Politics Archives

Friday

10 Aug 2018

Steerpike

How the Miliband has fallen

When Ed Miliband was elected Labour leader in 2010, he must have imagined himself headlining Labour conferences for years to come. He would stand on stage delivering the defining political speeches and bold policy moves that would propel him to victory in a general election. Alas, many bacon sandwiches, conference gaffes, and an EdStone later, it didn’t quite end up as he wanted. Miliband can take heart that he is still on the line-up at this year’s Momentum sponsored conference ‘The World Transformed,’ but probably not quite as high up in the billing as he pictured eight years ago. Instead, while the likes of Jeremy Corbyn and Diane Abbott strut

Steerpike

Letterbox-gate: who said it first – Boris or the Guardian?

In a strongly worded editorial on Tuesday, the Guardian newspaper did not hide its contempt for what it called Boris Johnson’s ‘tasteless newspaper column joke’ which compared women in burqas to letterboxes. ‘Baroness Warsi was absolutely correct to call Mr Johnson out on this on Tuesday when she called the remarks “dog-whistle Islamophobia”‘, it thundered. All of this somewhat surprised Mr Steerpike. Not because of the sanctimony, but because, as one eagle-eye reader got in touch to point out, the paper had already beaten Boris to the joke. In 2013, it published a column by Remona Aly entitled ‘Nine uses for a burqa … that don’t involve bashing them.’ In

Steerpike

Ken Livingstone: Boris Johnson should be kicked out of the Tory party

Oh dear. Of all the figures to come out against Boris Johnson over his comments comparing women wearing the full face veil to ‘letterboxes’, Ken Livingstone is perhaps the most audacious. Despite his penchant for talking about Hitler and zionism at every broadcast opportunity, Red Ken has today declared that Johnson has gone too far and must go. Speaking on LBC, he said: ‘He isn’t really a politician, he just wants to be a famous celebrity. Frankly, I think the Tory Party should dump him.’ Not the most obvious candidate for taking the moral high ground…

Steerpike

Is Boris Johnson a policing priority in London?

In case you were wondering where the Boris burqa row had left to go, Cressida Dick, the head of the Metropolitan Police, has waded into the debate. Despite no one actually coming forward to report a crime, Cressida decided to ask her ‘very experienced officers’ if Boris Johnson’s comparing of women in burqas to ‘letter boxes’ could constitute a hate crime. Unsurprisingly, they told her that the threshold for criminality had not been passed and she duly let the world know that the former Foreign Secretary would not be investigated. If Cressida Dick is looking for ways to best fill her time, can Mr Steerpike suggest that she busy herself

Thursday

9 Aug 2018

Peter Jones

Let’s hear Corbyn’s ‘logos’

Jeremy Corbyn regularly apologises on the subject of anti-Semitism, yet admits that he has done nothing wrong. So what does he actually mean by ‘apology’? He obviously does not feel the need to repent — the usual implication of the term — because he is convinced, as always, of his own unassailable rectitude. Perhaps it would clarify matters if he were to apologise in the Greek sense of the word. Apologia meant giving an account of what you had done and justifying your reasons for doing it. It was primarily a legal term. Socrates’ ‘Apology’ in 399 bc, for example, was his defence against charges laid at his door of corrupting

The Spectator

Portrait of the week | 9 August 2018

Home Brandon Lewis, the chairman of the Conservative party, demanded that Boris Johnson, the former foreign secretary, should apologise for saying, in an article defending the right of women in Britain to wear the burka or the niqab, that it was at the same time ‘absolutely ridiculous that people should choose to go around looking like letter boxes’. Theresa May, the Prime Minister, said: ‘The language that Boris used has offended people.’ Jennie Formby, the general secretary of the Labour party, wrote to Dame Margaret Hodge saying that no further action would be taken against her. Dame Margaret was said to have called Jeremy Corbyn, the party leader, an ‘anti-Semite’.

The Spectator

Bravo Boris

Ever since Boris Johnson resigned as foreign secretary, it was generally assumed that there would — in time — be a dramatic clash with Theresa May. But it was thought that the Prime Minister would pick her battle over a point of principle, perhaps on Europe, rather than over a joke in his Daily Telegraph column. Boris was defending the right of Muslims to wear what they like in public, but added that he thinks niqabs look like letterboxes. The ministerial reaction has been extraordinary, and deeply unedifying. Boris’s point was that, in banning the niqab, Denmark had passed a surprisingly illiberal piece of legislation — all the more surprising

Xan Smiley

Feeding the Crocodile

It is a tragedy that the party that has ruined Zimbabwe, led by a man who was one of the chief perpetrators of its misery, has managed by hook or by crook to win a fresh mandate. The narrow margin of 0.8 per cent by which Emmerson Mnangagwa secured his victory in last week’s presidential contest will inevitably raise suspicions of foul play. But he will almost certainly be given the benefit of the doubt, not least by the British government. Mnangagwa, known as the Crocodile for his habit of biding his time and crunching his enemies as Robert Mugabe’s chief enforcer and election-rigger, has said some sensible things since overthrowing

Katy Balls

Boris Johnson to face Tory probe over burka comments

It’s day four of the Boris and the burka row over the former foreign secretary’s decision to compare women wearing full face veils to a ‘letterboxes’ in a Telegraph column. And it doesn’t look as though things will die down any time soon. The Conservatives are planning to launch a party probe into Johnson over his comments. Spearheaded by party chairman Brandon Lewis, complaints against the Tory MP will be referred to an internal disciplinary panel. A Conservative Party spokesman said: ‘The code of conduct process is strictly confidential’. To say this will go down badly with Johnson’s supporters is an understatement. Given that the whole point of Johnson’s article was a liberal

Steerpike

Rupa Huq’s concern over hate crime – then and now

As the Boris burqa row continues to dominate the news agenda for the fourth day on the trot, the former Foreign Sec’s enemies are still queuing round the block for the chance to stick the boot in. It’s hard to say though if many are actually offended by Johnson’s comments, or simply using the opportunity to settle old grudges. It was Labour MP Rupa Huq’s turn to go on the attack last night on Channel 4 news, and as Mr S pointed out, she certainly seemed to enjoy doing it. But the MP also levelled more serious accusations against Boris, saying that his comments had the potential to whip up

Steerpike

Watch: Rupa Huq’s Boris impression

Boris Johnson appears to be getting it from all sides today as the row over his burka comments hits day four – and he graces the front page of six newspapers. So, perhaps some light relief could be found on Channel 4 news. In a discussion on right wing populism and Johnson’s comments, Labour’s Rupa Huq launched into a bizarre impersonation of the Tory MP. However, she was soon cut off by host Krishnan Guru-Murthy when she made a risque joke: Meant to say @Channel4News "The Boris of old was mildly amusing but the loveable rogue act's worn thin and now he's dangerously pandering to the far right" but never ended

Greg Hall

The History Boys of Brexit

What do Boris Johnson, Jacob Rees-Mogg and Dominic Cummings all have in common? They are Brexiteers, of course. Yet little is it known that they all studied history or classics at university. Add to this list John Redwood, Bill Cash, Daniel Hannan, Owen Paterson and Douglas Carswell — some of the most influential Eurosceptic MPs from the past 30 years. Michael Gove may have studied English literature, but as education secretary he sought to establish a ‘narrative of British progress’ in the history curriculum. Boris has written a biography of Winston Churchill and Nick Timothy has written a biography of Joseph Chamberlain. Even two of the so-called ‘Bad Boys of

Martin Vander Weyer

A nation of original thinkers

Let’s remind ourselves what we mean by ‘disruptor’. A truly disruptive business revolutionises its marketplace by delivering radical improvements in choice, price and accessibility. A disruptor may be a boffin or a bold lateral thinker: Henry Ford did not invent the motorcar any more than Airbnb invented the ‘homestay’, but both created systems that made the product cheaper and more available than ever before — and both count as great disruptors. But these days ‘disruptor’ status is claimed by all manner of ventures. So in choosing our shortlist for the Award sponsored by Julius Baer, we had to sort the original from the derivative and distinguish those that are already

Martin Vander Weyer

We fume at Amazon’s tax trickery as we marvel at its one-click convenience

‘There has to be a level playing field so that… Amazon cannot undercut domestic booksellers by using the tax advantage of booking in Luxembourg a sale to a UK customer that is fulfilled from a UK warehouse.’ I wrote that five years ago: since then, no government anywhere has effectively addressed the issue of global tax minimisation by online giants and multinational consumer brands. As Amazon’s merchandise range has expanded, it has gone on undercutting not just our last surviving bookshops but every other business-rate-burdened local retailer. Meanwhile, as its market capitalisation soars towards $900 billion, its founder Jeff Bezos has become the richest man ever, with a $150 billion

Wednesday

8 Aug 2018

Ann Sinnott

I’ve quit the Labour Party because it has betrayed women

I was elected as a Labour Councillor to Cambridge City Council in 2014 and re elected in May this year. Just five weeks after the elections, the Council’s breach of the 2010 Equality Act surfaced on Twitter. Just ten days after the Act became law, an amendment to the Council’s Equality policy had been voted through committee. This amendment abolished women-only facilities in the city including toilets and changing rooms – and plunged the council into illegality. It meant that male-born transwomen could access female facilities. The council further breached the Act by failing to consult with women and by not conducting an Equality Impact Assessment to assess potential negative

Ross Clark

Britain needs a party for the ‘gammon’ vote

News comes this morning, after much speculation, of an organised attempt to create a new British political party, called United for Change, funded by LoveFilm entrepreneur Simon Franks. It doesn’t have any MPs yet, apparently, and may not have any when it launches this autumn. Is there a hole in the market for a new political party? Yes, but not a party of what the Metropolitan Left likes to call the ‘centre’. The gaping hole, as has become clear from the saga of Boris and burqas, is for a non-woke conservative party – one which unashamedly espouses conservative values without hoovering up every metropolitan liberal cause which passes beneath its

Steerpike

Boris Johnson ally fights back

As Cabinet ministers and Tory MPs line up to attack Boris Johnson over his burka comments, some are wondering if another politician would merit such a backlash. Right on cue, Johnson’s former PPS Conor Burns has popped up to take a pop at his colleagues. Burns says some of his colleagues don’t even seem to have read the piece they are ‘desperate’ to distance themselves from: We are now into full bandwagon jumping territory on @BorisJohnson article. Seeing some of the tweets from colleagues desperate not to get left behind I can't see they can even have read it. If they did they clearly didn't understand it. — Conor Burns

Steerpike

Former deputy mayor on the double standards of Boris backlash

Boris Johnson graces the front pages of not one but seven newspapers this morning as the row over his burka comments rumbles on. It’s not gone unnoticed in eurosceptic circles that Remain Tory MPs have been the quickest to pile in on the former foreign secretary over his letterbox comparison. This has led to suspicion that this row is less a serious debate about the burka and more part of a ‘stop Boris’ campaign. Happily, Munira Mirza was on hand this morning to make sure that there aren’t any double standards on display going forward. Speaking on the Today programme, Johnson’s former deputy mayor asked where the outrage was when

Qanta Ahmed

As a Muslim woman, I’d like to thank Boris Johnson for calling out the niqab | 8 August 2018

As a Muslim woman observing Islam, I am fully supportive of Boris Johnson’s rejection of the niqab. And I wonder how many of the former Foreign Secretary’s critics understand my religion, what this form of dress represents and the subjugation it implies. To defend the niqab and to defend Muslim women are, I can assure you, two very different things indeed. Growing up Muslim in Britain, not once was I compelled to cover my hair. This changed when I moved to Saudi Arabia to practice medicine. Arriving in the Kingdom, by Saudi Arabia’s Sharia law, I could not go out into public without concealing my entire body, save face and

Stephen Daisley

Boris Johnson’s Trumpian path to power

Barely had the ink dried on Stephen Robinson’s imaginative apologia for Boris Johnson — he is compared, courageously, to Churchill — than the former foreign secretary reminded us of his capacity for blunder. In his Telegraph column Johnson assailed the ‘burka’ for leaving Muslim women ‘looking like letter boxes’ and ‘bank robber[s]’. I say ‘burka’ but ‘letter box’ suggests he actually meant the niqab. A regular Abu Hanifa is this one. But was it a blunder? Or did Johnson, freed from such responsibilities as he felt bound by in the Foreign Office, consider the renewed vigour of anti-Muslim populism and decide to sound a dogwhistle? He certainly couldn’t have failed