Politics

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

Tuesday

Robert Peston Robert Peston

Are the Conservatives now officially the no-deal Brexit party?

With just a week to go before the result is announced of the election to choose the new Tory leader, and our new PM, Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt are shape-shifting into each other. On Brexit Hunt is adopting more and more of Johnson’s rhetoric about the need to keep open the option of a no-deal Brexit. And in Monday night’s Sun debate, both of them made a new commitment that makes no deal the most likely outcome – they both said they wanted to scrap the so-called backstop, the mechanism for keeping open the border on the island of Ireland. Johnson said that putting a time limit on the

Monday

Stephen Daisley Stephen Daisley

Neither Boris Johnson nor Jeremy Hunt is up to the job of being PM

The Final Showdown, as the Sun/Talkradio’s debate between Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt was billed, clarified some important points for Tory members still deciding how to cast their vote. Both candidates ruled out a general election before the UK leaves the EU, though Hunt warned that setting a deadline as Johnson has means we could ‘trip ourselves into an accidental general election before October 31’. Both men were also clear that the backstop has had its day, with Hunt declaring it ‘dead’. The Foreign Secretary talked up technological solutions to the Irish border, while stressing the need for a ‘cast-iron guarantee’ to Dublin that there would be no hard border.

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Johnson and Hunt try to unite the Tory party in final leadership debate

Tonight’s Sun debate between Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt was far more relaxed than last week’s head-to-head clash. But it was also stuffed with news lines, as both men prepared for the final few days of voting in the Tory leadership contest. Both declared the Northern Irish backstop dead, Johnson ruled out an election before Brexit happens, and they both attacked Donald Trump for telling black and minority ethnic congresswomen to ‘go back’. On Brexit, the answer that Johnson gave about the backstop showed how likely it is that he might pursue a no-deal Brexit: he rejected a time limit or unilateral exit clause. This makes a confrontation with Conservative

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Ministers to rush out domestic abuse bill – but will Boris back it?

The Home Office has confirmed that it will publish the Domestic Abuse Bill tomorrow as Theresa May tries to secure her legacy at the very end of her premiership. Victims’ Minister Vicky Atkins told Home Office questions this afternoon that the legislation will move from draft form to legislation for scrutiny on the floor of the Commons. The reason there is this rush is that May fears her successor wouldn’t pick up the Bill of their own accord. As I’ve blogged before, this is partly her fault because she delayed publication of the draft document for so long. But it is also because the legislation as proposed isn’t to everyone’s

Rod Liddle Rod Liddle

On the standard of political debate

Just received this update from the Brexit Party: ‘Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage threw down a challenge to Tory leader-elect Boris Johnson: “Boris says he wants to put me back in my box. If he wants a fight – hold my jacket!”’ To which Boris will undoubtedly reply: ‘Jog on, you mug. I’ll rip you a new arsehole.’ And then Nigel can come back with: ‘Not after you’ve met my friend Mr Stanley, you albino gimp. After that, you’ll be smiling from ear to ear. Literally.’ Who says the standard of political debate these days is parlous? Boris and Nigel will of course need to make some sort of accommodation. After they’ve

Bruce Anderson

Tory members are deluded about Boris Johnson

For more than forty years, I have assumed that most Tory party members were the salt of the earth. They may not have banged on about civic virtue or active citizenship, but they practised both. They may not have been interested in political philosophy, but they could tell a good ‘un from a wrong ‘un. Alas, that era is over. Tens of thousands of them have decided that Boris Johnson ought to be Prime Minister. The salt has lost its savour. Many Tories can no longer tell the difference between it and strychnine. Why has this happened? There are two explanations: May fatigue and Brexit fatigue. Among the poisonous bequests

Sunday

Stefan Boscia

I’d rather be politically homeless than stay in the Labour party

Among the first things I did when moving to the UK from Australia was sign up to three British institutions: Arsenal football club, the NHS and the Labour party. Sure, Jeremy Corbyn’s party is further to the left than the Australian iteration. But following Labour’s surge in the 2017 general election there was something alluring about the party. It was offering wholesale change, by improving public services, increasing the minimum wage and scrapping student tuition fees. These policies sat well with my millennial sensibilities. And like it or loathe it, Labour’s grassroots campaign back then radiated a palpable sense of excitement about the party’s future. A year on from arriving

Nick Cohen Nick Cohen

There could never be a German Boris Johnson

Germany’s Die Welt asked me to tell its readers how on earth someone like Boris Johnson could become prime minister. I gave it my best shot. Whatever else happens to Germany, I cannot imagine a German Boris Johnson coming to power. To assemble such a creature, you would have to create conservative German whose parents bought him the best education money could buy – Johnson went to Eton, one of Britain’s most expensive private schools, and Oxford, an elite university that dominates the upper reaches of English culture with a thoroughness no German university can match. Imagine then that he gets a job on a respected German newspaper through his

Matthew Taylor

Sunday shows round-up: Boris’s Brexit plans critiqued

Gina Miller – Suspending Parliament ‘abuse of the PM’s powers’ Gina Miller, the lawyer who famously took the government to court over the question of whether it or Parliament had the right to trigger Article 50, has announced that she will be doing the same again if the new Prime Minister tries to prorogue Parliament in order to achieve a no deal Brexit. She told Sky’s Niall Paterson of the grounds for her case: "We think it's beyond the prime minister's powers." Anti-Brexit campaigner @thatginamiller says it would be an abuse of the PM's powers to suspend parliament to force through a no-deal #Brexit. Follow #Ridge live here: https://t.co/rpG9o75Uy0 pic.twitter.com/rfSRIX6wf6

Anthony Browne

Would no-deal Brexit be a disaster? Probably not – and here’s why

How bad would a no-deal Brexit really be? This is now perhaps the most important question in politics, and the one provoking greatest disagreement. The answer will help decide whether parliament allows Brexit to happen, and whether Tory MPs bring down their own government. If they think calamity would follow, patriotic rebels might risk a general election to stop the Tories. But what if it would not be so bad? And is there any way of finding out? Almost everyone accepts it will cause problems, but views range from manageable to ‘national suicide’. It is difficult to predict complex events without historic precedent, but there are other reasons for the

Saturday

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Boris Johnson’s planning for government

Boris Johnson had been refusing to engage with the question of Cabinet appointments and the like until he was through his Andrew Neil interview. But with that done, his focus is now shifting from the campaign to the transition as I say in The Sun this morning. One source explains the move by saying that ‘from next week, decisions have to be taken for the success of a Johnson administration’. I understand that Johnson will settle on who he wants as Chief Whip, Chancellor and Party Chairman before moving on to the other appointments. One long time Johnson confidant tells me that Boris has learnt lessons from what happened to

Qanta Ahmed Qanta Ahmed

What does the Muslim Council of Britain have against Muslims like me? | 13 July 2019

Have you ever wondered why there are so few moderate Muslim voices in the press? It’s not because they don’t exist. There are over a billion of us in the world. In many cases, it’s because of the way we are treated by hardliners. Once again, they have trained their crosshairs on me, this time charging me with ‘misrepresenting Muslim behaviour and belief’ and ‘negating the belief of some Muslims’. If a Muslim speaks up against political Islam – questioning the legitimacy of these self-appointed spokesmen – this is what we can expect. Just look at this week’s report by a group called the Centre for Media Monitoring, which claims that

Friday

Katy Balls Katy Balls

The Tracey Crouch Edition

34 min listen

Tracey Crouch MP has earned a reputation for being independently minded. She has rebelled on issues from press regulation to fox hunting; and served as a sports minister until last year until she resigned over the government’s stance on fixed odds betting terminals. In this episode, Tracey Crouch tells Katy about being the only student Tory in Hull, swearing at Philip Hammond, and why she’s never told anyone what she voted in the Brexit referendum. Presented by Katy Balls.

Richard Ekins & Stephen Laws

John Major is wrong to threaten legal action over prorogation

John Major has threatened personally to bring legal action if the next prime minister were to attempt to prorogue Parliament in the autumn. On Tuesday, Dominic Grieve MP moved an amendment that might encourage legal challenge to an attempt to prorogue. It is unclear whether John Major sought to rely on the Grieve amendment or instead made his case on wider grounds, in line with a recent argument that the courts would block prorogation. It might well be politically unwise to prorogue Parliament in the autumn, making a bad situation worse. It may be difficult to imagine situations in which it would be a helpful contribution to securing UK exit from

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Boris Johnson struggles through interview with Andrew Neil

Boris Johnson just faced by far his toughest interview of the campaign. He was pressed hard on Brexit, Kim Darroch’s resignation, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and his economic policy by Andrew Neil. At the end of the interview, Boris Johnson looked at his watch—I suspect it seemed to him much longer than the half an hour it was. On Brexit, Boris Johnson made his usual case. But his attempt to sound like a details man by citing Gatt 24 Article 5B came rather a cropper when Andrew Neil asked him what was in Article 5C. Boris Johnson had no answer. When Andrew Neil pressed him on whether he would really walk away

Steerpike Steerpike

Watch: Boris Johnson taken to task over Brexit plan

Is Boris Johnson a man of detail? The Tory leadership frontrunner certainly gave the impression of being one when he revealed his Brexit plan to Andrew Neil. Unfortunately, it wasn’t long before he became somewhat unstuck. Boris claimed that in the event of a no-deal Brexit it ‘might be possible…that both sides agree to a standstill’ in order to prevent tariffs being imposed. He pointed to paragraph 5B of GATT to make his point. But did he know what was in the following paragraph? Here is how their exchange unfolded: AN: So how would you handle – you talk about Article 5B in GATT 24 – BJ: Paragraph 5B. Article

Steerpike Steerpike

Watch: Jeremy Hunt: I’m not ‘Theresa in trousers’

Jeremy Hunt has a lot in common with Theresa May. As Andrew Neil pointed out in his interview with the foreign secretary tonight, both are Tory technocrats. And both backed May’s Brexit deal three times. So is Jeremy Hunt just ‘Theresa in trousers’? ‘Certainly not,’ according to Hunt, who said that while he was loyal to May it was now time for a new approach. Part of that new approach involves Hunt switching to a no-deal Brexit strategy if no Brexit progress is made by the end of September. Here is how Hunt explained that approach in a tetchy interview:   AN: Back to Brexit. You say that if there’s no

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Exclusive: How MPs could have averted Parliament’s harassment crisis

MPs tried to set up an independent complaints process into sexual harassment and bullying as far back as 2016, but their efforts were blocked, I have learned. Anne Milton, who was the Conservative Deputy Chief Whip between 2015 and 2017, told Coffee House that she became increasingly concerned that the political parties’ own complaints processes were insufficiently independent, and convened a meeting of whips and Commons clerks to try to get Parliament to set up its own process. She had received a number of complaints from staff who had been bullied by MPs or other employees, and was concerned that there was often no proper recourse for these complainants. The

The Spectator

Full transcript: Jeremy Hunt’s Andrew Neil interview

AN: Jeremy Hunt – like Theresa May you voted to Remain. Like Theresa May you’re a Tory technocrat. Like Theresa May you voted for her Brexit deal, three times. Why would the Tories want more of the same when it’s hardly been a golden age for them? JH: Because, Andrew, I am a totally different person and I have a totally different plan. And I did vote three times for Theresa May’s deal and I’ll tell you exactly why: because I wanted to leave the European Union as quickly as possible. And had we voted to do that, as indeed did Boris Johnson and Jacob Rees-Mogg and many other people,

The Spectator

Full transcript: Boris Johnson grilled by Andrew Neil

AN: Boris Johnson, we’re going to talk a lot about policy, but I first want to talk about you, because for many people – including many Tories – your character, your reputation, trust in you is as big an issue as the policies you stand for. Do you accept that that’s a problem for you? BJ: No, I don’t at all. I think what people want to see is what my plans are to come out of the EU on October 31st, to get that deal done, take us beyond Brexit and unite the country. And I’ve got a lot of things that I think will be fantastic Conservative policies.