Politics

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

Monday

Sebastian Payne

Watch: Boris Johnson takes on James Cracknell’s rowing challenge

The Mayor of London dropped by the Policy Exchange tent this afternoon to take on rowing champion James Cracknell. As you can watch below, Boris Johnson claimed he wasn’t even trying but was still beaten in a 200m sprint by only four seconds. Cracknell did it in 35 seconds, Boris in 39 seconds. This makes him the fastest MP to undertake the challenge: WATCH: @BorisJohnson vs. @JamesCracknell at Policy Exchange rowing challenge. Cracknell won by just 4 seconds #cpc15 https://t.co/rZQ9VY4HFA — Sebastian Payne (@SebastianEPayne) October 5, 2015 The stunt was to promote a new report about obesity. Johnson said he was ‘fit as a fiddle’ but ‘highly doubted’ he had

Ed West Ed West

The left’s hatred of ‘Tory scum’ is both stupid and self-defeating

Plenty has been written about the hatred some on the left feel towards their ‘enemies’, something on display at the moment in Manchester, with journalists being called ‘Tory scum’ for covering a party conference. I’ve bored for Britain on the subject of political hatred of the left, but less has been written about how self-defeating it is. For example, one of the best things that could happen to the Tories is for the Labour faithful to convince themselves that Corbyn was defeated only because of a biased, Tory-dominated press. This means that, rather than brutally analysing their weaknesses after Corbyn goes, they’re more likely to retreat into their own comfort

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

George Osborne’s local devolution revolution

George Osborne is the man of the moment, the future Tory leadership contender who is riding high right now. So it was rather clever that instead of offering a showy speech to the Tory conference, the Chancellor announced a rather technical but big reform as his speech ‘rabbit’. His refrain throughout the address to conference was that ‘we are the builders’, and to underline that, he announced his National Infrastructure Commission which was trailed overnight. But he also announced reform to local government funding. This will see the abolition of the local government grant (it will be phased out), and in return councils will be able to keep all the

The Spectator

Full text: George Osborne’s 2015 Conservative conference speech

Let me tell you how proud I am to stand before you the first Conservative Chancellor in a Conservative Government to address a Conservative Conference in eighteen years. If I’d told you twelve months ago that the Member of Parliament for Morley and Outwood was going to come onto this stage and speak in our economy debate you’d have called security. Andrea, your win capped off a night that no-one here will ever forget. Can you all remember where you were when that exit poll came through? I certainly can. I was just a few miles away from here, waiting to go to my count at the Macclesfield leisure centre.

Sebastian Payne

The Good Right paves the way to a greater majority in 2020

The Tories may have won the general election but that doesn’t mean they have won the argument. The Good Right, a project setup by Times columnist Tim Montgomerie, hopes to offer guidance on where the Conservative party can go over the next few years. Last night, Montgomerie hosted a dinner at Old Trafford to examine what Conservatives are doing to tackle poverty featuring four of the most interesting thinkers in the party — Michael Gove, Iain Duncan Smith, Sajid Javid and Ruth Davidson. They all argued that the Tories need to do more to show their compassionate side as well as understand why people dislike them. Each of of the speakers had different areas of emphasis but the

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Low key atmosphere in Tory conference hall for low key leadership contest

The cavernous hall housing the Tory conference speeches is not particularly conducive to a good atmosphere. All of the speakers so far this morning, including rising star Sajid Javid, haven’t raised the roof, and the applause and standing ovations have felt rather polite and perfunctory, rather than excited and inspired. This might also be because a large number of delegates have spent a rather long time stuck in the rain waiting for someone to scan their bags in the security tent. Or it could be because none of the ministers speaking wants to appear too exciting, as too exciting means you are a threat to George Osborne, which tends to

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Sajid Javid positions himself as a Thatcherite and Eurosceptic

Sajid Javid might be downplaying it at this conference – when asked by Andrew Neil yesterday if he would throw his hat into the leadership ring, he said ‘of course not’ – but he is seen by many as a future Tory leadership candidate. Javid’s life-story has marked him out. He is the son of a bus driver who came to this country from Pakistan, had a successful business career and rapid rise up the greasy pole – he was the first member of the 2010 intake to make Cabinet. His speech to conference this morning wasn’t a tub-thumper. But it was striking how he positioned himself as both a Thatcherite,

Sebastian Payne

George Osborne: ‘I’m trying to shake the inertia of this country’

George Osborne is the man who wants to build and plan. On the Today programme, the Chancellor explained he was creating a National Infrastructure Commission, headed up by former Labour peer Andrew Adonis, because ‘Britain is pretty rubbish at making big decision on infrastructure’: ‘I’m trying to shake the inertia of this country and say we have got to plan and build for the future and I think the best way to do that is to have an independent body outside the party political fight, trying to build a national consensus, telling us in a calm and expert way what the country needs for its future and then I want to go ahead

Steerpike Steerpike

Laurie Penny comes to the defence of spitting protesters at Tory conference

After a Second World War memorial was vandalised during an anti-Tory protest after the election, Laurie Penny was one of the few people to defend the crime, claiming the vandalism was nothing when compared to the ‘destruction of the welfare state’. Now the Guardian feminist has turned her attention to yesterday’s protests outside Tory conference. Several journalists were spat at on their way into the conference centre, while other attendees were called ‘scum’, threatened with violence and pelted with eggs. Although many Labour MPs took to Twitter to distance themselves from the left-wing protesters, Penny apparently can’t see what all the fuss is about. Discussing the Tory conference protest online, Penny says the only protest that Conservatives would

Sebastian Payne

Conservative conference 2015: Monday fringe guide

Every morning throughout party conference season, we’ll be providing our pick of the fringe events on Coffee House. The Conservatives’ annual bash kicks up a notch today, with George Osborne delivering the most significant speech in Manchester this morning and numerous other Cabinet members taking their turns in the main hall. But as ever, there is plenty going on around the fringes, with ministers and notable MPs popping up to broadly discuss the same theme: what the Tories can do over the next five years. Title Key speaker(s) Time Location Should the U.S. back Brexit? Liam Fox, Matthew Elliott 11:00 Think Tent Immigration and security: does Europe help? James Brokenshire 12:30 Radisson Blu Edwardian, Pankhurst

Sunday

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

The Tories have Adonis – but have swallowed yet another flagship Labour policy

Andrew Adonis has not defected to the Conservatives but, as he’ll know, it will look an awful lot like he has. As tomorrow’s newspapers reveal, Lord Adonis is to give up the Labour whip to become a crossbench peer in order to chair a new National Infrastructure Commission. To allow this announcement to be made by George Osborne, and at Tory conference, is quite something. It is, in effect, allowing the Chancellor to present his recruitment as Tory coup. So Osborne gets the drama, but at a cost. The idea of a National Infrastructure Commission is a Labour policy, championed by Ed Miliband  last year. Adonis was keen on all of this,

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Major coup for Osborne as Lord Adonis resigns Labour whip to chair infrastructure commission

A key theme of this Tory conference will be the party running its tanks all over Labour’s lawn while the party indulges in splendid in-fighting. And George Osborne’s speech tomorrow will contain another big tank rumbling over another part of the party’s lawn. He has persuaded Lord Adonis to resign the party whip in order to become a cross bench peer and chair an independent National Infrastructure Commission. Adonis has issued this statement: ‘Without big improvements to its transport and energy systems, Britain will grind to a halt. I am pleased to accept the Chancellor’s invitation to establish the National Infrastructure Commission as an independent body able to advise Government

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Michael Gove sets out the Tory plan to occupy the centre ground

Michael Gove is the Justice Secretary, but his speech to the Tory conference this afternoon showed that he is so much more than that – or at least that he’s interested in so much more than just his brief. The most striking thing about it was that it was a challenging speech for those sitting in the hall, rather than one where he repeatedly challenged Labour on the party’s new direction under Jeremy Corbyn. It wasn’t just that he prompted the conference to applaud his line that it was a Conservative, not a Lib Dem, who ensured equal marriage for gay and lesbian people – which they did, with a

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Come and see Charles Moore and Andrew Neil at Tory conference

The waiting is over – the next volume of Charles Moore’s biography of Margaret Thatcher has, at last, been published. It follows the central, triumphal years of her premiership, from the Falklands to the 1987 election. Some of it has been serialised in the Sunday Telegraph today, with more in the Telegraph tomorrow. But if you’re at the Tory Party conference then do join Charles discussing the book with Andrew Neil at the Midland Hotel at 6pm– tickets are just £12, and are selling fast. There are just a few left: you can book them here. And there will be early copies of the book fro sale, too, as well

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

The Tories are finally facing up to what makes Parliament too posh: but will their solution work?

Lord Feldman’s announcement of a £250,000 bursary scheme for Conservative candidates shows that the Tory party is starting to face up to some of the little-discussed factors behind Parliament containing so few MPs from working class backgrounds. The cost of standing for Parliament in a seat that is considered winnable is obscene: candidates can lose £34,000 of their own money on average (that figure comes from this ConHome survey of 2005 candidates, but my own research which I am conducting currently suggests that it is roughly similar for those who stood in 2015: more on this soon). And this means that it’s impossible for some people to ever consider running.

Steerpike Steerpike

Hacks spat on outside Tory conference

Oh dear. With the People’s Assembly organising a week of protests to coincide with the Tory conference, things have got off to a bad start today as protesters have turned their attention to the journalists covering the event. Channel 4’s Michael Crick says that a protester shouted ‘Tory scum’ in his direction, before spitting in his hair: Anarchists shout "Tory scum" at us as we enter Conservative conference, and I was spat at pic.twitter.com/VrjIbaRapv — Michael Crick (@MichaelLCrick) October 4, 2015 Reporter @owenjbennett just been spat on. We're now backed into corner by angry protesters shouting he deserved it pic.twitter.com/0xasC65yF4 — Kate McCann (@KateEMcCann) October 4, 2015 The journalists were

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Philip Hammond says Britain will get a deal with the EU. But what sort of deal?

There were no announcements in Philip Hammond’s speech to the Tory party conference. He used a chunk of it to contrast the Conservatives with Labour under Jeremy Corbyn, telling the members listening that the Conservatives would this week ‘show the British people what a real party of government looks like’. But what was more interesting was what he didn’t mention in his speech, particularly in the passage on Europe. Hammond did say that Europe is ‘seriously in need of reform’. And he did say that ‘reform is possible’. But his list of what Britain would say no to as part of that reform didn’t include some of the things that

Sebastian Payne

In pictures: the most Tory things at Conservative conference

The Conservatives are wrapped in the quiet cocoon of Manchester Central today and the conference has a subdued vibe — many activists might be staying away until the anti-austerity protests are over. But the halls are packed out with the exhibitors, shops and merchandise you’d expect for a party that has won its first majority in 23 years and is in celebratory mode. Here are some of the most Tory things in Manchester (click on the pictures to enlarge). One of the more interesting additions to the exhibition hall this year is the Conservative Party Archive. The Tories now have a whole stand dedicated to the party’s vast archives at the Bodleian Library in Oxford. As

Rod Liddle Rod Liddle

Students should remember freedom of speech is a terribly precious thing

Freedom of speech is a terribly precious thing, which we should all cherish. So let’s not waste it on people with whom we disagree. That seems to be the considered view of those assorted, privileged genii at Oxford University, whose student’s union banned from its Freshers Week a satirical magazine which it feared might cause offence. The magazine is called No Offence and is produced by students. Some incalculably humourless, self-righteous little berk, said: ‘We at OUSU do not wish to have an event which is intended to welcome new students to Oxford associated with a publication making light of racism, sexual violence, and homophobia in an attempt at satire’.

Steerpike Steerpike

Raheem Kassam is more influential than ever (according to website he edits)

Earlier this year Raheem Kassam stood down as Nigel Farage’s senior aide after he became involved in a dispute within Ukip over his influence on the party leader following a lacklustre election result. Since then, Kassam has returned to the job he had before he joined Ukip, editing the website Breitbart London. So Mr S was surprised to learn that despite losing his job in politics, Kassam has not lost any political sway. In fact according to Iain Dale’s new list of the ‘Top 100 most influential people on the right’ he is more influential than ever, climbing up 14 places from No.96 last year to No.82 this year: Such is Kassam’s power as a blogger