Politics

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

Tuesday

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Nicola Sturgeon’s Brexit test is designed to fail

Nicola Sturgeon still believes in Scottish independence. I know, who knew? That’s the point of the SNP, a party Ms Sturgeon joined as a teenager back when she felt, or so she has said, that Neil Kinnock was busy leading Labour into the wilderness. That, remember, is when she says it all started going wrong for Labour. This is something worth recalling the next time you see or hear some SNP elected representative concern-trolling the Labour party. The weaker, the more unelectable, Labour is the better that suits the SNP. Anyway, the First Minister gave a speech yesterday in which she spoke about Scotland’s five ‘key’ EU interests that ‘must be

Monday

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Sarah Champion unresigns and returns to Labour frontbench

Sarah Champion, the Labour MP for Rotherham, was one of the Labour frontbenchers who resigned in an attempt to force Jeremy Corbyn to quit as Labour leader. But today, she has asked for —and been given — her job back. Now, Champion was just a frontbencher, not a full member of the shadow Cabinet. But her un-resignation is another straw in the wind suggesting that things are moving in Corbyn’s favour. Champion’s willingness to return to the front bench suggests that she’s resigned to Corbyn winning when the results are announced in September. It also enables Corbyn to say that by allowing her to come back, he has shown that

Steerpike Steerpike

George Osborne presses on with his foreign ambitions

Although George Osborne was passed over for the role of Foreign Secretary in Theresa May’s Cabinet reshuffle, the MP for Tatton is still keen to show that he can fly the flag for Brexit Britain. It follows that the former Chancellor of the Exchequer is set to be guest of honour at Tina Brown’s Brexit bash in New York this week. According to Page Six, Osborne will join the top hack — and one time Remain-er — for a dinner which aims to show that the ‘special relationship’ can survive Brexit. With New York journalists perceiving this as Osborne’s attempt to ‘drum up trade with the US in the wake of his

Brendan O’Neill Brendan O’Neill

Brexit is the most punk thing to have happened in years

It turns out rock didn’t die when Elvis joined the Army in 1958, or when the Beatles accepted their OBEs in the 1960s, or when Vivienne Westwood went from making filthy t-shirts for punks to being dressmaker-in-chief to the filthy-rich bourgeoisie. No, it died last Thursday, outside Liverpool St, when an NME distributor shoved the latest issue of the once rebellious mag into my hands and I glanced at its cover and realised it is a special issue on how to cope with life outside the EU. For real. In the words of NME editor Mike Williams, this latest issue is chock-a-block with ‘sage advice’ on how to cope with

Ryan Shorthouse

Brexit provides the perfect opportunity to crack the immigration question

The British public are clearly dissatisfied with the way our immigration system currently works. One of the main reasons that motivated people to vote for Brexit in the recent referendum is the hope that Britain could better control immigration by ending the free movement of people from the EU. For years now, immigration has been one of the issues that the public are most concerned about. But there is hope: now, more than ever, the cynicism can be cracked. There is an exciting opportunity, thanks to Brexit and the appointment of a new Cabinet, for the Government to introduce significant reforms to our immigration system to increase public confidence in

Violet Hudson

The Waitrose effect and Mr Nobody, the new pensions minister

A month on from Brexit and the effects on the economy are beginning to show, says the Guardian in a study of the present state of the nation’s finances. It’s mostly bad news: the pound is at its lowest since 1985, down 12 pc against the dollar and 9 pc against the euro – meaning holidays are more expensive than ever. The weak sterling also means that imported goods will be more expensive; last week Unilver was the first company to admit that the cost will be passed onto consumers. The FTSE 100 is up higher than pre-referendum levels, possibly because of a number of sales of UK-listed companies. The sale of

Tom Goodenough Tom Goodenough

Philip Green is the ‘unacceptable face of capitalism’. What will Theresa May do about it?

In her opening pitch as Prime Minister, Theresa May vowed to stick up for the man in the street and fight ‘burning injustices’. There will be fewer clear opportunities for her to put those words into action than after today’s damning report into Sir Philip Green. It’s no understatement to say that Green’s reputation lies in tatters following the publication of this report which looked into the circumstances of the collapse of BHS. Green is branded the ‘unacceptable face of capitalism’. He is accused of adopting a ‘scattergun approach’ to try and pin blame elsewhere. Instead, despite his attempts to blame others, the Select Committee report says: ‘The truth is that

Sunday

Steerpike Steerpike

‘Stupid English people’ to blame for Brexit, says Alan Cumming

In last month’s EU referendum, pundits and politicians were left surprised when Brexit triumphed with 52 per cent of the vote. Since then not everyone has taken the outcome lying down. While the SNP’s Nicola Sturgeon is adamant that Scotland should not have to leave the EU, a number of Remain-ers in England — including David Lammy — have suggested the result should be overturned or ignored for the good of the people. Now one Scot has offered their two cents worth from across the pond. In an interview with the Scottish Herald, Alan Cumming — the Good Wife actor who resides in New York — has blamed the referendum result on… ‘stupid English people’:

Richard Ingrams

Ted Heath: still a surly man of mystery

Ted ‘Grocer’ Heath, as he will always be for me, was chosen by his fellow MPs to be their leader in 1965 as the Tory answer to Harold Wilson. After two Old Etonian patricians, Macmillan and Douglas-Home, the Grocer was a grammar-school boy, a meritocrat who would spearhead a new-look, classless Conservative party. He was a clever, hard-working man, totally devoted to his political career. Unfortunately, with his wooden stance and curious ‘neow-neow’ voice, he lacked charisma, a failing he would never have admitted, as Michael Gove did recently. I remember Heath presenting the awards at the annual What the Papers Say lunch in 1968 and you could see journalists

Saturday

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Why Prime Minister May has been a surprise

As we come to the end of Theresa May’s first full week as Prime Minister, she hasn’t quite been the Prime Minister Westminster was expecting. As I say in The Sun today, even her supporters thought that she would be solid, dependable but a bit dull—as befits someone whose sporting hero is Geoffrey Boycott. But May has shown quite a bit of flair in the last few days. She swept Jeremy Corbyn for six at PMQs on Wednesday; demonstrating a comic timing that we hadn’t seen from her before. On her European tour this week, she confidently showed off her language skills. So, what’s going on? Well, those who have

Ariane Sherine

Why Theresa May must channel her inner comic

Going into her first PMQs as Prime Minister on Wednesday, Theresa May faced the same struggles as a female stand-up comic. Taking the reins in an overwhelmingly male world, as only the second ever female PM and the most visible of the 29 per cent of female MPs, it was imperative that she appeared confident and in control. One tremor, pause or sign of uncertainty and, like a comedy club audience, the braying MPs would have taken the opportunity to jeer, laugh or heckle – and that’s before the press got stuck in. Fortunately for May, she looked like a natural, and appeared to have nerves of steel. Though eight

Hugo Rifkind Hugo Rifkind

I was caught smoking a rollie in Chevening. What will Boris & co get up to?

Chevening, the stately home in Kent henceforth to be shared by David Davis, Liam Fox and Boris Johnson — and in a manner which hopefully provides the inspiration for at least one West End play — is a lovely house. I was last there 20 years ago when my father, as Foreign Secretary, had the use of the place. I had a ponytail at the time, and dressed like a hobo. My strongest lasting memory is of two policemen with sub–machine guns catching me smoking a rollie behind a bush. My next strongest is of my first trip there, in the hot, hot late summer of 1995. We wandered the

Friday

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Len McCluskey warns that the security services might be trying to sabotage Jeremy Corbyn

The Labour leadership election has become even more bizarre today. Len McCluskey, the leader of Unite the Union and a key Corbyn backer, has given a Guardian interview in which he suggest that the ugly behaviour of Corbyn supporters online is actually the work of the security services. He tells Decca Aitkenhead: “Do people believe for one second that the security forces are not involved in dark practices? Decca, I have been around long enough … the type of stuff that we ultimately find out about, under the 30-year rule.” When Aitkenhead challenges him on this, McCluskey continues: “Well, I tell you what, anybody who thinks that that isn’t happening

Tom Goodenough Tom Goodenough

Europol chief rows back on Brexit ‘Project Fear’ warnings

Those who acted as the biggest cheerleaders for Project Fear in the run-up to the referendum now have the awkward task of changing tack. One of those shouting loudly was Rob Wainwright, the British head of Europol. A key campaign strategy of David Cameron was that Britain would be safer in the European Union – and, ergo, less safe outside of it. Joining him in those warnings was Wainwright, who said that if the UK was no longer a member of the EU, Britain would become a ‘second-tier member’ of the crime-fighting club. He said, in the event of Brexit, that: ‘It would make it harder for Britain to fight

Steerpike Steerpike

Downing Street cat fight

Claws out, it’s all kicking off in Downing Street. After a month of drastic change and bubbling tensions among Westminster’s big beasts, things have started to turn violent. However, rather than May vs Osborne, it’s the government’s two top cats who can’t seem to keep a lid on it. When David Cameron moved out of No.10, he left Larry the cat behind –insisting that he still loved him. In the MP for Witney’s absence, Downing Street’s resident mouser has struggled to cope. While little is yet known of his relationship with the new Prime Minister  it’s Palmerston — the Foreign Office cat — who appears to be the cause of friction. The pair have been

Thursday

The Spectator

Barometer | 21 July 2016

How Britannia got her trident Parliament voted to renew Trident as Britain’s independent nuclear deterrent. But what about Britannia and her trident? — Unnoticed by some, our coinage was unilaterally disarmed in 2008 when a new 50p was issued, with a crest, not Britannia. — But then Britannia didn’t always bear a trident. When she was first put on coins by the Romans she carried a spear in one hand and an olive branch in the other. — She retained her spear until 1797 when, to celebrate Britain’s naval power, the weapon was replaced by a trident. The inspiration came from Poseidon and Neptune, Greek and Roman deities of the

The Spectator

Letters | 21 July 2016

Our terrified youth Sir: Both Claire Fox’s ‘Generation Snowflake’ and Mary Wakefield’s recent column (What’s to blame for a generation’s desperation?, 16 July) get to the root of the terrified pessimism which (I am told) afflicts much of today’s youth. At 67, I’m fortunate enough to mix with quite a few thoroughly aware, thoughtful and successful young ’uns who eschew the sanctity of ‘safe spaces’ for the rumbustious joy of boozing, singing, dancing, loving and socialising and generally tackling that fearful world head on in ferocious defiance. As Chesterton so perfectly put it in his reply ‘To Young Pessimists’ Some sneer; some snigger; some simper; In youth where we laughed, and

The Spectator

Theresa’s first mistake

This week’s lead article, as read by Lara Prendergast Helga Hunter met her husband Michael when he was a Scots Guardsman serving in Münster in 1968. She moved back with him, and they have lived in Britain ever since. Last week, she was astonished to receive a letter from the Scottish National Party saying that she is still ‘welcome in Scotland’ and faces ‘no immediate changes’ to her status due to the Brexit vote. But as a German national, she now faces ‘great uncertainty over how events will unfold’. To the SNP’s enemies, this seemed a deplorable scare tactic intended to fuel indignation and stoke demand for a second independence

Felicity Lloyd

The gardens of Ninfa

I’ve just been given a personal tour of Ninfa by Monty Don. True, I had to share the thinking woman’s TV gardener with a number of others, but I’m convinced his attention was focused solely on me. The occasion was a visit to three outstanding gardens outside Rome — Ninfa, Villa d’Este and Landriana — to celebrate a quarter-century of Gardeners’ World magazine in the company of its editor, Lucy Hall. Monty was an added inducement for the tour of Ninfa, after which he was to give a talk on the evolution of Italian gardens. Rather like a gentleman’s club, Ninfa satisfies one’s inner snob. The eight–hectare garden, within 105

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Theresa May gets a warmer than expected reception in Paris, and a pledge on the border

Paris was meant to be the more difficult leg of Theresa May’s first European tour as Prime Minister. But May’s press conference with Francois Hollande was far more cordial than expected. The French President was at pains to stress all the forms of cooperation that would continue between the two countries after the UK  left the EU. He continued to back the Le Touquet agreement which keeps the UK border at Calais.  However, he still wants Article 50 served quickly; ‘the sooner, the better’ was how he put it. There was, though, a tiny bit of softening on the question of talking about things before then. May, for her part,