Politics Archives

Thursday

3 Sep 2015

The Corbyn enigma

[audioplayer src=”http://rss.acast.com/viewfrom22/jeremycorbynsbritain/media.mp3″ title=”Dan Hodges, James Forsyth and Ellie Mae O’Hagan discuss the impact of a Corbyn victory” startat=40] Listen [/audioplayer]Just because something is absurd doesn’t mean it can’t happen. This is the lesson of Jeremy Corbyn’s seemingly inevitable victory in the Labour leadership contest. At first, the prospect of Corbyn leading Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition was seen to be so ridiculous that bookmakers put the chances of it at 200 to 1. Labour MPs were prepared to nominate him to broaden the ‘debate’. Now, almost everyone in the Labour party thinks we are days away from Corbyn’s coronation, and some bookies are already paying out. Even Tony Blair has accepted

Peter Hitchens

Forget Chilcot

[audioplayer src=”http://rss.acast.com/viewfrom22/jeremycorbynsbritain/media.mp3″ title=”Peter Hitchens and Fraser Nelson debate whether the Chilcot report needs to be published” startat=1916] Listen [/audioplayer]It might actually be better if Sir John Chilcot’s report is never published. I for one can no longer be bothered to be annoyed (though I used to be) by the increasingly comical excuses for its non-appearance. We all know the real reason is that the Iraq war was the product of lies, vainglory and creeping to the Americans, but they don’t want to admit it. I suspect Sir John and his colleagues would be more hurt by a patronising acceptance that they are a hopeless embarrassment than by any more anger.

Anthony Whitehead

Green with rage

I am stuck behind a big yellow recycling lorry in Bristol, which this year became the UK’s first European Green Capital. It is collecting food waste from the special brown bins we have to use, and the stench is horrendous. Behind me are about another dozen cars and, sad to say, I fear that not all of them have turned off their idling engines. Squadrons of recycling vehicles invade every day, blocking our narrow Victorian streets and causing misery and mayhem — starting with the school run: ‘Dad! I’m going to be marked down for a “late” again!’ ‘Sorry son, but these teabags mustn’t be allowed to rot in landfill.

Rod Liddle

The green ink brigade is now running the show

Daily they drop into my email account — alongside the more obviously useful stuff about how I might elongate my penis or ensure it performs with greater fortitude than at present, and the charitable offers from women who live ‘nearby your house, Roderick’ and apparently wish to test whether or not those previous solicitations I mentioned have been acceded to with success. Alongside all that stuff are the fecund exhortations from a bunch of online campaigning organisations. Click democracy, a sort of spastic form of activism whereby you stick it to da man simply by pressing a button. They come, these missives, from the likes of Change.org and 38 Degrees. Sometimes

Wednesday

2 Sep 2015

Isabel Hardman

Government could still face defeat on EU purdah row

Will ministers really avoid a defeat on the question of purdah in the EU referendum bill on Monday? They hope that amendments, tabled today (and attached in full here in advance of their publication tomorrow), will stop Conservative MPs flocking to Labour’s new clause that it has tabled to add to the Bill. But Labour sources tell me that they’re still considering voting against the amendment which brings back purdah but with a substantially narrowed scope. And given it only takes a handful of grumpy eurosceptics to vote against to make a defeat, the whips can’t breathe a sigh of relief just yet. Some eurosceptics I’ve spoken to think this

Steerpike

Rebekah Brooks returns to News UK to head up Rupert Murdoch’s empire

It’s all change at News UK today after it was confirmed that Rebekah Brooks will be making a triumphant return to the publishing group. Brooks — who stood down from the company over the phone hacking scandal — has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer of News UK. Robert Thomson, Chief Executive of News Corp, announced her appointment in a statement: ‘Rebekah will lead a great team at News UK into the digital future, while maximising the influence and reach of our newspapers, which remain the most informative and successful in Britain and beyond. Her expertise, excellence and leadership will be crucial as we work to extend our relationship with readers and advertisers,

Isabel Hardman

The Tories are playing a risky game with their ‘hostile environment’ policy on migration

It comes to something when the rather bizarre Labour leadership contest forces David Cameron to defend his government’s approach to the refugee crisis. Yesterday Yvette Cooper described ministers’ refusal to take more refugees as ‘cowardly’ and ‘immoral’, and today the Prime Minister insisted that ‘I don’t think there is an answer that can be achieved simply by taking more and more refugees’. He said: ‘We have taken a number of genuine asylum seekers from Syrian refugee camps, we keep that under review, but we think the most important thing is to try to bring peace and stability to that part of the world.’ Incidentally, the Prime Minister’s favourite economist Paul

Isabel Hardman

Jeremy Corbyn’s opponents are finally starting to show political nous

Chuka Umunna’s call for Labourites to unite around their new leader and show ‘solidarity’ does show a growing acceptance that Jeremy Corbyn is on the brink of being installed as the party’s new chief in just ten days’ time. But it also shows that the Blairites in the party are finally starting to come up with a plan for dealing with the rise of the hard left. Labour’s centrist modernisers have spent the summer scratching their heads at the Corbyn phenomenon, which they hadn’t predicted at all – indeed, I was initially briefed by one of their number that ‘we will get hundreds of thousands of new supporters. Social media

Steerpike

Another joker votes for Jeremy Corbyn

After a number of pranksters attempted to infiltrate Labour’s voting system, the party had to take extreme steps in order to weed out these chancers. One joker who won’t be prevented from voting for Corbyn is Josie Long. The award-winning stand-up comedian joined the leadership hopeful last night at his Arts for Everyone event: Some of tonight's speakers @monstris @JeremyJHardy @JosieLong @jeremycorbyn #artsforeveryone pic.twitter.com/yBTOab2cK0 — For The Many (@ForTheMany2020) September 1, 2015 Prior to attending the event, Long explained on Twitter why she has become a Corbynista, but said she has doubts about how much sway she has since the country is governed by Tories and she has always voted left. ‘If I had any political influence we wouldn’t

Sebastian Payne

The Free Schools revolution marches on — if Cameron holds his nerve

David Cameron has vowed he will ‘not waver’ in his commitment to free schools and has announced another 500 will open over the next five years — creating 270,000 new school places by 2020. Eighteen new projects have been given the go-ahead today, adding to the existing 252 free schools and the 52 new schools opening this week. As the chart above shows, the government’s target is ambitious. To see the commitment through, two waves of new free schools will be announced every year in March and September. The Prime Minister said the announcement shows that the government is focused on ‘delivering an excellent education and giving parents across the country real choice for

Nick Cohen

Labour’s centrists have held up the white flag of surrender

Smart political operators are often the stupidest people. In conventional Westminster terms, it was smart of Labour’s Chuka Umunna to say last night that everyone in Labour should work with Jeremy Corbyn. Received wisdom expects us to applaud Umunna as he bows his head to conventional pieties and says Labour should get down with the kids, ‘celebrate’ the Corbyn-supporting yoof, ’embrace’ them and ‘harness’ their energy to revitalise Labour. We are expected to nod sagely as political journalists tell us that Umunna is calculating that ‘if Corbyn, the clear frontrunner, is to fail, Umunna’s wing of the party must not have done anything to make it responsible’. Clever move, we

Paul Collier

Here’s the answer to your migrant crisis, Mr Cameron

[audioplayer src=”http://rss.acast.com/viewfrom22/howtofixtherefugeecrisis/media.mp3″ title=”Paul Collier and Douglas Murray discuss how to fix the migrant crisis” startat=32] Listen [/audioplayer]For all its difficulties, Europe is prosperous and safe: one of the best places on Earth. Many other societies have yet to achieve this happy state: some are murderous and poor. Two of the most troubled zones in the world are near Europe: the Middle East, and the Sahelian belt which spans northern Africa. Unsurprisingly, many of the people who live in these societies would rather live in Europe. Impeded by immigration controls, a small minority of this group are taking matters into their own hands, trying to enter Europe illegally by boat across

Sebastian Payne

When will the EU referendum be held? Here are three possible dates

David Cameron has promised to hold an EU referendum before 2017 is over, but there have been no more details on when exactly it will take place. Some Eurosceptics believe the Prime Minister will announce the date in his speech at Tory conference in a few weeks, but most expect he would like it to be held next year. Newsnight’s Allegra Stratton has revealed that the government is considering holding the vote in April 2016. This would mean finishing off the renegotiation at ‘breakneck speed’, primarily to take advantage of a Corbyn-lead Labour party in flux. So far, there are three potential dates the campaigns believe are likely. Here are the ups and downs of

Isabel Hardman

Government tries to head off EU purdah defeat

Ministers will publish amendments to the EU referendum bill later today that they hope will stave off a defeat in the House of Commons on the legislation. Tory backbenchers had been preparing to work with Labour on an amendment that would have introduced a ‘purdah’ period for the referendum, and forced the government to seek Commons approval for any exemptions from that purdah. They had expected to defeat the government, which had been trying to sneak the legislation past them on the first day back in Parliament. Government sources say amendments will be published later today that will ‘reassure MPs’ and ‘show they are not about using the full weight

Steerpike

Accuracy concerns grow over Anthony Seldon’s biography of David Cameron

Anthony Seldon and Peter Snowdon’s biography of David Cameron has not even been released yet but already it has managed to send ripples through Westminster. Revelations in the Mail on Sunday’s excerpt of the tome included George Osborne’s fears that an EU referendum could obstruct his path to Number 10, as well as a text David Cameron sent to Boris Johnson apparently telling him to ‘f—ing shut up‘. Only it may be best to take some of these stories with a pinch of salt for now, as concerns begin to grow regarding the accuracy of Seldon and Snowdon’s account. While Lord Ashcroft revealed earlier this year that Seldon was getting Number 10 aides to

Tuesday

1 Sep 2015

Sebastian Payne

Andy and Yvette — a tale of two ‘Anyone But Corbyn’ strategies

Who has the best chance of beating Jeremy Corbyn: Andy Burnham or Yvette Cooper? The Burnham and Cooper camps are vying to be the clear ‘Anyone But Corbyn’ candidate, and trying to grab as much of the low-hanging ‘soft’ Corbyn vote as possible before the ballot closes on 10 September. Burnham is most blatant in his adoption of the ABC strategy. For example, in an op-ed for the Independent today, he says ‘I believe it has come down to a straight choice between Jeremy Corbyn and myself’ and outlined five policy areas he will pursue if elected leader to build a ‘bolder, more principled Labour party’. On housing, Burnham said he will oppose the extension of

Isabel Hardman

Ukip wars: Party’s London MEP blasts ‘undemocratic’ Mayoral and GLA selections

Ukip’s selection procedure for its London Assembly and Mayoral candidates is ‘undemocratic’, the party’s own MEP for London has told Coffee House. Gerard Batten has refused to take part in the selection procedure because it is ‘undemocratic’, with the party’s London membership getting no vote on the candidates. He said: ‘If Ukip is a democratic party, then it should allow the London members to select the candidate. Ukip is nothing if not a grassroots party. Activists who are not allowed to vote for a candidate may not feel motivated to campaign for that candidate. Ukip talks a lot about the undemocratic nature of the European Union, so we should practise democracy in

Isabel Hardman

Yvette Cooper attacks ‘cowardly’ government and says Britain should take 10,000 refugees

Yvette Cooper has just given a rather fine, bold speech on the refugee crisis. Some reading will disagree with her plea for Britain to take 10,000 refugees, rather than 200. But that’s part of the point: the Labour leadership contender has decided to take a stand on something, even if it annoys some. To be fair, it is probably an issue that Labour members will applaud her taking a stand on, rather than something that makes the party feel uncomfortable with, but it is much less like the ‘on-the-one-hand-this-and-the-other-that’ style of campaigning that Cooper has been criticised for at times during this contest. The Shadow Home Secretary accused the government

Sebastian Payne

‘Remain’ or ‘leave’ — the new EU referendum wording

Forget ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ or ‘In’ and ‘Out’, the EU referendum question looks set to be a choice between ‘remain’ or ‘leave’. The Electoral Commission has recommended a change from the current question in the EU Referendum Bill: ‘Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union?’ To which the response is either ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. This wording could be judged to be helpful for those who want Britain to remain in the EU, as the question was posed in a particularly negative way as well as involving a change from the status quo. The Commission has assessed this wording and has recommended the question should be changed

Sebastian Payne

Nigel Farage shows why he shouldn’t lead the ‘No’ campaign

Nigel Farage is kickstarting Ukip’s ‘No’ campaign this week, having grown fed up with the lack of momentum from other corners. On the Today programme, the Ukip leader explained he is happy to work with either of the two groups vying to be the designated the Out campaign by the Electoral Commission — the Matthew Elliot Westminster-based campaign vs. the Arron Banks outside Westminster group: ‘Ukip is a political party and clearly whoever gets the designation as the official No campaign will have to be an umbrella of some kind and ‘The No’, n o, see that as being politicians from individual parties and ‘The Know’, k n o w, are looking to put together a