Politics Archives

Wednesday

7 Dec 2016

Steerpike

Watch: Steve Baker wages war on BBC at PMQs

Although the BBC has traditionally been accused of showing anti-Conservative bias, since Jeremy Corbyn’s election as Labour leader the party has found itself waging war with the Beeb on numerous occasions. However, today Steve Baker swung it back to the Tories. The Brexit-backing backbencher used a question at PMQs to accuse the BBC of breaking its charter obligations by trying to ‘create problems for the government’: ‘I’m sure my honourable friend will be astonished if not aghast to learn that a succession of journalists from the BBC have contacted me seeking to create to manufacture stories of backbench rebellion on the issue of the EU. Will he agree with me

Fraser Nelson

In defence of Niall Ferguson | 7 December 2016

Niall Ferguson’s belated decision to back Brexit has aroused a lot of mockery today. Unkind souls are presenting him as a historian in a muddle, but for followers of his writing his new pro-Brexit stance really isn’t so surprising. He says that he had been inclined to support David Cameron and George Osborne, his friends. A noble reason. But it led him into making arguments inconsistent with those that he has been making most of his career. “Brexit woke me up, and reminded me that I needed to pay much more attention to what the non-elite majority of voters were feeling. And on the issue of EU performance, I think they were right,”

Isabel Hardman

Nicky Morgan’s wrong trousers

Does Theresa May understand what life is like for the just-managing families she purports to stand for? The Tory party has seen a fair bit of snipping over the past few days over whether the Prime Minister’s £995 Amanda Wakeley trousers, which she wore for a newspaper interview and was then ridiculed about by one of the Cabinet ministers she sacked. Nicky Morgan told the Times that ‘I don’t think I’ve ever spent that much on anything apart from my wedding dress’ and that the pricey garb had been ‘noticed and discussed’ in party circles. You might expect that in order to look the part on the world stage, a

Steerpike

Nigel Evans’ Trump card for Christmas

Christmas doesn’t start until Nigel Evans sends out his annual card. This year’s is no exception, with the Conservative MP’S 2016 offering as modest as ever. He has, however, decided to share the spotlight with another man this time around. Step forward Donald Trump. Perhaps Evans could help No. 10 forge ties with the president-elect should Farage’s offer fail to appeal.

Tom Goodenough

Spectator live blog: The Supreme Court’s Brexit hearing, day three

It’s day three of the Supreme Court’s landmark case on the triggering of Article 50. Here’s how the day unfolded: 4.15pm: The Supreme Court hearing has now finished for the day. The Lord Advocate, Lord Wolffe has been putting forward the Scottish Government’s case. So far, he has told the court that using prerogative powers to trigger Article 50 would be an ‘unconstitutional’ step. But he makes it clear that the Scottish Parliament does not have the power to veto Brexit. You can read the Scottish Government’s full submission to the Supreme Court here. 3.30pm: Ronan Lavery now takes up the argument on behalf of Northern Ireland. Lavery warns that Brexit

Tom Goodenough

What the papers say: Brexit, political pygmies and repentant Remainers

MPs will vote for the first time today on the Government’s Article 50 timeline. While Labour have said the decision to spell out the plan for Brexit is a ‘welcome climbdown’ by ministers, is this afternoon’s debate merely delaying the actual process of Britain leaving the EU? That’s the Sun’s verdict on today’s proceedings, with the paper saying a ‘coalition of political pygmies’ are ‘stringing out the process in Parliament’. It goes on to say that Theresa May’s opponents ‘should stop pretending’ they are worried about democracy and Parliamentary sovereignty and instead own up to ‘their true aim’ – ‘reversing the referendum result’. The Sun reserves its biggest ire for what

Katy Balls

Theresa May agrees to publish Brexit strategy before invoking Article 50

With the Supreme Court ruling on the government’s Article 50 appeal not expected until the new year, Theresa May is facing a more immediate Brexit headache. After around 20 Conservative MPs were expected to back a Labour motion today — tabled by Jeremy Corbyn and Keir Starmer — calling for the Prime Minister to ‘commit to publishing the government’s plan for leaving the EU before Article 50 is invoked’, No. 10 has staved off the rebellion by agreeing to Labour’s demand. Accepting Labour’s motion, ministers have added an amendment of their own — that the House should ‘respect the wishes of the United Kingdom as expressed in the referendum on 23 June; and further calls on the

Tuesday

6 Dec 2016

Jonathan Mcaloon

Perhaps Michael Gove should get the Turner Prize

It is a week where you’d imagine most British politicians would be occupied by the Supreme Court ruling over Brexit. But late last night and in the early hours of this, two members of the last government found time for a spat about art on Twitter. Former Secretary of State for Education Michael Gove said the Turner Prize had ‘nothingtodowithJMWTurnersgenius’ and that contemporary art was basically all ‘#modishcrap’, showing off his art expertise by misspelling winner Helen Marten’s name. Former arts minister Ed Vaizey stood up for the prize, and acknowledged that ‘brilliant’ contemporary artists could and did exist. The argument, of course, is an old one: older than the Turner

Matthew Lynn

Sorry Remoaners. The British peso is on its way back

We were about to see parity with the dollar. It was fetching less than an euro at the airport. Spiralling costs were about to wipe out what little remained of our manufacturing industry, and the RXS’s – that’s the racist, xenophobic scum, in case you were wondering – were all about to lose their jobs. A collapse in the value of the pound over the summer and the autumn was one of the few genuinely worrying economic consequences of our vote to leave the EU – and the Remain camp used it endlessly to demonstrate that the economy was in freefall. It wasn’t quite a full-blown sterling crisis, of the sort

James Forsyth

Michel Barnier plays hardball on Brexit

Michel Barnier, the Commission’s Brexit negotiator, has been giving a running commentary on Brexit this morning. Barnier, striking a predictably tough stance before the negotiations start, said that he wants the divorce aspects of the Article 50 deal concluded by October 2018, to give sufficient time for ratification. This, essentially, means that there’ll be one year of negotiations from after the German elections next autumn. But Barnier’s position is that only once this deal has been agreed, can talks move on to what the future relationship between the UK and the EU will be. In other words, no talks on trade until the exit process has been agreed. He emphasised

The Spectator

Spectator live blog: The Supreme Court’s Brexit hearing, day two

The second day of the Supreme Court hearing has seen the Government continue to put forward its case for why it should be allowed to pull the Article 50 trigger without the say so of Parliament. And Lord Pannick has been arguing why Parliament must give approval for the start of the process of Brexit. Here’s how the day unfolded on our Spectator live blog: 4.30pm: Pannick’s main pitch is about the power of Parliament. He tells the Supreme Court that ‘Parliament is sovereign and only Parliament can remove that which it has incorporated into domestic law’ – meaning that Brexit cannot be started by the Government without the agreement of Parliament. He

Tom Goodenough

What the papers say: Is time up for the EU?

Something is happening across Europe, says the Sun – but EU leaders are still intent on burying their heads in the sand. Following Matteo Renzi’s defeat in the Italian referendum on Sunday and far-right Eurosceptic candidate Norbert Hofer’s good showing in the Austrian election, it’s clear that ‘voters across Europe are increasingly rejecting the EU’s self-interested ruling consensus,’ the paper says. But while the outcome for the continent does not look good, the signs of instability in Europe can arguably be only a good omen for Theresa May as she looks to negotiate Britain’s Brexit deal. The Sun argues that this instability ‘strengthens Theresa May’s hand’ and suggests that the increasing

Brendan O’Neill

A Eurosceptic union is forming across Europe

Of all the barbs fired at us Brexiteers, the one that’s irritated me most is ‘Little Englander’. The suggestion is that pro-EU people are broad-minded Europhiles while Brexiteers are petty nationalists who want to dismantle the Chunnel and while away our days drinking tea and slagging off Germans. It couldn’t be more wrong. In fact, the most wonderful thing about Brexit — glorious, rebellious Brexit — is the new European unity it is forging. Far from giving an English two-fingered salute to the continent, the Brexit bug is helping bring the continent together, uniting peoples who’ve had a gutful of the technocrats. The overthrow of Matteo Renzi is 2016’s latest

Monday

5 Dec 2016

Barnaby Martin

Italy will soon be haunted by its inability to reform

Matteo Renzi has resigned from being Prime Minister of Italy but he has not resigned from the Democratic Party. He has not done a David Cameron or David Miliband and left public life. This means that he will be back next year, and it also means that he will act as kingmaker in the coming days. Right now, he will be working away behind the scenes to help organise the next coalition government that will soon be ushered in to pass the Budget law and to ensure the smooth passage of the banking bail out. There is zero appetite among Democratic Party members or their junior coalition partners to call a general

Matthew Plummer

John Key’s real legacy is his lack of blunders

Imagine a Tory Prime Minister stepping down after nearly ten years at the top on his own terms. The budget was back in surplus, troublesome referendum results had been quickly forgotten, and the PM still remained overwhelmingly popular, with his party still sitting on around 50 per cent in the polls. No, it’s not the restless dreams of David Cameron, but John Key – New Zealand’s soon-to-be ex-PM, who unexpectedly announced his resignation earlier today. Arguably one of the most successful centre-right leaders in the world since Margaret Thatcher, Key has dominated New Zealand politics for the past decade. His National party has held near-majority government, despite a proportional electoral system that was meant to make such

Ross Clark

A view of St Paul’s is the least of London’s housing problems

Richmond Park has been in the news a bit lately. It is portrayed as a bastion of wealth and privilege, whose residents stand accused of trying to lord it over ordinary voters. But never mind blocking Brexit, do the people who live there deserve the right to an uninterrupted view of St Paul’s? Outrage has greeted the construction of a 42-storey tower in Stratford, East London, which is accused of compromising the view of Wren’s great cathedral from a mound in Richmond Park. Planning permission for Manhattan Loft Gardens, which will incorporate 250 flats as well as a 145-bed hotel, was granted back in 2011. Yet no-one seemed to notice

Steerpike

Ukip struggle to get their message across in Sleaford by-election

Here we go again. As Paul Nuttall tries to prove that Ukip is a professional party on the path to electoral success, he may wish to have a word with his party’s campaigns team. With Ukip fielding a candidate in the Sleaford and North Hykeham by-election, Nigel Farage headed there today to do some broadcast in support of his party. Alas, the campaign banner he stood behind had a glaring error. It read ‘Hykenham’ rather than ‘Hykeham’. In future, Mr S suspects it’s worth double checking the spelling of the constituency before printing the campaign merchandise.

Katy Balls

Amber Rudd gets a rough ride at the despatch box – thanks to Boris

Over the weekend, Boris Johnson managed to plunge himself into another Cabinet row by announcing on Peston on Sunday that he thinks students should be excluded from the net migration numbers — because they are ‘of massive benefit to this country’. As is becoming a pattern, No 10 were quick to slap him down — with the Prime Minister’s spokesman insisting at lobby that ‘students will continue to be part of the figures’. Not that this stopped MPs having some fun with the comments today at Home Office questions. Andrew Tyrie kicked proceedings off by asking — in a convoluted manner — whether Rudd agreed that students should be removed from the tens of

William Cook

Thanks to Brexit and Trump, Austria lost its appetite for political upheaval

Austria’s presidential election has been overshadowed by Matteo Renzi’s dramatic defeat in the Italian referendum, but Alexander Van der Bellen’s victory is significant nonetheless. It confirms there are now two Europes, north and south. Southern members like Italy are becoming increasingly hostile towards the EU, while northern members like Austria will do (almost) anything to keep the EU on track. So why did Austria buck the American trend, and chose a Euro-friendly head of state? Churchill said Russia was a riddle wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma. He might have been talking about Austria today. The Austrian capital, ‘Red’ Vienna, has always been socially liberal and politically leftist. The

Tom Goodenough

Spectator live blog: The Supreme Court’s Brexit hearing, day one

Today’s Supreme Court hearing did, for once, live up to its billing as being a ‘landmark case’. The court’s 11 judges – sitting together for the first time – will hear four days of evidence before ruling next month on the government’s appeal against the decision that Parliament must be given a say on triggering Article 50. Here’s the full coverage from today’s Supreme Court case: 4.30pm: Eadie finishes off his argument with a simple point. He urges the Supreme Court judges to measure their decision based on a test of asking the ‘man in the street’. Would the average person think that the referendum outcome gave the Government the right to kick start