Politics Archives

Friday

4 Sep 2015

Steerpike

Tom Watson plans results party

The results aren’t in, the votes haven’t been counted, but you can still book a place at Tom Watson’s election results party! An intriguing invite popped up in Mr S’s inbox from none other than the deputy Labour leadership hopeful. Although Watson — who is the odds-on favourite at 1/14 — says he is holding the event regardless of whether he wins or loses, he has taken the bold step of booking out an entire pub come what may. Watson tells supporters about his party prep in an email. ‘So win or lose on Saturday 12 September, after the result is announced, I’m having a party,’ Watson writes. ‘We’ve booked The

Sebastian Payne

Nigel Farage’s immigration rhetoric may harm ‘Out’ campaign, new poll suggests

Nigel Farage and Ukip are convinced they can win the EU referendum by focusing on immigration as the key issue. But other Eurosceptics have been concerned that the kippers will alienate the public — and non-Ukip sympathisers in particular — with their tough rhetoric on this topic and the ‘In’ side will triumph. British Future, a think tank which studies the effects of migration, has commissioned a set of polls which confirms this risk exists. According to the polling conducted by Survation, 58 per cent agree that ‘Ukip risk bringing prejudice into debates on immigration’ — something 44 per cent of those described as ‘leaning Out’ agree with, as well as 74 per cent

Thursday

3 Sep 2015

Charles Moore

Spectator’s Notes | 3 September 2015

Was there ever a more unilluminating political idea — for voters rather than practitioners — than triangulation? For those readers so pure and high-minded that they have not followed politics for 20 years, I should explain that triangulation came from Bill Clinton, was imported by Tony Blair, and is now practised by David Cameron. Clinton’s adviser, Dick Morris, put it thus: ‘The President needed to take a position that not only blended the best of each party’s views but also transcended them to constitute a third force in the debate.’ The Tories’ adoption of the Living Wage is the latest example. This concept, almost as mystically bogus as the medieval concept

Isabel Hardman

Labour threatens Commons defeat on purdah as Tory whips threaten their MPs

Labour sources have told Coffee House that they are seriously considering voting against government amendments to the EU referendum, which means ministers still face a defeat in the Commons on Monday. There are sufficient numbers of Tory backbenchers who are still dissatisfied with the amendments, which seek to introduce a narrow definition of purdah, to mean the government cannot command a majority on the issue. Tory MPs have also been annoyed by a ‘dear colleague’ letter from the whips. The letter claims that the effect of a Labour amendment to the Bill – which also tries to introduce purdah for the referendum and would force ministers to win a Commons

Isabel Hardman

Westminster ‘Out’ campaign snaps up key eurosceptic MPs

A cross-party group of MPs, including Ukip’s only MP, is to formally join the Westminster-based ‘Out’ campaign, Coffee House has learned. An ‘exploratory committee’ of MPs which started discussing how to advance the case for ‘Out’ in June, will become the Parliamentary Planning committee for the Matthew Elliot-led Out group, which is to move into new offices in Westminster Tower later this month. The members of the parliamentary planning committee are Steve Baker, Douglas Carswell, Bernard Jenkin, Kate Hoey, Kelvin Hopkins, Owen Paterson and Graham Stringer. More MPs will join the committee in the coming weeks. It will advise the campaign team and build support for this particular Out campaign

Steerpike

Ukip candidate blames Syrian boy’s death on his parents: ‘queue jumping costs’

After a young Syrian child was photographed washed up dead on a Turkish beach, David Cameron has been the subject of much vitriol as members of the public and politicians alike urge him to do more to help refugees. However, it is a former Ukip candidate who has attracted the most furore on the topic. Peter Bucklitsch, Ukip’s election candidate for Wimbledon, has taken to Twitter to claim that the boy’s parents are to blame for his death because they tried to take him to Europe. Bucklitsch says three-year-old Aylan Kurdi was ‘well clothed and well fed’, and that he died because ‘his parents were greedy for the good life in Europe,’ adding that ‘queue

Sebastian Payne

George Osborne: criminal gangs ‘killed’ the drowned refugee boy

George Osborne has given the first official comments today regarding the ongoing migrant crisis. The Chancellor told Sky News he was ‘very distressed’ at the picture on the front pages of today’s newspapers and argued criminal gangs are responsible for the death of the drowned boy: ‘(There is no) person who would not be very shocked by that picture – and I was very distressed when I saw it myself this morning ‑ of that poor boy lying dead on the beach. We know there is not a simple answer to this crisis. What you need to do is first of all tackle Isis and the criminal gangs who killed that boy,

James Forsyth

What a Corbyn victory will mean for the Tories

A Jeremy Corbyn victory in the Labour leadership race now seems like a racing certainty. The consequences of this for Labour have been much discussed but in the magazine this week, I look at what it would mean for the Tories. The first, and most obvious, thing to say is that it would make 2020 the Tories’ election to lose — and they would have to make an epoch defining mistake to do so. But some Tories are worried about the prospect of a Corbyn victory. This isn’t just because they fear that bad opposition leads to bad government. But because they fret that Cameron and Osborne’s response to it will

Sebastian Payne

The Conservatives who have broken cover on the migrant crisis

Pressure is growing on David Cameron to accept more migrants, both from the media and from many in his own MPs. After today’s front pages hit social media yesterday evening, Conservatives from all corners of the party have publicly urged the government to take further action. These are the figures who have broken cover so far. Ruth Davidson – leader of the Scottish Conservatives: tweeted ‘DfID is doing life-saving work abroad but we can – & must – do more at home’ The UK I know has always shouldered its burden in the world. DfID is doing life-saving work abroad but we can – & must – do more at home 1/2 — Ruth Davidson (@RuthDavidsonPC)

Steerpike

Tristram Hunt stands firm on Corbyn despite threat of ‘Labour purge’

Yesterday Channel 4’s Michael Crick reported that a pro-Corbyn Unite official had told him ‘careerist’ MPs will be purged from Labour if Jeremy Corbyn gets in. Among those on the list of targets for de-selection was Tristram Hunt, who would ‘make a wonderful scalp’. Yet despite all the noise, Hunt doesn’t seem too bothered. Although his fellow New Labour comrade Chuka Umunna performed a reverse ferret earlier this week over whether he would support a Corbyn-led government, Hunt appears not to be backing down. Writing in this week’s issue of The Spectator, the shadow education secretary says that he does not understand why a lurch to the left would lead to success at the polls: ‘I break

Sebastian Payne

The ghost of Boris haunts the Conservative mayoral contest

There is one topic the four Tory candidates for London mayor can agree on: Boris. Throughout the first public hustings at the Institute of Directors last night, Andrew Boff, Zac Goldsmith, Syed Kamall and Stephen Greenhalgh all tried to outdo each other by singing praises of the outgoing mayor. Greenhalgh, Boris’s deputy for policing and crime, said he was the ‘greatest mayor of greatest city on earth’, while Goldsmith said ‘London has been incredibly well served over the last 8 years by Boris Johnson, we’ve been lucky to have him as mayor’. The candidates walked a careful line between insisting they were the right candidate to build on his legacy, while

Steerpike

Yvette Cooper responds to Charles Moore over wardrobe comments

Charles Moore recently wrote in his Spectator Notes that a candidate’s looks matter in leadership elections. While discussing the Labour leadership hopefuls, he noted that Liz Kendall ‘looks like a nice person, but not in a distinctive way’ whereas there is ‘something quite appealing’ about Yvette Cooper’s ‘slightly French crop and black and white dresses, especially when she is so boring that one looks rather than listens’. Not everyone was charmed by Moore’s critique, with many defending the ladies’ honour online and Nicola Sturgeon even intervening on Twitter. Now Cooper has responded to Moore in an interview in this week’s issue of The Spectator. Speaking to Mr S’s colleague Isabel Hardman, Cooper says the remarks were ‘the

Dan Hodges

Surviving the purge

[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]How long does it take to rebuild a political machine? Twelve months? Two years? Three years? Maybe it can’t be done at all. Jeremy Corbyn has won. Everyone within Labour’s ranks acknowledges that now. The issue concentrating minds is how long it will take to remove him, how bloody the process of removing him will be and how much effort it will take to repair the damage once he has been removed — assuming the damage is reparable. This is why Labour MPs are thinking about the machine. Perhaps one or

James Forsyth

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