Politics Archives

Thursday

3 Sep 2020

Boris Johnson’s non-existent get back to work campaign

This week was built up by the Prime Minister to be the moment that would mark the return of economic and social life to robust health. But there was no real attempt by his government to urge people to go back to the office. Even Number 10 has admitted there never was a back to work campaign. In London, the number of Tube journeys made at the beginning of the week — as good an indicator of economic vitality as any — was still far below last year’s levels. In spite of repeated assurances that returning to school is safe and necessary for children’s health, a YouGov poll suggested that nearly one in

James Forsyth

To save the Union, negotiate Scotland’s independence

The first cabinet meeting of the new term and Boris Johnson’s summer holiday were both dominated by one concern: how to turn the tide on Scottish nationalism. Johnson’s foray into the Highlands was intended to demonstrate his own personal commitment to the Union; it also allowed him to find out for himself how awful mobile phone coverage is in much of rural Scotland. The cabinet on Tuesday discussed how to stop the Scottish National party turning the legislation that will underpin the UK’s post-Brexit internal market into their latest argument for independence. The Prime Minister is confident about his chances of knocking back the Nationalists. The decision of the Scottish

Isabel Hardman

Why Graham Brady’s criticism should worry Boris

Graham Brady isn’t an MP given to criticising the government in public very often at all. As chair of the Conservative 1922 Committee, he tends to communicate his views and those of the party to the Prime Minister in private. So when he does speak out, it’s worth listening. His criticisms have been escalating over the past few weeks, and that says a lot about where the party is generally. This morning on the Today programme, the Altrincham MP was highly critical not just of the local lockdown affecting his constituents, but also of the way the government is communicating with people more widely about whether or not it is

Graham Gudgin

Prepare for the rise of Irish Euroscepticism

Welcome to the wacky world of Irish national economic accounts. The official figures for Ireland’s tax-haven economy are so bizarre that they have been dubbed ‘leprechaun economics’ by Nobel Prize winning American economist Paul Krugman. And now the distorted figures which are used to measure Ireland’s GDP could be coming back to bite Ireland in the form of contributions the country must make to Brussels. Could this lead to a rapid rise in Euroscepticism across the Irish Sea? GDP per head in Ireland is measured by the Irish government – and accepted by international organisations – as being 91 per cent higher than the UK. At face value, this appears to indicate that Ireland

Wednesday

2 Sep 2020

James Kirkup

Tories need to get real about tax rises

It’s sometimes said that Rishi Sunak has been playing politics on easy mode: when you’re giving away loads of cash, it’s hard not to be popular. Now, as summer fades and autumn beckons, politics gets harder. The chancellor is facing his first real test with Conservative MPs over reports that his Treasury is considering a range of tax rises to help repair, in part, the public finances. A number of those Conservative MPs have made clear in recent days that they do not want taxes to rise. On one level, this is unsurprising: not many people who get elected to Parliament as Conservatives are keen on higher taxes. Yet what

John Connolly

The latest No. 10 U-turn

13 min listen

Bolton and Trafford were returned to Manchester’s local lockdown this morning after yet another U-turn by the government. Meanwhile, Boris Johnson and Keir Starmer went head to head for their first PMQs of the new parliamentary term. Finally, Rishi Sunak and the PM met members of the 2019 Tory intake in an attempt to shore up the government’s backbench support. John Connolly speaks to James Forsyth and Katy Balls.

Lloyd Evans

Boris’s PMQs performance was the perfect birthday present for Keir Starmer

It was woeful. It was ugly to behold. It was beyond gruesome. Even Boris’s most faithful supporters had to watch PMQs from behind the sofa. Sir Keir Starmer, who turns 58 today, got a fabulous birthday present – a stunningly inept performance from the Prime Minister. Sir Keir demanded a ‘straight answer to a straight question’: when did Boris know ‘there was a problem’ with the algorithm used to decide A-level grades? ‘May I congratulate him on his birthday,’ said Boris – making it clear he hadn’t the foggiest what to say. The Prime Minister then started firing off random phrases in the hope that a coherent sentence might accidentally

Isabel Hardman

Ofqual hits back at Gavin Williamson

Whose fault is the school exam results fiasco? Based on who has left their jobs in the past few weeks, you’d be forgiven for thinking it was officials in the Department for Education and at Ofqual, not the Secretary of State for Education. Gavin Williamson has apologised for the ‘stress’ caused to pupils, but remains in post and both he and the Prime Minister have been keen to shift the blame for the row onto the exam regulator. Today, Ofqual hit back. The organisation’s chairman Roger Taylor appeared before the Education Select Committee this morning to present his version of events, and claimed that the decision to use what Boris

Stephen Daisley

Richard Leonard must go

They’re all it at. The dust has barely settled on the ruthless removal of Jackson Carlaw from the Scottish Conservative leadership yet it seems the Caledonian branch of the People’s Party are in rebellious mood too. Three Labour MSPs have called on Holyrood chief Richard Leonard to stand down, with moderate Jenny Marra describing his leadership as ‘tied from the start to the disaster of Jeremy Corbyn’s project’. Leonard was chosen to replace Kezia Dugdale in 2017 but his lacklustre style, as much as his left-wing leanings, has seen him make no impact in almost three years. Well, no impact on the SNP; he’s certainly left his mark on Scottish Labour.

Steerpike

Rishi’s taxing speech

Oh dear. It’s safe to say that Rishi Sunak is not having the best week. Although the Chancellor’s made the news every day, it’s more because Tory MPs are complaining about various Treasury tax proposals than because they have anything nice to say. While the jury’s out on tax rises, it seems that the Chancellor has at least begun to come up with a plan to calm tensions in the party over his Autumn Budget. Sunak was photographed leaving No. 11 today holding written notes – never a particularly good idea for a frontline politician given all the cameras unless of course they have a message they want to get out. Sunak went on

James Forsyth

PMQs: Boris’s diversion tactics fall flat

PMQs today was a reminder of how the socially distanced chamber removes the Prime Minister’s most important structural advantage, having more MPs behind him than the leader of the opposition. Keir Starmer was keeping Boris Johnson on the back foot with a series of questions on government U-turns. So, Boris Johnson tried to change the subject. He launched into an attack on Starmer over Brexit and his willingness to sit in Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet. With roaring benches behind him, this diversionary tactic might have worked. But, instead, when Lindsay Hoyle cut him off, the whole thing fell rather flat. Keir Starmer was particularly exercised by Johnson’s comments about how he

Nick Tyrone

Is Boris pushing for a socialist Brexit?

One of the main things that’s holding up an UK-EU trade deal is the demand that the UK sticks to current state aid rules. Boris and Frost are refusing to budge. They want the freedom to do whatever they wish with state aid in post-Brexit Britain. Restrictions around state aid spending are in place to ensure governments do not prop up failing industries or distort the free market by handing out public money to troubled sectors – either halting their collapse or giving them an artificial competitive advantage. What was the point of defeating Corbyn only to ape Corbynism in such a vital way? When you get rid of state aid rules,

Matthew Lynn

In defence of vaccine nationalism

Donald Trump is, perhaps predictably enough, pulling out of the World Health’s Organisation’s global vaccine programme. The Russian president Vladimir Putin has been cutting every corner to get a Russian shot out first, while allegedly sending spies to steal the Oxford one. And China is racing to have the first vaccine on the market, already trying one out on the military, and allegedly hacking the US company Moderna. As the Covid-19 crisis drags out, ‘vaccine nationalism’ is rampant. Everyone from the WHO to the European Union to the United Nations solemnly condemns that. We all have to work together to find a vaccine, and then distribute it fairly, we keep

Ben Cobley

Keir Starmer’s big problem? It’s his party

When Labour MP Neil Coyle took to Twitter for his extraordinary rant against Jacob Rees-Mogg and Brexit voters, he perfectly summed up Keir Starmer’s main problem as Labour party leader: it’s his party. In purely political terms, Starmer himself has done well, dampening down internal Labour party dramas, showing himself as relatively normal and clawing his way to level-pegging in the polls after a summer of Covid chaos for the Government. However Coyle’s outburst – for which he has since said sorry – shows the danger his MPs and activists pose to his ambitions when it comes to the politics of identity – of aligning to certain types of people over

Katy Balls

Will Tory MPs really back tax rises?

Another day, another story mooting a new tax rise. Today the Sun reports the Chancellor is considering a rise in National Insurance contributions for the self-employed. Like other tax rises floated in recent days – from fuel duty to corporation tax to capital gains tax – it has quickly met opposition from members of the Tory party whether it be No.10, rival ministers or the parliamentary party. With Rishi Sunak looking ahead to the Autumn Budget, no proposals are definite. However, the backlash over every measure that’s been floated points to a problem coming up the track: no unifying Conservative economic principle. Long gone are the days of David Cameron and George

Tuesday

1 Sep 2020

Isabel Hardman

Gavin Williamson escapes a public dressing down from Tory MPs

Gavin Williamson rather generously did the sketch writers’ jobs for them this afternoon when he failed to hand his homework in on time for his first day of term. The Education Secretary gave a statement in the Commons on schools reopening – and ended up being scolded by opposition MPs for sending a very late ‘advance’ copy of his words, as is custom. The SNP’s Carol Monaghan rather acidly remarked that she just about had time to read it before asking her question, while Labour’s shadow education secretary Kate Green complained of a ‘summer of chaos, incompetence and confusion that has caused enormous stress’ to pupils, parents and teachers. Williamson’s

Katy Balls

Boris’s U-turn defence

Is Boris Johnson’s government jumping from one crisis to the next or is No. 10’s agenda progressing roughly as planned? It depends who you ask. After a difficult few weeks, there are plenty of Tory MPs who believe it’s the former. Many of whom don’t even feel the need to keep their grievances anonymous. Charles Walker MP recently used an interview to complain that it was becoming ‘increasingly difficult’ for Tory MPs to defend government policy: ‘too often it looks like this government licks its finger and sticks it in the air to see which way the wind is blowing’. His colleague Bernard Jenkin MP made a similar observation – saying a pattern appears to

Gus Carter

Can Simon Case reform the civil service?

11 min listen

Simon Case has been appointed the new cabinet secretary, tasked with leading the UK through its coronavirus recovery and reforming the civil service. Is he up to the job? Gus Carter speaks to James Forsyth and Katy Balls about the country’s most powerful official.

Isabel Hardman

The real test for Starmer will come post-Covid

Labour is gearing up for its first big Commons clash since returning from recess this afternoon, with shadow education secretary Kate Green taking on Gavin Williamson after his statement on the opening of schools and colleges. On the surface, the party has had its easiest summer in a long while, with no real factional battles or rows about its leader. Keir Starmer has bedded in quietly, and some Labour MPs have been able to switch off from thinking about the party for the first time in years. MPs who thought their party might have been over a year ago are now in an upbeat mood. ‘This is the first summer

Carl Heneghan

Coronavirus cases are mounting but deaths remain stable. Why?

Something rather odd is happening in the two Europeans nations worst hit by Covid-19. The UK and Italy have a rising number of cases but a stable and very low number of deaths, even weeks after the cases started rising again. At the time of writing, the UK records 1750 new cases daily and one death in a population of 67 million. With a roughly similar population and an average of 602 cases a day, Italy has had just over four deaths a day over the last month. The ratio of cases to deaths is nowhere near what it was at the height of the pandemic. The other notable feature