Politics Archives

Saturday

27 Sep 2014

Tories ready for tough by-election fight

When Douglas Carswell defected, many Tory MPs were quick to say that an aggressive campaign against him would be counter-productive. There is none of that talk today. listen to ‘Podcast special: Mark Reckless defects to Ukip’ on audioBoom Listening to Tories this afternoon one is struck by how so many of them view the Reckless defection as different to the Carswell one. They point out Carswell didn’t regularly deny that he was going to defect in the way that Reckless did. Reckless’s timing is also far more clearly designed to hurt the Tory party than Carswell’s was. Judging by the conversations I’ve had this afternoon, the whips won’t find it

Sebastian Payne

Podcast special: Mark Reckless defects to Ukip

Mark Reckless dropped a bomb on the Ukip conference in Doncaster today, announcing his surprise defection from the Tories. In this View from 22 special, James Forsyth and Isabel Hardman discuss why Reckless switched sides, how Ukip managed to keep the news secret, what it means for the upcoming Conservative Party conference and whether we can expect to see any more defections before May 2015. listen to ‘Podcast special: Mark Reckless defects to Ukip’ on audioBoom

Isabel Hardman

How Mark Reckless’ defection happened – exclusive details

Mark Reckless has been talking about moving to Ukip for months, those who know him say. It was only in the last two weeks that he decided he was definitely defecting, and only in the past few days that more people working for the party knew what was happening. Still, they managed to keep it under wraps to the extent that some journalists had gone home early, dismissing the reports of defections as overexcited chatter. The hall was gobsmacked when he appeared. listen to ‘Podcast special: Mark Reckless defects to Ukip’ on audioBoom

Fraser Nelson

Mark Reckless’s stunning defection to Ukip is further proof of the great Tory split

The defection of Mark Reckless is the best possible end for Nigel Farage’s party conference, and the worst possible start for David Cameron’s. Tomorrow’s newspapers will lead on the story of Tory split, with Reckless and Douglas Carswell only the first two – I will be surprised if there is not a third before the election. Yes, Ed Miliband has had a dreadful party conference but every opinion poll and every bookmaker still has Labour on course to win the next general election. Why? Because there has been a great reversal in British politics: the left is now united and the right is split. listen to ‘Podcast special: Mark Reckless defects

Isabel Hardman

Breaking: Mark Reckless becomes second Tory MP to defect to Ukip

Mark Reckless has just left the Conservative Party and joined Ukip. He is announcing his defection on the stage at the party’s conference to huge cheers. listen to ‘Podcast special: Mark Reckless defects to Ukip’ on audioBoom Reckless says it is the leadership of the Tory party that is holding the country back — Isabel Hardman (@IsabelHardman) September 27, 2014 This is horrendous for the Tories — Isabel Hardman (@IsabelHardman) September 27, 2014 More to follow…

James Forsyth

Tories to offer discounted homes to first-time buyers

The Tories have begun to roll out their conference offer to voters. Today, they’ve announced that if re-elected, first time buyers under 40 will be offered properties to buy at a 20 percent discount. There will be a 100,000 houses available under this scheme, all built on brownfield land. The discount will be achieved by exempting the construction of these homes from various taxes and levies. Tories win elections when they extend home ownership and this idea will have some resonance with aspirational voters worried about how they’ll ever afford a home There will, though, be those on the right who worry about this extension of Help to Buy,

Isabel Hardman

Tory plan to force through EVEL advances

As reported earlier this week, a group of Conservative MPs are keen to get English votes for English laws sorted as soon as possible. Bill Cash has sent William Hague a change to the standing orders of the House of Commons which would enforce this principle immediately. He has also written to party colleagues asking for their support on this, and says he has heard sympathetic noises from the party leadership on the idea too (although it depends who you talk to as to how sympathetic the noises sound). Cash told Coffee House that it was imperative that the government avoided bringing in EVEL through legislation as it would almost certainly

Friday

26 Sep 2014

Steerpike

Mumsnet risk wrath of ‘Mrs Clegg’

First we had Mrs Miliband redefining her role from elusive lawyer to political campaigning wife; now we have another once shy ‘leader’s wife’ tweaking their public profile. The Liberal Democrats get very grumpy if you refer to Miriam González Durántez as Mrs Clegg, but the Dechert LLP lawyer is described as the ‘wife of Nick Clegg’ by Mumsnet for the launch of their Mumsnet Book of Animal Stories. None of the other contributors to the book – including Anthony Browne, the former Children’s Laureate and Mumsnet founder Justine Roberts – have been defined by their spouse. Brave…

Isabel Hardman

Nigel Farage blames Labour for Rotherham abuse scandal

Rotherham is only a few miles down the road from the Ukip conference, and looms large in the hall. Every speaker so far has managed to mention the scandal of 1,400 children abused and ignored by the authorities. Jane Collins’ speech has riled Labour so much that Labour has accused her of being defamatory, while Nigel Farage devoted a furious section of his speech to accusing the party. He said the child abuse was a ‘direct result’ of Labour’s policies and commitment to political correctness: ‘What we have seen in Rotherham in particular – but there have been other examples of it too – what we have seen within the

James Forsyth

Commons vote for strikes against IS in Iraq

By 524 votes to 43, the House of Commons has voted to support air-strikes against Islamic State in Iraq. The margin of victory is not surprising given how limited the motion was, it rules out ground troops and makes clear there’ll be another vote before any action in Syria. But in a sign of the unease of some on the Labour side, Rushanara Ali, who represents George Galloway’s old seat of Bethnal Green and Bow, has resigned from the front bench over Labour’s support for the motion. Indeed, the first estimates are that 24 Labour MPs voted against while just five Tories opposed. The question now is whether, and when,

Isabel Hardman

Nigel Farage concedes Ukip won’t win Heywood and Middleton by-election

Not long after John Bickley had appealed to Ukip delegates to help him win in Heywood and Middleton, Nigel Farage conceded that it wasn’t going to happen. In a briefing with journalists after his speech (the Ukip leader is very generous with his time for the London-based media establishment, far more so than any other leading politician), he said: ‘I think it’s too big a mountain to climb in that short a space of time, and I think the Labour party is saying that because they’ve got a very divided local party, they’re not happy with the candidate, they can’t get anyone out to canvass, and when they put the

Ed West

Multiculturalism makes Isis a threat to Britain

So we’re back to bombing Iraq again, by the looks of things, for the third successive decade – this time to destroy the Islamic State, or Isis or whatever they’re called. David Cameron, asked by an MP whether Isis was a ‘threat to the British people’, answered ‘yes’ and said: ‘This is about psychopathic terrorists who are trying to kill us. Like it or not they have already declared war on us. There isn’t a walk-on-by option.’ But has Isis declared war on us, and is it actually a threat to us, and if so why? Isis certainly poses a grave threat to its neighbours, and as with all militant

Isabel Hardman

Left-wing revolt underway in Ukip

What voters want is a renationalisation of the railways, policies that hit the rich harder, a mansion tax and definitely not an abolition of inheritance tax. This isn’t a belated write-up of one of the further left fringes of the Labour conference in Manchester: it’s the ideas of a group of Ukippers who gathered this lunchtime in Doncaster to discuss how to attract Labour voters. Led by Ian Dexter, a party member who has no formal role in writing the manifesto but who was given the official ‘How to win the crucial Labour Vote’ lunchtime slot, the fringe sounded at times more like a Socialist Workers’ Party meeting than an

Isabel Hardman

The by-election battles have begun over Clacton and Heywood

Douglas Carswell has just finished speaking at the Ukip conference and his fellow by-election contender John Bickley, who is standing in Heywood and Middleton on the same day, has just given a short address too. He told the hall that ‘the dam is ready to burst’ and asked for members to pop in before they went to Clacton. Labour sources were last week claiming that their chance of holding onto the seat was looking shaky, which was read by many as an attempt to get their activists and MPs to take the fight seriously. But I hear that there is a fierce debate going on in Ukip between those who

Isabel Hardman

Ukip conference: Louise Bours’ shouty sermon on the NHS

Politicians always speak about the NHS with passion. It is our national religion. So today Louise Bours, Ukip’s health spokeswoman, adopted the demeanour of a Pentecostal preacher, addressing her party conference at such a high volume that MPs gathered in the House of Commons chamber could probably hear her as she pledged to work with Unite to oppose the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. She said she had received a letter from Len McCluskey outlining his concerns about the agreement, and replied: ‘UKIP WILL FIGHT ALONGSIDE YOU TO ENSURE THE NHS IS EXCLUDED FROM TTIP.’ This was an explicit attempt to quash Labour attacks on Ukip as a party that

Isabel Hardman

Ukip is trying to move beyond Nigel Farage

Quite naturally, the mood in the hall at the Ukip conference in Doncaster is far more upbeat than anything Labour could muster. This is an insurgent party on the brink of getting its own MP and that is spooking the Conservatives no end. So the party with a realistic chance of taking power next May seems depressed, while this party is full of beans. A series of speeches from policy spokespeople was intended to show that Ukip doesn’t just have one face representing it. This year’s conference is intended to show that Nigel Farage’s party really has grown up and has grown far beyond just his leadership. So those policy

Alex Massie

ISIS are a scourge on humanity; the UK must play its part in confronting this horror

Doing nothing is always an option. Sometimes it can even be a sensible policy. There is much to be said for modesty and restraint and an awareness that unforeseen consequences lurk around every corner. Even so, doing nothing has consequences too. But the United Kingdom is not going to war in Iraq again. It is not going to war in Syria either. There are two parts to the battles against ISIS: an on-the-ground war and an in-the-air police action. We are, today’s vote in the Commons permitting, taking part in the latter element of the battle. A punitive action designed to make it easier for those doing the real fighting – the Kurds and others

Thursday

25 Sep 2014

Peter Jones

The ancient roots of Alex’s Salmond’s demagoguery

Alex Salmond spent two years campaigning for independence for Scotland on the grounds of ‘social justice’. Now, claiming that the vote was lost because of the ‘old’ (subtext: the rich), he says he might declare independence anyway. His unprincipled demagoguery puts one in mind of Athenian society, as described by the ‘Old Oligarch’ (whoever he was). The O.O. saw Athens as a society in which the poor lorded it over the rich. His central point was that, because the poor were ignorant, ill-disciplined and evil, while the wealthy cared for what was good and just, the interests of the poor were not served by allowing the rich to hold power. So

Isabel Hardman

Will two more Tory MPs defect to Ukip?

Ukip’s party conference is underway in Doncaster. The party is hoping for an event that runs more smoothly than last year, where Nigel Farage sacked Godfrey Bloom for hitting a journalist and calling women ‘sluts’. It certainly has more in its favour this time around, with Tory defector Douglas Carswell to address the conference ahead of what looks like a victory in the Clacton by-election. But there are also rumours that two more Conservative MPs are about to defect. Adam Holloway’s name was winging round the lobby today, but he says he won’t be going anywhere because he is terrified of the prospect of a Labour government. He said: ‘I’d much

Isabel Hardman

How long will Tory unity on EVEL last?

The 1922 Committee meets at 2pm today, and William Hague will address it. The meeting was originally arranged to discuss the post-referendum settlement for Scotland and England, and English votes for English laws, but Iraq may well dominate the session given tomorrow’s recall. Those MPs who weren’t sufficiently fortunate or troublesome to have been invited to the Chequers summit on the English settlement on Monday will get an update and a chance to pitch their view in. The party seems, by and large, pretty happy with the way Number 10 has handled this matter so quickly, and the amount of contact they have had from the whips. But the peace may yet