Politics Archives

Friday

28 Aug 2015

What if Jeremy Corbyn has a successful start as Labour leader?

Jeremy Corbyn has taken to the Times to defend his Labour leadership campaign and attack both the press and his critics within his own party. He writes: ‘Despite the barrage of attacks, hysteria and deliberate misrepresentation of the positions my campaign has put forward, it is our message which is resonating.’ He’s right about his message resonating with the Labour membership. He may even enjoy some resonance with the general public for a while after his election as Labour leader. Indeed, that his message resonates with voters through by-elections and local authority elections is what Corbyn’s critics in his own party fear the most. ‘I don’t know!’ cried one anti-Corbynite

Sebastian Payne

Revealed: Wikipedia’s panic over Shapps fiasco

During the election campaign a cloud hung over Grant Shapps, the then chairman of the Conservative party. In April, he was accused of editing his own Wikipedia profile and those of other politicians by Richard Symonds, a Wikipedia member of staff and Lib Dem activist. Symonds claimed that Shapps ‘or someone acting on his behalf’ used an anonymous account ‘Contribsx’ to make edits that appeared to be to Shapps’ benefit. But there has been no hard evidence Shapps edited the pages and Symonds has been censured by Wikipedia for his actions. Now, it transpires that Wikipedia may not have been acting neutrally. Coffee House has been passed an email that was sent around the board of Wikimedia UK,

Thursday

27 Aug 2015

Peter Jones

Just how republican is Jeremy Corbyn?

True to his antique, bearded ideology, guru Corbyn is a ‘republican’, a form of government invented 2,500 years ago. ‘Republic’ derives from the Latin res publica — ‘people’s property, business’ (not politicians’). It defined Rome in contrast to its earliest condition as a monarchy, under the control of kings. Romans dated the republican revolution to 509 bc, when the last king, Tarquinius Superbus (‘arrogant’), was thrown out after his son Sextus raped the noblewoman Lucretia. From then on, at least in theory, the people could always have the last word through the various people’s assemblies. One can be quite sure that Corbyn will welcome popular control of the Labour party

The Spectator

Gamblin’ man

When George Osborne visited Sweden, Finland and Denmark the stock markets of each country promptly fell by about 5 per cent. As soon as he left, they recovered. A coincidence, of course: Osborne’s tour coincided with stock-market jitters, but this nonetheless forced him to look over the precipice — and panic. Britain, he warned, was ‘not immune to what goes on in the world’. Not for the first time, we saw his lips moving but heard Gordon Brown’s voice. ‘We are much better prepared than we would have been a few years ago for this kind of shock,’ he added. If only this were true. As the Chancellor knows, we

Isabel Hardman

Is Shas Sheehan the “least deserving person to ever be made a Lib Dem peer?”

As well as it being rather amusing that a party officially committed to the abolition of the House of Lords has stuffed a few more of its grandees into the Upper Chamber, it’s worth looking will be wearing the ermine. There seems to have been a bit of a desperate hunt to find people. The MPs who lost their seats or stood down might be fair enough. But some party figures are scratching their heads rather at the appointment of one party member who was a councillor for just four years. Shas Sheehan did also stand as a parliamentary candidate (and lost, twice), but then so have many others in

Isabel Hardman

Could a row with Uber be taxi for a London mayoral candidate?

One of the striking things about the contest in Labour for the mayoral candidacy is how many of the candidates are keen to admonish private taxi firm Uber. Sadiq Khan has described it as a ‘problem’ and said he is ‘on the side of the back cab driver’, Tessa Jowell is ‘enormously concerned’ and doesn’t have an Uber account, while David Lammy wants to ‘protect the institution that is the black cab’ and wishes there had been a confrontation between the Mayor and Uber as there had been in Paris. But perhaps these candidates should take heed of what has happened to another mayor who confronted Uber. Bill De Blasio

Steerpike

For sale: Jeremy Corbyn’s used coffee cup

It’s official, Jeremy Corbyn has made it. Following in the lines of all the greats, the left wing messiah has inspired such fan devotion that people are genuinely bidding on items just because he may have touched them. The item in question is a a coffee cup that his lips allegedly once met: The seller claims Corbyn gifted her the political artefact following a talk he gave in Nottingham: ‘Ok this is obviously aimed at a niche interest group but Jeremy handed me his empty coffee cup at tonight’s gathering outside the Playhouse in Nottingham. I realise most people would have put it in the bin but I asked what would

Sebastian Payne

Long-serving frontbenchers and the Spadocracy dominate the 2015 dissolution peers

The 2015 Dissolution Peerages have been announced, with many of the names floated in the press over the last few weeks duly being elevated to the House of Lords. The appointment of long-serving politicians such as William Hague, Alistair Darling, Ming Campbell and David Blunkett is not a surprise, but there are a few unexpected names. The most striking is Tessa Jowell, who is running to be Labour’s London mayoral candidate. If Jowell wins the nomination, she would end up doing a Boris and serving in City Hall and Westminster. The Spadocracy is well represented too, with former advisers James O’Shaughnessy (Conservative), Jonny Oates (Lib Dem) and Spencer Livermore (Labour) receiving peerages, while Kate Fall and Philippa Stroud

Steerpike

Coming soon: more Lib Dem advice on how to win an election

Given that the general election proved disastrous for the Liberal Democrats, it’s surprising how many party members seem keen to revisit the experience. With Vince Cable and Norman Baker both bringing out books just in time for this year’s Lib Dem conference, reports have surfaced claiming that Nick Clegg has finally agreed to write a book. Although this is expected to be a serious tome looking into the last government rather than a salacious kiss and tell, this hasn’t stopped users frantically brainstorming ideas online for the title of the book: @elashton @richardkendall He's missing a trick if he doesn't call it I'M SORRY I'M REALLY REALLY SORRY — Patrick Smith (@psmith) August 27,

Isabel Hardman

The Tories should have dropped their net migration target long ago

It’s fair to say the Tories won’t be recycling their ‘immigration down’ posters for this year’s autumn conference. Net migration in the the year to March 2015 was 330,000, which is an all-time high and a 28 per cent increase on the previous year. John examines these stats here. The funny thing is that the Conservatives have made this news bad news by re-committing to their pledge to drive net migration down into the tens of thousands. They had no evidence that they would have any better chance of meeting it after the election than they did beforehand, but they stuck with it in what appears to have been a

Steerpike

Labour asks school pupils to act as informants ahead of vote

Although Buzzfeed managed to successfully register a cat to vote in the Labour leadership election, the party remains insistent that they are successfully weeding out ‘supporters’ who are not genuine. However, in a sign that they may not have quite as good a grasp on these checks as claimed, it turns out that they are asking school children to help by acting as whistleblowers on fellow pupils. Writing in the Guardian, Tim Dowling claims that his 17-year-old son — whose six-month membership means he is ‘considered something of a senior figure in the party’ — has been contacted by Labour to offer the inside scoop on his classmates who have applied to

John O'Neill

Immigration hits a record high

There must be an element of masochism in Theresa May that leads her to promise the electorate something she cannot give them: net migration in the tens of thousands. Figures released today show that the balance of people coming into the county rose to 330,000 in the year to March 2015, putting the Home Secretary further than ever—further than any Home Secretary in history—from the target. [datawrapper chart=”http://static.spectator.co.uk/6xuHX/index.html”] An increase of 84,000 in the number of people coming the UK, and a fall of 9,000 in the number of people leaving the country made up the 94,000 increase in net migration on the previous year. The balance of migrants from within the EU increased by

Mary Wakefield

The contagious madness of the new PC

It’s becoming pretty clear, as the year rolls on, that some of our brightest youngsters have gone round the bend. It’s as if they’ve caught a virus, a mental one, a set of thoughts and ideas that might loosely be called political correctness, but seem to me weirder and more damaging than that. Back in the 1990s, PC students would stamp about with placards demanding equal rights for minorities and talking about Foucault. This new PC doesn’t seem to be about protecting minorities so much as everyone, everywhere from ever having their feelings hurt. It came from America, this virus, incubated in the closed minds of the Land of the

Isabel Hardman

Cameron’s new army of Tory loyalists

[audioplayer src=”http://rss.acast.com/viewfrom22/thereturnofassisteddying/media.mp3″ title=”Isabel Hardman and James Cleverly MP discuss the 2015 Tory intake” startat=1121] Listen [/audioplayer]Time was when the Conservatives believed that a small majority — which puts a government at the mercy of backbench rebels — would be worse than no majority at all. They dreaded the prospect. But now, well into their third month celebrating a majority of just 12 seats, it’s clear they’ve forgotten their fears about how precarious things could be. They talk as if they can now do anything — including implementing their manifesto in its entirety. It won’t take long for David Cameron to discover the truth. In any controversial vote, people will rebel

Katy Balls

Powder to the people

It’s Notting Hill Carnival this weekend. Two days of skanking, dutty dancing and daggering (the dance, rather than the weapon). No carnival experience would be complete without rum punch and jerk chicken, or for that matter crime, cannabis and cocaine. Drugs are part of the fun at Europe’s biggest street festival. There were 76 drug arrests at the festival last year, and 88 arrests made before the party even started as part of a dawn raid seizing machine-guns and crack. Not that partygoers are about to let a little thing like the law get in the way of their bank holiday. A survey earlier this summer from the European Monitoring

James Delingpole

If On the Road’s great, what else have I missed?

This week’s column is dedicated to all those of you who have never read Catcher in the Rye and who, what’s more, are unhealthily proud of the fact. It’s OK: I understand. I was one of you myself till a couple of weeks ago when, at Boy’s insistence, I wearily set aside some of my valuable beach time to plough through this hideously overrated and tiresome ‘classic’. Why the reluctance? Well, for the obvious reason that Catcher in the Rye — like To Kill a Mockingbird or On the Road — is one of those books you just don’t need to have read because everyone else has done it for

Wednesday

26 Aug 2015

Isabel Hardman

Exclusive: Ukip wars threaten to reignite over mayoral race

Nigel Farage is trying to block Suzanne Evans from becoming Ukip candidate for Mayor of London with a covert campaign to install a less threatening, loyal party colleague in her place, sources have told Coffee House. Ukip will select its mayoral candidate this weekend. Evans is the bookies’ favourite and the best-known outside the party. But it has moved from a one member one vote system within the London party for picking its choice for the mayoral elections to a private selection. The six-strong panel for the selection includes a number of Farage loyalists, including Chris Bruni-Lowe, Paul Oakden and Mick McGough. Party insiders are furious that this panel seems to

Sebastian Payne

Corbyn’s ‘women-only rail carriages’ points to his coming battle with Fleet Street

Has Jeremy Corbyn jumped the shark already, or have we witnessed the first Fleet Street ‘smear’ against him? Today’s i newspaper has splashed with ‘Corbyn backs women-only train carriages’, which at first glance sounds like a divisive policy. The story has come from Corbyn’s new End street harassment document, which includes a ‘Consultation on public transport’: ‘Some women have raised with me that a solution to the rise in assault and harassment on public transport could be to introduce women only carriages. My intention would be to make public transport safer for everyone from the train platform, to the bus stop to on the mode of transport itself. However, I would consult with women and open it up

Tuesday

25 Aug 2015

Sebastian Payne

As a northerner, I’m fed up of Andy Burnham’s northern stereotypes

Northerners are easy to stereotype: working class, beer, flat caps, Labour, trade unions and football. In the same way all southerners aren’t stuck-up opera-goers and every Scot isn’t a miserly chip-guzzler, this portrait of a typical northerner is insultingly inaccurate — but it is one that some love to propagate. One of those people happens to be Andy Burnham, who is running for Labour leader. As a northerner, I’m not sure that I can take much more of his schtick. It is frustrating to listen to how much of his leadership has been about being northern. Sure, Liz Kendall frequently namedrops her Watford upbringing but Burnham’s whole persona is based on his Liverpudlian

Sebastian Payne

Harriet Harman: we are not purging Corbyn supporters

The summit on the integrity of the Labour leadership contest is over and interim leader Harriet Harman described it as a ‘routine’ and ‘useful’ meeting. Although she is ‘confident that there won’t be questions over the integrity of the result and there aren’t any bases for legal challenges’, some of the numbers released on the number of infiltrators are pretty high. 3,000 ‘cheats’, as Harman described them, have been excluded from voting so far but the final number could be substantially higher. Harman has suggested the selectorate would be ‘fewer than 600,000. It will be over half a million’ — meaning there are tens of thousands of rogues still to be weeded out. Around 60,000 people are expected to