part of John McDonnell’s recent ‘tea offensive‘ to reach out and offer an olive branch to politicians on all sides of the Labour party, the shadow chancellor has invited both Peter Mandelson and Tony Blair for a cuppa. Alas, extending the hand of friendship to New Labour grandees is proving costly when it comes to McDonnell’s comrades on the Left. Step forward George Galloway. The former Labour MP — who was expelled from the party in 2003 — has previously been supportive of the Corbyn regime. Alas, in light of McDonnell’s gesture, he has taken to social media to let be known his dismay at the ‘profoundly ill-advised’ offer: Given

As Budget day approaches, the opposition are attempting to pile pressure on the Tories. As part of these efforts, Jeremy Corbyn has published details of his tax return in an effort to force Philip Hammond to do the same. However, if the stunt was meant to put the focus on the Chancellor, it has backfired spectacularly this evening. Rather than questions being raised over Hammond’s finances, Corbyn is facing questions over his own. Namely whether he declared his full income as Labour leader. His tax return shows that he earned £114,342 in 2015-16, and paid £35,298 in tax. However, as the Leader of the Opposition, it’s thought he would also be in line for

They were the elections you didn’t hear about, because the UK press mainly instead covered Bruce Forsyth’s chest infection.  But Northern Ireland just woke up to a world where the Unionists’ vote share is a princely 45.7%.  It was the highest turnout since 1998 (64.8%), the year of the Good Friday Agreement, that buoyed Sinn Féin to within a pip of the DUP–the latter on 28 seats and 28.1% of first-preference votes, the former on 27 and 27.9%. So the two unionist parties, the DUP and UUP, jointly now have 38 seats in a 90-seat assembly.  While Sinn Féin and the SDLP (after a surprisingly very good election day) have 39.

Theresa May might have won every Brexit vote in the House of Commons so far, but it’s getting trickier now. The House of Lords this week rejected the plan to trigger Article 50 without offering assurances to EU nationals, knowing that most MPs are sympathetic. I understand that the Tory whips are working hard to whittle down threatened rebellion at the ‘ping-pong’ stage. Given that everyone in Vote Leave pledged to protect EU nationals – as did four out of the five original Tory leadership contenders – it’s harder work. Quite a few rebels feel they need to make a point about the status of EU citizens. The whips will