Politics Archives

Thursday

4 May 2017

Moths vs the middle classes

It’s not the free movement of people I spend my nights fretting about; it’s the free movement of pests. It’s the thuggy Spanish bluebells invading our woodland and killing our own delicate flowers; it’s the Asian caterpillars devastating our box hedges; it’s the black-winged killer ladybirds from North America wiping out our spotted red ones with a nasty fungal disease. And — particularly worrying for anyone trying to run a household — it’s the tiny webbing clothes moths, thought to have originated from South Africa, their larvae feasting on our favourite cardigans and carpets — probably feasting right now, under the very bed in which we are failing to sleep.

Rod Liddle

Diane’s grey matter and Labour’s sticky votes

I awoke the other morning to hear Diane Abbott’s brains leaking out of her ears and all over the carpet during an interview with LBC’s excellent Nick Ferrari. You will need a mop and a bucket very sharpish, I thought to myself, as she gabbled on, the hole beneath her feet growing larger with every syllable she uttered. Diane has had the brain leakage problem before, many times, and my worry is that following the LBC debacle there is almost nothing left inside her skull at all, just a thin greyish residue resembling a kind of fungi or leaf mould. This would leave her on an intellectual par with Emily

James Delingpole

Thanks, Jamie Oliver – you’ve stolen my childhood

Whenever I want to travel back in time to my 1970s childhood, all I need is a glass of Lucozade. One sip of the electric orange nectar and there I am in the magical era of Chopper bikes, space hoppers and clackers (which they banned because they were dangerous, apparently), of the Clangers, Animal Magic and John Craven’s Newsround, of Wagon Wheels, Alphabetti spaghetti and chewy chocolate peanut bars still known in those days by their correct name, Marathon. (See also: Jif, Oil of Ulay, Opal Fruits.) Bliss was it in that loon-panted dawn to be alive. But to be young was very heaven. Every now and then some awful

Wednesday

3 May 2017

Richard Coles

My brush with the pro-Corbyn Twitter mob

When my old friend – a lifelong Labour supporter – told me he was voting Tory at the election, I posted a message on Twitter: That was that, I thought. But then the replies started piling in. One of the first responses came from someone who thought my friend would regret his decision if he ever needed the NHS. ‘He’s an NHS consultant’, I replied. Even that didn’t stop the disbelief: many of those responding struggled to believe that someone working for the NHS could possibly vote Conservative. Was my friend real, they demanded to know. Admittedly not everyone thought I was making it up. Others seemed convinced that my

James Forsyth

Theresa May pulls no punches in her attack on the European Commission

Theresa May has kicked off the Tory general election campaign with a remarkably punchy statement in Downing Street. She accused the European Commission of trying to interfere in the UK general election. She said that the hardening of the Commission’s negotiating stance and the leaks of recent days ‘had been deliberately timed to affect the result of the general election that will take place on 8 June.’ She added that there were those in Brussels who did not want to see the UK prosper. May’s charge takes us into new territory. I can’t recall a British Prime Minister accusing an allied power, let alone a group the UK is still

The Spectator

Theresa May hits out at the ‘bureaucrats of Brussels’, full transcript

I have just been to Buckingham Palace for an audience with Her Majesty The Queen to mark the dissolution of this Parliament. The 2015 Parliament is now at an end, and in 36 days the country will elect a new Government and choose the next Prime Minister. The choice you now face is all about the future. Whoever wins on 8 June will face one overriding task: to get the best possible deal for this United Kingdom from Brexit. And in the last few days, we have seen just how tough these talks are likely to be. Britain’s negotiating position in Europe has been misrepresented in the continental press. The European Commission’s negotiating stance

Tom Goodenough

Ukip targets foreign aid in its bid to woo wavering Tory voters

Ukip is a party searching for a purpose. In recent weeks, its focus has been on Islam. Now, it has hit on a new ruse to try and win over voters: going after Britain’s foreign aid budget. The party has said it will scrap the 0.7 per cent spending commitment put into law by David Cameron. Like it or not, it’s a popular move – with the millions spent on unwise projects, such as those in North Korea, doing little to endear a sceptical public to the cause of foreign aid. Hundreds of thousands of people signed a petition last year calling for cuts to the aid budget. Polls paint a

Alex Massie

The Conservative party is treating the electorate like mugs

What a curious election this is proving to be. It is hard to think of another general election in which the two largest political parties indulged in so much nonsense, nor did their best to persuade you that what is evidently true cannot possibly be true. In the first place, the Conservative party asks you to believe the Labour party could yet finagle its way into Downing Street. You can’t afford to take a risk on Jeremy Corbyn, the Tories tell a public that has not the slightest intention of taking a risk, or anything else, on Jeremy Corbyn. Undaunted, the Tories warn: Look, there remains the prospect of a

Steerpike

A Labour MP on the doorstep

With Labour predicted a catastrophic election result come June 8, many MPs are resorting to rather desperate tactics in a bid to cling on to their seat. So, Mr S was curious to learn of an encounter a comrade experienced over the weekend. At an address in one of the capital’s marginal constituencies, a canvasser was handing out leaflets with the local Labour MP, who was knocking on doors nearby, but sadly unavailable for a chat. ‘Ah what a shame, I’m a swing voter,’ mused the occupier, and closed the door. Predictably, the MP was there within a few minutes. It was an enthusiastic if hacky pitch from the MP, until

Siobhan Fenton

The EU has gifted the Republican cause a blueprint for a united Ireland

Theresa May’s awkward dinner date with Jean-Claude Juncker stole the headlines, but there was another Brexit development that passed with much-less fuss: the European Union’s plan for Ireland to reunite after Brexit, which it inserted quietly into its negotiating guidelines. Few in Britain paid much attention to it. Across the Irish Sea, it was a different story. Among Catholic communities, there is growing hope that Brexit could be the issue which finally sees partition end on the island. Yet within Protestant communities, there is a growing fear that the EU is using Brexit as a tool to sneak through Irish reunification. The British government appears to be doing precious little to stop it. The issue of

Steerpike

Watch: Tim Farron taken to task by furious Brexit voter

Tim Farron has been doing his best to appeal to Remain voters left fed-up at the outcome of last year’s referendum. The only problem? In doing so, he’s angered those on the other side of the debate. Today, on a visit to Kidlington, he got his comeuppance as he came face to face with one such voter who was furious at the Lib Dem’s Brexit stance. Here’s the video: Voter Malcolm Baker confronts Tim Farron pic.twitter.com/PATPWC0yrR — Sam Lister (@sam_lister_) May 3, 2017 Farron did his best to try and calm the man down by saying that he had lots of friends who voted Leave – and that he didn’t think

Tom Goodenough

Jean-Claude Juncker could learn a thing or two from David Davis

Even David Davis’s loudest critics would concede one thing about the Brexit secretary: he is nothing if not breezily confident. His performance on the media rounds this morning was no exception; and his message following Theresa May’s now-famously frosty Downing Street dinner with Jean-Claude Juncker could not have been clearer: keep calm and carry on – there’s nothing to worry about. Davis dismissed talk in the papers this morning that Theresa May will be sidelined by other EU leaders when thrashing out the terms of the Brexit deal. Instead, the Brexit secretary said that the PM will be front and centre of talks. Davis was also quick to dismiss discussion

Steerpike

Watch: Dithering Labour frontbencher Jon Ashworth hounded by Piers Morgan

If Labour ever does make it to No.10, it’ll be Jeremy Corbyn with his finger on the nuclear button. The Labour leader has been famously wishy-washy on whether he’d retaliate in the event of a nuclear attack. And it seems Corbyn isn’t alone on the Labour frontbench in dithering on the subject. Following his performance during an interview on Good Morning Britain today, Mr S hopes that Labour MP Jon Ashworth isn’t involved in the decision-making process in the event of a nuclear strike. Ashworth was repeatedly asked by Piers Morgan what he would do if another country launched an attack on Britain. Here’s what he said: When @piersmorgan asks

Tuesday

2 May 2017

Fraser Nelson

First, Nigel Lawson. Then Boris. Now Kemi Badenoch moves from The Spectator to politics.

So far, the Tory candidate selection has been a predictable process: the regurgitation of old names rather than the recruitment of new talent. But tonight, this changed. Kemi Badenoch, former head of digital at The Spectator, has been selected for Saffron Walden in Essex– a seat with a Tory majority of almost 25,000. I suspect that we’ll soon be hearing a lot more about, and from, Kemi. Originally from Nigeria, she moved here as a teenager, worked her way up in the City and was an associate director at Coutts before she joined us at The Spectator. She is currently deputy leader of the Tory group at the London Assembly, and

Isabel Hardman

Theresa May’s scrutiny-dodging will only get worse

What a very boring election this is. The Tories are trying to keep their Prime Minister away from anyone who isn’t an android programmed to wave a placard about ‘strong and stable leadership’. Journalists from local papers are being kept in rooms to prevent them from – gasp – filming an interview with the Prime Minister for their websites. Other events take place away from the media entirely, with Theresa May cocooned safely among Tory activists: the political equivalent of a tree falling in an empty forest. Over the bank holiday, the Sunday papers carried tales of a row between May and her key aide Fiona Hill in which the Prime

Rod Liddle

Diane Abbott, the brain of Labour

I awoke this morning to hear Diane Abbott’s brains leaking out of her ears and all over the carpet during an interview with LBC’s excellent Nick Ferrari. You will need a mop and a bucket very sharpish, I thought to myself, as she gabbled on, the hole beneath her feet growing larger with every syllable she uttered. Diane has had the brain leakage problem before, many times, and my worry is that following the LBC debacle there is almost nothing left inside her skull at all, just a thin greyish residue resembling a particular kind of fungi or leaf mould. This would leave Diane on an intellectual par with Emily Thornberry,

Katy Balls

Theresa May makes the most of being a bloody difficult woman

Over the weekend, Theresa May fell prey to a rather brutal Brussels briefing when details of the Prime Minister’s ‘disastrous’ Brexit dinner with Jean-Claude Juncker found their way into a German newspaper. With the Prime Minister accused of ‘living in another galaxy’ and lacking a clue when it comes to the Brexit negotiations, one could be forgiven for thinking she would want to try and downplay reports of a frosty relationship with the European Commission president. Instead, May has used an interview with the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg to double down on the claims. Asked about the reports, May made no apologies as she explained that she was a difficult woman to get

Brendan O’Neill

Who does Jean-Claude Juncker think he is?

Jean-Claude Juncker: what a nasty piece of work. There aren’t many politicians I’d say that about. Even most of those I disagree with strike me as being pretty decent people. Theresa May might be a petty authoritarian, but she isn’t sinister. Jeremy Corbyn is wrong about everything, and stuck politically and sartorially in 1983, but he seems a nice enough guy. But Juncker — it is still rare that such a noxious character, such a scheming operator, such an arrogant arse, such a jumped-up, poundshop Machiavelli, darkens the corridors of politics. He’s the worst. All of Juncker’s awful traits were on display at the weekend, in the spat over his

Isabel Hardman

The snap election is likely to make the Commons a lot more dull

At midnight, we won’t have any MPs. The dissolution of Parliament means that no-one who has sat on the green benches of the Commons for the past two years has any official status above their fellow candidates in the General Election. Some will return victorious for another five years (or until another advantageously early election). Some have decided that it’s time to go. Others will find that their local electorates have decided it is time for them to go. Elections are exciting for the political world. They activate a gene in politicians that the rest of us fortunately do not possess, which makes them enjoy six weeks of trying to

Rod Liddle

Britain’s election is seriously uninspiring. Can I head to France?

I see that the polls have narrowed a bit, although I can’t see an earthly reason why they would have done so, given that Corbyn is as stupid now as he was six days ago. Except that people are perhaps feeling increasingly resentful that an election has been called at all, and dislike the arrogance and presumption behind it. This is the Brenda from Bristol tendency (or whatever the doolally old bat was called). But also that the Labour vote is a little more steadfast than perhaps the Tories thought. I have mentioned this before – and I may well be wrong and perhaps this really is the election where