Politics Archives

Saturday

5 May 2018

‘Toxic masculinity’ is a toxic phrase

To tackle London’s murder problem, Sarah Jones, Labour Party and Croydon Central MP, told the BBC that a ‘public health approach’ is needed. This, she says, involves going into schools and teaching ‘what it is to be a man.’ Quite so. Masculinity can and ought to be taught. But is this really a job for schools? A recent article in the New York Times, entitled, ‘Boys to Men: Teaching and Learning About Masculinity in an Age of Change’ thinks so. It discusses how to address what is often referred to as ‘toxic masculinity’ – a phrase applied to the notion of ‘manning up’, ‘growing a pair’; the idea that men

Stephen Daisley

Jewish voters didn’t just beat Labour, they shamed them

When it became clear that Labour had fallen far short of its overhyped expectations in the local elections, I tweeted this: https://twitter.com/JournoStephen/status/992317867004657664 I would now like to retract, but only in one instance. Adam Langleben, councillor for West Hendon in Barnet, lost his seat on Thursday. Given Barnet’s sizeable Jewish population, and Labour now being the Hampstead Hezbollah, in all likelihood his party’s antisemitism cost him re-election. Which is perverse since Langleben has been one of the bravest partisans in a counter-insurgency of Jews determined to expose and expel antisemites from Labour’s ranks. His has been a clarion voice for justice and decency in a party which has shown little

Steerpike

The FT remembers Karl Marx – ‘more relevant than ever’

Happy Karl Marx day. To mark the 200th anniversary of the revolutionary philosopher’s birth, a statue of the revolutionary philosopher (funded by the Chinese, natch) has been erected in his German hometown Trier to protests, Owen Jones has tweeted a picture of his cat reading Das Kapital and a range of pieces have been published across the media on his legacy. Only some articles are more gushing than others. Take for example, the Financial Times essay on new Marx biography ‘A World to Win: The Life and Works of Karl Marx’. The glowing piece sees the journalist offer a rather selective account and verdict of Marx’s life and legacy. Adam Tooze praises the

James Forsyth

Theresa May won’t abandon her customs partnership idea: but she should

Theresa May has received a shot in the arm from the local election results. But, as I say in The Sun this morning, she still needs to deal with the whole customs partnership question. Even after the remarkable rebuff that the ‘new customs partnership’ received from the Brexit inner Cabinet on Wednesday, despite the Prime Minister putting her authority on the line by making clear her support for it, Number 10 won’t give up on the idea. It believes that with a few changes it can be made to work. Already, ministers are being told that what really matters is getting out of the EU. The case is being made

Friday

4 May 2018

Alastair Benn

Why do Tories love Ayn Rand?

Our new Home Secretary Sajid Javid is a big Ayn Rand fan: twice a year, he reads the courtroom scene in ‘The Fountainhead’. He said so in an interview with The Spectator: “It’s about the power of the individual … About sticking up for your beliefs, against popular opinion. Being that individual that really believes in something and goes for it.” This curious fetish for Ayn Rand extends to conservatives on both sides of the Atlantic – Paul Ryan often gives Rand’s novel ‘Atlas Shrugged’ as a Christmas present. Javid is a capable figure who has no less of a chance of ascending to the top than any other of

Katy Balls

How Redditch, Peterborough and Nuneaton saved the bank holiday weekend

Ahead of the local elections – and the predictions of a bloodbath for the Conservatives – it seemed a safe bet that on the night the official Tory MP WhatsApp message group would be filled with complaints about bad results – possibly bad leadership – and a number of Conservative MPs warning emotional colleagues to hold it together and get behind Theresa May. Instead, the problem was of another variety: ‘where’s my graphic?’ Tory MPs used the thread to complain not about their leader but the fact the ‘Tory held’ or ‘Tory win’ Twitter banners weren’t ready in time to share. As Theresa May goes into the weekend, her position

Steerpike

Watch: Martin Lewis schools Labour MP on Question Time over tuition fees

In the flurry of excitement over the local elections, Chi Onwurah’s Question Time appearance has been cruelly overlooked. Happily, Mr S is on hand to right this wrong. The Labour MP’s attempt to criticise the Tories over student loans backfired last night. The Labour MP spoke of her apparent fears that a working-class student could be put off university by the amount they would have to pay back. But Onwurah didn’t account for a furious Martin Lewis, who was also on the Question Time panel, taking her to task for her comments: Astonishing scenes on #bbcqt as a furious moneysaving expert Martin Lewis destroys Labour’s Chi Onwurah over her attempts use student debt

James Kirkup

The Tories should learn from Wandsworth – not celebrate it

I live in Wandsworth. It’s nice. That’s not a political comment, just an observation on the borough. OK, it’s not edgy or cool or even wildly imaginative, but neither am I. It is also the sort of place the Tories should win at a canter. There’s a reason it’s called a flagship council, after all. It’s still Conservative today and Tories are celebrating that: Theresa May has been in the borough lauding “success” and noting that Labour threw a lot of resources at Wandsworth and appeared to believe that it really might turn the borough red. Of course, a win’s a win and nothing else really matters, but I can’t

Fraser Nelson

Jeremy Corbyn had a bad night – but the Tories still have much to fear from the left

It’s a bit mean to accuse the Tories of cynical expectations management, as Jeremy Corbyn has just done. Their panic was quite genuine. I’ve spoken to a great many Tories over the last few weeks, and none would have been so bold as to predict today’s results. Rallings & Thrasher had expected the Tories to lose 75 seats in aggregate, and so far they’re about flat. Given the awful time that Theresa May has had recently, it’s not a bad result. It was, as Tory chairman Brandon Lewis has said, a ‘reasonable’ night. But the fact that such a close result is described as ‘reasonable’ shows how far things have

Isabel Hardman

Jeremy Corbyn attacks Tory local election spin

If you want to know how last night was for the Labour Party, you need to look no further than the statement that Jeremy Corbyn has just released on the results. It is not a celebratory comment on Labour’s spectacular night, but a defensive one, describing the local elections as a ‘solid set of results’. He adds: ‘In a sign of how worried they are about Labour’s advance, the Tories talked up our chances to unrealistic levels, especially in London. The results show they’re right to be worried – we came within a whisker of winning Wandsworth for the first time in over 40 years.’ Corbyn is right, by the

Steerpike

Watch: Red Ken doubles down on Hitler

Has Labour’s anti-Semitism row cost the party in the local elections? Given their disappointing results in areas with a large number of Jewish voters, such as Barnet, it would seem so. So is Ken Livingstone feeling apologetic for repeatedly talking about Hitler? Not so, if his interview on Sky News just now was anything to go on. Instead of apologising for embarrassing his party, Ken doubled down on his comments, and again droned on about Adolf Hitler’s view of zionism: ‘There is a lot of Jewish people not just in Barnet but all over the place who believe I said Hitler was a zionist. That was the big smear on

Will Heaven

London shows that the more voters get to know Corbyn, the less they like him

It was always possible, I wrote a month ago, that the London elections would show voters baulking for the first time at the prospect of Jeremy Corbyn in power, especially after the protests in Westminster against anti-Semitism. That hasn’t quite happened: it seems there has been a slight swing to Labour in the capital, unlike the rest of the country. But fears of a Tory bloodbath in London – of Corbynistas and Sadiq Khan supporters painting the town red – were misplaced. The Tories have kept hold of their crown jewel boroughs: Westminster, Wandsworth, Kensington and Chelsea. Remarkably, they have even taken back control of Barnet, in north London, which

Steerpike

Ukip’s general secretary compares party to the black death

Ukip has had a dismal night in the local elections: the party is so far down 92 seats, and retains only two council seats across Britain. Some politicians might do their best to try and put a gloss on things – but not Ukip’s general secretary, Paul Oakley, who has compared his party to the black death. Oakley told the Today programme: UKIP’s general secretary @PaulJamesOakley compares his party to the Black Death. ☠️ He claims that’s not a bad thing and says it’s not over for his party. #Election2018 #r4today pic.twitter.com/dJ0Tim3Mns— BBC Radio 4 Today (@BBCr4today) May 4, 2018 ‘Think of the Black Death in the Middles Ages. It

Steerpike

Watch: John McDonnell loses his temper

It’s been a somewhat disappointing night for Labour, and Mr S wonders whether his party’s failure might have upset John McDonnell. Earlier this morning, the shadow chancellor was taken to task for his comments about Esther McVey being lynched. Claire Perry called for McDonnell to say sorry – an opportunity McDonnell turned down. Here’s how their exchange unfolded on BBC News: Perry: Are you going to apologise now? This is your chance to say sorry. Look at this hand gesture: get back in your box, woman. McDonnell: This is unacceptable in a programme like this So, Minister Claire Perry tries to get John McDonnell to apologise for saying he thought

Steerpike

Local election analysis: Owen Jones’s success* rate

Owen Jones has been on a mission of late – a mission to unseat Tories. The Guardian columnist has been taking his campaign to key Labour target seats. Only despite the Guardian columnist’s best efforts, Labour have had a rather underwhelming night in the local elections. So, in order to help with future planning, Mr S thought it might be helpful to examine the varying degrees of success* when it comes to Jones’s campaign work: Owen Jones visited Kensington Tory HOLD Owen Jones campaigned in Kensington where Labour had high hopes of making gains and perhaps even taking control of the council. This would have been the crown jewel in

James Forsyth

Theresa May’s good night

Theresa May has not had a good week. She has lost her Home Secretary and had the Brexit inner Cabinet knock back her customs partnership. But the overnight results in the local elections won’t increase the pressure on her. For the Tories have quite comfortably beaten expectations, which were—as Katy says —pretty low. Back in January, those Tory MPs who want May out thought that the local elections results would provide an opportunity for a renewed push against her. This is now clearly not the case. No one will be sending their letters in because of these results and no Tory MP will be more worried about losing their seat

Steerpike

Chris Williamson’s Derby disaster

Oh dear. It’s not been a great night for Labour. Although Jeremy Corbyn’s party has managed to make gains in the cities, Labour has not managed to meet the sky high expectations they had for the local elections. However, it’s safe to say that Corbyn’s close ally Chris Williamson – the MP for Derby North – has had a particularly bad night. Williamson’s patch went one stop further and manage to actually buck the national trend. Ukip not only held on to one of its seats but a Ukip candidate took a seat from Labour. Labour has now lost control of the local authority, with the Conservatives making two gains. Had the

Katy Balls

Conservatives win the expectation management game in disappointing night for Labour

The Conservatives have had a successful night – at least when it comes to their expectation management campaign. There will be sighs of relief in CCHQ this morning over the first influx of local election results after the much anticipated Tory bloodbath in the local elections appears to have been more of a light wound than anything fatal. The Tories have managed to hold control of both Wandsworth and Westminster. There had been a consensus growing that were they to hold on to just one of these council it could be spun as a success. If they can hold on to Kensington – which they are now expected to –

The Spectator

Live local elections 2018: Labour falls short in London

The key results from the 2018 local elections: The Tories win Barnet and hold Westminster and Wandsworth, despite predictions Labour could seize the two Tory strongholds Labour take control of Plymouth from the Tories The Lib Dems win Richmond and Kingston-upon-Thames, on a good night for Vince Cable Ukip’s falling vote share hands the Tories control in Basildon and Peterborough. The party is so far down 106 seats Follow all the latest coverage on our live blog:

Thursday

3 May 2018

The Spectator

Momentum builds

The local elections have thrown up a paradox. In theory, Britain has never had more devolution: we have assemblies in Edinburgh and Cardiff, city mayors in England, elected police chiefs and the supposed Northern Powerhouse. So, the run-up to the vote ought to have been dominated by local issues, with a new breed of local political heroes or villains in the media spotlight. Instead, apart from a few door-knocks and the odd leaflet, one could be forgiven for not even realising local elections were being held. This may be in part because of the sad decline of the local press and the dearth of reporters to cover the elections. But