Politics Archives

Thursday

18 Oct 2018

These are dangerous days for Theresa May

I am very sorry to do this to you, but it turns out that the incendiary extension to the UK’s period as a non-voting member of the EU – the mooted extra months in “transition” – isn’t really an extension. It is an “option” on an extension, the right to have an extension. Yes you guessed it: what we are talking about is another flipping backstop. And yes I too am losing the will to live as these Brexit talks descend from giant geopolitics to nightmarish logical puzzles. Here is the background. The EU cannot – it insists – agree our preferred version of the Northern Ireland backstop as part

James Forsyth

Extending the transition period won’t solve May’s Brexit woes

There is no Brexit transition period without a withdrawal agreement. There can be no withdrawal agreement without a deal on the Irish border, the trickiest issue as I say in the magazine this week, so extending the transition cannot solve this problem. Now, some say that extending the transition makes it less likely that the Northern Irish backstop would ever have to be used. But it is worth remembering that the DUP’s objections to the backstop are philosophical as much as practical, they don’t like even acknowledging the idea that Northern Ireland should be treated so differently to the rest of the UK. It is hard to imagine the DUP

Steerpike

Michael Caine: Why I’m still a Brexiteer

With the Brexit negotiations hitting an impasse, Theresa May is under pressure from Brussels to make yet more concessions. Meanwhile, the ‘People’s Vote’ campaign is keen to tell anyone who will listen that public opinion has changed and Remain is now the mood of the country. Only as far as Mr S can tell the vast bulk of Brexiteers are still… Brexiteers. Speaking on the Today programme this morning, Michael Caine explained why he is still a Brexiteer in a conversation on optimism: MC: I’m a Brexiteer myself. JW: Still are? MC: Oh yeah, certainly. And people say ‘oh you’ll be poor’, you’ll be this, you’ll be that’. Well, I’d rather

Charles Moore

Why the civil service’s Brexit approach is damaging the negotiations

Sir Mark Sedwill, the acting cabinet secretary, wrote to the Times on Tuesday to defend the honour of Olly Robbins, the Prime Minister’s EU adviser, who is credited, if that is the mot juste, with delivering Brexit. He was right to do so, because Mr Robbins is not allowed, by the rules, to defend himself, and ministers have unfortunately become readier than in the past to brief against civil servants. (And it must be said, civil servants to brief against ministers: look at the torrent of stuff against Boris Johnson while he was Foreign Secretary.) But I would ask Sir Mark to consider the question as it looks from the

James Forsyth

The Irish problem | 18 October 2018

The story of Britain and Ireland’s relationship has, all too often, been one of mutual incomprehension: 1066 and All That summed up the view on this side of St George’s Channel with the line that ‘Every time the English tried to solve the Irish question, the Irish changed the question.’ But Theresa May’s problem right now is that the Irish — and the European Union — won’t change the question and the only answers they’ll accept are unacceptable to Mrs May and her cabinet. To the astonishment of many, the Irish border has become the defining issue of Brexit. There is now a serious and growing risk that the issue

Wednesday

17 Oct 2018

Steerpike

Westminster votes to stay in… at the Kennington Tandoori referendum

Ever since the Brexit referendum, it’s been a fact of British political life that the most important decisions, that will have the profoundest impact on society, will not be decided by politicians, but by the people. Therefore it made perfect sense when politicians questioned Westminster’s favourite curry house’s decision to update its menu, that the proposed menu change be put to a referendum. Sparks flew at the Kennington Tandoori – famous for delivering David Cameron’s final meal at No 10 – earlier this month after the restaurant updated its classics in the name of a street food revolution. Was this still a safe space for Parliamentarians? In order to find

Isabel Hardman

Do ministers understand how financial abuse works?

Another question to the Prime Minister today that’s worth noting came from Labour MP Danielle Rowley on Universal Credit. She was asking not about the well-known problems with the roll-out of the benefit, but about a flaw with its very design: ‘The Work and Pensions Committee heard evidence that the lack of automatic split payments for universal credit means that women are being trapped in abusive relationships. That absolutely disgusts me, but how does it make the Prime Minister feel?’ Currently, Universal Credit is paid to the household as a whole. The problem with this is when one member of a couple is abusing the other, and controlling all their

Steerpike

NYT doom-mongers strike again: ‘Stockpiling for a chaotic Brexit’

Here we go again. It’s no big secret that these days the New York Times isn’t so fond of Blighty. The American paper frequently publishes gloomy articles about what’s gone wrong in the UK – whether it’s mistaking a newspaper sketch writer’s joke about the French for Brexit bias, factually incorrect articles about London’s once ‘mutton-filled’ culinary scene or questionable claims about ‘Austerity Britain’. But the latest issue of the NYT may just take the biscuit. The front page carries a story on the many Brits who have apparently started to ‘stockpile for Brexit’. Apparently Brits are already getting rationing underway with one interviewee comparing the situation to WW2: Thursday’s International NEW

Steerpike

John McDonnell attempts to reinvent himself

In recent months, there has been speculation that John McDonnell has leadership ambitions – and a rift has formed between the shadow chancellor and his one-time comrade Jeremy Corbyn. So, it won’t have gone unnoticed by the Leader’s Office that McDonnell today embarked on a charm offensive of the MSM – also know as the Parliamentary Press Gallery. Speaking at a Press Gallery lunch, the socialist politician told hacks that he had decided to address lunch after his local priest suggested he needed to ‘soften’ his image: ‘He persuaded me to do this. He said you need to soften your image. So do Mumsnet and do this…. I’m trying to

Isabel Hardman

Focusing on Bercow won’t change the ‘toxic culture’ of bullying in the Commons

Today’s Prime Minister’s Questions was a little shorter than usual. This was partly because, as James says, John Bercow spoke rather less. Normally, the Speaker likes to lecture MPs about how their behaviour will appear to the public, even sometimes using the word ‘bullying’. Such lectures will have considerably less force now, given Bercow is one of those criticised by the Dame Laura Cox report for failing to tackle the ‘toxic culture’ of bullying and sexual harassment in the House of Commons. There has, though, been undue focus on Bercow as a result of the way some on both sides have been approaching this matter. Labour’s frontbench line that Brexit

Lloyd Evans

John Bercow finally delivered a Speaker’s masterclass at PMQs

A strange PMQs. Usually the session is dominated by honking throats and empurpled faces. Today there were interesting facts and useful opinions. Amazing! An expertly briefed Jeremy Corbyn put Theresa May on the spot by noting that she’d omitted to say ‘Chequers’ in her conference speech or during recent performances in parliament. So is it dead? No, she said. And the question forced her to mention her orphaned love-child by its baptismal name – ‘the Chequers plan’ – for the first time in weeks. Next, a financial shock. Corbyn asked her to confirm Philip Hammond’s warning that quitting without a deal will still land us with a divorce bill of 36 billion

James Forsyth

Corbyn pinpoints May’s Brexit weak spot

The most testing half an hour of Theresa May’s day won’t be PMQs. Instead it’ll come this evening when she addresses EU leaders on Brexit. Jeremy Corbyn did, though, go on Brexit. The Labour leader rightly identified the December joint report, which Theresa May agreed to, as her biggest area of weakness. Much of what May now says is unacceptable when it comes to Northern Ireland flows from that document. But, as is so often the case, his questioning wasn’t forensic enough. He didn’t pin the Prime Minister down or follow up on her answers. This was a fairly low-key session of PMQs. John Bercow spoke less than usual, perhaps

Katy Balls

Theresa May’s Mufasa becomes a problem for Downing Street

Has Theresa May’s Mufasa just transformed into No 10’s most troublesome minister? Geoffrey Cox – the Attorney General – shot to the public consciousness this month thanks to his star turn as the warm up act for May at Conservative party conference. The seasoned QC gave a barn-storming speech (which drew Lion King comparisons) calling for his fellow Brexiteers to get behind May and prepare to compromise in their quest for a good deal for the UK. As regular Coffee House readers will be aware, this was the second time Cox had thrown May a lifeline. Prior to his appointment to the Cabinet, the Conservative MP demonstrated his loyalty to Theresa

Steerpike

Roll call of shame: the Labour MPs backing Bercow

Labour MPs like to see themselves on the front line when it comes to protecting women’s rights and creating safe workplaces for everyone. In fact, the slightest sign of impropriety in the Conservative Party or society at large is usually enough for them to call for sackings and public apologies. So you would expect after an impartial report said that Speaker John Bercow would not be able to tackle the House’s huge bullying and harassment problem – and hinted that he should be removed, the Labour benches would be the first to call for him to go. Apparently not. It appears that when you have a Speaker who is popular

Tuesday

16 Oct 2018

Robert Peston

How will Theresa May solve her backstop conundrum?

I’ve been asking officials and ministers for the prime minister’s cunning plan to solve the seemingly impossible Brexit puzzle – of proving to her Brexiters that the Northern Ireland backstop plan would be temporary while avoiding any specified fixed termination date (because a backstop with a fixed termination date cannot, by definition, be a backstop; to mix metaphors, it would be a cliff edge). Here is what I’ve been told: ‘The backstop cannot be limited by a fixed date’ said a member of the government (telling you and me what the EU insists upon, but what Tory Brexiter MPs see as heresy). ‘But it might be capable of limitation by

Steerpike

Margaret Beckett puts her foot in it

It’s been a curious day in Parliament after Labour MPs en masse came to John Bercow’s defence amid a damning report into bullying in Parliament. Despite the report concluding that the Speaker is among those who should consider their position, numerous Labour MPs have said that he should stay in place. It seems that treating employees well pales in comparison to having a chair sympathetic to your party’s Brexit opposition. The majority of Labour MPs (see Steerpike’s full roll call of shame) have been vague when it comes to their real intentions. However, in an interview with the BBC, Margaret Beckett has broken rank and offered an honest explanation as

Isabel Hardman

John Bercow is avoiding taking responsibility with his ‘resignation’ plan

John Bercow has told friends he is to step down as Speaker, according to the BBC. This follows Dame Laura Cox’s report into bullying and sexual harassment of House of Commons staff which says the existing senior leadership team in the Commons – including the Speaker – are probably incapable of changing the current ‘toxic culture’. But this is not Bercow taking responsibility. In fact, he isn’t even announcing anything new. He will retire next June, which has been the plan since May of this year. James reported this in the Sun at the time, and it seems similar ‘friends of the Speaker’ have been speaking to the BBC again.

Brendan O’Neill

The problem with hate crime | 16 October 2018

It always amazes me that people think it is normal and acceptable to have hate-crime legislation. To have laws which allow for the harsher punishment of people who entertain prejudiced thoughts while committing an offence. To have it written into the actual statute books that the man who punches a Buddhist because he hates Buddhism can be punished more severely than the man who punches a Buddhist because he hates that individual Buddhist for some reason. When are we going to twig that this represents the punishment of thought, of ideology, of belief (warped belief, but still)? I don’t like that Britain has become a country in which people, especially the

Steerpike

Watch: Maria Miller tells John Bercow to go

John Bercow is under growing pressure to step down over the report into bullying in the Commons. But while the Speaker has been all too eager to take a stand in the past – saying, for instance, that Donald Trump was not welcome in Parliament – he isn’t taking the hint when it comes to his own future. In the Commons just now, Maria Miller told Bercow to his face that it was time for him to go: ‘The report is clear that there needs to be a complete change in leadership at the most senior level, including you, Mr Speaker, if we are…to press the reset button’ Will Bercow

Isabel Hardman

Labour chooses party political interest over tackling Commons bullying

Why has Labour decided to give John Bercow at least a stay of execution as Speaker? Emily Thornberry was asked about whether Bercow should go following Dame Laura Cox’s damning report on bullying and harassment in the House of Commons, and argued that she shouldn’t go. She told Sky News: ‘I think this is absolutely not the time to be changing Speaker. We don’t know for example with regard to Brexit as to what is going to happen, whether there’s going to be technically an amendable motion or not, whether it’ll be the Speaker’s discretion as to whether it is. We do need to have all hands to the deck