Politics Archives

Wednesday

12 Dec 2012

Maria Miller’s adviser reminds us why politicians can’t be trusted with press regulation

An email from an Asian friend last night pointed me to a piece in the Telegraph saying: ‘This is the kind of thing they do in Singapore! I’m amazed it’s happening in Britain.’ She was referring to Maria Miller, the Culture Secretary, whose adviser told the Daily Telegraph to be careful about exposing her expenses because the minister now has power over press regulation. The story is here: a classic example of the ‘chilling effect’. As soon as you give these politicians a hint of power over the press, they will abuse it. As Maria Miller’s case has shown, they will abuse it even before they get power. They will

Isabel Hardman

Maria Miller’s Leveson threat

Journalists don’t normally reveal their conversations with special advisers to ministers, no matter how grumpy they are about a forthcoming story. So it is significant that the Telegraph has chosen to disclose a warning from Maria Miller’s adviser Joanna Hindley about the minister’s connection to press regulation when reporters were preparing a story on her expenses claims. This is the key passage: When a reporter approached Mrs Miller’s office last Thursday, her special adviser, Joanna Hindley, pointed out that the Editor of The Telegraph was involved in meetings with the Prime Minister and the Culture Secretary over implementing the recommendations made by Lord Justice Leveson. “Maria has obviously been having

Sebastian Payne

Tory minister says yes to EU and no to immigration to win at 2015

David Cameron’s Conservative modernisation agenda is struggling. Several of today’s front pages highlight how traditional Tory issues — immigration and family values — have returned to the centre stage. And many of Cameron’s attempts to modernise his party on big issues (climate change, green energy, gay marriage, HS2) have met with a negative responses. How can he retool his modus operandi to win a Tory a majority at the next general election? Policing and ex-immigration minister Damian Green has a few suggestions. In a speech he will give to Bright Blue this evening, Green suggests Cameron’s modernising agenda is not yet an ex-agenda, and can still be refashioned to work in 2015.

Lloyd Evans

Thank men for women’s lib

Let’s get this straight. I’m a feminist. That’s the way I was brought up. My mum was a passionate women’s libber and I always agreed with my mum — even when she was wrong — but she was right on that one. The struggle to free one sex has liberated both. The human species is now freer, more dynamic and more fulfilled than ever. But here’s the oddity. When I read histories of the women’s movement I rarely find any hint that men were involved at all. Men are either sidelined completely or portrayed as a bunch of sexist wreckers who strove to hold women back at every turn. Quite untrue,

James Forsyth

Our person in Brussels

One of David Cameron’s great skills is his ability to separate the cares of office from the rest of his life. Samantha Cameron is never likely to say, to misquote Clarissa Eden, that ‘in the past few weeks, I have really felt that the terms of the European renegotiation were flowing through my drawing room’. This Christmas, however, the Prime Minister’s working hours are likely to be dominated by Europe. For in the new year he is expected to give a speech setting out how he wants to change the terms of Britain’s EU membership. Several new European treaties will be needed in the next few years as eurozone governments

Tuesday

11 Dec 2012

Isabel Hardman

Maria Miller holds gay marriage briefing to reassure nervous Tory MPs

After giving her statement to the House of Commons on the government’s plans for gay marriage, Maria Miller held a meeting with Tory MPs. I understand that the meeting was a question-and-answer session designed to help reassure Tories about the ‘quadruple lock’. It was well-attended, although apparently the Secretary of State was around 25 minutes late, which meant Peter Bone left early to make another appointment. This was immediately interpreted as a walkout in protest from Bone, who is one of the more vocal opponents of the legislation. I spoke to Bone this evening, who said ‘I wasn’t storming out: it was a private Q&A meeting with Maria Miller who

James Forsyth

David Cameron defends secret courts

It was striking that at today’s liaison committee session the Treasury Select Committee chairman chose not to ask the Prime Minister about the economy but the secret courts bill. In what were the tensest exchanges of the 90 minutes, Tyrie questioned whether secret courts were necessary while Cameron asked Tyrie to think what he would do in his position. Cameron kept stressing that the government was not making any existing proceedings secret but trying to find a way to have cases heard that can’t be at the moment. Tyrie’s vocal opposition, though, is further evidence that this bill isn’t out of the woods yet. Given that the terms of it

Isabel Hardman

Justin Welby to face MPs and peers on women bishops row

Justin Welby is certainly a bold chap: I understand the man set to take over from Rowan Williams as Archbishop of Canterbury is due to meet MPs and peers on Thursday to discuss their concerns about women bishops. I’ve picked up a flyer for the morning meeting in the House of Lords, where the current Bishop of Durham will ‘discuss concerns of members regarding Women Bishops’. Chairing the meeting will be Sir Tony Baldry MP and the Bishop of Leicester, Tim Stevens, who is also the Convenor of the Bishops in the House of Lords. It’s likely to be an extremely well-attended meeting, especially given some politicians have been pushing

Isabel Hardman

Ed Balls says Labour will oppose the Welfare Uprating Bill

Ed Balls gave the clearest indication yet today that his party would vote against the government’s plans to cap benefit rises to 1 per cent rather than in line with inflation. Speaking at Treasury Questions, the Shadow Chancellor said: ‘It’s important for members on both sides of the House know the answers to the questions I asked the Chancellor. First of all, 60 per cent of families hit by his tax and benefit changes are in work. And according to the IFS, as a result of the Autumn Statement measures, a working family, the average one earner couple will be £534 a year worse off by 2015, a working family

Alex Massie

Scottish Independence and Europe: Who does this Barroso guy think he is? – Spectator Blogs

Today’s Think Scotland column takes a gander at the rumpus over an independent Scotland’s accession to the EU. Until recently the SNP promised that said accession would be automatic. Now it’s simply “common-sense”. This is because Jose Manuel Barroso, the Spanish Iberian agent* at the heart of the EU Commission, has made an awkward intervention. Scotland would, he says, not be an automatic member of the club at all. Intuitively this is obvious just as Scotland would not be an automatic member of the United Nations. It would have to apply. Once it applied it’s application would most probably be accepted. There are few plausible grounds upon which to reject

Isabel Hardman

Home Office minister: We can change snooping bill quickly

After Nick Clegg and Labour rejected the draft Communications Data Bill, Home Office minister James Brokenshire appeared on the Today programme to explain that while the Home Office accepts the ‘substance’ of the joint committee’s report, he believes it won’t take too long to redraft it. He said: ‘We believe that the changes that meet the substance of these recommendations can be met in a reasonably short order, but in saying that what I am clear is that we know that we need to work this through with the coalition.’ He pointed out, rightly, that the committee was clear that there was a need for the legislation, but that there

Isabel Hardman

Communication problems: Back to drawing board for controversial snooping bill

The joint committee examining the controversial draft Communications Data Bill has reported back, and it’s not good news. The report’s damning findings about the draft legislation from the Home Office has led Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg to call for it to be redrafted, and a hostile Tory MP to describe the plans to monitor internet users’ activities as ‘on life support’. The committee said: ‘Our overall conclusion is that there is a case for legislation which will provide the law enforcement authorities with some further access to communications data, but that the current draft Bill is too sweeping, and goes further than it need or should.’ The report warns

Monday

10 Dec 2012

James Forsyth

The government and the European Court of Human Rights are on a collision course over prisoner votes

A showdown between the government and the European Court of Human Rights over prisoner votes drew that bit closer today. The government hoped that having parliament vote to uphold a blanket ban on prisoners voting would buy it some time, as the European Court of Human Rights would then have to start examining the issue all over again. But that hope was dashed today when the Council of Europe declared that a blanket ban ‘cannot be considered compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights’. It also said that it expected to return to this case in September 2013. I expect parliament will still vote for the blanket ban, if

Oliver Duggan

Liam Fox’s attack on Foreign Office peeves former ambassador

Liam Fox sparked a row with a former diplomat today after accusing the Foreign Office of an institutional bias towards greater integration with the European Union. The former Defence Secretary is building up a reputation for himself as a rallying figure for the eurosceptic right wing of the Conservative party with a series of speeches on Britain’s relationship with Europe, and today he attacked the civil service for having a weak spot for the continent. He told an Open Europe event at the Royal United Services Institute that the government’s desire to renegotiate its EU position was impaired as a result of the FCO being ‘totally wedded to the concept

James Forsyth

Commons shadow boxing on gay marriage

Today’s urgent question on gay marriage was largely shadow boxing for the statement on it, which has now been brought forward to tomorrow. Maria Miller insisted that the chance of a legal challenge to try and forces churches that don’t want to marry gay couples to do so was negligible. But Cameron’s comments about allowing those religious demoninations that want to marry gay couples to do so, led to Edward Leigh calling for another consultation on this issue. Interestingly, just before the urgent question started John Randall, the Conservative Chief Whip, and Greg Hands, another member of the whips office arrived in the chamber. The Tory questions on the issue

Steerpike

David Cameron’s X-Factor confusion

As David Cameron was leaving his lunchtime date with Westminster’s lobby journalists, my spy overheard him asking an aide: ‘I don’t think I gave them anything too interesting, did I?’ Quite so, except that the Prime Minister showed once again that he has an odd relationship with the truth. Commenting on Nadine Dorries’ trip to the jungle, young Dave claimed that he had not watched the show and certainly did not vote. Apparently he had only ever engaged in such plebeian entertainment once: voting for Will Young on X-Factor because ‘his daughter had made him’. Two problems here. One: Will Young was not on X-Factor, rather Pop Idol in 2002, as any fan would know. Secondly his daughter

Isabel Hardman

David Cameron: It’s our fault voters don’t understand why austerity is necessary

David Cameron paid a rare visit to those hacks that lurk in the Commons press gallery for lunch today. In between cracking jokes about how ‘as you know, I have very little control over what Boris does’, and tantalising us with references to his EU speech, which is coming ‘soon’, the Prime Minister made an interesting admission about the way his government is communicating with voters about the difficulties in the economy: ‘They are not expecting miracles. I think what people hear is a rather hard, technocratic message. They are not hearing – in fact, this is our fault – they are not hearing enough about why this matters and

James Forsyth

Attorney General to reject warnings of gay marriage legal challenge

I understand that when the gay marriage bill is published, the Attorney General will make clear that the chance of a legal challenge at the European Court of Human Rights to religious institutions that don’t want to marry gay couples is ‘negligible’. As Isabel says, what wavering Tory MPs think of this legal opinion will be key to determining how they vote. The debate inside the Tory parliamentary party about this issue is becoming increasingly rancorous. There’s real fury among some MPs about the language being used by some of the opponents of same-sex marriage. David TC Davies decision to opine on whether parents want gay children has infuriated many

Isabel Hardman

Labour could force vote on draft Leveson bill

Labour will discuss its draft Leveson Bill with the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats at the next tranche of cross-party talks on Thursday. The Bill (which you can read here) is short and sweet, replacing Ofcom as the regulatory backstop recommended by Leveson with a panel headed by the Lord Chief Justice, and a press regulator called the Press Standards Trust. The party hopes to use the Bill as the basis of discussion for Thursday’s talks, and has sent it to Culture Secretary Maria Miller, as well as Tory MPs who are spearheading calls within their party for statutory underpinning of press regulation including George Eustice, and Lord Wallace, who has

Steerpike

The adventures of Mr Rees-Mogg

The fantastically eccentric Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg has a loyal female following known as the ‘Mogg-ettes’, and his louche style, pocket watch and dapper tailoring are a sight to behold. The Somerset MP’s fame extends to having a fake Twitter account in his name. The parody has fooled many. ‘Initially I thought it was someone opposed to me in principle,’ the Moggster told me the other evening. ‘But they’re actually a very amiable person; very funny.’ And Mogg confessed that the spoof is a blessing in disguise: ‘I can do the whole tweeting thing without actually have to tweet. It’s perfect!’