Politics Archives

Thursday

16 Dec 2021

What happens to Afghan migrants when they reach the UK?

Migrants continue to cross the Channel and to reach Britain by other means. But what happens once they arrive? The answer for many is a new life of boredom and endless waiting. Dotted around the south coast are hotels where these people are housed, hidden out of sight. I went to meet some of them. A dozen Afghan families have ended up at a hotel three miles from Canterbury. The new arrivals numbered about 35 in all, including children, and the hotel seemed delighted to welcome them. ‘We are proud,’ said a poster in the lobby, ‘to be part of the programme to resettle the Afghan community in the UK.’

James Forsyth

‘Politics exacts a very high price’: an interview with Michael Gove

What is Boris Johnson’s government for? The answer, we’re often told, is ‘levelling up’. So far this has been a slogan without much meaning. More than two years on from Johnson’s election victory, it has been left to Michael Gove, as the new Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, to define the concept. He intended to set out his plans before Christmas, but Covid stopped that. It nearly stopped this interview, too. Under the government’s rules at the time, Gove is in self-isolation because he met Barnaby Joyce, Australia’s deputy prime minister, who then tested positive for Covid, possibly the Omicron variant. It means we have to

The Spectator

It’s not too late for Boris Johnson

It is two years since Boris Johnson achieved one of the most remarkable election victories in modern history. The large Tory majority gave him personal power to a degree rarely seen in British politics, a chance to reshape his country and party. Having stood for office as a ‘liberal Conservative’, he would be able to govern as one. What has he done with that authority? He ends the year with dozens of ‘red wall’ Tory MPs in open rebellion against him, rejecting his vaccine passports. During Tony Blair’s premiership, Johnson crusaded against the principle of identity cards, saying they were not just intrusive and pointless but represented a huge and

Katy Balls

Can Boris take back control of No. 10?

There’s a mutinous mood in Westminster this Christmas. In quiet corridors on the parliamentary estate the question is being asked: has Boris outlived his usefulness? Ministers are laying low. Tory WhatsApp groups are hushed. MPs are dodging calls from the whips, claiming to be sick or working from home. In conversations with Tory MPs, it isn’t long before the topic of Johnson’s long-term future comes up. ‘Everyone’s sniffing the air — you can just feel it,’ says a former adviser to the Prime Minister. Members of the cabinet, from Liz Truss to Rishi Sunak, are accused of being on manoeuvres. One former minister has taken to measuring his office to

Wednesday

15 Dec 2021

Isabel Hardman

What was the Covid press conference for?

What was the point of tonight’s Covid press conference? Boris Johnson didn’t have anything big to announce, other than a very dubious-looking new lectern telling people to ‘Get Boosted N0w’, with the 0 in the ‘now’ looking a lot like a Hula Hoop. His purported focus was on the doubling rate of Omicron, and to announce today’s record high number of positive tests (78,000). A cynic might argue that calling a press conference on the vaccination programme is distracting from the self-inflicted political mess Boris is currently wallowing through. Given people are already queuing round the block for their booster jabs, it doesn’t seem as though the message about Getting Boosted Now really

Steerpike

Will Brexit play a part in North Shropshire?

Can Boris Johnson’s month get any worse? Plagued by mutinous backbenchers, Omicron variants and Pippa Crerar, the beleaguered PM’s unhappy double-act of doom tonight with Chris Whitty will have done little to lift the gloom around No. 10. The consensus among Tory MPs appears to be that the Christmas recess has saved their leader. Most now expect him to lead them through the winter when he can (hopefully) reset his flatlining premiership, once again. But all that could change by Friday morning, depending on how the North Shropshire by-election goes. The Tory safe seat, which returned Owen Paterson last time by a majority of more than 22,000, is regarded by the bookies as ‘too

Lloyd Evans

Unbowed Boris has put his Tory rivals in their places

Boris was resurgent at PMQs today. He sprinkled scorn, merriment and mischief in all directions. He even boasted that last night’s Plan B crackdown was a Tory triumph that had not been won with Labour votes. Sir Keir Starmer (who also had a good day) clasped at his hair in incredulity. ‘He’s so far socially distanced from the truth that he actually believes that,’ scoffed the Labour leader. Boris is surrounded by cabinet plotters who are not without their qualities. Liz Truss has nice hair. Rishi Sunak looks like the perfect son-in-law. Priti Patel’s mean streak may win her a few votes. But that doesn’t add up to a leader

Ian Acheson

Don’t be fooled by Gerry Adams’ Christmas rebrand

Did Gerry Adams ever work for MI5? The allegations that he did are not new – even if they have been rigorously denied. But if that lurid speculation is true then his handler surely deserves a medal. In recent years, Adams – who was never, of course, in the IRA – has undergone something of a rebrand. The incendiary former Sinn Fein leader now preens as an elder statesman in Irish politics. He also styles himself as a figure of fun, happily revealing how he enjoys trampolining naked with his dog. But even as you cannot unsee that image, don’t be fooled by the cuddly reinvention. In his most recent

Isabel Hardman

PMQs: Starmer dropped his usual caution

Today’s Prime Minister’s Questions was predictably ugly, with Boris Johnson in a visibly bad mood and unable to contain himself as he tried to defend his leadership against a full-throttle assault from Sir Keir Starmer. Tory MPs fear the goodwill he has enjoyed over the vaccine programme is fading Starmer for his part saw last night’s huge Tory rebellion as the signal to drop his previous caution. Today he branded Johnson the ‘worst possible Prime Minister at the worst possible time’, said Tory MPs were right not to trust their leader, and that he was ‘socially distanced from the truth’. He continued: ‘We can’t go on with a prime minister who

Steerpike

Remainers: Brexit led to Covid deaths

Oh dear. For four years, Best for Britain have fought the most ferocious rearguard action since Dunkirk, desperately seeking to overturn the 2016 Brexit vote. But despite their millions, a sixteen-man team and the dubious patronage of newly appointed chair Lord Darroch – our former man in Washington – the rabid Remainers have yet to see much in the way of success, save for launching Gina Miller’s flatlining political career. But despite regularly pumping out paeans to ‘values, morals and basic decency’ it seems that in their desperation these last hold-outs from a long-concluded war have been forced to abandon such principles. For today Best for Britain launched their latest attack line

Katy Balls

Can Boris take back control?

21 min listen

Last night Boris Johnson suffered the biggest rebellion of his Tory premiership. But, unlike his predecessor, he still managed to get his vote through with Labour’s support. Nearly 100 Conservative MPs voted against the government’s plans for vaccine passports. Their reasons for rebelling varied. For some, they want to send a message to the PM that he cannot take his majority for granted. For others, it is about the principle of vaccine passports. ‘Boris Johnson is proving to be a deeply illiberal Prime Minister. He’s turning into the sort of Prime Minister he used to warn us against when he was writing’ – Fraser Nelson Katy Balls is joined by

Steerpike

Royston Smith’s vaccine passports U-turn

Southampton – it’s where so many great chapters in English history have begun. From the Agincourt archers to the Pilgrim Fathers’ discovery, the ‘Gateway to the Empire’ has seen countless memorable journeys over the years. Unfortunately, one of those leaving Soton’s berth yesterday did not live up to such past glories after exercising a last minute U-turn with all the adroitness of the Titanic, trying to avoid that iceberg. For Royston Smith – the Member for Southampton Itchen – last night pulled off something of a reverse Mission Impossible, snatching shame from the mouth of glory after being one of just two self-declared vaccine passport rebels to instead vote for the measure. Smith, who told his local

Katy Balls

Can Boris Johnson take back control of No. 10?

There’s a mutinous mood in Westminster this Christmas. In quiet corridors on the parliamentary estate the question is being asked: has Boris outlived his usefulness? Ministers are laying low. Tory WhatsApp groups are hushed. MPs are dodging calls from the whips, claiming to be sick or working from home. In conversations with Tory MPs, it isn’t long before the topic of Johnson’s long-term future comes up. ‘Everyone’s sniffing the air — you can just feel it,’ says a former adviser to the Prime Minister. Members of the cabinet, from Liz Truss to Rishi Sunak, are accused of being on manoeuvres. One former minister has taken to measuring his office to

John Ferry

Sturgeon’s war on business is strangling Scotland’s economy

There was one minor and one big surprise in the Scottish government’s latest budget, which was set out by Kate Forbes, the finance secretary, last week. The minor surprise was the Sturgeon administration’s decision to provide less business rates relief, in comparison with England, to the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors during the next financial year. Businesses in Scotland will be eligible for 50 per cent relief, capped at £27,500 per rate payer, but only for the first three months of the 2022-23 financial year. In England, the same businesses will be eligible for 50 per cent relief for the whole financial year. A winding down of rates relief was

Steerpike

MPs who voted for vaccine passports

In spite of a last-minute plea from Boris Johnson to the 1922 committee, exactly one hundred Tory backbenchers voted against the government on the introduction of Covid certification passes. With Labour announcing in advance that they would support Sajid Javid in implementing the so-called ‘Plan B’ measures, it was obvious that they would always pass. But few were expecting such a large Tory revolt, with audible gasps being heard when the tellers read out the result. The rebellion was nearly twice as large as the previous biggest revolt of Johnson’s administration in December 2020, also on Covid and the introduction of tier restrictions. For context, some 118 Tory MPs voted

Tuesday

14 Dec 2021

James Forsyth

Boris is in deep trouble

This evening feels eerily familiar to anyone who remembers the meaningful votes of Theresa May’s premiership. The Tory rebellion on the Covid measures is bigger than expected; the rebels are claiming to be the mainstream of the parliamentary party; the cabinet ministers loyalists to the PM are blaming the whips office; there are mutterings about how long this can go on for. There is, of course, one crucial difference: thanks to Labour, Boris Johnson won tonight’s vote. But it is clear that if he wants to tighten restrictions further, he will be reliant on Starmer’s party’s support in doing so. Relying on the opposition to get their business through is

Steerpike

Roll of honour: every MP who voted against vaccine passports

So despite a last-minute plea from Boris Johnson to the 1922 committee, exactly 100 Tory backbenchers voted against the government on the introduction of Covid certification passes. With Labour announcing in advance that they would support Sajid Javid in implementing the so-called ‘Plan B’ measures, it was obvious that they would always pass. But few were expecting such a large Tory revolt, with audible gasps being heard when the tellers read out the result. The rebellion was nearly twice as large as the previous biggest revolt of Johnson’s administration in December 2020, also on Covid and the introduction of tier restrictions. For context, some 118 Tory MPs voted against Theresa May on the

Isabel Hardman

Boris suffers huge Tory revolt over vaccine passports

Boris Johnson has just suffered a large majority-busting revolt in the House of Commons over vaccine passports, with 100 Conservatives rebelling against the government. The measure passed with Labour support, and 369 voted in favour with 126 against. Before the debate, some 86 Tories had said they would vote against. There had been concerted attempts by the whips to drive down those numbers. Johnson himself had been on the phone to individuals identified as possibly wavering. This was quite obviously not a rebellion just from the usual suspects That this many Conservative MPs voted against the government not long after a personal address by Boris Johnson to an emergency meeting

James Kirkup

The sex work divide in British politics

They seem like completely unrelated questions: ‘Is sex work real work?, and ‘Who will replace Yvette Cooper as chair of the Commons Home Affairs Committee?’ Yet the two are deeply linked. Sex work first. If you’re not familiar with the phrase ‘sex work is work’, get used to it, because you’re going to be hearing it a lot more in public debate in the next few years. The phrase has been around since at least the 1970s, but is now being used with growing frequency and energy by people on the self-appointed ‘progressive’ side of politics. As a result, ‘sex work is work’ is looking like being a new dividing

Isabel Hardman

Labour is the real winner of tonight’s vote

Sajid Javid found himself wading through treacle as he tried to make the case for the government’s ‘Plan B’ to MPs this afternoon. The impediments to his progress were constant interventions from all sides, including his own, questioning the wisdom of these measures, the data behind them and the principles at stake. The Health Secretary tried to be as mollifying as possible, taking the majority of these interventions, even when they were from an MP who had interrupted him before. His respectful manner did mean that colleagues weren’t visibly angry with Javid, but given their ire is largely directed at Boris Johnson, this tells us very little about the size