Politics

Read about the latest UK political news, views and analysis.

Friday

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Tory MP on coronavirus: We have contingency plans for a Hyde Park morgue

In recent days, the UK government has been criticised for not doing enough to update the public on the potential for a coronavirus outbreak. No. 10’s boycott of the Today programme meant that it was former health secretary Jeremy Hunt who was left to take the slot on Friday rather than a minister. However, Mr S wonders if there is something to be said for the silent approach after all. Recently elected MP for Cities of London and Westminster Nickie Aiken has spoken to Bloomberg about the prospect of a coronavirus outbreak in the UK. She said that contingency plans were in place to open a morgue in Hyde Park: ‘We have contingency plans to open

Katy Balls Katy Balls

How Keir Starmer could capitalise on the No. 10 media boycott

This week Labour members received their ballots to vote in the leadership contest. They have until 2 April to cast their vote but all the polling suggests it’s a done deal. After a YouGov/Sky News LabourList poll this week predicted Sir Keir Starmer to win in the first round with more than 50 per cent of the vote, a Survation/LabourList survey puts Starmer on 45 per cent – his closest rival Rebecca Long Bailey is on 34 per cent. That survey also found that respondents believe Starmer as leader will position the party ‘further to the centre’. With all the signs so far pointing to a Starmer victory, conversation both

John Keiger John Keiger

Frost vs Barnier: who will triumph in the Brexit trade talks?

What would Disraeli make of Brexit? His advice to ‘read no history; nothing but biography, for that is life without theory’ is a useful starting point. Brexit has been – and continues to be – a hotch-potch of biographies where human weaknesses, strengths and foibles chafe and collide. The upcoming clash between the EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier and his British counterpart David Frost is no exception. On 2 March, Barnier, who is responsible for leading the ‘Task Force for relations with the United Kingdom’ will face Frost, the British head of ‘Taskforce Europe’, across the negotiating table for the first time. These two titles might sound mundane but they

Lord Grade

Lord Bell: 1941-2019

A memorial service was held for Lord Tim Bell on Thursday at St Paul’s Church in Knightsbridge. Lord Grade delivered the eulogy, which he has kindly allowed us to reproduce below: I’m not sure if Tim were with us today he would see this as a memorial service so much as a golden networking opportunity! Timothy John Leigh Bell, Baron Bell, was born in Southgate, in North London, on 18th October 1941. The postcode, N14, will tell you that he certainly wasn’t born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He was blessed, however, with a silver tongue. He made full use of this gift, as we all know. ‘The

Thursday

Cindy Yu Cindy Yu

The Edition: can the UK and EU bridge their Brexit gap?

41 min listen

Next week, the trade negotiations between the EU and the UK begin in earnest. But in the days ahead, the positions set out by both sides are so far apart that the negotiations can only be heading towards an almighty row. James Forsyth writes in this week’s issue that it’s better if they get this over with quickly, in order to move on to the compromise ‘landing zone’ that is a deal by the end of the year. On the podcast, I speak to him and Peter Foster, Europe editor of the Telegraph. It gets a little fiery as Peter challenges James on exactly why Britain would want to diverge,

Ross Clark Ross Clark

Heathrow’s third runway ruling should worry Boris Johnson

It may well be, as Tom Goodenough argued here earlier, that Boris Johnson is secretly delighted at the Court of Appeal’s ruling that is was illegal for the government to give the go-ahead to a third runway at Heathrow without taking into account their own climate policy. The Prime Minister had, after all, promised his constituents that he would lie down in front of the bulldozers to stop a third runway. He now has the cover of a court decision to shield him from the Conservative party’s pro-runway elements if the project ends up being dropped. But the Prime Minister should be extremely concerned about the wider implications of this

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Gove threatens to scrap Brexit talks by the summer

Michael Gove has spent the morning updating MPs on the government’s official Brexit position. Following a series of speeches in recent weeks from senior members of the government, Gove confirmed in the chamber that the UK is seeking ‘regulatory’ freedom from the EU. He said that the UK should not be subject to EU rules under a free trade agreement – but added that he believed the UK government would go further than EU rules on the environment. In a bid to win over the EU to the benefits of agreeing a free trade deal on the UK’s terms, Gove said it would allow the EU to benefit from ‘the

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Why those who want a Brexit deal are spoiling for a fight

The Brexit talks are heading for a breakdown. Next week’s meeting will be a stand-off between the two sides. As I say in the magazine this week, the EU will make its demands on level playing field provisions and the UK will say they are unacceptable and render the talks pointless. The government’s hope is that by saying it will walk out of the talks in June it can persuade the EU to shift from its current, maximalist position. The EU will offer carrot and stick in these talks. They’ll make clear that if the two sides agree a trade deal, they’ll go for a light touch at the border

Robert Peston Robert Peston

Are we heading for a no-deal Brexit in January 2021?

There is a recurring and important phrase in the 36-page document published this morning setting out “the UK’s approach to negotiations with the European Union”. It is: “these provisions should not be subject to the Agreement’s dispute resolution mechanism outlined in Chapter 32”. What this represents is an unambiguous and seemingly non-negotiable rejection by Boris Johnson’s Government of a demand from the EU that any free-trade deal with the UK should include what it calls “level playing field” provisions. The EU says that for the UK to have a free trade deal with the EU involving zero tariffs and zero limits on how much can be traded between the UK

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The Liberal Democrats’ costly mistake

Oh dear. Failure comes in many forms but it usually stings a little more when it also involves large sums of money. That’s the situation the Liberal Democrats are in following their disappointing election result in which they failed to make overall gains – and then party leader Jo Swinson lost her seat. This morning the Electoral Commission has released new figures of donations received by the main parties during the final quarter of 2019. The Conservatives led in donations with a total of £37.7m. When it comes to the other parties, the Liberal Democrats actually overtook Labour – accepting £13.6m in donations to Labour’s £10.6m. Given that the party

Tom Goodenough Tom Goodenough

Boris will be relieved Heathrow’s new runway has been blocked

Boris Johnson once promised to lie down in front of the bulldozers to stop Heathrow’s third runway ever being built. Fortunately for the Prime Minister, it now seems that he might not have to. The airport’s expansion plans have been thrown into doubt this morning after opponents won a legal fight against a new runway at Britain’s biggest airport. The Court of Appeal agreed with campaigners that then-transport secretary Chris Grayling ignored air quality and noise pollution concerns when he gave the project the green light in 2018. It now falls to Boris Johnson to appeal the ruling. But, of course, given his previous promises – and his fears about

Stephen Daisley Stephen Daisley

The rise and rise of the SNP’s Kate Forbes

Few ministers are tested as abruptly as Kate Forbes has been. The SNP’s junior finance minister was promoted to the Scottish cabinet ten days ago and three weeks after Derek Mackay’s resignation forced her to deliver the budget with hours’ notice. Nicola Sturgeon’s minority government can typically rely on the dutiful support of the nationalist Scottish Greens but, come budget time, the finance secretary has to crack out the national credit card and buy the swampies off. Given the circumstances of Mackay’s departure and Forbes’ sudden elevation aged just 29, the Scottish government was more vulnerable than ever. Green leader Patrick Harvie could have produced a wish list and come

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Kerslake’s covert Corbyn connection

Lord Kerslake is back. This time he’s been discussing Boris Johnson’s ‘levelling up’ agenda. In an article published in the Financial Times today, he implored the prime minister to spend £1 trillion over then next 20 years on closing the north-south divide. The FT wrote: In a report to be published on Thursday, the UK 2070 Commission led by former civil service chief Bob Kerslake, said the government must match its rhetoric with money and policies. The problem, as your humble reporter Mr S pointed out last month, is that Sir Bob isn’t merely a ‘former civil service chief’. He is also a Corbyn apparatchik, a fact that the FT

Wednesday

Lloyd Evans Lloyd Evans

Corbyn’s PMQs virtue signalling ended badly

The floods got Jeremy Corbyn into a pickle at PMQs. The Labour leader started off by out-virtuing Boris. The PM had expressed sympathy with the victims of Storms Chiara and Dennis. Corbyn stood up. ‘My thoughts are with those suffering across the world with the corona-virus,’ he said tartly. He accused the PM of responding sluggishly to the inundations. Referring to an earlier crisis, he said, ‘I demanded that a Cobra meeting be called and [the Prime Minister] very reluctantly agreed.’ With the latest floods, Corbyn went on, he had once again ordered Boris to summon Cobra. But the PM had ignored the call. Why? Corbyn had his answer: ‘He

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Sajid Javid offers a parting shot in resignation statement

Ahead of Sajid Javid’s resignation statement in the Commons, allies of the former chancellor were keen to press that it would be a friendly affair. The idea being that Javid wanted to use the traditional personal statement to be constructive rather than score points. In the end, there was plenty of praise for the Prime Minister as well as some laughter. But there was also much in the way of criticism for an unelected inhabitant of 10 Downing Street. Javid praised Boris Johnson. He said the Prime Minister had been given a huge mandate to transform this country and was off to a ‘great start’. The former chancellor also lavished

Matthew Lynn

Gina Miller should leave the Bank of England’s new boss alone

She’s back. With Brexit ‘done’ and with most of the country just grateful to have moved on from the whole saga, we might have thought we had heard the last of Gina Miller. Miller, who became something of a figurehead in the anti-Brexit movement, could quietly return to doing whatever it was she used to get up to. Not so. Now she is back on the attack, demanding a ‘review’ of the appointment of Andrew Bailey as Governor of the Bank of England. What’s her complaint this time? Apparently as head of the Financial Conduct Authority, Bailey presided over “a toxic cocktail of negligence, incompetence and indifference to the needs

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Burgon: I’ll ensure members receive ‘political education’

You’ve got to hand it to Richard Burgon, the man’s not short on ideas (whether or not they’re good ideas is another matter). First, it was his plan to give Labour’s left-wing members a veto on UK military action. Now he’s promised to set up the ‘Tony Benn School of Political Education’. And what would Labour members benefit from learning according to Burgon? That’s right, ‘alternative economics’. No doubt the Leeds East MP will take advantage of some ‘alternative facts’ to teach that particular course. In an interview with LabourList announcing the ‘university’, Burgon praised the failed Labour Live concert – and also a festival organised by the French Communist Party newspaper.