Politics Archives

Thursday

5 Apr 2018

Should the government share full intelligence with Corbyn?

Ben Wallace has caused a stir today with an interview on the Today programme. The security minister confirmed that the government had not shared full intelligence on the Skripal poisoning with Jeremy Corbyn – insisting that the ‘circle’ of those with access to the highly sensitive information should be restricted to only a small number: ‘This is serious stuff and the circle of who gets to see very sensitive information is very small, because if you leak it or it gets out, people’s lives are put at risk. The best example is Mr Skripal; that’s what happens to people if other countries to decide to take actions or they have

Theo Hobson

Martin Luther King’s vision is being betrayed by progressives

Martin Luther King is easily misrepresented in our era of heightened identity politics, and of scepticism towards grand unifying ideals. For him, the campaign for black civil rights was firmly rooted in a very grand moral and political vision. Today’s progressives have largely lost sight of this wider vision; indeed the thought of it embarrasses them. It seems naïve, unrealistic. Its grandeur is more likely to be mocked than honoured. To black activist writers such as Ta-Nehisi Coates (whom I recently discussed here) it seems a mask for complacent racism. The remarkable thing about King is that he expressed the core ideals of America, and the West, with new intensity

Steerpike

Ruth Davidson’s advice for London Tories

In this week’s issue of The Spectator, Will Heaven reports that the beleaguered Tories in London mooted formally breaking away from the national party and become a separate entity with their own brand and leader, like the Scottish Tories under Ruth Davidson, in a bid to avoid electoral catastrophe in the upcoming local elections. Although the majority agreed it would create clear water between them and a ‘very provincial’ Theresa May, central command disagreed and vetoed the idea. Still keen for some help, the Conservative party then asked Ms Davidson if her team — after their outstanding performance at the general election — would consider heading south to mastermind the London

William Cook

What Brexit Britain can learn from German Reunification

Obscured by the hubbub of rolling news and the cacophony of Twitter, an important anniversary has passed by virtually unnoticed. The Berlin Wall has now been down for longer than it was up. Berlin’s ‘Anti-Fascist Protection Barrier’ (as the Communists used to call it) stood for 28 years and three months, from August 1961 to November 1989. It’s now been down for 28 years and four months. Its fall reunited the two Germanies, and changed the course of history. So, 28 years on, what can Brits learn from German Reunification? What lessons does the Wiedervereinigung hold for us today? I filed my first report from Berlin in the first year

James Forsyth

Moderate Labour MPs have nowhere to go

The case for Labour moderates leaving their party strengthens by the day. Jeremy Corbyn’s behaviour demonstrates that he is not going to change. His decision to attend a Seder with Jewdas, a fringe group who have claimed that the anti-Semitism scandal is being whipped up by his political opponents, shows how determined he is to stay in his own comfort zone. A poll showing that 80 per cent of Labour members think he’s doing a good job as leader highlights how impossible it would be to remove him. But a more interesting question than whether Labour moderates should go is what they should do once they have. One option would

Will Heaven

Labour’s capital gains

Ever since last year’s general election, when Jeremy Corbyn inspired the strongest Labour surge since 1945, the Conservatives have been unsure if this was a freak occurrence or the start of something bigger. As they have learnt to their cost, opinion polls aren’t as reliable as they once were: only election results matter. There will be plenty next month, with seats on more than 150 councils all over England up for grabs. The Tories are nervous in lots of areas. But what terrifies them is London. The capital has served as the incubator of Corbynism, a brand of politics once laughed off as a niche Islington interest, yet now with

Andrew Gilligan

City slacker

According to people at City Hall, Sadiq Khan writes some of his own press releases. I can believe it: they’ve certainly become a lot more excitable since he took over. I like to imagine the Mayor of London, late at night, combing the thesaurus for fresh superlatives to bugle his ‘unprecedented programme of far-reaching improvements’ for the taxi trade (allowing black cabs in more bus lanes) or his ‘bold package of measures’ to revive street markets (creating a London Markets Board and an interactive map). One release even panted that Khan had ‘personally scrutinised’ the New Year’s Eve fireworks display ‘to make the acclaimed event the most exciting yet’. Language

William Cook

Southend-on-Sea

Standing at the end of Britain’s longest pier, on a cold and misty morning, looking out across the Thames Estuary, I wondered, for the umpteenth time: why do people take the piss out of Southend? It’s got no airs and graces. It doesn’t take itself too seriously. Yet out here, surrounded by still grey sky and still grey water, with only a few seagulls for company, I’m struck by its barren windswept beauty. You’d never guess London was only an hour away. Southend-on-Sea has been a running joke for as long as I can remember. Even the train to London was known as the Misery Line, on account of its

Gavin Mortimer

Macron’s battles

The honeymoon is over for Emmanuel Macron. His first 11 months in office have been something of a breeze — defined by economic growth, international approval and museum openings in the Middle East. But France’s youthful President is gearing up for months of domestic hostility. ‘The war of attrition’ was the headline in Tuesday’s Le Parisien. Alongside this stark declaration was a photograph of one of the President’s enemies, a prominent figure in CGT, the hard-left trade union. Burly, bearded and belligerent, Laurent Brun, head of the union’s railway section, vowed intransigence in the three-month rolling railway strike that started this week. Macron is as determined as the strikers and

Wednesday

4 Apr 2018

Bob Seely MP

Karl Marx’s sinister legacy of anti-Semitism

When I lived in the Soviet Union in my early twenties, I developed a personal hostility to socialism. I saw the misery it had visited on that society – the political, spiritual and economic harm. I understood at first-hand how the secret police corrupted personal and public life, how state propaganda denied freedom of thought and how the regime hid the slaughter and imprisonment of millions of its own people. I came to the conclusion that whichever totalitarian power had survived World War II – Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union – they would probably have looked much the same by the time of their demise. I never understood why Westerners did not

Roger Scully

Ruth Davidson’s success could come at a price for the union

As in 2017, the Prime Minister decided to spend some of her Easter break enjoying a walking holiday with her husband in Wales. It is very unlikely that this year’s mini-holiday will be followed by a similar decision as was last year’s: to hold an early general election. The failure of the Conservative campaign in that election, and the consequent shock loss of the party’s parliamentary majority, have dogged Theresa May’s government and party ever since. Of course there is one part of the UK where the 2017 Tory election campaign was not a failure. In both England and Wales the Conservatives suffered a net loss of seats, rather than

Douglas Murray

The Guardian letter defending Jeremy Corbyn is a sham

Yesterday I wrote about a letter that was in the Guardian on Monday defending Jeremy Corbyn from accusations of anti-Semitism. In particular I noted that the signatories of that letter, who the Guardian described as being ‘forty senior academics’, were nothing of the sort. By way of example I gave readers one William Proctor from the University of Bournemouth, whose field of expertise turned out to be One Direction and Star Wars. Sadly he is not alone. Further research reveals that the rest of the list of fourth-rate figures named as ‘senior academics’ by the Guardian includes: A saxophonist A zombie expert An expert in videogames Someone whose listed university

Fraser Nelson

There is no crack in Theresa May’s case against Russia

Theresa May has never published her case blaming Russia for the Salisbury poisoning. She has reason to be wary of Blair-style intelligence dossiers, and she didn’t need to make everything public to win the support of allies. But as things stand, her case against Russia is open to misinterpretation by the Kremlin. As we have seen with this morning’s headlines. Yesterday, Sky News interviewed Gary Aitkenhead, chief executive of Porton Down, who said: “We were able to identify it as Novichok, to identify it was a military-grade nerve agent. We have not verified the precise source, but we have provided the scientific information to the government, who have then used

Ross Clark

Gender pay gap hysteria could make things worse for women

Next time I hear a government minister on radio or television bemoaning Britain’s poor record on productivity I request that the interviewer puts to them a simple question: can you tell us how many man-hours have been spent by large British firms in fulfilling their legal duty to provide data on their gender pay gap – something which they must do by midnight tonight? Whatever happened to that grand talk about taking advantage of Brexit in order to deregulate, to attract investment by giving businesses the freedom to run their own affairs and by getting the government off their backs? In January last year Philip Hammond made a speech in

Tuesday

3 Apr 2018

Katy Balls

No 10’s Novichok damage control

Theresa May’s widely-praised handling of the Salisbury poisoning hit a bump in the road this afternoon with the news that British scientists at Porton Down have not been able to establish that the Novichok nerve agent used to poison Sergei and Yulia Skripal was made in Russia. In a clumsy interview, Gary Aitkenhead, the chief executive of the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at the facility in Wiltshire, said although the nerve agent was identified as Novichok, scientists had not been able to prove it was created in Russia. The government were quick to go into damage control mode – making clear that this was ‘only one part of the

Douglas Murray

The truth about the ‘senior academics’ defending Corbyn

The Guardian has published a letter headlined ‘Stop Jeremy Corbyn’s trial by media over antisemitism.’ The paper explains: ‘More than forty senior academics write to condemn what they see as an anti-Corbyn bias in media coverage of the antisemitism debate.’ Mark. Not just forty academics, but forty senior academics. Why this quantity of Regius professors should be writing to the Grauniad about Jeremy Corbyn’s treatment in the media I have no idea. But I read on, and wade my way through the sixth-form politics letter to see who has signed. Scanning the list I cannot recognise one name. Well, I think, perhaps they are not in fields I am acquainted

Steerpike

Watch: Gender pay gap row – Stella Creasy vs Kate Andrews

Oh dear. On Bank Holiday Monday, Stella Creasy took to the airwaves to promote the #PayMeToo campaign launched to close the gender pay gap. The campaign claims to give working women advice on how to tackle the gender pay where they work. Alas, the Labour MP appeared to be taken by surprise to find the Institute of Economic Affair’s Kate Andrew not only take issue with the campaign – and its close name association to the #MeToo campaign on sexual harassment – but also with Creasy’s use of data. Mr S will leave readers to decide who won this tussle…

Steerpike

David Miliband to the rescue

There are some things in life that are inevitable: the sun rising in the east, the bus always being late and Labour centrists suggesting David Miliband is the saviour of British politics. Today Rachel Sylvester has delivered on the latter. Writing in the Times, Sylvester suggests that the answer to the lack of centre in British politics at the moment is… the Miliband rejected in the 2010 leadership contest. The former Labour MP – who is now stationed in New York – would supposedly be just right to lead a ‘socially and economically liberal’ party: ‘Imagine if David Miliband announced that he was returning to Britain to set up a new

Stephen Daisley

The left’s anti-Semitism blindspot

None of this is normal. It’s important that we cling to that. It’s not normal that British Jews are forced to protest for their fair treatment and safety. It’s not normal that four-fifths of the Labour Party think such protests are a political tactic or a Zionist plot. It’s not normal that the man who would be Britain’s next Prime Minister has to delete his Facebook account because he cannot be sure how many hate groups he is a member of. Anti-Semitism is a historical constant but it is not normal. We decide our norms and if we are still a just and civilised people we ought to regard it

Nick Cohen

Jeremy Corbyn and the far left’s anti-Semitism doublespeak

The supporters of Jeremy Corbyn are meant to comprise the most cultish movement British politics has seen. Yet on the issue of left anti-Semitism they do not blindly follow their leader. For once in their lives, they give every impression of thinking for themselves. Corbyn has come as close as he can to admitting a mistake – which by most people’s standards is not close at all. Like Stalin airbrushing his own history, he has deleted his Facebook account. He did not explain how he found himself a member of Facebook groups that featured Holocaust denial, or defending medieval fanatics who believe Jews drink the blood of Christian children, or