Politics Archives

Friday

6 Nov 2015

Labour’s dilemma over Oldham by-election message

The Oldham West and Royton by-election is Jeremy Corbyn’s first test as Labour leader, though the party has not selected a Corbynite candidate to fight the seat. Jim McMahon won 232 votes in last night’s selection, beating Mohammed Azam, who got 141 votes and former MP and ardent Corbynite Chris Williamson, who got just 17 votes. McMahon is a moderate, so it will be interesting how much of Corbyn’s message he ends up selling on the doorstep. He said during his selection campaign that ‘on issues like austerity, I’m very close to Jeremy indeed’, so it’s not as though he’s wholeheartedly against the new leader. What will also be interesting

Steerpike

Revealed: Theresa May and James Cleverly’s heated exchange at meeting of the 1922

Over the weekend James Cleverly made the news after he admitted to smoking marijuana and watching porn in his youth, during an interview on Radio 5 live. The newly elected Tory MP also gave a surprisingly honest answer when it came to a game of ‘snog, marry, avoid’. Cleverly said he would choose to snog Theresa May, marry Yvette Cooper and avoid Isabel Oakeshott, the co-author of Call Me Dave. While Cleverly’s admissions don’t appear to have done his career much harm yet, Steerpike understands that one of his answers did come back to haunt him when Cleverly came face-to-face with the Home Secretary at Wednesday’s meeting of the 1922 Committee. Theresa May was speaking at

Steerpike

Living with the enemy: Jeremy Corbyn’s lodger is snapped up by the Mail

Given that Jeremy Corbyn took time out of his party conference speech to take a swipe at articles published by both the Mail Online and the Mail on Sunday, it’s safe to say that there is no love lost between Corbyn and Lord Rothermere’s media empire. However, Mr S understands that times are now a-changing, with Corbyn about to take his relationship with the Mail to the next level. Steerpike can reveal that a recent job vacancy at the Mail Online attracted the attention of a freelance technology journalist by the name of Gian Volpicelli. However as Volpicelli’s application was processed, staff clocked that Volpicelli — who has written for Wired and Vice — lives at a rather

Thursday

5 Nov 2015

Charles Moore

The Spectator’s notes | 5 November 2015

It is good to learn that the current management of the V&A want to reverse their predecessors’ lack of interest in Margaret Thatcher’s clothes. The museum’s original refusal showed a lack of imagination about how women have tried to gain greater power in a man’s world, and how clothes tell this story. Museums love to have suits of medieval armour. They reveal the amazing combination of defensive utility and elegant display which the age required. Even better if the armour was worn by a great warrior on a great occasion, like the Black Prince at Crecy. Mrs Thatcher’s clothes were her armour on her fields of battle — in Parliament,

The Spectator

Hot air summit

The delegates who will gather for the star-studded Paris climate summit include celebrities, presidents and perhaps even the Pope. Among other things, they will be asked to consider the formation of an ‘International Tribunal of Climate Justice’, which developed countries would be hauled before for breaching agreed limits on greenhouse gas emissions. That the proposed body will seek to be ‘non-punitive, non-adversarial and non-judicial’ does not reassure. A tribunal, if it is worthy of the name, ought to be all those things. Does the threat of climate change really justify such a system? It is disturbing to think how many world leaders and policymakers might casually answer ‘yes’. Barack Obama,

The Spectator

Barometer | 5 November 2015

Family business Justin Trudeau, son of Pierre Trudeau, was elected to his father’s old job as Prime Minister of Canada. Other descendants of former leaders currently in power: — The maternal grandfather of Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister of Japan, held the same job between 1957 and 1960. — Park Geun-hye, president of South Korea, is daughter of Park Chung-hee, president between 1963 and 1979. — Benigno Aquino III, president of the Philippines, is son of Corazon Aquino, president between 1986 and 1992. — Sheikh Hasina, Prime Minister of Bangladesh, is daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Prime Minister 1972 to 1975. Safety drive Does the public expect driverless cars to make

Steerpike

In pictures: Spectator Parliamentarian of the Year 2015

After a year of surprises across the board from the Tory majority to Labour’s new leader, Westminster’s rebels and insurgents descended on the Savoy Hotel to celebrate The Spectator‘s Parliamentarian of the Year awards. With the awards presented by Alex Salmond — last year’s winner of Politician of the Year, the former First Minister of Scotland made sure to put Scottish independence firmly on the menu, namechecking his country’s struggle several times in his speech. With Jeremy Corbyn unable to be there in person to collect his gong for Campaigner of the Year, it fell on his fellow comrade Diane Abbott to do the honours. The Labour frontbencher found time in her

Matthew Lynn

Mark Carney must avoid becoming the Tony Blair of central banking

Just about anyone, except it seems for the Bank of England’s forecasting department, could have seen this one coming. When the Bank’s Governor Mark Carney decided to bundle a stack of fresh data on the state of the economy into a single ‘Super Thursday’ package released every three months, someone could have checked the calendar and pointed out that the second one would fall on Bonfire Night. The jokes about expecting fireworks, followed by the tweets about damp squibs, were always inevitable. At the very least, they could have started a month later, and avoided that round of jokes. Forecasting, however, has been a weak spot of the Bank’s in recent

Steerpike

Does Owen Jones’s Oxbridge theory actually apply to Jeremy Corbyn?

After Mr S’s colleague Harry Mount wrote in The Spectator that the Labour party has undergone ‘a brain transplant’ under Jeremy Corbyn with a purge of the Oxbridge set, Martin Amis went on to accuse the Labour leader of being undereducated. The best-selling novelist said that he suspected Corbyn — who achieved two Es at A-Level before enrolling at the North London Polytechnic to study trade union studies for a year — possessed ‘slow-minded rigidity’. Now Corbyn’s cheerleader Owen Jones has waded into the debate. Writing for the Guardian, Jones comes to the Labour leader’s defence arguing that an Oxbridge degree isn’t everything. He says that opting to study at a red

Damian Thompson

Pope vs church

[audioplayer src=”http://rss.acast.com/viewfrom22/civilwarinthecatholicchurch/media.mp3″ title=”Damian Thompson and Fraser Nelson on civil war in the Catholic church” startat=30] Listen [/audioplayer]Last Sunday, the Italian newspaper La Repubblica carried an article by Eugenio Scalfari, one of the country’s most celebrated journalists, in which he claimed that Pope Francis had just told him that ‘at the end of faster or slower paths, all the divorced who ask [to receive Holy Communion] will be admitted’. Catholic opinion was stunned. The Pope had just presided over a three-week synod of bishops at the Vatican that was sharply divided over whether to allow divorced and remarried Catholics to receive the sacrament. In the end, it voted to say nothing

James Forsyth

Cameron’s Syrian stew

[audioplayer src=”http://rss.acast.com/viewfrom22/civilwarinthecatholicchurch/media.mp3″ title=”Fraser Nelson and Isabel Hardman discuss whether MPs will ever vote to bomb Syria” startat=864] Listen [/audioplayer]David Cameron doesn’t do regret. It is not in his nature to sit and fret about decisions that he has taken and can now do nothing about. But there are still a few things that rankle with him. One of those is the House of Commons’ rejection of military action in Syria two years ago. This defeat was a personal and a political humiliation for Cameron. For months, he had been pushing for action against Assad. President Obama had finally accepted that something must be done following the Syrian regime’s use of

Con Coughlin

Britain’s armed forces no longer have the resources for a major war

[audioplayer src=”http://rss.acast.com/viewfrom22/civilwarinthecatholicchurch/media.mp3″ title=”Con Coughlin and Tom Tugendhat debate the state of Britain’s armed forces” startat=1561] Listen [/audioplayer]This Sunday, David Cameron will lay a wreath at the Cenotaph to commemorate those who made the ultimate sacrifice during two ruinous world wars. People will say ‘Never Again’ and Cameron will agree. But then, thanks to the drastic cuts he has made to the strength of our armed forces, the Prime Minister need not worry himself unduly about Britain’s involvements in any future conflicts. He need not gnash his teeth too much about MPs’ reluctance to back military intervention in Syria because, as matters stand, Britain would be unable to fight a major

Wednesday

4 Nov 2015

Lloyd Evans

PMQs sketch: Cameron thinks cutting tax credits is fun

‘It’s getting longer and longer,’ grumped David Cameron at PMQs. A microphone picked up the aside as the session over-ran by 10 minutes. Why the delay? First, the Speaker. He’s keen to give as many backbenchers as possible a chance to pass unrecognised on national TV. Secondly, he adores the limelight himself. At the slightest pretext he’s up on his feet demanding silence on behalf of an entity called ‘the public’. That’s his name for the handful of grumblers and job-seekers who write in each week to complain that politicians aren’t speaking in chapel whispers. Thirdly there’s the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, who reacts to Tory jeers by standing statue-still

Sebastian Payne

No.10: all British flights from Sharm are delayed due to security checks

Following the plane crash in Siani this weekend, Downing Street has just announced all flights set to depart from Sharm to the UK have been delayed so further security checks can be undertaken. In a statement, No.10 says David Cameron spoke to President Sisi yesterday evening to discuss ensure there are ‘tightest possible security arrangements at Sharm el-Sheikh airport’. Both sides appear to think the plane was subject to an explosion: ‘While the investigation is still ongoing we cannot say categorically why the Russian jet crashed. But as more information has come to light we have become concerned that the plane may well have been brought down by an explosive device. ‘In light of this

Steerpike

Coming soon: the George Galloway shop

George Galloway is currently campaigning to be the next Mayor of London, on behalf of his Respect Party. However, given that bookies are giving 50/1 odds on him succeeding, Mr S suspects it is for the best that he also has a business venture up his sleeve. In an interview with the Evening Standard, Galloway discusses his love of vintage clothes, including his ‘trademark’ fedora. He reveals that he is planning to open his own vintage clothes shop, having bought the lease on a vintage shop near Portobello Road, which lies in the centre of Notting Hill — one of London’s most expensive neighbourhoods: ‘Galloway spends a fortune on vintage clothes, buying from shops

Isabel Hardman

PMQs: jeering Tories let themselves down

Today’s session of Prime Minister’s Questions was pointless. Describing any session as pointless is in itself a little pointless, as it takes you into the sort of territory where, like the author of Ecclesiastes, you end up declaring everything meaningless. But today really was a pointless session. The most obvious example of pointless behaviour came from the Tory side, with Conservative MPs deciding that they should return to the old days of roaring and jeering just as Jeremy Corbyn was asking questions about cuts to tax credits. David Cameron helped them out by chortling with exasperation as he responded without answering to yet another question from the Labour leader about

Lara Prendergast

There’s no shame in the V&A changing their mind about Thatcher’s wardrobe

The news that the V&A had rejected an offer of Margaret Thatcher’s wardrobe was met with dismay yesterday. ‘Shame the V&A has turned down Thatcher’s personal collection. I for one would have loved to see it!’ said the business secretary, Sajid Javid, on Twitter. Conor Burns MP suggested that the collection’s breakup would be a ‘tragedy’. Even Vivienne Westwood, hardly a dyed-in-the-wool Tory, said on Radio 2 that while she was no ‘fan’ of Thatcher, the Iron Lady was ‘certainly in her lifetime the best-dressed woman. She had terrific taste.’ She also admitted that ‘it would be lovely if the V&A showed her clothes.’ As I wrote yesterday, Margaret Thatcher and Vivienne Westwood

Tuesday

3 Nov 2015

Isabel Hardman

Rows on Trident and Syria highlight Labour’s policymaking problems

How does Labour make its policy? Different factions and frontbenchers are quarrelling about a number of issues such as Trident and action in Syria, but a common theme in each dispute is whose word actually represents official policy. Currently the party has a plethora of different stances on everything. Maria Eagle is having to explain that a Scottish Labour conference vote does not change the party’s official policy on Trident, while her Shadow Cabinet colleague Diane Abbott is explaining that it’s something the UK-wide party really should follow. Hilary Benn is having to explain that Labour won’t consult Stop the War on British involvement in action against so-called Islamic State

Isabel Hardman

Will pro-EU Tory candidates struggle to find seats in 2020?

That Tory activists are increasingly likely to vote to leave the EU rather than stay (see ConHome’s latest survey) in the referendum has all sorts of different effects on the party. But one is that it will make it more difficult for aspiring MPs who are quite in favour of staying in. A number of pro-European Tory activists mulling standing in 2020 are concerned that their europhilia will keep them out of the limited number of winnable seats that will come up for the next election. Competition will be fiercer because of the boundary review, which will reduce the overall number of seats from 650 to 600, and the Tory

Sebastian Payne

John Bickley is Ukip’s candidate in Oldham West & Royton by-election

Ukip has plumped for John Bickley as its candidate in the upcoming Oldham West & Royton by-election, following the death of Michael Meacher. Although other names were in the frame, Bickley was the natural choice — he came very close to winning in the nearby seat of Heywood & Middleton in a by-election last year. Ukip HQ will be hoping Bickley can use his local following to, at the very least, increase the party’s vote share. In the 2015 general election, Ukip received 20 per cent of the vote, a 17 per cent increase since the 2010 election. But Ukip still has an almighty challenge to win the seat: Labour won Oldham West with a 14,738 majority