Politics

Read about the latest UK political news, views and analysis.

Friday

James Kirkup James Kirkup

Jeremy Corbyn is Britain’s first truly post-modern politician

Does Labour want to leave the Single Market? Maybes aye, maybes naw, as we used to say in North Britain. Corbyn isn’t saying. It might be one of the biggest questions of public policy of this decade, but the man who now has at least a non-trivial chance of being PM one day isn’t saying where he stands on it. This matters. Of course, we think we know what he intends on the single market. We think he is hostile to it and regards it as a wicked capitalist plot. We think he also inclines towards leaving because he wants to keep inside the remaining chunk of the old Labour

Stephen Daisley Stephen Daisley

Labour moderates should learn from the mistakes of Trump’s reluctant cheerleaders

Demagogues have had a good run of late but the tide may be turning. Geert Wilders and Marine Le Pen failed to pull off widely predicted electoral coups, while the Austrian far-right fell short in presidential elections. The SNP can no longer rouse a rabble like it once did and Ukip, out-Kipped by Labour and the Tories, is now an irrelevance. But none is as dramatic as the stalling of the Donald Trump bandwagon, which could yet come off its wheels. The President faces allegations of colluding with the Russians during the 2016 election. Springing into action, his son Donald Trump Jr. tweeted out campaign emails in an effort to

Thursday

The Spectator

Barometer | 13 July 2017

The joy of Sixtus Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg and his wife announced the birth of their sixth child, a son called Sixtus Dominic Boniface Christopher. But is that appropriate? — A sixth child ought to be ‘Sextus’. Five popes were called Sixtus but the name is believed to derive from a Greek word meaning ‘polished’. — Among the living, there is Sixtus Henry of Bourbon-Parma, whom some believe to be the rightful monarch of Spain, and Sixtus Preiss, a Viennese hip-hop artist whose work includes Samba Feelin Beein This, Trilingual Dance Sexperience and, appropriately, given the Tory performance in the general election, What a Fine Mess We’ve Made of This.

The Spectator

Letters | 13 July 2017

Technical education Sir: I am grateful to Robert Tombs for highlighting the baleful use of ‘declinism’ as part of the anti-Brexit campaign and the persistent underestimation of the United Kingdom’s strengths (‘Down with declinism’, 8 July). It is ironic that the heirs of the old 19th-century Liberal party, the Liberal Democrats, are among its principal proponents, for declinism goes back even further than the 1880s cited in his article. Fearful of the advances demonstrated at the Paris International Exposition of 1867 by continental countries in engineering (e.g. the giant Krupp cannon) and the sciences generally, the Liberal minister Robert Lowe in 1870 opened the debate on the Education Bill —

Charles Moore Charles Moore

The Spectator’s Notes | 13 July 2017

For some time now, banks have wielded hamfistedly the concept of the ‘politically exposed person’. They have withdrawn bank accounts from — or refused them to — not only kleptocrats from crazy dictatorships but also blameless citizens of parliamentary democracies like our own. Now, I gather, they have started to persecute the fringes of the British royal family. One such royal person tells me that he had to resign from the board of a charity before the bank thought it safe to let it open an account. He adds that he has two royal relations who have been refused accounts. In the case of an American bank, it declined the

Steerpike Steerpike

Spotted: John Bercow back in the Royal Box at Wimbledon

Wimbledon wouldn’t be Wimbledon without strawberries and cream, Pimms and…John Bercow in the Royal Box. The speaker of the House of Commons has been something of a permanent fixture over the last few years indulging his love of watching the tennis among the great and the good. Since 2015, he’s managed to get his mitts on £8,000 worth of free tickets to Wimbledon. Today, he’s back in his second favourite seat – watching Jo Konta crash out of the championships while deputy speaker Eleanor Laing filled in for him in the day job in Parliament. Somewhat awkwardly for Bercow though, also in the Royal Box was his old adversary David Cameron. There

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

The government is destined for trouble with its repeal bill

You’d think a government wouldn’t launch its flagship bill that takes Britain out of European Union legislation without first being clear what taking Britain out of the EU would actually look like. Apparently not: the once Great Repeal Bill – now just plain old European Union (Withdrawal) Bill for less triumphant times – was published today, and no-one is clear on Brexit at all.  It’s not just questions such as those that Emily Thornberry raised at Prime Minister’s Questions yesterday about border controls in the event of no deal with the European Union, or indeed questions about how members of the governing party will actually vote, not just on the

Ross Clark Ross Clark

A recession is coming – but that doesn’t mean Brexit is to blame

The Office of Budgetary Responsibility (OBR) makes a point in its Fiscal Risk Report today that ought to be obvious and yet which hardly ever seems to feature in debate over the public finances and ‘austerity’. It is virtually certain that sooner or later the UK economy will suffer another recession which will cause tax receipts to sink, welfare payments to grow and so quickly reverse any progress that has been made in closing the deficit.       In fact, you can pencil in that recession for sooner rather than later. The risk of a recession in any five year period, calculates the OBR, is as high as one in two. And when

Steerpike Steerpike

The Spectator summer party, in pictures | 13 July 2017

After David Lidington complained about ‘warm prosecco’ fuelling Tory leadership plotting, the Cabinet stepped things up a gear on Thursday as they made their way to 22 Old Queen Street for some chilled champagne at The Spectator summer party. After a difficult few months which saw Theresa May lose her majority in Parliament, the Prime Minister found time to unwind at the annual bash. However, with David Davis – the man tipped as her successor – also in attendance (and on the look out for someone to fill his SpAd vacancy), party talk soon turned to the eventual leadership contest. Davis’s fellow leadership contenders Boris Johnson and Amber Rudd also made sure

Nick Hilton Nick Hilton

The Spectator Podcast: Get Boris!

On this week’s episode, we look at the runners and riders in the Tory leadership race, the latest development in the Trump/Russia brouhaha, and the British(ish) woman who might be about to win Wimbledon. Speculation has abounded in Westminster about the next Conservative leader, ever since Theresa May’s disastrous election showing last month. As her potential successors start to put feelers out, we are already seeing an attempt to block the route of a certain flaxen-haired former editor of this magazine. The ‘Stop Boris’ campaign is in full swing, says James Forsyth in the magazine this week, and he joins the podcast along with Harry Mount to discuss an increasingly bitter contest. As

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Theresa May finally shows her human side

It’s exactly one year to the day since Theresa May became Prime Minister. To mark the occasion, she has given a lengthy interview to Radio 5Live’s Emma Barnett. Unfortunately for May, it wasn’t the interview she would have envisaged giving a year ago when she entered No 10. Rather than talk of the achievements so far of her time in office, she had to defend her decision to call the disastrous snap election and discuss what mistakes she had made. May insisted that she was right to call the snap election and for the first time gave a real insight into her reaction on that night. She said she got

James Kirkup James Kirkup

We should welcome Nicky Morgan’s election as Treasury Select Committee chair

Nicky Morgan’s election as chair of the Treasury Select Committee will doubtless be written into a narrative of Remainers taking key parliamentary positions overseeing Brexit. There’s also a story to be told about the power of the Tory moderates: as well as Morgan, Rob Halfon took the education chair, and Tom Tugendhat got foreign affairs.   But what interests me here is another aspect of Morgan’s arrival at the TSC. Perhaps the most important parliamentary committee is now run by someone who takes a gloriously sensible view of immigration. Last year she argued that the Tories should be the party that makes the “positive case” for immigration and this year she effectively disowned

James Forsyth James Forsyth

‘Everyone’s out for Boris’

There is nowhere better to plot than the Palace of Westminster. There are alcoves to conspire in, little-used corridors and discreet watering holes. And no group enjoys plotting more than Tory MPs. Add a general election result that made the Tory leader a lame duck and you have the perfect ingredients for political mischief. But the Tories aren’t just plotting against Theresa May — that would be too simple, since her departure is a question of when not if. Nor is the principal conversation about who the leader should be. No, for a Tory the first stages of any leader-ship battle is to identify who they don’t want and then

Markus Krall

A view from Germany

 Frankfurt ‘This is not about punishing Great Britain,’ declared Sigmar Gabriel, Germany’s interim foreign secretary, on his recent visit to London. I fell about laughing, because this is precisely what’s going on. It is as obvious to us Germans as it is to the Brits: the EU cannot tolerate the thought of a successful United Kingdom outside the Brussels sphere of influence because, if that were allowed to happen, others might dare to start thinking about leaving the club too. Everything we hear from Brussels flows from this. The EU presents itself as a champion of free trade, especially when its leaders are attacking Donald Trump, yet it does all

Hugo Rifkind Hugo Rifkind

Labour’s middle-class problem

Be fair. Theresa May’s plan actually half-worked. No, there was a plan. I know the consensus now seems to be that the entire election was motivated by little more a succession of senior Tories saying ‘Gosh yes, everybody loves you!’ to the Prime Minister while Fiona Hill and Nick Timothy stood behind her chair, slapping truncheons into their palms. Only that’s not how it was. Once, there was philosophy here. There was a plan to cut loose the liberal, urban, Remainiac middle classes, and draw in a new working-class Tory vote instead. And, like I said, it half-worked. As in, the working classes might not have got the message that

Gary Dexter

Mixed blessings | 13 July 2017

Japan is the only developed country where people openly espouse two distinct and incompatible religions at the same time — Buddhism and Shinto. The Japanese go to Shinto shrines for weddings and children’s celebrations. They go to Buddhist temples for funerals. Shinto shrines are sometimes found within the precincts of Buddhist temples, and vice versa, so it’s possible to beseech Buddha and the fox god in the same ten minutes. To confuse the picture still further, Japan is one of the most secular places on Earth: atheism is practised simultaneously with the other mutually incompatible religions. My Japanese wife, for example, visits and prays at temples and shrines, but in

Wednesday

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Select committee chair elections: New generation of Tories make inroads

If an MP has been overlooked for a government role, a coveted select committee chairmanship can provide an important platform in Parliament. As a result, lots of Tories have been jostling and manoeuvring in the past week to be in a with a short of just this. Now, the results are in: Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Labour) – Rachel Reeves Communities and Local Government (Labour) – Clive Betts Defence (Conservative) – Dr Julian Lewis Education (Conservative) – Robert Halfon Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Conservative) – Neil Parish Foreign Affairs (Conservative) – Tom Tugendhat Northern Ireland Affairs (Conservative) – Dr Andrew Murrison Science and Technology (Liberal Democrat) – Norman Lamb Transport (Labour)

Steerpike Steerpike

Watch: Jack Dromey turns the air blue on Daily Politics

Politicians have been busy swapping horror stories of the unacceptable abuse dished out to MPs and candidates running for Parliament. Fortunately for Labour frontbencher Jack Dromey, he appears to have escaped the worst of the vitriol. But when talking on the Daily Politics about his own experiences, Dromey resorted to some very unparliamentary language. Here’s what he said: ‘I personally don’t get, if you excuse the language, that much shit. But the shit I get comes overwhelmingly from the right’ Dromey’s language has not gone down well on Twitter, where at least one parent complained that her child heard him swear. Mr S thinks Dromey doesn’t really have a leg to

Lloyd Evans Lloyd Evans

Emily Thornberry outshines Damian Green – and Corbyn – at PMQs

Mrs May couldn’t make PMQs today. She was lunching with royalty up at the Palace. The happy atmosphere of the event may have been affected by territorial anxieties. The Queen’s principal guest, King Felipe VI, reigns over important parts of the Spanish mainland but not the pointy little bit down at the bottom which is full of pubs and red phone boxes. MPs were keen to ask the government to re-assert Britain’s possession of Gibraltar. And some believe that this claim should extend to other historically British regions: Malaga, Torremolinos and Ibiza. Mrs May’s place was taken by the recently elevated Damian Green. His personality is like his skull. Smooth,

Ross Clark Ross Clark

Are our pizzas really under threat from Brexit?

Last week it was Vince Cable trying to tell us that Brexit was depriving Wimbledon spectators of their strawberries – swiftly denied by the All England Club. This week it is the turn of pizza chain Franco Manca to try to scare us of the consequences of Brexit. Announcing the company’s results, chairman David Page said, in comments prominently reported in the pro-EU Financial Times: “The long-term Brexit impact is unknown. It is, however, already affecting the availability of skilled European restaurant staff”. In other words: your pizza is under threat from your silly vote to leave the EU. Brexit hasn’t appeared to hit the company’s bottom line, however. Revenue of