Politics

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

Monday

Steerpike Steerpike

Kensington MP picks on a woman over her appearance

Dawn Butler caused a stir at the weekend when she claimed to John Pienaar that Theresa May is ‘no friend of women’. That came as news to the female Conservative MPs who were helped to get where they are today through Women2Win, the campaign group May co-founded. Still, if Butler is really going to focus in on which women are and aren’t ‘friends’ to women, Mr S advises her to look at the most recent social media activity of her Labour comrade Emma Dent Coad. The MP for Kensington – who has been in the news for a series of comments on ‘ghetto boys’ – took to Twitter last night

Tom Goodenough Tom Goodenough

What the papers say: It’s now or never for Labour moderates

The warnings about Brexit could not have been clearer: leaving the EU would lead to an exodus of foreign workers and students from Britain. So far though the reality hasn’t quite matched that prediction. The Sun picks up on news today that a record number of overseas students – 70,900 – applied to study in Britain last year. ‘NHS workers from the EU are on the up, too’, says the paper, which argues that, despite the warnings, Britain will remain ‘attractive for those wanting to better their lot’. Yet the large number of people who do want to come to Britain also means ‘it is right that we take control

Steerpike Steerpike

Johnson becomes PM

It’s no secret that the Johnson family is an ambitious one – particularly when it comes to politics. So, with two Johnsons currently in government – Boris and Jo – it was only a matter of time until one became Prime Minister. Step forward Stanley Johnson. Boris Johnson’s father Stanley has been elected Prime Minister. Unfortunately for him, it’s not Prime Minister of the UK (yet), but Prime Minister of the I’m a celebrity… get me out of here camp in Australia, where the Johnson patriarch is competing against the likes of Kezia Dugdale and Amir Khan to be crowned king of the jungle. The segment led Khan – the

Sunday

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

No, the Kremlin is not behind Legatum – or Brexit

Given that most think tanks and universities are heavily against Brexit, the recent arrival of the Legatum Institute into the arena of trade policy mattered. It was filling a a gap in the market: proper research into potential trade relationships, on the basis that Brexit might not be a disaster. It has also acquired the services of Shanker Singham, an experienced trade lawyer. Both he and Legatum have come under the microscope today with a Mail on Sunday splash suggesting that the Kremlin might be behind it all. Its headline: ‘Putin link to Boris and Gove Brexit “coup”’. Did this relationship go too far, and did Singham end up advising Michael

Matthew Taylor

Sunday shows round-up: Borrowing and Brexit

Liam Fox: EU trade deal must be settled before Irish border The International Trade Secretary has stated today that no final decision can be reached on the border between Ireland and the UK until a trade deal is settled, defying an EU ultimatum that the border question must be settled within the next ten days. The Irish Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, has requested that the UK government gives a guarantee in writing that there would be no ‘hard’ border as a result of Brexit. Speaking to Sky’s Niall Paterson, Liam Fox asserted that the UK would be leaving the single market and customs union, but argued that this did not necessarily

Saturday

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

The Norway model: a new approach to immigration and asylum

Germany is this weekend seeing whether or not Angela Merkel will be able to form a government as she deals with the political fallout from her immigration policy. Quite a contrast from Norway, whose Conservative-led coalition recently entered its second term after taking a very different approach to refugees. Last week I met Sylvi Listhaug, who holds a recently-created position: Norway’s Minister for Immigration & Integration. She’s with the Progress Party, the junior partner in coalition. You often read about her being ‘outspoken’ or ‘controversial’ and I was interested to see what kind of radical views she holds. At the end of the interview, I was left wondering if her

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Theresa May’s inner Cabinet is considering a role for the ECJ after Brexit

‘It’ll be curtains for the process’ if the Brexit talks don’t move on to trade and transition in December, according to one of those familiar with the UK government’s negotiating strategy. In Downing Street, there is a feeling that Theresa May has twice made significant compromises—in the Florence speech and the enhanced financial offer the inner Cabinet agreed on Monday—and if the EU again pockets the concession and says still more is needed, it’ll be hard to see how the UK can stay at the table. Even one of the Cabinet Ministers most keen on a deal with the EU says that ‘we have to get through in December’. It

Simon Sebag Montefiore

Israel is becoming ever more part of the Arab Middle East

This month, I attended the spectacular centenary dinner for the Balfour Declaration at Lancaster House, with descendants of many of its creators: Lloyd Georges, the photographer Christopher Sykes, grandson of Sir Mark Sykes. The dinner was hosted and organised by Jacob Rothschild and Roderick Balfour, who entered with the prime ministers of Israel and Britain. Jeremy Corbyn refused to attend but sent deputy Tom Watson and shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry. In his speech, Benjamin Netanyahu claimed imminent developments in the peace process; no one was convinced but he was surely hinting at the potential of the new relationship between Israel and Saudi Arabia. Even though the Saudis would love

Friday

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Ireland has punctured Brexiteers’ wishful thinking

In his column this week, James Forsyth reports there is ‘mounting anger’ inside the government at the way the Irish government are behaving over Brexit. I am sure there is, though it still surprises me that people are surprised to discover that the Irish government is defending its own interests. Doubtless this is why you will sometimes find exuberant Brexiteers suggesting that the answer to the Irish problem is for the Irish to leave the EU too. That might work in theory; it doesn’t do so in practice. I’m afraid things are a little more complicated than that. Now it is, of course, tiresome that Brexit is being complicated by

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

After Brexit, Britain will still have European cities. Can someone tell the EU?

When Britain voted to leave the EU, it didn’t necessarily follow that we’d be kicked out of its European Capital of Culture scheme – given that it aimed to be exactly that, rather than an EU Capital of Culture. After all Istanbul, Reykjavík and Stavanger all qualified and all won. There were some ominous signs: a few weeks ago, the European Parliament voted to amend the rules the scheme should be open to candidate states and EEA nations – butno mention was made of former members. So Iceland would be included in consideration for European status, but Britain excluded. It looked like a mean-hearted attempt to punish Britain for leaving, but could it really

Thursday

The Spectator

Letters | 23 November 2017

The medium is the message Sir: In his piece about the tech-savvy Labour party, Robert Peston writes: ‘A party’s values and messages matter. But in today’s digital Babel, they are probably less important than how the message is presented and to whom it is communicated’ (‘Corbyn 2.0’, 18 November). Some of your readers may remember the late Marshall McLuhan who in the 1960s coined the phrase ‘The medium is the message.’ I’ve always thought this to have been prescient for its time and it has become ever more pertinent. It is an enormous downside to the digital age that the means of transmitting data is more important than its content.

Charles Moore Charles Moore

The Spectator’s Notes | 23 November 2017

Windsor Castle on Monday night sounds like a children’s party magnified. The rooms were filled with golden-leaved trees. A giant block of ice carved with the initials of the Queen on one side and the Duke of Edinburgh on the other dominated the reception room. Her sons wore their Windsor coats. A magician made a table levitate and move unsupported round the room. As with a children’s party, there were no speeches, and everyone was pleased and excited. After 70 years married, the two nonagenarians involved presumably felt, among family and friends, that they had earned the right to be unserious. The occasion must have been sweet for Prince Philip.

The Spectator

Being boring

Philip Hammond began his first Budget, in March, by playing down its importance — for his big ideas on fiscal policy, he suggested we would have to wait until the autumn. It was a wait which was very nearly extended to eternity as he narrowly avoided losing his job in a post–election reshuffle. We found out this week that it was a bluff: he doesn’t have many big ideas, just a selection of small ones. Which, under the circumstances, is something of a relief. The Chancellor is getting better at telling Britain’s story, boasting about record employment and how the best-paid 1 per cent pay 27 per cent of all

Brian Palmer

First time buyers will welcome Hammond’s Budget, but not everyone will be quite so pleased

Britain has waited 21 years for an Autumn Budget, but on the evidence we saw yesterday, Philip Hammond still needs more time to come of age into his role as Chancellor. Undoubtedly hampered by poor productivity forecasts and the looming spectre of Brexit, Hammond’s austere approach won’t leave the public with a sense of economic comfort and stability in the months to come. Nonetheless, it’s not the time for everyone to batten down the hatches. The Chancellor threw in a few golden nuggets for first-time buyers, small businesses and those on low wages. The cancellation of stamp duty for first-time buyers purchasing properties worth up to £300,000 was one of

Steerpike Steerpike

David Gauke taunts John McDonnell over Russia Today

Alex Salmond has been in the firing line of late over his decision to host a chat show on Russia Today. The former First Minister of Scotland has come under difficulty as numerous politicians have declined an invitation to appear on the channel. However, Mr S suggests he give John McDonnell a call. David Gauke has had much fun today on Twitter, where the Cabinet minister recalled an incident that occurred on College Green on Wednesday: ‘Yesterday, on College Green, RT reporter and camera crew came up to me asking questions. ME: I don’t do interviews with RT. INTERVIEWER: Why not? ME: You’re a propaganda station. Reputable politicians don’t do

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Five things we learnt from the IFS Budget briefing

It’s the day after Philip Hammond’s Budget and so far the Chancellor has managed to avoid disaster. Broadly speaking, his Budget has been well-received. The Prime Minister this morning went so far as to say the Chancellor ‘did a very good job’. Meanwhile, another of Hammond’s old foes softened its stance, with the Daily Mail celebrating Hammond’s newfound optimism and the end of the Eeyore chancellor. However, this afternoon’s Budget briefing from the Institute of Fiscal Studies offered some grim analysis. Paul Johnson and his number-crunching team ran through the figures in the Autumn Budget in detail. Although the Chancellor managed to avoid much criticism (thanks in large to the

The Spectator

John McDonnell’s Today interview, full transcript

Mishal Husain: Let’s start with that economic picture. Do you agree with what the OBR said about growth; essentially that we’ll be poorer for longer, and about productivity? John McDonnell: I have to, based upon the information that they’ve arrived at that judgement. I think it’s something that we’ve been pointing out for a number of years now; that if you don’t invest in your economy, inevitably that will impact upon productivity, and that will impact upon growth, and, importantly, that will impact upon people’s wages. The prediction now from The Resolution Foundation is that average annual pay is going to be £1,000 lower in 2022 than it was forecast

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Michael Fallon calls for a revival of shareholder capitalism

In the Budget debate today, Michael Fallon made his first intervention since resigning from the government over misconduct allegations. Fallon’s contribution was broadly loyal to the government, taking the fight to Labour in his typical style. But he said he’d seek an opportunity in the near-future to talk, with greater freedom than collective responsibility had allowed, about the appropriate levels of defence spending needed to deal with today’s threats. Fallon had four policy proposals to make. First, he argued that the National Insurance threshold should be raised in line with the income tax one. He pointed out that we are now in a situation where some low paid workers are

Steerpike Steerpike

Listen: John McDonnell fails the numbers test

It’s something of a terrifying thought, but if Labour defeat the Tories at the next election, John McDonnell will be the new occupant of No.11 Downing Street. One of his main roles as chancellor will be to have a grasp of the numbers that matter. But it seems that may be too much to ask from McDonnell. On the Today programme, he was quizzed on the amount it costs Britain to service its debt. Given that Labour wants to up borrowing, this seems like a particularly important thing for the shadow chancellor to know. Unfortunately, it would seem he doesn’t have a clue. McDonnell initially tried to bat the question

Tom Goodenough Tom Goodenough

Philip Hammond’s Budget: the newspaper verdict

Only a month ago, in its damning editorial the Daily Mail said Philip Hammond was a ‘dismal, defeatist, relentlessly negative’ Eeyore. Today, they ‘rescind’ the Chancellor’s nickname, and the paper isn’t the only one to praise Hammond’s Budget: The Sun says that Hammond delivered his first Budget for its readers. While the paper admits that it has ‘not been kind to his previous efforts’, the Chancellor’s announcement yesterday ‘will put more cash’ in peoples’ pockets. His freezes on fuel and alcohol duty go down well with the Sun; and so, too, do the ‘decent hikes’ to the minimum wage and tax-free allowance. It is also good news, according to the paper,