Politics

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

Thursday

22 Jun 2017

How many other blocks like Grenfell Tower are there in Britain?

Theresa May was rightly criticised for her response to the Grenfell Tower blaze. The Prime Minister’s decision not to initially meet survivors or relatives of those killed looked dreadful, and in the days after the fire there was a real risk that what happened was being pinned squarely on the Tories. While it was right to criticise May for her initial failings though, it also seems fair to say that the Prime Minister’s statement this morning was faultless – at least in terms of helping those on the ground in Kensington. Yet her remarks now raise troubling questions about how many other blocks like Grenfell Tower there are across Britain. For

Tom Goodenough

What the papers say: The Tories are in office but not in power

This was a Queen’s Speech to fit the ‘sombre mood of the nation’, says the FT. ‘British politics is in a state of paralysis,’ and the government’s plan ‘was notable for what it lacked’, the paper says – pointing to the key manifesto pledges cast aside. It’s good news that some of these policies – such as a free vote on the hunting ban – are gone. But there’s further good news, too, in the form of Theresa May’s ‘belated recognition of the complexity of the Brexit process’, the FT says. Indeed, ‘Mrs May’s monopoly over the terms of Brexit has also been broken’ – with Philip Hammond among those now

James Kirkup

If Jeremy Corbyn can rise from the depths, why can’t Theresa May?

When John Curtice speaks, listen. That’s one thing we learned in the general election. This week we hosted John at the Social Market Foundation, where he explained just what actually happened on June 8. Among his many observations was that Jeremy Corbyn really had done something unprecedented: he changed the way voters saw him, for the better. In John’s view, no one has ever done this before. Public opinion of Corbyn was settled: he was useless. And voters, once they’ve decided you’re useless, don’t change their minds. But they did. They still don’t think Corbyn is brilliant, but they don’t dismiss him the way they used to. The great Curtice brain holds no other example

James Forsyth

The next few years will be critical for the Tories

The Tory party is having the wrong conversation. Whenever two or three Conservative MPs are gathered together, they discuss who should succeed Theresa May. They lament that the front-runners all have their flaws, scan the ministerial list for a ‘dark horse’ candidate — and debate whether it’d be better for May to go at this autumn’s conference or to hang on until the end of the Brexit talks. But rather than discussing who should succeed May, and when, they should be thinking about what should succeed her. The general election campaign confirmed that the Prime Minister is no saleswoman. What should worry the Tories more, though, is how little she

Fredrik Erixon

Europe’s imploding right

If the British Conservative party is feeling stunned, having calamitously misread the public mood in a general election, then it is in good company. Across Europe, right-wing parties are struggling to find messages that resonate. It’s not that voters have turned away from conservative ideas: polls show a huge number interested in individual liberty, lower taxes and the nation state. The problem is that conservative parties have given up on those ideas — and, as a result, voters are giving up on them. Take Fredrik Reinfeldt, prime minister of my native Sweden between 2006 and 2014. He started off well, reforming welfare and cutting taxes. But then it all went

Matthew Parris

What should party leaders be allowed to believe?

‘If he can’t be in politics,’ the Archbishop of Canterbury tweeted last week after Tim Farron resigned the leadership of his party, ‘media & politicians have questions.’ So prelates now think complex theological concerns can be despatched within the Twitter limit of 140 characters. They cannot. Let me now unpack Dr Welby’s abbreviated consideration of this subject and examine what’s behind it, because the subject is of profound importance —and not only for Christians. Nobody has said Mr Farron can’t be in politics. He has been returned as MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale with the support of 26,686 voters. Farron himself, however, has doubted he should be leader of a

Wednesday

21 Jun 2017

Rod Liddle

Labour should form a coalition with the DUP

So, they limp on, and Corbyn is justified in holding aloft the Queen’s Speech in jubilantly derisive fashion. Some of you Tories are no doubt hoping that Theresa May ‘recovers her mojo’ and that the past six weeks have been some weird transgression from her norm. No, sorry. She does not have a mojo. She has never had a mojo. Theresa May with a mojo is about as probable as Ruth Davidson getting it on with a hunky fella. The rest of you – me included – wonder who she will be replaced by. Only Davies and Davidson would improve the current position. And even then not by much. But

James Forsyth

Theresa May holds the fort

Theresa May has never been a scintillating parliamentary performer. She has never been particularly comfortable with that very House of Commons brand of humour that marks occasions such as today. So, in her first major appearance at the despatch box since the election, May played to her strengths. She largely eschewed humour and was instead earnest and serious. She apologised as Prime Minister for the failings of government, both local and national, in the immediate aftermath of the Grenfell fire and spoke at length about the various terrorist incidents of recent months. Overall, this approach worked for May. Her workmanlike performance steadied things. It didn’t have Tory MPs hoping she’d

Steerpike

Listen: Boris Johnson’s car crash Radio 4 interview

Oh dear. Although Theresa May has managed to make it through the Queen’s Speech today, the real test will come next week when MPs vote on it. With the Prime Minister’s authority already weak, talk has turned to who will be her eventual successor. So, it was a helpful coincidence that the frontrunner to be the next Tory leader just so happened to be doing the press rounds today. Boris Johnson appeared on Radio 4, where he was interviewed by Eddie Mair on his party’s sparse legislative plans for the next two years. Unfortunately for Johnson, the interview did not go to plan. Asked how his party’s plan would help deal with

Steerpike

Mark Carney slapped down by Andy Haldane, his own chief economist

Yesterday Mark Carney – who hates it when politicians say anything about him – had a pop at Boris Johnson, ridiculing his optimistic approach to Brexit as seeking “cake and consumption”. Set aside the impropriety of the Bank of England governor making such a political swipe, Brexit was a deep psychological blow for people like Carney – but at least managed to give him an excuse to keep the economy on the drug of rock-bottom interest rates. Employment is at a record high, inflation is over the target but Carney said yesterday that he still doesn’t think it is “the time to begin that adjustment” – i.e. rate rises. The

Isabel Hardman

Corbyn regains his confidence – but his Brexit troubles aren’t far away

Today’s exchanges between Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn in the Commons following the Queen’s Speech showed how much difference confidence makes to a leader’s performance. While Corbyn will never be a scintillating orator – speaking for far too long and ending with a sentence that seemed to be aimed more at entering the Guinness Book of Records than at making any sense – he made the most of the opportunity that such a threadbare speech presented him with. The election result may not have delivered him into government, but it has made him look like far more of a winner than the woman who called the poll. The Labour leader

Steerpike

Kwasi Kwarteng lightens the mood in the Chamber

Although a Queen’s Speech tends to be a joyful occasion for the government in power, today’s has been rather sombre for the Conservatives. Theresa Mays legislative plan for government is rather sparse now that she has binned the majority of the 2017 Tory manifesto. Happily, Kwasi Kwarteng was on hand to cheer downcast MPs in the Chamber with his loyal address: ‘It’s wonderful to see everything in its place. We have you Mr Speaker, we have the government… we have a government. We have the leader of the Opposition, in his place – all is well in the world. I’m even delighted to see our old friends, our special friends,

James Forsyth

The May manifesto has gone – and the era of Cabinet politics begins

When Theresa May launched what she called ‘my manifesto’ just over a month ago, she batted away questions about whether it was a Mayite document. But this was faux-modesty. The manifesto was a deliberate move away from traditional Tory thinking. May and her team believed that her own standing with the public meant that she could pull off this shift without proper consultation with her Cabinet. But now, with her authority shot, May cannot try and do this. The Queen’s Speech didn’t include many of the Mayite policies that she had stood on in the general election. If it was not for the Brexit legislation, this would have been a

James Kirkup

The Queen’s Speech was diluted – but Theresa May’s strategy hasn’t changed

Brexit will dominate political and parliamentary life for years to come. The weight of EU exit legislation announced in the Queen’s Speech could, as someone once said, stun a team of oxen in its tracks. Not too long ago, a cabinet minister involved in these things told me that the ‘Great Repeal Bill’ alone could consume most of a standard parliamentary session. There are now seven more bills, covering such trifles as Britain’s immigration system, trade policy, customs arrangements, farms and fisheries. Parliamentarians will be wading through Brexit legislation for years to come, and every line of every bill could have real impact on British companies and people. Remember that when

The Spectator

Queen’s Speech: Full text

My Lords and Members of the House of Commons. My government’s priority is to secure the best possible deal as the country leaves the European Union. My ministers are committed to working with Parliament, the devolved administrations, business and others to build the widest possible consensus on the country’s future outside the European Union. A bill will be introduced to repeal the European Communities Act and provide certainty for individuals and businesses. This will be complemented by legislation to ensure that the United Kingdom makes a success of Brexit, establishing new national policies on immigration, international sanctions, nuclear safeguards, agriculture, and fisheries. My government will seek to maintain a deep

Tom Goodenough

Queen’s Speech: the full guide to what’s been scrapped

Today’s Queen Speech was supposed to be a moment of crowning glory for Theresa May. Instead, it’s a muted affair, with the Tories’ plans for Government left in tatters as a result of their blown majority. ‘Strong and stable’ is out; in comes ‘humility’ and ‘resolve’ – and the party’s manifesto has been largely binned. Here’s what didn’t make the cut: Donald Trump’s state visit: The Queen’s Speech made no mention of Donald Trump’s state visit to the UK. Downing Street was insisting recently that there was no change to the schedule following Theresa May’s invitation which she offered to the President back in January. It’s clear this isn’t the case and the

Freddy Gray

The Democrats still don’t know how to counter Donald Trump

Another election night in America, another failure for the Democratic Party. Having spent a mind-boggling $23 million trying to win a congressional seat in Atlanta, Georgia, the Democrats lost to Republican candidate Karen Handel. The Democrats had been desperate to paint the contest in Georgia as a ‘referendum’ on the Trump presidency, especially since the reasonably affluent area was thought to be a prefect example of the sort of place Trump’s support was collapsing, the sort of congressional seat the party would need to start winning back in the mid-term elections next year. A win here, it was thought, would show that Trumpism wasn’t working. But it seems that the

Katy Balls

Queen’s Speech: Theresa May bins her manifesto

Today’s Queen’s Speech is notable not for what’s in it, but for what’s been left out. With no Tory majority and no agreement with the DUP, Theresa May has had to gut her 2017 Conservative Manifesto. The fact that the legislation ‘trailed’ on the eve of the speech included plans to tackle nuisance whiplash compensation claims and a ban on letting fees that was first announced last year, just demonstrates how sparse it is on new legislation. In terms of what has been put in the dustbin, the list is lengthy. The plan to cut free school lunches has been scrapped, along with May’s plans for more grammar schools. There

Stephen Daisley

The SNP are guilty of shocking chutzpah in their claims over a Tory ‘stitch up’

I have an awkward relationship with the House of Lords. On the one hand, it regularly proves a doughty guardian of liberties against a rash, headline-chasing executive. On the other hand, it’s the House of Lords. Hereditary peers, bishops, Liberal Democrats — the clientele are a rum lot. We don’t have our constitutional troubles to seek but we might want to look at getting ourselves one of those elected upper chambers, albeit one independent of Downing Street and party managers. Nevertheless, the Lords has its uses, and one of the most welcome is bringing experience to government. A good example is Ian Duncan, the Scottish Tory MEP who is reported to

Tom Goodenough

What the papers say: The Queen’s Speech is the Tories’ last chance

Today’s Queen Speech will be a muted affair, with Her Majesty dressing down for the opening of a Parliament which will stretch the Conservative Government to the limit. Theresa May heads into the new session with no majority, precious little political clout and the huge task of Brexit looming. Can the Tories somehow make it work? It’s now been nearly two weeks since the general election – yet the ‘cloud of uncertainty’ still hangs in the air, says the Daily Telegraph. There’s no reason why this should be so, argues the paper, which says the Government messed up by claiming last week that a deal with the DUP was imminent. This