Politics

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

Sunday

James Kirkup James Kirkup

If Boris does a Brexit deal, it will be because of the ‘Surrender Act’

Will he strike a deal with the EU allowing Britain to leave this month? Will he compromise on the Irish border? I don’t know what Boris Johnson will do. I’ve thought for some time that he and the Conservatives would be quite willing to compromise on Northern Ireland’s future status, but I’ve also often wondered whether some people close to him would be quite happy to charge towards a no-deal exit in hope of smashing through all those who would stand in the way. Let us assume the current talks with the EU are being held in good faith on both sides. This does make sense: both sides’ best interests

Saturday

William Clouston

A solution to Britain’s two-party problem

A paralysed prime minister holed up in Downing Street, a deadlocked Parliament out of touch with public sentiment and political discourse descending into rancour and abuse. Millions of British people can be forgiven for looking at this situation with total despair. What caused this situation? An unreformed political system well past its sell by date combined with political parties which have lost their way. Can we do better? Of course. The solution lies in a ‘red & blue’ political reformation.  For many years, those holding a traditional, communitarian or patriotic outlook have been gradually marginalised. Parliament has become increasingly detached from mainstream viewpoints – no more so than over Brexit

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Is a deal really possible?

It is one of the most remarkable turnarounds in recent political history. On Wednesday afternoon, the Brexit talks seemed pretty much dead—hence my piece in the magazine this week. Even the optimists in Downing Street were struggling to see anyway through. But by Friday lunchtime, the UK and the EU were agreeing to intensify negotiations as they searched for a deal. As I say in The Sun this morning, the negotiations going on in Brussels this weekend are serious: they aren’t just for the show. This doesn’t, though, mean that a deal will definitely be done. But things are on the move. Now, the sheer pace of this turnaround is

Charles Moore Charles Moore

When Jacob Rees-Mogg met Extinction Rebellion

I walked down Villiers Street to Embankment Tube station. In front of me were two Extinction Rebels, a mother and daughter. Strapped to the little girl’s back was a white teddy bear. Strapped to the bear’s back was the handwritten slogan: ‘You selfish gits. Stop burning down my house.’ I wonder how they knew I was a selfish git, since I wore no emblem to announce the fact. Luckily they did not know I was off to a large party of fellow selfish gits to launch volume III of my biography of Mrs Thatcher. It was taking place in the Banqueting House, Whitehall, yards from XR’s encampment, and was eloquently addressed

William Cook

Why most Brexiteers actually love the Germans

‘We didn’t win two world wars to be pushed around by a Kraut.’ Do you find this statement: a) Funny, and rather pertinent b) Unfunny, and a bit embarrassing c) Conclusive proof that Brexiteers are reactionary xenophobes, whose desire to leave the EU is driven by hatred of Germany If you answered c) you may well be one of the many people who took to Twitter to denounce this Leave.EU tweet, which was accompanied by a photo of Angela Merkel with one arm held aloft: Leave.EU’s Arron Banks subsequently issued a tepid apology, but the damage was already done. At a time when reasonable Britons on both sides are searching

Friday

Katy Balls Katy Balls

The Lynn Barber Edition

26 min listen

Lynn Barber is an award-winning journalist known for her incisive interviews and her best-selling books An Education and How to Improve Your Man in Bed. On this episode, she talks to Katy about her lifetime of interviewing the great and the good, from Salvador Dali to Katie Price; the death threats she received from Rafa Nadal’s fans; and her favourite (and least favourite) BBC journalists. Presented by Katy Balls.

Ian Acheson Ian Acheson

Is Rory Stewart running to become London mayor because he’s bored?

Rory Stewart’s announcement that he would run as an independent candidate for Mayor for London was typically civilised. This was no political suicide bomb. Instead Stewart waited for his erstwhile party’s conference to finish before making his move. But this trademark decency does not render his decision any less barking to his detractors. I’m on friendly terms with Stewart and had enthusiastically supported his Conservative leadership campaign which, after this abrupt defection, does leave me feeling like a bit of an arse if I’m honest. But Rory is very hard to dislike, not least because his innate decency, ability and desire to listen and respond to ordinary people is clearly authentic.

Azeem Ibrahim

Is Jeremy Corbyn a friend of all Muslims?

Both domestically and internationally, Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn presents himself as a friend to Muslims, aware of and sympathetic to the problems they face. And superficially his presentation is valid. In stark contrast to his problems with the Jewish community, Corbyn does seem at ease with Muslims – he supported the community after Islamophobic attacks and frequently visits Mosques around the UK. Internationally, he can also point to his long record of support for the Palestinian cause. But amid speculation that Boris Johnson will call a general election later this year, and with the prospect that Jeremy Corbyn could soon be in power, it is worth scrutinising the Labour leader’s

Katy Balls Katy Balls

John McDonnell suggests Labour could be open to referendum before election

The Labour party is abuzz with talk that the party could back a second referendum before a general election. It’s not that Jeremy Corbyn has suggested such a move is on the cards – in fact, this week he’s been saying the exact opposite while setting out his stall for a general election. However, John McDonnell has used an interview with Alastair Campbell for GQ to open the door to the possibility of holding a second referendum first. Asked which ought to come first, McDonnell says while his preference remains a general election ‘let’s see what actually parliament will wear in the end’: AC: Do you agree with me that

Cindy Yu Cindy Yu

The Spectator Podcast: are we heading for a deal?

As the clock ticks down to the European Council, can Boris get a last minute deal with the EU? Until today, this didn’t look likely. But the Irish and British governments have gone into the negotiating ‘tunnel’ – euphemism for a period of intense negotiations with no media scrutiny. But what could the two sides compromise on? In this week’s podcast, James Forsyth and Peter Foster discuss the limitations of Boris Johnson’s Brexit offer with Katy Balls. Plus, is Extinction Rebellion just the latest iteration of millenarianism? That’s what Toby Young argues in his column this week. On the podcast, Toby challenges Extinction Rebellion spokesperson Will Skeaping. And last, what’s

Katy Balls Katy Balls

The UK and EU agree to intensify Brexit negotiations

The chance of a Brexit deal being agreed between the UK and EU has risen. This morning Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay met with his EU counterpart Michel Barnier to pick up where Boris Johnson and Leo Varadkar left off at the pair’s Cheshire meet. With the Prime Minister and Taoiseach agreeing that they could see a path to a potential deal, Barclay and Barnier discussed the technical details over a two hour breakfast. That discussion appears to have gone well with the EU27 telling Barnier they are happy for talks to now intensify. A European Commission spokesperson said: ‘The EU and the UK have agreed to intensify discussions over the

Matthew Goodwin

Brexit party voters will decide Boris Johnson’s fate

The fate of Boris Johnson’s premiership will be determined by Nigel Farage and the Brexit party. Even if a Brexit deal can be agreed, another extension to the deadline of 31 October still seems possible. If the can is kicked down the road, the question of how Farage’s voters will react is key. Without the support of Brexit party voters, Boris Johnson could wake after the next election to find himself and his party still trapped in a hung parliament. But if he wins over half of Farage’s supporters, while the Remain camp is divided between Labour and the Liberal Democrats, then he could land nearly 350 seats and a comfortable

Thursday

The Spectator

The last Brexit heave

The past few months have been characterised by high drama which, for all the excitement, has resolved nothing. We are back in a familiar cycle: posturing, bluster and a last-minute burst of Brexit talks. It’s possible that Boris Johnson will emerge with a deal and declare triumph by 31 October: he has always regarded this as possible, even likely, no matter how high the odds are stacked against it. But it’s just as likely that this will all end in failure. If Britain does end up leaving the EU without a deal, the moment when such an outcome became inevitable will be traced back to Tuesday’s telephone call between Boris

Dot Wordsworth

What’s the word for a word that’s been used only once?

It is easy to speak a sentence never spoken before since the world came fresh from its mould. It’s not so easy to say a word unsaid by any other lips. In its second edition (1989) the Oxford English Dictionary recorded numbskullism with a single illustrative quotation, from Anne Seward, a younger contemporary of Samuel Johnson’s from Lichfield, who wrote of the numbskullism of George I and George II. In a revision of 2000, the OED adds a citation from a video game newsletter. Any old body could use it now. There remains numskullity, unattested since Jeremy Bentham used it in 1779 — until now, that is. Since English employs

Charles Day

Lady Hale must recuse herself from Boris Johnson’s cases

Brenda Hale is an incredibly clever and more importantly, kind, human being. On a human level you would do well to make a beeline for her at any party or stuffy function. Few judges have done more to help charitable causes and access to law. As I’m not a politician, you can trust me when I praise someone. It does though feel odd to do so. Lawyers never used to. Being nice or kind or even human; well that wasn’t really our thing. To be honest we have always been extremely vicious to each other – in private. I have a second favourite judge of all time when it comes

Ian Acheson Ian Acheson

The dangerous myth of the ‘bad border’ in Northern Ireland 

The Irish border is awash with journalists and pundits from Great Britain, scratching their heads in wet frontier fields patrolled by incurious Friesians. No border bridge has been left unmolested by visiting television crews in search of a sombre framing shot. The former ‘Killing Fields’ outside Enniskillen were my home until I left for university in England at 18. I don’t decry the honest attempts of blow-in journalists to explain the conundrum of what Churchill wearily dismissed as the ‘dull and dreary steeples of Fermanagh and Tyrone’ – it’s a bit of a head melter all right. But the blaring singularity of the ‘bad border’ narrative we hear far too

James Forsyth James Forsyth

The Brexit blame game

There will be no last-minute deal. The talks between the UK and the EU have effectively broken down. It isn’t that there’s no light at the end of the tunnel, it’s that there’s no tunnel at all. The blame game is now far more advanced than the negotiations. The diplomatic crockery has been smashed even before Boris Johnson and the leaders of the EU27 have arrived in Brussels for this month’s European Council. The question now is whether the talks can ever be resuscitated at a later date —  or if we are in a world where the only options are no Brexit or no deal. The assumption had long been

Robert Peston Robert Peston

Has Leo Varadkar come to Boris Johnson’s rescue?

I pass on, with little confidence or real understanding, that Boris Johnson seems to believe that Leo Varadkar and Dublin have lessened their objections of principle to his Brexit offer. Maybe both sides are moving in a significant way. We’ll see. What I should point out however is that if the negotiations were to collapse this weekend, that would be the worst timing for Johnson, because it would spur rebel Tory MPs to use SO24 next week to take control of Commons business – and they would try to get a motion passed in favour of a referendum on May’s gone-but-not-forgotten Brexit deal. When that flopped (as it probably would), the rebels would go for a

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Johnson and Varadkar: It’s not over yet

Is all hope lost that a Brexit deal can be agreed before 31 October? That’s been the mood music coming from both the UK and Brussels in recent days. However, Boris Johnson and Leo Varadkar have this afternoon made a joint statement making clear that they haven’t given up on agreeing a deal just yet. After holding two hours of talks in a Cheshire countryside bolthole, Johnson and Varadkar released a joint statement in which they said that they could both ‘see a pathway to a possible deal’: ‘The Prime Minister and Taoiseach have had a detailed and constructive discussion. Both continue to believe that a deal is in everybody’s

Liam Halligan

Germany’s ailing economy can’t afford a no-deal Brexit

The UK was the ‘sick man’ when we ‘joined Europe’ in 1973. Now, with Britain on the cusp of leaving, the European Union’s largest economy is decidedly out of sorts. After failing to recover over the summer, Germany is now almost certainly in recession. The state of the fourth biggest economy on earth always matters — but with Germany dragging down the broader eurozone, its declining health could decisively impact Brexit negotiations too. Politically, Brussels and Dublin are bullish. They have dismissed Boris Johnson’s proposals, gambling on an extension and perhaps Brexit being cancelled entirely. But such intransigence could yet cause a disorderly no-deal Brexit — which would have a