Politics

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

Saturday

James Forsyth James Forsyth

What would the Brexit party winning the European Elections actually change?

Even with all the volatility in British politics right now, it is still remarkable that the Brexit party are favourites to win the European Elections just a week after launching. But will the Brexit party winning actually change anything, I ask in The Sun this morning. I think there are a several ways it which it will have an impact. First, it’ll make MPs more cautious about a second referendum. One of the reasons why support for the idea has grown in parliament is a belief that Remain would triumph. A Brexit party victory would challenge that assumption. Next, I suspect that Farage’s new party topping the poll would make

Charles Moore Charles Moore

Why I sympathise with David Lammy

Having been at Cambridge with the then-delightful Diane Abbott about 40 years ago, I know how hard it is for charming, intelligent black people with middle-class aspirations to make it in the Labour party without great sacrifice. They have to pull grumpy faces, pretend to be angry and claim membership — despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary — of what Frantz Fanon called ‘the wretched of the earth’. So one must sympathise with David Lammy — choral scholar of The King’s School, Peterborough, graduate of SOAS and Harvard Law School, member of Lincoln’s Inn, former government minister — as he feels the need to wave his arms about on television

Friday

Katy Balls Katy Balls

The Lionel Shriver Edition

25 min listen

Lionel Shriver is an American journalist, author and Spectator columnist. Her novel We Need to Talk About Kevin – about a mother and her son who goes on to carry out a high school massacre – won the Orange Prize for fiction in 2005. Shriver talks to Katy Balls about why she changed her name age 15, the struggles new writers face in the digital age and what role the media plays in the gun violence debate.

Thursday

Katy Balls Katy Balls

What would a Brexit party triumph mean for the Tories?

Another day, another poll predicting the Brexit party will triumph in next month’s European elections. This time, it’s a Times/YouGov poll which puts Nigel Farage’s new party ahead of both Labour and the Tories. The Brexit Party is on 23 per cent, Labour on 22 per cent and the Conservatives on 17 per cent. Meanwhile, Ukip is on 6 per cent. European Parliament voting intention: BREX: 23% (-4)LAB: 22% (-)CON: 17% (+2)GRN: 10% (-)LDEM: 9% (-)CHUK: 8% (+2)UKIP: 6% (-1) via @YouGov, 16 – 17 AprChgs. w/ 16 Apr — Britain Elects (@BritainElects) April 17, 2019 The other striking trend in recent European election polling relates to the pro-EU parties.

Wednesday

The Spectator

Letters | 17 April 2019

Moaning minnie MPs Sir: I was recently quoted in the Sun newspaper in a story about how MPs were reacting to the Brexit drama in the House of Commons. I said: ‘It feels like the Commons is having a collective breakdown — a cross between Lord of the Flies and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. People are behaving in ways that were unimaginable even just a year ago, whether they be Remainers, Leavers or in-betweens. The Brexit madness has affected us all.’ Following Melissa Kite’s article in last week’s Spectator berating MPs for being such wastrels and using my quote as an example of ‘wimpishness’ personified, I learn we

Robert Jackman

The Tories push on with their porn crackdown

This afternoon the government announced the official launch date for its age-verification scheme for online pornography. As of 15th July, X-rated websites (or at least some of them) will have a three-month grace period to ensure that all UK visitors are over 18. If they fail to do so, the government will block them from UK servers entirely.   This so called ‘porn block’ has been in the works for some time. It’s been dogged by criticism, with everyone from online privacy campaigners (who fear the potential repercussions of creating a giant database of porn-viewers) to LGBT campaigners (who say it disproportionately affects minority groups) calling for it to be

Ross Clark Ross Clark

Extinction Rebellion shouldn’t be given such an easy ride

Why is Extinction Rebellion being given such an easy ride? It isn’t hard to imagine the outrage which would rightly follow if, say, Brexiteers were to smash windows, block roads and bridges in the cause of trying to force the government into a no-deal Brexit. We would never hear the last of the Guardian condemning them for ‘fascist’ methods and attempting to bypass democracy. Yet Extinction Rebellion has been allowed to get away with all this for the past three days with hardly a murmur of protest from government ministers, MPs, commentators or anyone else. The whole things seems to have been treated a great big joke. While police have

Steerpike Steerpike

The Lib Dems’ European candidate confusion

In a press release this morning, the Liberal Democrats announced the candidates who will be representing them in the forthcoming European elections on the 23 May. A second referendum to ‘stop Brexit’ has been their flagship policy since the country voted to leave the EU, and so a good result in these European elections is of obvious importance to the party, if it wants to go any way towards achieving that goal. However, it appears that the party’s organisation still leaves something to be desired. In Wales, where each party is only allowed four candidates, it seems that the Lib Dems have put forward five – a mistake which they

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Will a Queen’s speech spell the end of May’s government?

What is the maximum point of danger for the government in the coming months? After Theresa May secured a six month Article 50 extension, many MPs along with the Tory grassroots are irate and calling for her to go. However, it’s still not clear how they could force the Prime Minister out before December (when she can once again face a confidence vote by her MPs). Meanwhile, the Brexit deadlock means that the majority of crunch votes result in no decision. Even if May moves to back a permanent customs union it’s not clear it will pass the Commons. The answer then could lie in the Queen’s speech – and

Steerpike Steerpike

Who is the busiest Tory leadership candidate of them all?

Tory MPs agree that Theresa May’s days in Downing Street are numbered, but when it comes to picking her replacement things aren’t quite as clear. Ever since May’s third bungled bid to get her withdrawal agreement through Parliament at the end of last month, the Tory leadership race has heated up. Boris Johnson remains the bookies’ favourite, closely followed by Sajid Javid. But it can be a dangerous thing being a frontrunner in a leadership contest. So could an outsider like Dominic Raab – who alluded to his status as a dark horse in a recent tweet – end up triumphing? Another danger for any candidate is not being ready

Liam Halligan

Good Friday disagreement

The relationship between the UK and the Republic of Ireland has ‘reached a hunger-strike low’, says a new study by an academic from Trinity College, Dublin. ‘Relations have not been as tense since the early 1980s and political rhetoric that had vanished by the 1990s has re-emerged,’ the paper grimly concludes. The fragility of relations between Britain and Ireland is hard-wired into me. Having grown up ‘London-Irish’ in the 1970s and 1980s, all I ever wanted was for the two countries that define my ethnicity to get on. The Maze Prison hunger strikes of 1981 and subsequent Republican bombings in London and Brighton — where, lest we forget, the British

James Forsyth James Forsyth

The Brexit backlash

One of the oddities of this parliament has been that, despite everything, the government has remained ahead in the polls up to now. But the political price of failing to pass a deal and leave the EU is now becoming apparent. Labour is ahead, Nigel Farage is back, and the right is split again. In the past month, Tory support among Leave voters has fallen by 20 per cent. In normal circumstances, such numbers would extinguish any hopes of a fourth term for the Tories. But Labour’s own divisions over Brexit and Jeremy Corbyn’s political weaknesses mean that this isn’t necessarily the case. A big argument is taking place within

James Delingpole James Delingpole

Are you culture compliant?

Here’s a quick quiz to jolly up your Easter. 1. Lucy Noble, artistic director of the Royal Albert Hall, thinks ‘white male titans’ such as Mozart, Beethoven and Bach are putting the young off classical music. Is she: a) Quite right! My kids would be gagging to go to the Royal Albert Hall if only its programmes included more black female/transgender composers they’d never heard of. b) Strangling yet another great institution. Audiences are drawn by artistic excellence, not diversity box-ticking. Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service says: ‘There is a historical need to diversify our workforce. The number of women operational staff has been under 5 per cent and black

Rod Liddle Rod Liddle

Why conservatives can’t survive in government

I had mixed feelings about the sacking of Roger Scruton from the government’s Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission, following comments he made to the New Statesman. On the one hand it was utterly shameful and gutless on the part of the government, although no worse than one has come to expect from members of a party that is conservative in name only. On the other hand, I have never been a huge admirer of Roger’s aesthetic sensibilities, no matter how eloquently they are expressed. He seems to have no time for anything which has happened since about 1738. I can’t be exactly sure what he had in mind for our

Mary Wakefield Mary Wakefield

The true cross

The bravest thing I’ve ever seen was 93-year-old Albert’s decision to die and the days after in which he stuck to his resolve and sank away from consciousness, like a swimmer turning tail and just diving down into the dark. Albert was not religious, but I’m writing this now because though I’ve been Catholic for a decade, it was only after his final week, in the spring of last year, that I began to understand Easter and the Passion of Christ. I first met Albert when fate decided to call my bluff. For years I’d bored on to my husband about the need for a scheme to put locals in

Tuesday

Philip Patrick Philip Patrick

What did Japan make of Jeremy Hunt’s Brexit mission? 

Attempting to explain Brexit in 90 seconds might remind you of a Monty Python sketch, but this is what Jeremy Hunt attempted in front of a class of Japanese high school students on Monday. The foreign secretary gave a carefully worded summary of the Brexit situation using the graded language of the English language teacher he used to be. It’s not clear whether the students were any the wiser after he spoke, but the real aim of the lesson was achieved: to generate positive headlines for the Foreign Secretary on his latest visit to Japan. Hunt has some advantages. He lived in Japan in his early 20s, mastered the language and

Steerpike Steerpike

Watch: Richard Burgon caught out saying ‘Zionism is the enemy of peace’

In 2016, Labour’s shadow justice secretary and Corbyn ally Richard Burgon was asked a rather simple question by Andrew Neil when he appeared on the Daily Politics. The show took place shortly after allegations were made in the Daily Mail that the MP has said ‘Zionism is the enemy of peace’. As you would expect, in the midst of Labour’s ongoing issues with the Jewish community, Burgon was therefore given the opportunity to correct the record by Neil, and asked if the reported remarks were correct. In response, Burgon shrugged off the accusations, replying at least three times when pressed that he ‘didn’t say that’, ‘didn’t make those comments’ and ‘would not

Monday

Kapil Komireddi

India should not ask Britain to apologise for the Amritsar massacre

On the afternoon of 13 April 1919, troops commanded by brigadier-general Reginald Dyer opened fire on thousands of unarmed Indian protesters massed at an enclosed garden in Amritsar in Punjab known as Jallianwala Bagh. When the shooting stopped – and it stopped only because Dyer ran out of ammunition – some 500 people, mostly Sikhs, lay dead. Dyer lost his job but kept his life, liberty, and reputation. Bigots in Britain, energetically vilifying those who denounced him, raised thousands of pounds to lubricate his transition from the subcontinent to the English countryside. Edwin Montagu, secretary of state for India, was traduced in the press and in the corridors of the Commons as

Daniel DePetris

Libya’s crisis exposes the deep divide at the heart of the EU

The European Union already has a lot on its plate. The continuing doom of Brexit, upcoming parliamentary elections, a resurgent and ever strident nationalist movement across the continent and migration to name only a few. But over the last week, Libya can be added to the list. The armed conflict just across the Mediterranean is splitting the EU. Not for the first time, it makes the institution look floundering, divided and unsure of its capacities. Libya has been a basket-case ever since a Nato and Arab-led military coalition helped the country’s rebel brigades kick Gaddafi from power. The North African nation is in reality not a nation at all, but

Nikki Da Costa

Can Britain really leave the EU before the European elections?

Last Thursday the Prime Minister told MPs that ‘if we were able to pass a deal by 22 May, we would not have to take part in European elections and, when the EU has also ratified, we would be able to leave at 11pm on 31 May.’ Her point – since picked up by ministers – was to ram home to Leave supporting MPs that ‘the date of our departure from the EU, and our participation in the European parliamentary elections’ was down to them. But is it realistic to think this timetable can be met? Can the government deliver? In my view, this would require a level of legislative