Politics

How many other Labour MPs will decide to quit Parliament mid-term as Tristram Hunt and Jamie Reed have done? Some had already found escape chutes in the form of Mayoral contests, as Andy Burnham has done. Others don’t have the option of staying in politics in that sort of detached role, yet are in their prime while achieving very little in Parliament. They are struggling with the hard left in their own seats – and if they are talented and visible, they will have received very attractive job offers which have made them question whether it is really worth staying in a miserable role in their prime achieving very little. This

With Tristram Hunt stepping down as Labour MP for Stoke-on-Trent Central, Jeremy Corbyn has issued a statement wishing his old foe the best. Alas, not every comrade is on the same page. Paul Flynn — a former member of Corbyn’s shadow cabinet — has had to delete a tweet in which he suggests Hunt quit as he was ‘baffled’ by the ‘vulgar alien world of politics’: So @PaulFlynnMP has now deleted his #hottake on @TristramHuntMP quitting pic.twitter.com/1LDWPi6rBP — Alain Tolhurst (@Alain_Tolhurst) January 13, 2017 Mr S suspects Flynn’s insult would have had more impact had he managed to correctly spell either Tristram’s name or academia…

Listen to Fraser Nelson, James Forsyth and Ayesha Hazarika on Tristram Hunt’s departure: Another month, another Labour MP resigns. Following Jamie Reed’s resignation in December, Tristram Hunt has quit as the MP for Stoke-on-Trent Central to take on a role as the director of the V&A. In his resignation letter, Hunt says that ‘there were very few jobs’ that would have convinced him to stand down but ‘the post of Director of the V&A — the world’s greatest museum of art, design and performance — is just that’. However, given that Hunt is one of Corbyn’s most vocal critics — and branded ‘hostile’ by the leadership — few will see his decision

At PMQs today, Jeremy Corbyn didn’t have a disaster: there was no repeat of yesterday’s shambles. But he didn’t take full advantage of the opening he had. Yes, he went on the NHS—but he didn’t cause Theresa May as much trouble as he could have. There was no reference to the Times’ story this morning claiming that Downing Street is blaming Simon Stevens, the chief executive of the NHS. Nor did he manage to create any daylight between May and the Health Secretary over changes to the four-hour waiting target and Hunt’s warning that people turning up to A&E unnecessarily is a large part of the problem. This isn’t to

Although PMQs turned out to be a muted affair on the Tory benches, Labour MPs were on boisterous form when it came to the NHS. In fact, one MP was so vocal in her frustration that it led to a ticking off from the Speaker. Step forward Paula Sherriff. After Tracy Brabin asked Theresa May to do more to preserve her constituency’s A&E service, Paula Sheriff was reprimanded for jeering the Prime Minister a little too enthusiastically: ‘If you were behaving in another public place like this you would probably be subject to an anti-social behaviour order.’ It seems Bercow’s war with the SNP over their unstatesman-like behaviour has now spread

Jeremy Corbyn’s botched relaunch yesterday was successful in only one way: it kept the Labour leader in the headlines throughout the day. Unfortunately his various u-turns on immigration – as well as his unexpected maximum pay cap, which he also rowed back on – ensured this blanket coverage was for all the wrong reasons. And today’s newspaper editorials also make miserable reading for those hopeful that Corbyn might have managed a fresh start in 2017. It was a ‘day-long carnival of  jaw-dropping buffoonery’, says the Sun, which picks apart Corbyn’s various outings yesterday. The paper says this platform offered an opportunity for Corbyn to deal with the subject of immigration which has