Politics Archives

Tuesday

6 Jun 2017

Overlooking the childfree is a mistake

Politicians fight over lots of different issues in general election campaigns, but one theme is a constant: they all try to appeal to ‘hard-working families’, by which they seem to mean mum, dad and a couple of kids. It’s well-intentioned, I’m sure. But I’m equally sure I can’t be the only non-parent who finds it a teeny bit grating. Not that I begrudge nuclear families any help that might coming their way. What I resent is the implication that just because I haven’t given birth, I’m somehow not counted among the ranks of deserving, diligent citizens. The stereotype that we all live in identikit units of mum, dad and two

Freddy Gray

The most shocking thing about Donald Trump’s Sadiq Khan tweet? He’s right

How thin-skinned and pompous the British media class is. On the airwaves, Twitter, and elsewhere, the reaction to Donald Trump’s tweet about London Mayor Sadiq Khan has been apoplexy bordering on hysteria. Trump has deeply insulted our nation, it is said, and harmed the Special Relationship. Susan Minton Beddoes, the editor of the Economist, told American TV Trump’s tweet was ‘really damaging’. Countless others are now calling on Theresa May to give Trump a piece of their minds. I can’t help thinking May’s time could be better spent — addressing the terror problem, say — than getting into a war of words with the President of the United States. Besides, what do

Steerpike

Diane Abbott’s disappearing act

Last night, Diane Abbott used an appearance on Sky News to insist that she had not been sidelined by the Leader’s Office in light of her recent interview performances. However, in that same interview she went on to generate more negative headlines when the shadow home secretary appeared to have little to no knowledge of the Lord Harris report on improving London’s terror preparedness. So, Mr S was curious to learn that today Abbott has mysteriously dropped out of a scheduled appearance on Woman’s Hour – with Emily Thornberry being lined up to replace her. While one Labour source tells Steerpike that Abbott has been ‘spoken to’ following her disastrous interview

Tom Goodenough

In the wake of the police numbers row, attack is the best form of defence for the Tories

Boris’s last appearance on the airwaves during the election campaign left many scratching their heads. Just what did the word ‘mugwump’ actually mean? This time, the Foreign Secretary’s attack against Jeremy Corbyn was much more straightforward: the Labour leader’s opposition to the ‘shoot to kill’ policy. Here, Corbyn has undoubtedly changed his tune: in 2015, he said he wasn’t happy with the idea; and last year, he said that he hadn’t changed his mind. In the wake of the London attack though, Corbyn backed officers being able to use lethal force in certain situations. This wishy-washy position is dangerous ground for Labour, and the Tories are doing their best to

Ross Clark

Is Jeremy Corbyn really out to help the poor?

Is Jeremy Corbyn really out to help the poor – or just to entice the middle classes into his big socialist tent? I ask because the more you examine the manifesto he keeps waving before the television cameras, the more it seems to be designed around giving benefits to the better-off. These won’t come without cost, of course – the better-off will also be paying for the benefits which Corbyn is dangling before their eyes, in the form of higher income taxes, and possibly new wealth taxes, too. But for the moment, it seems to be the potential handouts which are making Labour headlines rather than the prospect of higher

Monday

5 Jun 2017

Shachar Bialick

Should we thank Brexit for ‘borderless banking’?

From Brexit and Grexit to Trump and Scottish (near) independence, the way we think about our place in the world is changing. In the UK and further afield these issues have shone a light on the fact that we live in a global, multicultural melting pot – with ties to friends, family and colleagues around the planet. The way we manage our money is changing, too. Regulation, rebuilding trust, teenage hackers and woefully outdated technology have kept our favourite high street banks busy recently. You probably haven’t ditched your current account yet or tried out a new alternative like Starling or Atom Bank, but you might soon. After no new

Katy Balls

Nicola Sturgeon given rough ride over IndyRef2 on Question Time special

After both Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn received a rough ride on Friday in the Question Time leaders election special, tonight it was the turn of Nicola Sturgeon and Tim Farron. The pair faced questions from a live studio audience in Edinburgh. The location proved problematic for the Liberal Democrat leader who had to fend off questions on why he supported a second EU referendum but not a second Scottish independence referendum. However, it was Nicola Sturgeon who received the more hostile reception. Although the First Minister put in a confident performance, she was repeatedly quizzed by dissatisfied voters on her party’s poor record on education. One audience member put it particularly

Steerpike

Watch: Diane Abbott’s disastrous turn on Sky News

With Theresa May on the back foot today over Tory cuts to police numbers, CCHQ can count their lucky stars that Diane Abbott has been doing the media rounds this evening. The shadow home secretary was interviewed by Dermot Murnaghan this evening on Labour’s position on terrorism measures following Saturday’s attack. However, Abbott soon hit a problem when Murnaghan asked her about the 2016 Lord Harris report on improving London’s terror preparedness. It soon became clear that Abbott was not familiar with its contents – not that she was willing to admit this: DA: I think we do need to revisit that report DM: Which part of it? DA: Well, I

Alex Massie

Theresa May’s decision to cuddle the Donald looks worse by the day

It is not often, especially in the midst of what has been a grimly dreadful election campaign for her, that one feels some measure of pity for Theresa May. But there she was today, gamely putting on her bravest, gamest, face when she was asked for her reaction to Donald Trump’s latest witless provocations. The American president, you can hardly failed to have noticed, has not covered himself in glory since the weekend’s terrorist attack in London. When the city’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, suggested that Londoners should not be alarmed by the deployment of additional armed officers on the streets of London, Trump blustered “At least 7 dead and 48

Steerpike

Jeremy Corbyn’s resignation U-turn

Although it’s Theresa May who has earned a reputation for performing U-turns, today Jeremy Corbyn has given the Prime Minister a run for her money. The Labour leader kicked off the day by boldly claiming that May ought to resign over cuts to police numbers, in light of recent terror attacks. Given that there’s an election in just three days, it was a peculiar statement from the man hoping to be prime minister come Friday. Perhaps that’s why Jeremy has since had a change of heart. In a tetchy interview with Sky News, Corbyn said he did not think May should resign three days before an election: Sky: Do you

Ed West

‘British Values’ won’t help in our fight against terrorism

Steve Hilton has called for Theresa May to resign as Prime Minister, blaming her for the security failures that lead to the three recent terror attacks. Without intimate knowledge of the workings of the Cameron administration it’s hard to know where blame does lie. And there certainly has been a large increase in the number of terror plots for the authorities to deal with this year. The security services have an awesome job in keeping track of as many as 23,000 individuals, and so we may now be facing a sort of Israelification of British life, with barriers going up on London’s bridges this morning. Already we now have bag searches

Tom Goodenough

Has Theresa May’s strong point become her Achilles heel?

Security is supposed to be Theresa May’s strong point. Today, it looked like her Achilles heel. The Prime Minister used a speech this morning to pit herself against Jeremy Corbyn as the one to trust on Brexit and keeping Britain safe. At the same venue as her leadership launch last year, May painted a familiar image of herself as a politician who doesn’t ‘gossip’ and gets on with the job as she accused Corbyn of an ‘abdication of leadership’. But in the Q and A afterwards, it wasn’t the Labour leader’s record which was up for discussion. Instead, it was May’s time as Home Secretary which came under close scrutiny. The Prime

Damian Thompson

The Christian views of Theresa May and Tim Farron are way below the radar. And that’s how they like it

There’s a mischievous, not to say malicious, Twitter photograph of Theresa May circulating this morning. It shows her sporting shoulder pads and severely slicked-backed boyish hair, campaigning in the 1987 general election. On top of it someone has added the words: ‘Curbing the promotion of lesbianism in Merton’s schools starts with girls having male role models in their lives’. Did she say it? No one can source the quote. But Mrs May, then as now a weekly churchgoing Anglican, did vote against the repeal of Section 28 in 2000. In those days she was an opponent of same-sex marriage, as was Tim Farron, also a weekly churchgoer. Both the Prime

The Spectator

Theresa May’s ‘strong leadership’ speech, full transcript

In three days, the British people will choose who they want to lead this country through the next five years. Five years that will define the future of our country for generations to come. I called this election because, as we face the start of the crucial Brexit negotiations in just a few short days, I believed it would be essential for the British Government to be in the strongest possible position going into those talks. That remains the most critical issue in this campaign. But of course, when this campaign started, we could never have predicted the tragic turn that events would take. We could never have imagined the

Steerpike

David Cameron’s guru says May should resign over terror failures

It seems to be a British tradition that Steve Hilton, David Cameron’s close friend and former director of strategy, intervenes in a general election. During the EU referendum, he came out for Brexit. Now, it’s Theresa May’s turn to have Hilton turn on her. The former No 10 aide, who now lives in California, has once more made a splash from across the pond. After the Prime Minister gave a punchy statement outside No 10 yesterday calling for an internet privacy clampdown and more vigilance in muslim communities, Hilton has hit back. He claims May is ‘responsible’ for the security fails that led to the three recent terrorist attacks as a result of her

James Kirkup

Jeremy Corbyn has transformed into a ruthless political operator

Jeremy Corbyn says that if he was Prime Minister, he would authorise the police to use ‘whatever force is necessary’ against terrorists. Is that true? Is he really ready to go back on decades of suspicion of the police, of hostility to the security forces of an imperialist British state? How can this be reconciled with the man who was so obviously unwilling to back the use of lethal force in that interview with Laura Kuenssberg that’s doing the rounds again. Jeremy Corbyn opposes ‘shoot to kill’ policy. Does he mean it? I have no idea. But the comment confirms that Mr Corbyn’s newfound political ruthlessness is the story of this

Steerpike

Watch: Karen Bradley refuses to answer question over armed police numbers

Theresa May is under pressure over cuts to armed police in the wake of the London attack. This morning, Culture Secretary Karen Bradley popped up on Good Morning Britain to try and defend the Prime Minister. The only problem? Bradley refused to answer any questions. Here’s her awkward exchange with Piers Morgan: Piers Morgan: Do you know if the number of armed police has gone up or down in the last six years? Do you know the answer? Karen Bradley: Piers, what I am interested in is making sure that we have the right resources, the right powers and the right training and capabilities. I am assured by the police that

Nick Cohen

This election will be remembered as a triumph for the wealthy

This dismal, unnecessary election, conducted between the scream of police sirens and the murders of civilians, will be remembered for one thing only: the dementia tax. In years to come, political pros will shake their heads at the naivety of Theresa May. She appeared invincible, they will say. All she had to do was to keep quiet, turn up and she would win a landslide victory. Then she faced one of the great questions of the day. Everyone says they want politicians to do that. Who has not exclaimed that they must stop listening to focus groups and be brave? May was, and see how she has suffered. The PM

Sunday

4 Jun 2017

Stephen Daisley

Jeremy Corbyn has just given the best speech of the election campaign so far

Campaigning starts again tomorrow, but in his speech in Carlisle today Jeremy Corbyn made what is – for any Labour leader – a fairly obvious point: ‘You cannot protect the public on the cheap. The police and security services must get the resources they need not 20,000 police cuts. Theresa May was warned by the Police Federation but she accused them of “crying wolf”.’ In a radical departure for Corbyn, that is exactly what happened. In her now-famous lecture to the Police Federation conference in 2015, the then Home Secretary told an extremely hostile room: ‘I have to tell you that this kind of scaremongering does nobody any good – it doesn’t serve you,

Fraser Nelson

Why Theresa May is pointing the finger at American tech giants

After the 9/11 attacks, Tony Blair traced the jihadi menace to the problem of ungoverned spaces, like Afghanistan. In her speech after the London Bridge attacks today, Theresa May used similar language to describe cyberspace. “We cannot allow this ideology the safe space it needs to breed,” she said. “Yet that is precisely what the internet and the big companies that provide internet-based services provide”. What could she have in mind? Not the dark web: that’s notorious but it’s beyond the (current) ability of government to regulate or remedy. I suspect that the “big companies” she has in mind will be the likes of Facebook, Google, Skype and Apple etc:

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