Politics

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

Lloyd Evans

PMQs: Boris relishes his new-found power

Jeremy Corbyn has stopped asking questions at PMQs. The lecture-circuit now looms for the Labour leader, so he uses the Wednesday sessions to practise the Grand Orations he will soon be making to drowsy socialists in overheated conference-halls around the world. He’s unlikely to match the fees commanded by the world’s top lecture-stars, Tony Blair and Barack Obama. His performance lacks bounce or crackle. He’s incapable channelling either passion or excitement and he simply recites his bullet-points like a sleep-deprived Bingo-caller. And his jokes misfire. Today he opened with a gag about the presenter of Just A Minute who died yesterday, aged 96. ‘Mr Speaker,’ said Corbyn, ‘can we take

Steerpike

Labour official election report: result nothing to do with Corbyn

There’s nothing like a period of reflection after a historic election defeat. It offers those involved a chance to look at issues afresh and seek out difficult answers. Alternatively, if you are say Ian Lavery or Andrew Gwynne, it offers a chance to confirm everything you had already thought. The Financial Times reports that the results of Labour’s official report on the party’s worst election defeat for 80 years are in. The finding? Jeremy Corbyn was not at fault. Corbyn allies – and election co-ordinators – Gwynne and Lavery penned the report and it was shared with the national executive committee on Tuesday’s away day. The report suggests Jeremy Corbyn

James Forsyth

Boris risks backbench rebellion if he doesn’t get Huawei right

Tory MPs are not happy with the Huawei decision. Normally loyal MPs are expressing their bafflement at the announcement. As one of them put it to me yesterday: if they’re not safe to be at the core of the network, how are they safe to be in any of it? The crucial determinant of whether this row continues or not is what this 35 per cent cap on ‘high risk vendors’ means. The government has said that these ‘high risk vendors’ should be: ‘Limited to a minority presence of no more than 35 per cent in the periphery of the network, known as the access network, which connect devices and

Why Varadkar’s Brexit bashing is falling flat

Leo Varadkar did not pull any punches in his interview with BBC Political Editor Laura Kuennsberg on Monday. Embroiled in a general election campaign, with less than two weeks to go until polling day, the incumbent Taoiseach told Kuennsberg that Britain is underestimating the difficulties that lie ahead as phase two of Brexit gets underway: ‘I think the reality of the situation is that the European Union is a union of 27 member states, the UK is only one country, and we have a population and a market of 450 million people. The UK is about 60 [million]. So if these were two teams up against each other playing football,

Alex Massie

Boris is failing a crucial One Nation test in Scotland

Yesterday, Nicola Sturgeon unveiled a proposal to devolve certain aspects of our post-Brexit immigration policy to Scotland. Well, you might say, she would say that, wouldn’t she? But Sturgeon’s argument has some merit, for Scotland has a demographic problem that is not shared by the rest of the United Kingdom. A few thousand Scotland-only visas issued each year has the potential, assuming they proved sufficiently attractive, to address that. This is not just an SNP ploy, either. There is a widespread acceptance in Scotland that the country needs to be able to do more to attract more immigrants. On current trends, immigration is likely to be essential for the population

The dangers of letting Huawei build our 5G network

This afternoon Boris Johnson finally approved the use of equipment made by Huawei in building parts of Britain’s 5G network. The decision is a long time coming, having initially been kicked into the long grass by Theresa May last year, but it is also important. The decision will have profound strategic implications for the UK for years to come. Why such a big deal? 5G is the next generation of mobile phone technology. It is faster and more reliable than the 4G most of us are still using. And crucially, the technology isn’t just about improving our phones, as 5G chips will connect pretty much everything, from driverless cars, to

Katy Balls

What will Boris’s immigration system look like?

What will the UK’s immigration system look like after leaving the EU? During the general election campaign, Boris Johnson committed to an Australian-style points based system. He also committed to bringing immigration levels down. But besides these two points, little is currently known about the specifics of how the new system will operate when it comes into effect next January after the transition period ends. Today, the Migration Advisory Committee – which provides the government with recommendations – has published a report intended to help the government add flesh to the bones of their plans. However, it raises potential issues over the current strategy being pursued by Johnson. The committee

The Brexit wrangle shows exactly why we needed to leave in the first place

Last Friday marked the signing of the Withdrawal Agreement. I know that some people in our country are still a bit upset. But what happened last week matters. We all know that we’ve just had three and a half difficult years. But we had them together – we shared them. Three and a half years of parliament being gloriously frustrating, entertaining and overall a bit odd. Three and a half years of our courts and our beloved institutions forcing us to try very hard to recall why we love them. Three and a half years of democracy. After these three and a half years, our parliament, the body of 650

Steerpike

Butler overlooks her recent past in deputy leadership pitch

There are many characteristics that make a good leader. Honesty, eloquence, and charisma are traditionally high up on the list. But Labour’s leadership elections have shown that one attribute is now prized above all else – loyalty to Jeremy Corbyn. Almost all of the candidates have tried to present themselves as Corbyn’s natural successor. The latest candidate to put themselves forward as some unswerving Corbyn ally is the deputy leadership hopeful Dawn Butler. Ms Butler told a hustings on Saturday: ‘We have some real selfish MPs, let me be honest, that thought it was okay that after Jeremy was elected, democratically elected as a leader, [they thought] “do you know

Nick Cohen

Brexit Britain will find itself caught between the world’s superpowers

For those who claimed Boris Johnson would be Donald Trump’s poodle, the past month has been corrective. Far from bowing before American power, he is defying it. Johnson is considering rejecting America’s demand to ban Huawei from supplying parts of a new UK 5G network. His government is willing to override Trump’s objections and ensure the US tech giants pay more tax. Meanwhile the usually voluble Johnson has noticeably failed to offer loud support to Trump’s destruction of Barack Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran, preferring to ally with France and Germany instead. Johnson is not only showing that his left-wing critics failed to understand him, but honouring the promise he

Katy Balls

Is this the week Tory divisions come to a head?

It’s decision time in No. 10. This week ought to be the week in which a decision is made on whether HS2 should proceed – and whether Huawei should be given access to the UK’s 5G network. Whichever way the government moves on these issues, a chunk of the Tory party will be left unhappy. On HS2, the initial signs suggest the government is leaning towards giving the project the go ahead – at least in some form. No decision will be made until Boris Johnson meets this week with Sajid Javid and Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary. However, on Sunday, Stephen Barclay – the Brexit Secretary – suggested on

Sunday shows round-up: Priti Patel – No confirmed coronavirus cases in the UK

Priti Patel – No confirmed coronavirus cases in the UK Niall Paterson took over the reins from Sophy Ridge this morning and began by speaking to the Home Secretary Priti Patel. The first item on the agenda was the outbreak of coronavirus in China, which has so far claimed the lives of 56 people and potentially infected as many as 2,000. There have been concerns that the virus may enter the UK, with five people having been tested in Scotland. However, Patel confirmed that all five had been given the all-clear: Home Secretary @patel4witham says there are currently no confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK #Ridge pic.twitter.com/BJfTUhKJ1g — Politics

How Boris Johnson can emulate Margaret Thatcher

An open letter to Boris Johnson: People, even including your opponents, are getting used to the idea that you are not only the Prime Minister, but likely to remain so for some time to come. Yet before we settle down under the new regime, we should remember just how incredible this would have seemed, well within recent political memory. If you had approached a publisher ten years ago with what would have turned out to be an accurate prediction of the Boris-ade, you would have been laughed to scorn. Even a few months ago, you appeared to be a most implausible candidate for Downing Street. If you did somehow win,

James Forsyth

Will HS2 survive?

‘No one disagrees with what the government is trying to do but what they do worry about, is the capacity of the state to deliver it’, one Tory grandee tells me. As I wrote in the Sun, the concern is that the government sees infrastructure as the way to boost Britain’s growth rate, but these projects tend to come in late and over budget in this country. The danger for the Tories is that at the next election in 2024, they may have little more than plans to show for their efforts. Downing Street is acutely aware of this risk, hence their focus on ‘delivery’ and change that people can

Patrick O'Flynn

Labour must ditch the doom and gloom if it ever wants to win again

Tony Blair’s election anthem “Things Can Only Get Better” was infectious, even for those like me who were not from the same political tribe. It was impossible not to get swept up in New Labour’s era of Cool Britannia. At the 1997 Labour party conference, just a few months after the Labour landslide, I was left wondering: were Labour supporters cheerful because they had won, or did they win because they were cheerful? Whatever the answer, it does not take a genius to discern that the left in general and the Labour party in particular is far away from such a place today. Gone is the happy optimism. In its

Britain’s misguided approach to asylum is threatening lives

The news this week could easily have led with the deaths of 14 Afghan and Iraqi migrants in the English Channel, drowned as they attempted to reach Britain. In the event this didn’t happen, but only because their boat proved to be so unseaworthy that it capsized before they made it out of sight of the Belgian coast. All were able to swim back to the beach. This is the reality of people-trafficking: it is a callous industry whose operators care little for the lives of the migrants to whom they charge large sums for the promise of a new life. It is only three months since 39 Vietnamese migrants

Portrait of the week: Prince Harry leaves, Jess Phillips drops out and Trump goes on trial

Home The Duke of Sussex left England to join his wife, Meghan, in Canada. This followed an agreement that stripped him of the style His Royal Highness and her of the style Her Royal Highness. ‘They are required to step back from royal duties, including official military appointments,’ a statement from Buckingham Palace said. ‘They will no longer receive public funds for royal duties.’ The Sussexes said they would repay the cost of the refurbishment of Frogmore Cottage, put at £2.4 million. ‘Harry, Meghan and Archie will always be much loved members of my family,’ the Queen said. On the eve of his departure, the Duke said: ‘It brings me