Politics Archives

Wednesday

23 Mar 2016

Could a yoghurt defeat David Cameron?

I do not know if it has officially been measured, but my guess is that Christine Shawcroft, a member of Labour’s National Executive Committee, has an IQ of somewhere in the region of six. This would put her, in the global hierarchy of intelligence, directly between one of those Activia yoghurts women eat to relieve constipation and some moss. I’m sure Christine would argue, perhaps forcibly, that intelligence is an overrated, elitist concept and that no store should be put by it. Judging people by whether they are too thick to breathe in and out fairly regularly is discriminatory. The views of an imbecile, or, say, a Jerusalem artichoke, are

James Forsyth

The Conservative crack-up

No one does political violence quite like the Tories. The fall of Margaret Thatcher in 1990 unleashed a cycle of reprisals that lasted until David Cameron became leader in 2005. During that time, Tories specialised in factionalism: wets vs dries, Europhiles vs Eurosceptics, modernisers vs traditionalists. Cameron’s great achievement was to unite the party in pursuit of power. Now that unity is coming undone. You can blame Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership of Labour for the latest Conservative breakdown. The Tory wars of the mid-1990s were fuelled by a sense that defeat was inevitable: since the Conservatives weren’t going to beat Tony Blair, they felt they might as well fight each other.

Martin Vander Weyer

My straw polls say the ‘leave’ campaign is failing to make a clear economic case

In every gathering, someone — often me — calls for a show of hands on Brexit. And I have to report that, in the varied circles in which I move, ‘leave’ may have the best tunes but isn’t winning the argument. At a Mayfair fundraiser for a Jewish charity, the crowd of mostly thirty-to-fortysomething men in suits (and many in yarmulkes) was 90 per cent for ‘remain’; a former Tory minister was spotted waving both arms in a desperate bid to boost the ‘leave’ minority. In a more mixed crowd of business people at a Budget briefing in Newcastle, the balance was much the same. At a Sunday lunch in

Tuesday

22 Mar 2016

Ed West

Europe, Islamism and some uncomfortable home truths

The flags are at half-mast in Westminster in a show of solidarity with Brussels, one of those ceremonies Europe seems to be getting used to. We’re long used to the statements of shock by politicians (why the shock?) as well as the platitudes about this having nothing to do with any particular religion. After that we have the now traditional focus of all our anger and grief towards Katie Hopkins, as if what she says or believes makes any difference to the growing problem facing Europe. Not all of Europe, of course. Central Europe, chiefly Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic, remain largely safe from the terror threat, despite the former

Rod Liddle

Like London, Brussels has allowed itself to become a hotbed of Islamic extremism

It was only a matter of time before Brussels got the suicide-bomb allahu akbar treatment, as the Belgians knew full well. Part of the city – especially Molenbeek – is a cesspit of Islamic extremism. The authorities have been content to let such areas fester and until recently the police were noticeable by their absence. Quite aside from the Isis-inspired suicide bombers, a whole crescent (suitably enough) along the north-west seaboard of Europe has proved fertile ground for the Arab European League, a violently anti-Semitic and anti-western Islamist movement which has attracted scant attention, despite its typically vile programme. From Lille in the south, via Brussels, Antwerp, The Hague all the way

James Forsyth

George Osborne starts a fight in the Commons and comes out unscathed

George Osborne turned up in the Commons chamber with a clear plan to get through this Budget debate: turn it into a partisan slug fest. His aim was to make it a straight Labour/Tory fight and by doing that, rally the Tory benches to him. With some help from the whips and the PPSs, he largely succeeded in doing that. Crucially for him, he got through the speech without incurring any further damage. As soon as Osborne began talking about the Budget, Labour started trying to intervene on him. Chris Leslie was first up, demanding an apology for the proposed PIP cuts. Osborne, in a response that set the tone

Steerpike

Nicholas Soames on IDS resignation: ‘you’d have thought there’d been a coup by a black African dictator’

With the Conservatives currently experiencing inner party turmoil following Iain Duncan Smith’s resignation over the Chancellor’s Budget, there are concerns that in-fighting may soon overshadow the party’s work. However, despite several backbenchers speaking out about their doubts in George Osborne’s ability, not every Tory is so fussed about the growing row. In an interview with Conservative Home, Nicholas Soames has offered his take on the situation. The Tory grandee says that Duncan Smith’s resignation is simply an ‘inconvenience’ even though the media reaction suggests that there has ‘been a coup by a black African dictator’. ‘This is what my father would have called a kick in the gullet, these are inconveniences, what

Steerpike

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown accuses the Independent of sexism over print redundancies

This week the Independent will publish its last ever print edition. With a reduced number of staff being kept on to work on the digital-only edition, around 75 journalists are thought to be being made redundant. So last night’s Words by Women journalism awards proved to be a poignant affair with several soon-to-be ex-Indy journalists present. While Independent on Sunday editor Lisa Markwell said it was a ‘bit emotional’ — while presenting an award — as it was the first time she’d been called the paper’s ‘former editor’, Indy columnist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown appeared to be experiencing a real mix of emotions when it came to her take on the paper’s demise. When introducing the Political

Isabel Hardman

Tories face the new political reality on welfare

Are there going to be more welfare cuts or not? In an afternoon in which the government tried to calm the row following the resignation of Iain Duncan Smith, the key line that stood out was Stephen Crabb telling the Commons that ‘we have no further plans to make welfare savings beyond the very substantial savings legislated for by parliament two weeks ago’. The new Work and Pensions Secretary’s language was qualified by the Treasury, which clarified that this didn’t mean no more cuts in this parliament – just that the government didn’t have any planned. But it has become the big takeaway story from yesterday’s medley of statements. George

Ross Clark

What the RSS Boaty McBoatface saga really tells us about British democracy

Our leaders, of course, love democracy – until it comes up with an answer different to the one they were expecting. Last week, the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) announced an online poll for the public to vote for the name of a new Arctic and Antarctic-going vessel to replace my ageing near-namesake the RRS James Clark Ross. The outcome will tell us volumes about what public bodies really think of public opinion. While a few members of the public favoured suggestions such as the RRS (royal research ship) David Attenborough and the RRS Henry Worsley, after the explorer who died in January after coming very close to the end

Monday

21 Mar 2016

Steerpike

Watch: Dennis Skinner takes Cameron to task over Osborne’s ‘nine lives’

With George Osborne’s disastrous Budget the main topic of conversation today in the Chamber, Jeremy Corbyn surprised his colleagues by opting not to mention the Tories’ current inner-party turmoil — let alone Iain Duncan Smith’s resignation — in his speech. Instead it fell on his estranged comrades Yvette Cooper and Liz Kendall to land some blows. Happily Dennis Skinner also joined in — offering up one of his trademark one-liners. He asked David Cameron whether he would pledge to make this Budget Osborne’s last: ‘Will the Prime Minister give us an assurance that in the view of the financial mess that’s been created with this Budget that this will be the Chancellor

Isabel Hardman

Why isn’t Jeremy Corbyn kicking the government while it’s down?

The government is in a mess, with the Chancellor having to go underground while a row rages in the Conservative party about whether or not the central mission of the Prime Minister to lead a compassionate Conservative party is really happening in practice. David Cameron had to use his statement on the European Council this afternoon to defend the government’s record on social justice, and praise the work of Iain Duncan Smith in an attempt to get things back on track. And yet Jeremy Corbyn saw today’s open goal yawning before him, and decided to kick the ball into a hedge. The Labour leader managed to mention the fact he’d

Steerpike

Paula Sherriff urges David Cameron to consign the ‘Vagina Added Tax’ to history

A historic session took place in the Commons today and not jut because of the current omnishambles building around George Osborne’s Budget. Instead, it was Paula Sherriff who has managed to make history thanks to her question to the Prime Minister on the tampon tax. The Labour MP asked David Cameron about plans by the government to accept Labour’s tampon tax amendment to the Budget. In the process, she referred to it as the ‘Vagina Added Tax’: ‘Will he pledge that vital funding for women’s services that was provided from the receipts of this VAT will continue? I hope that today is the day we can consign the Vagina Added Tax

Isabel Hardman

George Osborne disappears, as MPs debate fallout of his budget

How did George Osborne survive the Urgent Question that John McDonnell asked him today in the Commons about the changes to the Budget? Very well, in that the Chancellor didn’t turn up to answer it, and instead sent poor old David Gauke, who seems to be paying for a great misdemeanour in a past life by having to respond to almost all the UQs that are awkward for Osborne. The session was awkward for Gauke, but MPs hadn’t come to beat him up, and so it was nothing he couldn’t handle. He repeatedly told those asking him questions that the government had been clear in its plans that it had

Isabel Hardman

Number 10 tries to neutralise Budget row

David Cameron and George Osborne have got a lot to do to patch up the current Tory wars. But first they need to ensure that those wars don’t get even worse, by making the Budget battles of this week seem less potent. This, it was revealed at morning lobby briefing, will now involve allowing MPs to vote on a Budget that does not set out how the government will save £4bn that the cuts to personal independence payment were supposed to achieve. It will also involve the government not opposing the rebel amendments on the tampon tax and VAT on solar panels and insulation products. This second decision on whipping

Ruth Wishart

Scotland is a self-confident nation – not a one-party state

Politics, as we know, makes the strangest of bedfellows. Step forward Tam Dalyell, Laird of The Binns and erstwhile Father of the House, and the editor of this estimable organ. In the space of this last week I have heard/read both sources refer to Scotland having a one-party state in the shape of the Scottish National Party; the former at Glasgow’s Aye Write! Book Festival and the latter in an editorial on Donald Trump. I would have expected better from both! At the last count there were certainly a handful of countries to whom that description could properly be applied. North Korea and the People’s Republic of China spring to

Isabel Hardman

How can David Cameron fix the Tory row over the Budget?

Last week’s Budget was supposed to be boring, but is still splashed across the front pages of the newspapers this morning. It was supposed to be crafted so that no Tory MPs could raise a rumpus, yet it has led to the resignation of a Cabinet minister and the opening up of a yawning split in the Tory party. This row between the Tory leadership and those supporting Iain Duncan Smith isn’t officially about Europe, though the referendum has undermined the foundations of the party enough to make this row seriously destabilising for the leadership. David Cameron will use his statement on the latest European Council meeting to reassert the

Steerpike

Watch: Jackie Baillie’s disastrous Sunday Politics interview — ‘to call that a “car-crash” would show a lack of respect to automotive accidents’

With the Scottish Parliament elections set to take place in May, the SNP are expected to once again top the polls. As for the other parties, Kezia Dugdale’s beleaguered Scottish Labour will be attempting to fight off Ruth Davidson’s conservatives for second place. So, with Dugdale desperately needing to win back disillusioned voters, she may live to regret sending Jackie Baillie, the Scottish MSP, onto yesterday’s Sunday Politics. In an interview with Gordon Brewer, Baillie attempted to put forward her party’s new economic policy which claims to offer a way to end austerity which is not ‘prescriptive’. Alas Brewer was unconvinced, suggesting that the policy amounted to promising to put people’s taxes out without

Steerpike

Sadiq Khan’s pledge to tackle Labour anti-Semitism hits a bump in the road

Since Jeremy Corbyn was elected Labour leader, the party has been dogged by rumours of anti-semitism in certain factions of the party. Matters were only worsened last week with the re-admittance and then re-expulsion of Vicki Kirby, a former Labour parliamentary candidate who has suggested that Isis ought to attack Israel. Now there are concerns that the negative publicity could damage Sadiq Khan’s London mayoral bid. Last week, Jonathan Arkush — the President of the Board of Deputies — claimed that the Labour candidate could struggle to win votes from London’s 180,000 Jews. While Khan has made clear that Labour needs to ditch its ‘anti-Jewish’ image, he may wish to take a closer look

Sunday

20 Mar 2016

Fraser Nelson

Podcast: IDS, Ros Altmann and the return of Tory Wars

Iain Duncan Smith has just given what James Forsyth refers to as a “bombshell interview” which turned into “a missile aimed at George Osborne”. Ros Altmann, the pensions minister, released a statement last night that could be described as a missile aimed at Iain Duncan Smith. What’s next? James Forsyth and I discuss in this podcast.