Politics

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

Tuesday

Tom Goodenough Tom Goodenough

Trident: How every MP voted

MPs have voted to renew Trident by an overwhelming margin: 472 voted for, compared to 172 against. It’s no great surprise that the decision to approve the replacement of Britain’s four nuclear submarines passed. Perhaps what was more interesting was the split on the Labour benches opposite the Government, with 140 of the party’s MPs going against Jeremy Corbyn and backing Trident. So, how did your local MP vote in the Trident debate? Here’s the Spectator’s full run-through of every MP and which way they sided: For: Conservatives: Adam Afriyie (Windsor), Peter Aldous (Waveney), Lucy Allan (Telford), Heidi Allen (Cambridgeshire South), Sir David Amess (Southend West), Stuart Andrew (Pudsey), Caroline Ansell

Flora Neville

Why Theresa May’s No 10 will be like a vicarage

What do Theresa May, Angela Merkel, Margaret Thatcher and, ahem, me have in common? We are all daughters of the clergy. Thatcher’s father was a lay Methodist preacher, so she’s not strictly in our camp, but the coincidence is close enough to call. When I was young, I secretly harboured the suspicion that I was royalty and I courted this suspicion by making sure to always wear flouncy dresses on Sundays, a habit I still haven’t quite relinquished. I wonder if Theresa May’s well-charted interest in leopard print shoes has similar origins. Growing up in a vicarage is a unique upbringing, and creates a kind of brotherhood (or sisterhood) among

Monday

Katy Balls Katy Balls

George Osborne – non, je ne regrette rien

In David Cameron’s final speech as Prime Minister, he attempted to set out what he would like to be remembered for — focussing on progressive social change over the Brexit result. Tonight it was George Osborne’s turn. Speaking at the annual Margaret Thatcher lecture for the Centre for Policy Studies, Osborne found himself giving a speech he had expected to give as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Now on the backbenches — ‘more ex than chequer’ — Osborne used the address to defend his record in government and point to his efforts to build a fairer society. Despite his recent sacking from the Cabinet by Theresa May, Osborne said he had no regrets when it came to his role

James Forsyth James Forsyth

The political theatre of the Trident debate

The Trident debate might be about national security, but all the parties have political points they want to make. Indeed, the reason the debate is happening now is that the Tories wanted something to bring them together, and divide, Labour post-referendum. Angus Robertson, the SNP’s Westminster leader, began with a few kind words for the new Prime Minister. But then, he was straight on to repeatedly—and theatrically—asking the government front bench to set out what the full life time cost of the Trident replacement would be. There is an argument to be had about the cost of Trident—and whether it is the most effective form of defence spending—but Robertson’s argument

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Corbyn savaged by his own MPs as he refuses to read out Labour policy on Trident

If you wanted evidence to support the repeated assertion from Labour MPs that Jeremy Corbyn cannot continue as Labour leader, today’s Trident debate offered it in cartloads. The vote, which had been promised in 2007 by a Labour defence secretary, is supposed to be about the renewal of the submarines that carry the nuclear warheads. But today’s debate was more about the deep split within the Labour party over the matter, and the contempt with which so many Labour backbenchers view their leadership. In most parliamentary debates led by the leaders of the two main parties, what normally happens is that backbenchers intervene on their respective leaders to offer supportive

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Of course Britain is ‘open for business’. That was the point of Brexit

Today the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has launched a campaign telling the world that London is ‘still open for business’.  He has announced a Twitter hashtag: #LondonisOpen. It’s an odd campaign, echoing the ‘Britain is open for business’ line that George Osborne was trying to peddle before being sacked. The premise seems to be that the Brexit vote was a disaster, but one we can recover from if we grit our teeth and adopt the spirit of the blitz. But the only people who thought that Brexit would somehow not mean being open for business were Osborne, Khan and others advocating Project Fear. Their gloom was outvoted by the optimism of

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Is Owen Smith the answer to Labour’s Corbyn problem?

As Katy reports, Labour appeared rather divided at its leadership hustings today. Behind the scenes, Owen Smith does seem to be attracting the greater support, including defectors from Angela Eagle’s camp. Some of those around Eagle are upset that their party may be about to elect yet another man when a woman has had the bravery to start the leadership contest and to take a great deal of abuse for doing it too (her office had a brick thrown through its window last week). But they accept that even their party’s rather embarrassing failure to get anywhere close to the Tories in terms of female leaders is a second order

David Blagden

Eleven criticisms that will be levelled against Trident today

The House of Commons is set to vote later today on the principle of sustaining the UK’s independent nuclear deterrent. Ubiquitously dubbed ‘Trident’, the vote is actually on the merits or otherwise of replacing the Royal Navy’s current fleet of four Vanguard-class submarines (SSBNs) that carry the Trident D5 ballistic missile with a like-for-like replacement, dubbed Successor. Such a vote is already overdue: Tony Blair’s 2006 White Paper recommended that development of a new SSBN class should begin to enter service in the early 2020s, a target that has already slipped by a decade, if safe and secure continuous at-sea deterrence (CASD) patrols are to be sustained. Today’s vote is

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Labour’s dismal showing gives Sajid Javid a gentler first day in the job

Theresa May’s new government gets to work today, and first to face the heat of the Chamber was the Communities and Local Government frontbench. Unfortunately, the Chamber turned out to be rather cool, as very few Labour MPs had managed to turn up, giving Sajid Javid and his team a rather gentler introduction to their new jobs. One of them, Andrew Percy, told the Chamber that ‘I share the House’s surprise!’ on this appointment as he rose to take his first question. But largely the questions that were asked were not a surprise for the frontbench. Some Tory MPs were anxious for a renewed commitment from the new ministers to

Steerpike Steerpike

Owen Smith: I’m normal… I have a wife and children

Oh dear. With nominations for the next Labour leader set to open in a matter of hours, now is not the best time for either leadership hopeful to suffer a PR disaster. Alas, this is exactly what has happened to Owen Smith thanks to an interview he gave to Sky News. In the interview, Smith appears to claim that he is normal because he has a wife and children: It's also 'normal' not to be married or have kids. What the hell are people like this on about?pic.twitter.com/J7flWKiWK3 — PW @Retroid@mastodon.social & @retroid.bsky.social (@SuperRetroid) July 18, 2016 Given that his leadership rival Angela Eagle is a lesbian with no children, his comments are not

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Angela Eagle caught in a bear trap at Labour hustings

With nominations for the Labour leadership contest set to open this evening, the three hopefuls made their case to the Parliamentary Labour Party today at a lunchtime hustings. Despite Jeremy Corbyn being automatically on the ballot, he did grace the room with his presence — though as one MP remarked: ‘he couldn’t really not turn up. It would have been a gross sign of disrespect if he hadn’t’. Corbyn’s performance was — predictably — met with little enthusiasm from MPs. His talk of the need for the party to work together was seen to be a hollow remark given the divided state the party is in. However, the hustings were never really about him, but

Tom Goodenough Tom Goodenough

Today’s Trident vote will show how the split within Labour is widening

One of the first things Theresa May will have been briefed on when she took over as Prime Minister last week is the protocol for firing nuclear weapons. She’ll have been handed the nuclear codes in the clearest demonstration, if she doubted it before, that she really is in charge. And today, in her first Commons test as PM, she’ll be saying it would be a ‘gross irresponsibility’ to ditch Trident. She’ll also go on to say ‘abandoning’ our ‘ultimate safeguard’ would be a ‘reckless gamble’. In truth, she has little to worry about as to whether the vote will go through: barring a big upset, the Government will win comfortably

Tom Goodenough Tom Goodenough

Boris’s EU summit debut shows why he is the perfect pick for Foreign Secretary

After a bit of initial drama involving an emergency plane landing, Boris Johnson is in Brussels. There’s been a lot of social media chatter about why Boris is the wrong choice for Foreign Secretary and how he’s going to embarrass Britain in his new role. Some are quoting Boris’ past articles to prove he is only going to upset those he meets on the world stage – and Boris’ prize-winning President Erdogan poem in the Spectator has also gathered much interest. But for all those worrying about the ‘damage’ Boris is going to do, look instead to the huge interest in his debut at the EU summit to see why

Steerpike Steerpike

Power or revolution? Revolution, says Jeremy Corbyn

As Jeremy Corbyn is forced to fight for the Labour leadership, one of the main criticisms from his opponents is that he is more interested in turning Labour into a protest group, than a party that can win an election. This sentiment has not been helped by his Momentum comrade Jon Lansman recently claiming that ‘winning’ was for political elites. However, it turns out that Corbyn may actually be on the same wavelength as Lansman. On Friday night Mr S made his way to the Royal Festival Hall to watch Corbyn in conversation with Ben Okri, the writer. Here, Okri made the Labour leader answer some quick-fire questions: BO: Poem or novel? JC: Poem

Sunday

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

In defence of Cameron’s posh boys

A few weeks ago, I wrote a Spectator cover story about David Cameron’s purge of the posh. My peg was a new wheeze from the Cameroons whereby prospective employees should be asked not just where they went to university, but about their childhood and parents’ assets etc. The idea was to make sure that too many posh people didn’t make it to the top. Sinister, I argued, and not meritocratic. Judging people on their merits means not marking them down for being poor or posh. Inverted snobbery is still bigotry, and ought to be deplored as such. And yet the government was proposing rolling it out, first with the civil service and then…. …the government hopes other

Steerpike Steerpike

Coffee Shots: Seumas Milne gets in Corbyn’s way

With Labour in turmoil, Owen Smith and Angela Eagle have both spent their Sunday explaining why they should be the one to challenge Jeremy Corbyn for the leadership.  So with a leadership contest looming, how has Corbyn spent the weekend? Catching Pokémon, it turns out. In a short film for the BBC, the beleaguered Labour leader can be seen trying out Pokémon Go, the new phone app currently taking over the world. Unfortunately Corbyn hits an initial bump in the road after Seumas Milne — his director of strategy and communications —  stands in the way of Corbyn’s phone. Happily, they overcome this and his efforts are soon rewarded when Corbyn manages to

John O'Neill

Nicola Sturgeon says Scotland could stay in the EU and the UK

We are ‘in uncharted territory with, effectively, a blank sheet of paper’ in front of us – and that means ‘there might be’ a way that Scotland could stay in both the UK and the EU after Brexit, Nicola Sturgeon said on the Andrew Marr Show this morning. So England and Wales would get what they want and Scots what they want – except for the two-in-five Scots who voted to Leave. But Ms Sturgeon had no suggestion as to how such a plan might work in practice, because it wouldn’t work in practice. Scotland voted in 2014 to stay in the UK, and the UK voted in June to leave

Saturday

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Theresa May takes control

Theresa May has demonstrated this week that she isn’t interested in being continuity Cameron. Her reshuffle was, as I say in The Sun, a brutal change up from the previous Cabinet and she has shown that she is determined to take on the party of the rich tag in a way that David Cameron never could. In this reshuffle, May hasn’t bothered to disguise who her friends are and, just as importantly, who are her enemies. She was ‘wintery but courteous’ when she sacked people. Any Prime Minister who sacks more ministers than the size of her majority is taking a risk. Some of those who she sacked are already

Mark Piggott

The era of political labels has ended

I loathe labels but used to be described – indeed described myself – as a socialist. Perhaps as a result of having been conceived at a conference of sex-pest Gerry Healy’s Socialist Labour League (SLL) in Morecambe, then christened (or rather, named – my family are atheist) Mark after Marx, I never had much doubt about which side I hung. My father’s family were working class, Methodist, union-organising, tenant association-running, pro-Suffragette, anti-bomb. Many of my happiest childhood memories were being taken on marches against nukes, apartheid and vivisection. Even now my father struggles with the concept that not all Conservatives are fundamentally evil. My mother’s family were more extreme: my nan

Friday

Tom Goodenough Tom Goodenough

Is Theresa May rowing back on ‘Brexit means Brexit’?

Theresa May has told us repeatedly that ‘Brexit means Brexit’ and Philip Hammond has been at it too: just in case you weren’t aware, Brexit really does mean Brexit. Whilst it’s a catchphrase which is meant to reassure those who want Britain to leave the EU (and those who don’t, but respect the outcome of the vote), it’s actually pretty vapid. And on her trip up to Scotland today, the PM may have shown how her phrase could easily unravel. Theresa May said she was ‘very clear’ about involving the Scottish government in the Brexit negotiations and that she was eager to ‘get the best possible deal for the entire