Politics Archives

Tuesday

9 Oct 2018

Nicola Sturgeon’s cynical Brexit position

Nicola Sturgeon rides to the rescue. That’s how the more excitable Remainers are billing the SNP leader’s eleventh-hour intervention on Brexit. And it is eleventh-hour, for Sturgeon has been vacillating on the issue for months now. She instinctively believes in EU membership, but independence not Brexit is still the foremost dividing line in Scottish politics. Since 1988 the SNP’s policy has been ‘independence in Europe’. For much of the past thirty years, that position has gone unchallenged, except at the margins and among the old timers for whom sovereignty, rather than the autonomous interdependence of the EU, remained the goal. Among the party membership, now standing at 125,000, Brexiteers are

Steerpike

David Davis de-dramatises his Brexit rhetoric

David Davis has caused a stir this afternoon after he sent a letter to Tory MPs claiming the Conservatives ‘will lose the next election’ if Theresa May continues with Chequers. The former Brexit Secretary claims the consequences will be ‘dire’. Although Mr S suspects this is not what No 10 would have had in mind for the first day back after the recess, Downing Street can take heart that Davis’s rhetoric appears to have actually softened slightly. Back in June, Davis warned the Brexit inner Cabinet that if Britain is under the backstop at the time of the next election not only would the Tories suffer defeat – it would

Steerpike

The DUP trolls ‘Michelle Barnier’

When the DUP reached a confidence and supply agreement with Theresa May in 2017 – and managed to extract a £1b bung from the government – commentators noted that after years fighting their corner during the Troubles, the party had a formidable amount of experience when it came to negotiation. Now, as Arlene Foster goes to Brussels for three intense meetings with Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, could their strategies be coming into play? Mr S notes that in a press release last night which announced the visit, the DUP mis-spelt the EU Chief Negotiator’s name, billing him as the rather more feminine ‘Michelle Barnier’. The DUP mispells EU Brexit negotiator's

Katy Balls

Why the DUP should worry Theresa May more than the European Research Group

Just over twelve hours after Arlene Foster released a statement which appeared to suggest the DUP were ready to fudge their red lines on the Irish border, the party leader popped up on BBC Ulster to make clear that this is not the case. In an interview this morning, Foster said ‘there cannot be any barriers between ourselves and the rest of the United Kingdom’: BBC: Would you entertain checks being applied to goods being imported from Great Britain? AF: No because there are many instances as to when… if you take someone getting goods in Northern Ireland coming from Great Britain those would be checked as they come into

Monday

8 Oct 2018

James Forsyth

Have the DUP just softened their Brexit position?

The next ten days are key for the prospects of a Brexit deal. By the end of dinner next Wednesday night, we’ll know whether the EU and Britain are getting close enough to strike a withdrawal agreement in November, or if they are heading for no-deal. In the run-up to this, things are going to be particularly febrile. In this climate, it would be all too easy to over-interpret Jean-Claude Juncker’s May-esque dancing or (as spotted by an eagle-eyed FT journalist) Olly Robbins’s early evening glass of red wine. The Irish border still remains the biggest obstacle to a withdrawal agreement. I understand that one source of tension between Number 10

Steerpike

Watch: Juncker mocks May

Just last week Donald Tusk took to social media to claim that the EU’s offer to the UK a ‘Canada+++’ deal was a mark of respect. Only the EU council leader failed to find space in his tweet to make clear that this offer only applied to Great Britain – not Northern Ireland. Now it’s Jean-Claude Juncker’s turn to show how he pays the UK respect. In a speech to the Committee of the Regions, the European Commission president appeared to do his best impression of Theresa May’s Dancing Queen turn at conference: Is this @JunckerEU mocking @theresa_may 's Abba dance at a speech to the Committee of the Regions?

Daniel McCarthy

Brett Kavanaugh and the death of white liberalism

This article was originally published on Spectator USA. With the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh, the Supreme Court has a solidly conservative majority for the first time since the New Deal. Just how conservative this new majority is remains to be seen: Chief Justice John Roberts disappointed the Republican right when he voted to uphold the legality of Obamacare in 2012. But if Roberts is no Antonin Scalia (the paragon of what most conservatives look for in a justice), he is no Anthony Kennedy, either. And with two of the four liberal justices on the court in their 80s, the prospect of a 6-3 or even 7-2 conservative majority is not

D Reilly

Is Taylor Swift the Democrats’ answer to Trump?

I understand how America’s Republican teens will be feeling this morning, which is to say very hurt indeed. Taylor Swift has revealed herself to be a Democrat and the news will take some getting over. For years the singer had been the slam dunk winner in any argument about the impossibility of being both culturally relevant and right-leaning in modern America. Yes, the Dems have pretty much every star of stage and screen behind their cause, but the right had Swift, the biggest star on the planet, the ace in the pack, on theirs. Take that, libs! Why did the right think Swift was on their side? Well, because back

Matthew Lynn

The flaws in Labour’s plan for a four day week

Free university for students. Free shares in your company. And now plenty of free time, with one day less in the office or the factory every week. The shadow chancellor John McDonnell hasn’t quite gotten around to promising free Krispy Kreme doughnuts in every shopping mall, abolishing fees for Sky Sports, or handing out Uber vouchers for everyone. But heck, there are still at least three years to go until the next election. It may only be a matter of time. McDonnell’s latest wheeze for buying more votes is a half-promise to reduce the.standard working week from five days to four. Apparently, with the rise of artificial intelligence, and the onwards

Sunday

7 Oct 2018

Matthew Taylor

Sunday shows round-up: John McDonnell clashes with the former head of MI6

Sir Richard Dearlove – I’m ‘troubled by Corbyn’s past’ The former head of MI6 has expressed concern about the Labour leader’s previous links to several unsavoury political groups. Speaking to Sophy Ridge, Sir Richard Dearlove outlined why he felt uneasy about the prospect of Jeremy Corbyn becoming Prime Minister: "Someone coming from my background is troubled by @jeremycorbyn's past associations. Some of which I find surprising, and worrying. He may have abandoned them now, but I don’t think you can entirely dump your past." says the former head of MI6 Sir Richard Dearlove #Ridge pic.twitter.com/J9gWgVR8K2 — Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge (@SkyPoliticsHub) October 7, 2018 RD: Someone coming from my

Steerpike

Jeremy Wright’s football fail

Is Jeremy Wright the new David Cameron? By that, Mr S does not mean to suggest that Wright is the man to go on to win a majority for the Tories at the next general election. Instead, Steerpike’s concern relates to football. During Cameron’s time in No 10, there was a running joke that despite his claims to the contrary, Dave wasn’t much of a football fan. Despite claiming he was an Aston Villa fan, Cameron later said he supported West Ham United. The new Culture Secretary is showing signs of suffering from a similar condition. In an interview with Sophy Ridge this morning, Wright said that he was particularly

Saturday

6 Oct 2018

James Forsyth

Ending austerity won’t be as simple as May made it sound

It was the line in her conference speech that demonstrated Theresa May’s desire to stay on as Prime Minister after Brexit. But it was also the line that will cause her the most trouble. I say in The Sun this morning that May’s declaration that austerity is over will cause problems even if the Tories couldn’t have fought another election on austerity. First of all, they have already pledged to spend an extra £20 billion on the NHS. At the time, many senior Tories regarded this as the party making a choice to spend ‘the proceeds of growth’ on the health service. But by now announcing the end of austerity,

Charles Moore

Boris’s critics are helping his cause

There are, one must admit, things to be said against Boris Johnson, but his leading critics do not understand that their attacks assist him. On Tuesday in Birmingham, Mrs May tried to upstage his arrival by claiming she had a new policy about post-Brexit immigration. She didn’t. The only person she upstaged was her Home Secretary, Sajid Javid, who should have been left alone to speak about a subject which, both by his job and his background, is his. Boris was boosted by her hostility, and people listened to his wide-ranging speech. His opponents must understand his subversive power instead of being pompous about it. He is clever. A classic

Friday

5 Oct 2018

Steerpike

Labour accidentally withdraw wreath-gate compaint

When it emerged over the summer that Jeremy Corbyn had attended a ceremony which commemorated the deaths of several terrorists linked to the 1972 Munich massacre, Labour were very annoyed at how newspapers covered the event. The media has seriously misrepresented what went on, they complained, while they dithered over whether Jeremy (pictured) had ever held a wreath. In an unusual step, the party showed how seriously they took the allegations by complaining to the press regulator, Ipso, about the coverage. But it appears that, despite their protests (and despite promising at Labour conference to hold the media to account) the issue has since slipped off their agenda. The Guardian

Katy Balls

Geoffrey Cox – the most important politician you’ve never heard of

In the end, the star of Conservative conference was a Brexiteer. Only it wasn’t Boris Johnson – or even Jacob Rees-Mogg. Instead, it was someone with a much lower media profile – Geoffrey Cox QC. Theresa May’s recently appointed Attorney General stole the show with a Mufasa-inspired barn-storming stage routine. In it, Cox’s booming baritone echoed across the hall as he gave a robust defence of Britain’s decision to leave the European Union – and May’s Chequers agreement: As Conservative MPs watched from the front row seats, a few had to admit that they weren’t sure who their colleague was. The bulk found that they didn’t have his phone number.

Ross Clark

Unilever’s U-turn is another blow to Project Fear

How funny. Remember how, when Unilever announced back in March that it had decided to move its headquarters from London to Rotterdam, it was all to do with Brexit? According to the Guardian’s subheadline on 14 March: ‘Brexit and favourable business conditions in Netherlands said to be behind decision’. The following day an FT leader asserted: ‘Unilever’s protestations that [the move] has nothing to do with Brexit do not convince’. It went on to add: ‘The decision is clearly coloured by the approach Theresa May has taken on Brexit, and by the way she has handled relations with business.’ As for the BBC, while its news story on 15 March

Jamie Bartlett

Why Labour’s new video should worry the Tories

Last week, the Labour Party released a video called Our Town. It is a genuine piece of art, which shows that Labour takes the medium of video seriously. The Tories need to take note. It’s not impressive because of the message itself, since the message itself is familiar: we’re going to kick-start the economy, we’re going to create decent jobs, we’re going to magic-up smaller class sizes. Everyone says that. No, it’s a piece of art because of how it’s produced. Every medium of communication has styles and modes that suit it – the medium is the message, as Marshall McLuhan famously once said. Video, as an audio and visual

Nick Cohen

The far left’s Islamist blind spot

The alliance between the white far left and the Islamist right is a dirty secret in plain sight. Few can bear to look at it. None of the books and documentaries on Corbyn’s takeover of the Labour party asked, even in passing, how people who professed to be socialists and feminists, found themselves promoting theocrats and misogynists. I have no doubt that ‘serious’ scholars will be as negligent when they come to write their accounts. In supposedly stable Britain, there is a psychological aversion to admitting that the dark corners of modern history can be the best place to find the roots of current crises. However much respectable writers hate

Thursday

4 Oct 2018

Peter Jones

Corbyn’s false democracy

At the Labour party conference, Jeremy Corbyn said that he would do whatever his party members told him to. This, apparently, is what he means by democracy. Neither the original nor the modern version bears any resemblance to it. Full-on Athenian direct democracy developed from its origins in 508 bc into a system in which every Athenian male citizen over 18 could attend an official Assembly (usually once a week) and determine, by a majority show of hands, whatever policy was put before them. These policies were presented by the Council, which consisted of 500 citizens aged over 30, serving for one year only and never more than two. They

Peter Mckay

Diary – 4 October 2018

A weekend news report says Environment Secretary Michael Gove’s childhood has been scrutinised by colleagues ‘for clues to understanding this most paradoxical of politicians — the popular, ultra-courteous free-thinker who, by knifing Boris Johnson in the 2016 Tory leadership election, became a byword for treachery’. Gove was adopted as a baby and has never sought to meet his birth parents. He speaks fondly of the Aberdeen couple who adopted him. While the article concerned was generally favourable to Gove, the line about colleagues scrutinising his childhood jarred. It seemed to suggest childhood adoption might have inclined him to later-in-life treachery, as if that was the sad result of giving a