Politics Archives

Tuesday

12 Apr 2022

What Rishi should do next

How tempting it must be for Rishi Sunak to chuck in his job as Chancellor. ‘My chances of ever becoming PM have plummeted to next to nothing,’ he must be thinking, ‘so why not go off and earn some serious money instead, away from the spotlight?’ I have no insight into the state of the Sunak marriage but I wouldn’t be surprised if he was also tempted to resign for his wife’s sake. ‘Let’s get out of the public eye,’ he might well be tempted to say, ‘and enjoy being rich again.’ But if Rishi had hired me for some advice on reputation management I would give him a better

Robert Peston

This is a constitutional crisis

The police have today concluded that Boris Johnson, the Chancellor and the PM’s wife all attended illegal parties that breached Covid laws written by the PM. This is most serious for the prime minister of the three of them because it was he who told MPs on 8 December that he had been ‘repeatedly assured’ there were no parties and that no Covid rules were broken. He now has the challenge of his life to prove that he did not willfully and knowingly mislead MPs – because if he did deliberately mislead MPs then he has no choice but to resign under the code of conduct for ministers, which he signed

Isabel Hardman

Boris and Rishi fined: what happens next?

15 min listen

Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak have been told that they are going to be fixed penalty notices by the Metropolitan Police over parties held in Downing Street. The Chancellor has already had a tough week – might he now resign? Could Tory MPs push the Prime Minister out of No. 10? Isabel Hardman speaks to Fraser Nelson and Katy Balls.

Patrick O’Flynn

Why Boris may well survive

When the original Sue Gray report was published at the end of January it seemed indisputable that Boris Johnson would be toast if he received a fixed penalty fine as a result of the partygate furore. Back then the PM was hanging on to majority support on the Tory benches in Parliament by his fingertips. He put on a disastrous, flailing-around show in the Commons chamber involving various failed attempts at distraction, such as his notorious ‘Jimmy Savile’ attack on Keir Starmer. The media clamour around alleged breaches of Covid laws by Johnson and his circle was running white hot and had garnered plenty of traction among the British public.

Steerpike

Six times Boris and Rishi denied breaking the law

Well, that’s that then. This afternoon the Metropolitan Police fined the Prime Minister and the Chancellor of Exchequer for breaking lockdown laws. It follows an investigation into alleged Covid law-breaking at 12 gatherings in Whitehall and Downing Street. Both Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak have maintained their innocence right up until this week. Below are six of the most memorable denials by the two men since claims emerged last year. 1 December 2021 At Prime Minister’s Questions, Johnson denies that Covid rules had been broken. He tells the House of Commons: ‘All guidance was followed completely in No. 10.’ 3 December 2021 Asked whether rules had been broken Johnson told the BBC: ‘That’s not

Alex Massie

The Prime Minister must go

It isn’t just the fines. It isn’t just the behaviour that has led to the Prime Minister being issued a fixed penalty notice by the Metropolitan police. It isn’t just the lies told about that behaviour, lies issued with the most sweeping confidence inside and outside the House of Commons. It isn’t just the fines and the indifference to the rules he and his ministers set for everyone else and demanded they follow – on pain of arrest – and the lying about that behaviour and the cavalier assumption that public opinion can go hang. It is all of those things wrapped together. All of this makes the Prime Minister’s

Isabel Hardman

Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak fined over partygate

Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak are both to receive fixed penalty notices for attending lockdown parties, it has just emerged. The police fines for breaking Covid laws, which these two men created, throw everything around the Prime Minister and the Chancellor into the air. Previously, many Tory MPs had said this would be a resigning matter for a serving PM to be found to have broken the law. A No. 10 spokesperson confirmed the fines, saying: ‘The Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer have today received notification that the Metropolitan police intend to issue them with fixed penalty notices.’ The Prime Minister has now not only been found by police

Katy Balls

Are Tories faced with another sleaze scandal?

11 min listen

Crispin Blunt, a Conservative MP, was forced to apologise today after he tweeted support last night for Imran Ahmad Khan, another Tory MP who was found guilty of sexual assault. His statement called the verdict ‘a dreadful miscarriage of justice’ that relied on ‘lazy tropes of LGBT+ people’. ‘The condemnation has been pretty universal. I haven’t spoken to anyone that has who has stuck up for him [Crispin Blunt].’ – Lucy Fisher In the wake of the David Warburton scandal last week, does the Conservative party have a more widespread culture problem?Also on the podcast, 50 more fines have been made for partying in Westminster during the lockdown. How serious

Annabel Denham

Why are councils blocking homes for Ukrainian refugees?

Over the course of three days in September 1939, 1.5 million evacuees were sent to rural locations across Britain considered to be safe from the impending war. In a staggering logistical feat facilitated by thousands of volunteer helpers – from teachers to railway staff – children were swiftly relocated, with gas masks around their necks, suitcases in hand. Stately homes were given over for use as nursery schools. Local authorities attempted to provide a full-time education by finding alternative buildings – pubs, chapels and church crypts. Contrast what was achieved over eight decades ago, where only a few wealthy families had phones and the web was the stuff of science fiction,

Steerpike

Defra director: I’m with Extinction Rebellion

Westminster’s favourite millionaire environmentalists are it again. It seems that one or other of the Goldsmith brothers can’t go three months without sticking their foot in it. Today it’s the turn of Ben, the less prominent but no less gaffe-prone millionaire, who is one of the non-executive directors in Defra – the environment department in which his brother Zac currently serves as minister. Undeterred by last night’s shenanigans by Crispin Blunt, Ben Goldsmith decided to today make himself the main character of Tory twitter by offering his views on the oil blockades currently being imposed by eco-activists. Responding to Labour’s call to impose an injunction on the disruptors, Goldsmith declared: Not

Monday

11 Apr 2022

Steerpike

Crispin Blunt’s extraordinary intervention

Crispin Blunt has had quite the 24 hours. The Tory MP yesterday made an extraordinary intervention in the case of Imran Ahmad Khan, the Wakefield backbencher found guilty of the sexual assault of a 15-year-old boy. Blunt decided to release a highly unusual and hyberbolic statement which lambasted the conviction as a ‘dreadful miscarriage of justice’ incited by ‘lazy tropes about LGBT+ people’ based in ‘Victorian era prejudice.’ He even claimed that Khan’s guilty verdict ‘is nothing short of an international scandal, with dreadful wider implications for millions of LGBT+ muslims around the world’, writing: I am utterly appalled and distraught at the dreadful miscarriage of justice that has befallen my friend and colleague Imran Ahmad

Matthew Lynn

If Sunak goes the Treasury needs a real low-tax Tory

It could be Kwasi Kwarteng, the business minister. Or Nadhim Zahawi, the education minister, and before that the minister who helped make the vaccine roll-out such a success. Or perhaps Sajid Javid will even get his old job back. With an investigation opening into his financial affairs, and with questions over his judgment growing by the day, the Chancellor Rishi Sunak is increasingly damaged goods. It won’t be long before there is speculation about who will get the second most important job in British politics. But hold on. It doesn’t matter so much who moves into No. 11. What is important is that the next Chancellor clears out Sunak’s policies

Steerpike

Exclusive: disgraced MP to quit

Independent MP Imran Ahmad Khan has today decided to stand down from the Commons – three days after being found guilty of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy. Elected in December 2019 for the ‘Red Wall’ seat of Wakefield, the backbencher had the Conservative whip removed in June 2021 after he was charged for the offence. The outgoing MP has now released a statement in which he says: Owing to long delays in the legal process, my constituents have already been without visible parliamentary representation for a year. Even in the best case scenario, anticipated legal proceedings could last many more months. I have therefore regrettably come to the conclusion that it is intolerable for constituents

Katy Balls

Have Tory MPs turned on Rishi?

13 min listen

Rishi Sunak has referred himself to Boris Johnson’s ethics adviser to investigate whether he followed the rules on ministers’ interests. After the row over his wife’s tax status has built up, how much has the past week weakened his position as a possible contender for the Tory leadership?‘The two top players in the Tory party have suddenly been taken out and it’s now not clear who else there is in the government that can provide new momentum’ – Paul GoodmanAlso on the podcast, Boris Johnson made a surprise visit to Volodymyr Zelensky in Ukraine over the weekend. Could this be what saves his reputation after Partygate?Isabel Hardman is joined by

Debbie Hayton

The Scottish Greens are in cloud cuckoo land on trans rights

A minister in the Scottish government has likened people who share my opinions to racists or anti-Semites. Apparently my views on how best to support and include transgender people in society place me on the same footing as those who condemn and exclude others based on their race. This latest outrage comes from Lorna Slater, the co-leader of the Scottish Greens – Nicola Sturgeon’s junior partners in government. While complaining that the BBC should not give ‘anti-trans’ people a platform, Slater has claimed that: ‘We wouldn’t put balance on the question of racism or anti-Semitism, but we allow this fictional notion of balance when it comes to anti-trans [views]. The

Ross Clark

Could we be heading for a second Covid recession?

The political story for the moment is the cost of living crisis. But by the end of the year could we be talking about a recession instead? We shouldn’t read too much into one year’s economic growth figures, especially given how often they are revised upwards or downwards. But February’s figures, published this morning, have caught many people unawares. They show that the economy just about ratcheted upwards in February, growing by 0.1 per cent. That’s compared with healthy growth of 0.8 per cent in January, as the country emerged from the Omicron scare. Notably, in two areas the economy contracted: construction fell by 0.1 per cent and production by

Steerpike

CCHQ’s unfortunate Jimmy Savile link

Oh dear. Just last week, on the day that Boris Johnson raised National Insurance, it was pointed out to the bright young things at Tory high command that they might want to remove from their website his, er, manifesto pledge to not hike the tax. It’s still proudly displayed there online as part of six manifesto commitments, adorned by Johnson’s own prominent signature. More pressing still might be the replacement of their current slogan: ‘You started it, now be part of it,’ urging internet browsers to sign up and join the Conservative party. For, as Times columnist Matt Chorley noted in one of his recent shows, the words have an unfortunate echo with the theme tune to

Steerpike

Nicola Sturgeon’s adolescent troubles

After the Derek Mackay scandal, you’d have thought the SNP would want to distance itself from 16 year-olds. Far from it, it seems, for the bairns of tomorrow are central to Nicola Sturgeon’s ambitions today. Support for independence is flagging. The public sector services are creaking. Calls for an investigation into the ferries fiasco are growing. So, if you are First Minister, how do you regain the initiative? The answer, apparently, is to let kids become MSPs too. For this weekend, the SNP unveiled their latest constitutional wheeze: reducing the minimum age of election candidacy from 18 at present to just 16 for Scottish parliament and local council elections. The move would bring it

Sunday

10 Apr 2022

Matthew Taylor

Sunday shows round-up: Sunak’s wife story ‘unfortunate’

How quickly political fortunes can change. Rishi Sunak’s Covid boost was always likely to fade once the purse strings were retightened. Is this the end of his prime ministerial ambitions? Just as the National Insurance rise begins to kick in, the Sunak family’s tax affairs have been bought under serious scrutiny. On Sky News, Trevor Phillips resumed the interviewer’s chair once more to question the policing minister Kit Malthouse. He asked him about the Chancellor’s wife Akshata Murty, who, as an Indian national, does not have to pay UK taxes on her income earned abroad. Murty has since announced that she will do so, but will not give up her non-domiciled status:

Saturday

9 Apr 2022

Stephen Daisley

Boris deserves credit for his Ukraine response

Boris Johnson’s visit to Kyiv is notable not only for its unannounced nature but for the additional package of support for Ukraine it has heralded. The Prime Minister pledged 120 armoured vehicles, new anti-ship missile technology, and a further £385 million in World Bank lending. The government will also permit tariff-free imports of Ukrainian goods to the UK, something requested by Volodymyr Zelensky. The announcement followed on the heels of extra military hardware, set out yesterday, which included anti-aircraft and anti-tank missiles, as well as precision-strike kamikaze drones. That package totalled £100 million and is additional to the £394 million in grant aid to fund humanitarian services. Today’s package takes