Politics

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

Thursday

22 Oct 2015

New poll shows the EU referendum is neck and neck

The battle for Britain to remain in or leave the European Union is now very tight. What UK Thinks, a new website providing non-partisan information on the referendum, reports on a new poll from YouGov and the ESCR that looks at the influence party leaders may have on the referendum. Without any leader mentioned, 50.6 per cent would vote to remain in, compared to 49.4 per cent who would vote to leave — a tiny 1.2 per centage point difference. Unsurprisingly, the poll finds that a large majority of those inclined to vote to leave are Conservatives, while the Remain vote is comprised of Labour, SNP and Lib Dem backers. Both David Cameron and

Isabel Hardman

MPs approve plan to introduce English votes for English laws

MPs have just approved the change to the Commons regulations that will introduce English votes for English laws by 312 votes to 270. The proposals mean an additional stage of scrutiny in the Commons where a grand committee of either English MPs or English and Welsh MPs can consider and veto the proposals. It is not particularly clear how often this situation would arise, and therefore it really does remain to be seen whether this will practically make a great deal of difference to Parliament. The debate on the measure saw Scottish National Party MPs warning of the creation of two classes of MP, and of damage to the Union.

James Forsyth

The lunch that began the end of the Cold War

It is one of the great counterfactuals of contemporary history, what if Mikhail Gorbachev had walked out of that Chequers lunch with Margaret Thatcher in 1984? As Charles Moore explained at last night’s Spectator event to celebrate the launch of the second volume of his Thatcher biography, that lunch—where Thatcher and Gorbachev debated capitalism and Communism—was key to the ending of the Cold War. For Thatcher then persuaded Ronald Reagan that he should meet Gorbachev and that Gorbachev was someone they could do business with. But Gorbachev had almost left Chequers early, his wife had mouthed to him across the table ‘should we go now?’ as Thatcher hammered away at

Steerpike

So Theresa May, isn’t your own workforce ‘too white’?

Today Theresa May has hit out at the lack of black and Asian officers in the police forces, arguing that the current diminutive figures are ‘simply not good enough’. She said that the current forces must increase ethnic diversity in order to represent their communities, claiming that there are no black officers in Cheshire, Durham, Dyfed-Powys and North Yorkshire. Strong words from the Home Secretary, which left Mr S wondering just how diverse May’s own personal work force is. Surely with May — an apparent champion for ethnic diversity in the workplace — branding police forces ‘too white’, she herself has a high proportion of staff from ethnic minorities? Alas, in terms of her

Sebastian Payne

How Ukip intends to fight (and maybe win) the Oldham West & Royton by-election

The death of Michael Meacher means the first by-election of this Parliament is upon us — as well as the first with Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader. The exact timings have yet to be announced but sometime before the end of 2015 seems likely. The seat is likely to be a shoo-in for Labour: Oldham West & Royton and its predecessor constituency have been represented by Meacher since 1970 and by Labour since 1950 (minus one by-election in 1968). But strange things happen in by-elections and Ukip managed to increase its vote share in May’s general election by 17 per cent to 20.6 per cent. Labour has a whopping 14,738 majority but the Kippers

Isabel Hardman

Osborne: Tories ‘signalled’ tax credit cuts during election campaign

The general election was only a few months ago, but according to George Osborne, voters and his own MPs have forgotten what happened during that campaign. Indeed, it seems we have all already forgotten what was said, because apparently the campaign included details of cuts to working tax credits. Today the Chancellor defended these cuts when he appeared before the Treasury Select Committee. John Mann decided that the most effective way of attacking the cuts was by appealing to George Osborne’s own personal ambition. ‘We’re trying to help you Chancellor avoid Mrs Thatcher’s mistakes with the poll tax,’ he said, adding: ‘That will be a political disaster for you as

Jenny McCartney

The ‘Stakeknife’ investigation and the dark reality of double agents

The decision by Barra McGrory, the Director of Public Prosecutions in Northern Ireland, to recommend an official investigation into the activities of Freddie Scappaticci – the alleged IRA enforcer and British agent known as ‘Stakeknife’ – seems likely to unearth some of the most painful, long-buried secrets of the ‘dirty war’ in Northern Ireland. In so doing it will raise difficult questions about the permissible limits of state intelligence-gathering which remain highly relevant today. Scappaticci, who denied being a British agent before departing Northern Ireland in 2003, is nonetheless widely reported to have been a longstanding head of the IRA’s ‘nutting squad’, or internal security unit, which was responsible for

Steerpike

Revealed: Zac Goldsmith’s new campaign genius

Given that Ivan Massow failed to be picked as one of the four final candidates in the race to be the Conservative candidate for London mayor despite a flashy campaign, it’s safe to say that Massow still has some work to do when it comes to mastering how to succeed in politics. So Mr S was surprised to hear that the business mogul is now assisting Zac Goldsmith with his campaign. Speaking at Josh Spero’s Second Hand Stories book launch party at Bonhams, Massow said he was working with the Conservative mayoral candidate when it came to the policy side of things: ‘I’m working with Zac. I speak to him a lot but

Martin Vander Weyer

Mark Carney should avoid the EU referendum and stick to plain monetary economics

Governor Mark Carney is no orator, and whoever puts the fancy metaphors into his speech drafts really ought to desist. In his Mansion House address in June, it was about the legacy of the Great Fire and subsequent rebuilding — just like the great financial crisis, obviously. In last night¹s Cairncross Lecture at Oxford, it was the construction of the Sheldonian Theatre and the strengths of Wren’s design supporting the art on the ceiling — just like the architecture of the European single market, except that ‘they may in time need to be buttressed to realise the full creative potential of the peoples of the UK and Europe’. On both occasions, Carney looked briefly

Cosmo Landesman

Women’s issues are for everyone now, not just feminists

Like all right-thinking lefty men who came of age in the women’s liberation movement of the 1970s, I always thought of myself as a feminist. But now, thanks to Meryl Streep, I’ve been liberated from the label. Last week I heard her on the radio promoting her new film Suffragette. Asked why the story of the suffragettes hadn’t been made into a film before now, she said that in Hollywood the men with the power to get films made didn’t see this subject as anything to do with them. ‘It wasn’t their fight,’ said Streep. But now things were changing. ‘Increasingly we think that women’s issues and women rights are

Harry Mount

Red-brick revolutionaries

‘I’d rather entrust the government of the United States to the first 400 people listed in the Boston telephone directory than to the faculty of Harvard University,’ said William F. Buckley Jr, the American conservative writer. Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour party must be hoping British voters agree. Under Corbyn, the Labour party — once the clever party — has had a brain transplant. It’s out with the Oxbridge and Harvard graduates with first-class degrees; in with the red-brick university graduates. Or, in Corbyn’s case, a non-graduate. Corbyn got two Es at A-level at Adams’ Grammar School in Newport, Shropshire. He did a year of trade union studies at the North London Polytechnic

Ross Clark

The Hinkley Point disaster

How easy it would be to scorn the environmentalists who are up in arms about George Osborne’s new pet project, the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station. You can understand their anxiety: subsidies for green energy are being slashed, yet the Chancellor will do anything — and pay anything — to get this project up and running. He is happy to force households to pay artificially high prices for a form of energy which brings all kinds of risks — of which the world was reminded this week when Japan found the first cancer case liked to the Fukushima disaster of 2011. ‘Has the Chancellor lost his mind?’ they ask.

Paul Wood

How far can Bernie Sanders go?

[audioplayer src=”http://rss.acast.com/viewfrom22/thedeathoffeminism/media.mp3″ title=”John R. Macarthur and Freddy Gray discuss how far Bernie Sanders can go ” startat=1764] Listen [/audioplayer]Boston A woman’s voice carried through a lull in several conversations around the table at a smart East Coast dinner. ‘But he’s not even a fucking Democrat…’ She was one of the party’s stars and was talking about Senator Bernie Sanders. He is inducing as much red-faced apoplexy in the Democratic party’s great and good as Donald Trump is causing among the Republican establishment: outsiders both, each upsetting the smooth coronation of the party leadership’s candidate for president. ‘Bernie’ — as he’s often called — shared a stage with Hillary Clinton last

Martin Vander Weyer

Heathrow’s third runway could still be halted – here’s how

The Great British Runway final between Heathrow and Gatwick is beginning to look like a game of two halves. The visit of China’s President Xi Jinping is a bonus for the west London team, who can claim that Chinese investors with bulging wallets are more likely to be impressed by landing at an urban mega-airport than an expanded flying club in Sussex. But the Volkswagen emissions scandal has been a gift for Gatwick, because as chief executive Stewart Wingate said: ‘Heathrow’s poor air quality already breaches legal limits and it’s difficult to see how expansion could legally go ahead with the millions of extra car journeys an expanded Heathrow would

Tom Tugendhat

Iran’s hidden war with the West – and what we can do to fight back

When British troops were on patrol in Iraq and Afghanistan, we faced many enemies, from jihadis to press-ganged civilians. But for me, the most terrifying ones lay buried. Bullets usually miss. Improvised explosive devices – IEDs — don’t. They are frighteningly simple. Old munitions wired together or plastic bottles packed with fertiliser and ball-bearings could destroy a vehicle and kill its passengers. During my four years in Afghanistan I saw IEDs evolve: first came remote triggers, then pressure plates and then low-metal-content devices. Curiously, IEDs evolved in a similar way in Iraq. This should be no surprise, since the groups trying to kill British troops shared one common resource: Iranian

Wednesday

21 Oct 2015

Fraser Nelson

Mark Carney may have unwittingly strengthened the case for leaving the EU

I suspect that Mark Carney set out to strengthen the case for Britain staying in the European Union with his remarks in Oxford tonight, but his intervention may end up having the reverse effect. First, the Bank of England governor did not talk about the advantages of staying inside the EU. He spoke about the advantages of Britain being part of a free trade block; as Boris Johnson argues in the new Spectator this is still likely even if we vote to leave. Here’s what he said:- ‘Broadly speaking, the evidence suggests that the UK has successfully harnessed the benefits of openness afforded by its EU membership while avoiding some of

Lloyd Evans

Tom Watson gets a tickling from the Home Affairs Committee

Tom Watson, the man who hated Brittan, appeared before the Home Affairs committee this afternoon. In earlier evidence it became clear that the Met was divided on the rape allegations against the late Lord Brittan. Detective Chief Inspector Settle said that to subject him to an interview under caution would have constituted ‘a baseless witch-hunt’. Dep Assist Commissioner Steve Rodhouse disagreed and said it was unusual not to question a rape suspect. Tom Watson played a role as the victim’s cheerleader. He wrote a letter urging the DPP to ensure that Brittain was quizzed. DCI Settle called Watson’s actions ‘undermining’ and ‘a low blow.’ He said Watson had caused panic

Nick Cohen

Cameron tells Tories they no longer have to follow international law

People go on about the awful pressure of 24/7 media on our leaders, and how hard the constant scrutiny must be to bear. But politicians and civil servants know that more means less. As more news sites and tweeters repeat the same stories, and millions of ‘diverse’ voices say the same thing, the basics of power go unexamined. Take the ministerial code, which guides the conduct of politicians in office. It is one of the fundamentals of public life. The opposition (such as it is) and the media can use it as a stick to beat the government. The prime minister can fire ministers who break it. ‘Ministers of the

Isabel Hardman

Heidi Allen’s criticism of the Commons upsets fellow MPs

There has been an interesting response in the Tory party to Heidi Allen’s speech in which she criticised the tax credit changes. Many MPs are themselves worried about the changes, and didn’t disagree with what she had to say. But what has really riled them is the way in which she appeared to dismiss the Chamber as largely pointless – and that she spoke against the cuts having supported them once and then went onto vote with the government again on the motion before the House last night (though to be fair, she explained that she wouldn’t vote for the Opposition Day motion because she disagreed with its wording). One

Sebastian Payne

Veteran Labour MP Michael Meacher has died aged 75

The Labour MP for Oldham West & Royston Michael Meacher has died, aged 75. According to the Oldham Chronicle, he passed away after suffering from a short illness. A committed environmentalist, he had leadership ambitions and made them to Spectator readers seven years ago. He was one of the 36 MPs to nominate Jeremy Corbyn for Labour leader this year — there was some surprise as to why Meacher wasn’t given a position in Corbyn’s shadow cabinet but his recent illness may explain why. His passing means the first by-election of this Parliament is upon us and the first electoral test of Corbyn’s Labour. Although Meacher returned the seat at May’s general election with a huge