Politics

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

Wednesday

The Court Of Session

The Court of Session: why Boris Johnson’s prorogation is unlawful

Scotland’s Court of Session has ruled this morning that Boris Johnson’s decision to suspend parliament for over four weeks is unlawful. The case will now be appealed in the Supreme Court on Tuesday. Those who brought the case, including the SNP’s Joanna Cherry, now argue that parliament should be recalled. Below is a summary of the Court of Session’s judgement: The Court of Session has ruled that the Prime Minister’s advice to HM the Queen that the United Kingdom parliament should be prorogued from a day between 9 and 12 September until 14 October was unlawful because it had the purpose of stymying Parliament. A petition for judicial review was raised

Marcus Roberts

The electoral headaches facing Labour and the Tories

The Conservatives want the next election to be about Brexit and Boris Johnson in Number 10. Labour want the election to be about stopping no deal and issues other than Brexit like the NHS, education and the climate change crisis. In terms of how this plays out in marginal seats, both sides have headaches. So let’s look at each of these points in turn. Firstly, Boris Johnson wants a gladiatorial contest against Jeremy Corbyn for control of Number 10. Johnson leads Corbyn by 40 to 20 per cent for best Prime Minister. In response Corbyn’s allies cite the revival of his leadership numbers in the 2017 election; but hoping for

Steerpike Steerpike

Lib Dems gather outside parliament to protest prorogation

This afternoon, Lib Dem MPs gathered outside a freshly vacated parliament in a defiant attempt to bag a photo opportunity of them looking stern. The impromptu press conference came after the Court of Session in Scotland declared Boris’s decision to prorogue parliament ‘unlawful’ earlier this morning. Nevermind the fact that the case, having already been rejected by the High Court in London, is set to be heard at the Supreme Court on Tuesday – Boris’s so-called ‘coup’ must be stopped. The Lib Dem’s approach to democracy is predictably inconsistent. Yesterday, the party announced that they are dropping their fig-leaf commitment to a second referendum and instead will now be pushing

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Why Tom Watson is battling to change Labour’s Brexit policy

Why has Tom Watson given a speech about what his party leadership should do on Brexit? The party’s deputy leader has urged Labour to ‘unambiguously and unequivocally back Remain’ and to campaign for a referendum ahead of an election. This is contrary to the current frontbench position that a referendum should contain a ‘credible Leave option’. So why, given Watson sits with Jeremy Corbyn in private shadow cabinet meetings each week, has he gone public with this? The speech is a symptom of how bad relations are between Watson and the leader’s office. As I wrote in the Spectator recently, the two men at the top of the party have

Robert Peston Robert Peston

Has the Cabinet seen Boris Johnson’s legal advice on prorogation?

Has any member of Cabinet seen the full legal advice given to the Prime Minister, which persuaded Johnson proroguing or suspending parliament is lawful? Julian Smith asked for it, on the day Cabinet was bounced into agreeing prorogation. Amber Rudd asked for it subsequently. I am not aware that either got it. Instead they received a ‘trust me’ from Boris Johnson. This could be a problem for him and ministers because the ministerial code, amended after Chilcott Enquiry into the legality of going to war in Iraq, says all ministers have right to see full legal advice – not just summaries – on all contentious issues. Will Cabinet now get

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Blow for Boris as parliament may return early

The Court of Session’s verdict that prorogation is unlawful is a major headache for Boris Johnson. It makes the Supreme Court’s decision on the matter, and the court will hear the case on Tuesday, much more unpredictable. There is now a significant chance that parliament will have to be recalled. The Supreme Court will hear all the various cases on prorogation at the same time on Tuesday, remember the government won in the High Court in London. But it will adjudicate these cases in line with the law of the court from which they came. So, it will decide the case from the Court of Session according to Scottish Law

Ross Clark Ross Clark

The legal war of attrition against Brexit

Another week, another step along the road to Britain’s transformation into a kritarchy – rule by judges. Last week, the Court of Session in Edinburgh and the High Court in London both ruled that Boris Johnson’s decision to prorogue Parliament for five weeks had been lawful. But if you thought it was all over you haven’t read Bleak House. Just as Dickens’s fictional family, the Jarndyces, were torn apart by an endless legal dispute, Joanna Cherry and her lawyers are going to take this to the wire. It turns out that the Court of Session has an Inner House, to which you can appeal if you don’t like its first

Matthew Lynn

Brexit is already changing the British economy – for the better

The government has lost its majority. The constitution has fallen apart. The country no longer has any idea whether it is leaving the European Union or not. Historians and political commentators are queuing up to tell us this is the lowest point in the country’s history since the Suez Crisis/Civil War/Dissolution of the Monasteries (delete as applicable). And yet, amid all this chaos and confusion, something else is happening. The economy, slightly surprisingly, is purring along quite smoothly. The explanation? In truth, the EU doesn’t make much difference to the economy anymore. And insofar as it does, leaving is a marginal improvement. The City expected the economic data released this

Tuesday

Benedict Rogers

Britain’s failure to speak out for Hong Kong

Today in Westminster Abbey, Britain will remember the life of one of our most inspirational, colourful and remarkable political leaders: Paddy Ashdown. As we do, I know he would want us to remember our responsibilities to Hong Kong, a cause close to his heart. Paddy lived in Hong Kong from 1967 to 1970 while in the special forces, returned in 1989 to march in protest at the Tiananmen massacre, and campaigned for the right of abode for Hong Kong holders of British National Overseas (BNO) passports, prior to the handover. When I helped found Hong Kong Watch just under two years ago, Paddy agreed to be one of our patrons,

Robert Peston Robert Peston

Labour will not endorse Remain in a general election

Very important breaking news. Which is that trade unions, in their TULO meeting with Jeremy Corbyn, have tonight endorsed the Labour leader’s position that in a general election Labour should campaign for a referendum that would have a “credible leave option and remain” on the ballot paper. The reason this matters is that those senior members of the shadow cabinet, such as Keir Starmer, Emily Thornberry, John McDonnell and Tom Watson, who want Labour to adopt an unambiguous remain position have been defeated. “It is important that voters who want to leave as well as those who want to remain can vote Labour. What we’ve rejected is the Trumpian no-deal

Robert Peston Robert Peston

Will Boris Johnson betray the DUP and ERG?

Don’t laugh, but Boris Johnson would genuinely prefer a Brexit deal to no deal. And that should make Northern Ireland’s DUP and the Brexiter purists in the Tories’ European Research Group very nervous indeed. Because the EU has made it clear that it thinks a deal could be done if the backstop arrangement, designed to keep open the border in the island of Ireland, was remade as a Northern-Ireland only backstop rather than a hybrid of customs union for the whole UK and some NI-only arrangements. There is evidence of Johnson moving in that direction, with his initial concession that there could be a single market for agriculture for the

Robert Peston Robert Peston

The three numbers that measure Britain’s constitutional crisis

Here in a few numbers is the measure of the catastrophic mess we are in; caused by failing to resolve how, when and whether we are leaving the EU some 1,174 days after British people voted for Brexit. MPs are being locked out of the Commons chamber for 34 days and nights, because the prime minister does not trust them not to thwart his plans to extract the UK from the EU ‘do or die’ on October 31. That is an insult to our parliamentary democracy, some would say. Former Prime Minister Theresa May has rewarded 31 of her officials, fellow ministers and MPs. Gongs rank from MBEs to peerages.

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Boris tells Cabinet, ‘I’m the most liberal Conservative PM in decades’

Anyone expecting today’s Cabinet to have been a bust-up following Amber Rudd’s resignation will have been disappointed. From what I’m hearing, it was a strikingly harmonious meeting. Perhaps this was because most of the meeting was focused on the government’s domestic agenda. On Brexit, I’m told that Boris Johnson said his policy remains unchanged—that he still wanted the UK to leave on October 31st with a deal if possible, but without one if needs be. He said that what he’ll do on 19 October, the day on which the Prime Minister is required by the Benn Bill to request an extension if there’s no deal, will only become clearer nearer

Steerpike Steerpike

The temptation of Lord Mann

It was announced last night that the government’s recently appointed ‘anti-Semitism tsar’ John Mann would be given a seat in the House of Lords. Mann resigned the Labour whip over the weekend after 18 years as an MP, blasting his former leader as unfit to govern following the party’s risible attempts to remove anti-Jewish members. The move will see the recently appointed Lord, who probably would have lost his seat of Bassetlaw at the next election, continue to hound the opposition over the party’s anti-Semitism problem. However, his elevation to the Lords – and the £305 daily allowance that comes with it – will no doubt have caused Lord Mann much

Brendan O’Neill Brendan O’Neill

John Bercow’s seething contempt for Brexiteers

Anyone who doubted that John Bercow is an arrogant blowhard who harbours a seething contempt for Brexiteers will surely have been disabused of their doubts last night. After he announced his resignation as Speaker, and received a fawning and utterly unparliamentary round of applause from his fellow Brexitphobes on the Opposition benches, Bercow lost it. He went nuts. He was puffing himself up, as usual, as the sole guardian of parliamentary convention and general political decency when an MP had the temerity to interrupt and contradict him. Those who have accused me of bending the rules are utterly wrong, Bercow was saying. Tellingly, he kicked off his one-man orgy of

Steerpike Steerpike

The six strangest moments from Parliament’s prorogation protest

Early this morning at around 2am, the Commons witnessed some of the most extraordinary behaviour seen in the Chamber in living memory, as MPs attempted to protest the prorogation of parliament. Below are the strangest moments from the morning: 1. Labour MPs attempted to stop the Speaker John Bercow from leaving his seat as he was called to the Lords to carry out the formal procedure for proroguing parliament. The left-wing MP for Brighton Kemptown and famed mace swinger Lloyd Russell-Moyle briefly lay across Bercow’s lap before being pulled off by a member of Commons staff. 2. Bercow made one of his signature verbose pronouncements, declaring the government’s prorogation ‘an act of

James Kirkup James Kirkup

The vices and virtues of Theresa May’s honours list

An awful lot of Theresa May’s resignation honours list is awful. In no particular order: Knighting Geoff Boycott would be a horrible act for any PM, let alone one who actually did some good on domestic violence. Who cares if he punched a woman repeatedly in the face, he played great cricket, eh? A gruesome choice, even though he continues to deny the offence. Knighting the communications Director who failed to communicate your central policy would be a misjudgement at the best of times. But Theresa May adds hypocrisy to the mix: she once cruelly and very publicly mocked David Cameron’s press chief for precisely the same honour. I was

Steerpike Steerpike

Who will replace John Bercow as Speaker?

Now that John Bercow has announced his imminent departure, an inevitable political bun fight will surely follow. The outgoing Speaker told colleagues that he would be stepping down from his post by 31 October, the day the UK is supposed to leave the European Union. The move comes after the Business Secretary Andrea Leadsom told the Mail on Sunday that the Tories were planning to break with convention and field a candidate in his Buckingham constituency at the next election. So who will replace the controversial Commons referee? The most likely runners and riders are outlined below: Lindsay Hoyle (Lab) The most obvious choice for the next Speaker of the

Monday

Robert Peston Robert Peston

Grieve’s attempt to politically assassinate Cummings

Dominic Grieve’s successful ‘humble address’ motion, to force disclosure of WhatsApp and other digital messages sent by Boris Johnson, is a naked attempt to politically assassinate Dominic Cummings. Because Grieve and his rebel Tory allies believe if he can show that the prime minister’s senior adviser was plotting to suspend parliament for reasons other than those admitted in court and in the Commons by Johnson and his colleagues – namely to keep no-deal Brexit as an option rather than the more respectable motive of preparing a Queen’s Speech – then Johnson will be so embarrassed that he will sack Cummings. This offensive against Cummings rests on three assumptions, all of

The Spectator

Full list: Theresa May’s resignation honours

Resignation Honours 2019   CH   The Rt Hon Sir Patrick MCLOUGHLIN MP Member of Parliament for Derbyshire Dales and former Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Chairman of the Conservative & Unionist Party. For political and public service.   KCMG    George HOLLINGBERY MP Member of Parliament for Meon Valley and former Minister of State for Trade Policy and Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Prime Minister. For political and public service.   Oliver ROBBINS CB Lately the Prime Minister’s Europe Adviser and Chief Negotiator for Exiting the European Union. For public service.   KCB   The Rt Hon David LIDINGTON CBE MP Member of Parliament for Aylesbury and