Politics Archives

Sunday

12 Feb 2017

Why do liberal lefties cling to these unlikely heroes such as Bercow?

The BBC again. A profile of the speaker, John Bercow, for Radio Four. His pet cat is called ‘Order’ – hilarious! And he’s stood up for stuff like same sex adoptions and opposed the ‘nasty’ (qv- BBC again) tendencies of the Tory Party. What a lovely bloke! And he’s been bloody brilliant as a speaker! This was the conclusion we were invited to draw from Mark Coles’s profile, which ran on Radio Four just before 18.00 on Sunday. Aaah, you hold your heads in the hands and wonder. Mark Coles is a superb reporter and one of the most talented makers of radio packages I have ever come across –

Camilla Swift

Tom Watson tells Marr that Labour will ‘make this country great again’

With the latest polling on voting intentions from ICM putting Labour on 27 and the Conservatives storming ahead on 42 points (the Lib Dems and Ukip are on 10 and 12 respectively), it’s no surprise that, as James Forsyth writes in this week’s magazine, the Tories are hugely confident of winning the next general election. But Labour’s Deputy Leader Tom Watson, speaking on Marr this morning, wasn’t about to give up on his party’s hopes anytime soon, stating that ‘we can certainly win a general election.’ ‘We’ve had a tough eighteen months. We had a damaging second leadership election, so we’ve got an uphill struggle ahead. The polls aren’t great

Susan Hill

My sadness at the friends I’ve lost over Brexit

Brexit has been as bad as any surge in washing away hitherto strong foundations. I am talking about friendships. I have never known the like. To be called a racist, a ‘little Englander’ and worse was bad enough, but to have people one has long known and liked say they could no longer be friends with ‘someone like you’ was very shocking. My father was a Mass-going Roman Catholic, a Labour voter and a union shop steward. My mother was a church-going Anglican and lifelong Conservative. They were married for 33 years and although their union was alarmingly fiery, they made a pact from the beginning that they would never

Saturday

11 Feb 2017

Rod Liddle

Watch: David Aaronovitch makes an utter fool of himself on Newsnight

I thought you’d like to see this, in case you haven’t already. This is David Aaronovitch being made to look like an utter fool on Newsnight because he doesn’t know what he is talking about. He doesn’t get Brexit, or Trump, or the Chatham House survey which I reported on a couple of days ago. He is in a state of denial – a familiar state for David, because however good a writer he may be, he has the analytical capacities of a wardrobe. And not a very good wardrobe, either. A DFS thing, I would reckon. Wrong about the Iraq War, wrong about Islam (until he conveniently changed his

James Forsyth

Why the Lords won’t block Brexit

The government has no majority in the House of Lords and a majority of peers were pro-Remain. But despite this, the Article 50 Bill will get through the Lords I argue in The Sun this morning. Why, because the reason that we still have an unelected chamber in the 21st century is that the House of Lords has a strong self-preservation instinct: it knows its limits. If the Lords were to try and block something that had been backed in a referendum and had passed the Commons with a majority of 372, then it would be endangering its very existence. Indeed, I understand that the Labour front bench have already

Steerpike

The Corbyn effect | 11 February 2017

Last month, Tim Farron ruled out any electoral pact between the Liberal Democrats and Labour — branding Jeremy Corbyn ‘toxic’. With Labour mourning the loss of over 7,000 members in January, it seems Farron may be on to something. In contrast to Labour, the Liberal Democrats were buoyed by 4,000 new members last month. And just how many new members cited Corbyn as the reason they were joining the Lib Dems? Well, a little (yellow) bird tells Mr S that about 2,000 of them said Corbyn or the ‘state of Labour’ when asked why they are joining. It seems Corbyn’s increased media presence is having a positive effect after all — just for

Charles Moore

John Bercow’s Trump intervention was out of order

As we have been reminded this week, the most famous words (apart from ‘Order, order’) ever uttered by a Speaker of the House of Commons were those of William Lenthall. When King Charles I entered Parliament in search of the ‘five birds’ in 1642, Lenthall knelt to the King but told him, ‘I have neither eyes to see, nor tongue to speak in this place but as the House is pleased to direct me.’ It is only on that basis that the Speaker speaks. As soon as John Bercow said — of the speculative possibility that Donald Trump should address both Houses of Parliament — ‘I feel very strongly that our opposition

Friday

10 Feb 2017

Tom Goodenough

What the papers say: Jeremy Corbyn’s road to nowhere

Jeremy Corbyn has called reports of his departure ‘fake news’. This despite the Labour leader having a net approval rating of minus 40 per cent and polling suggesting that only 15 per cent of voters think Corbyn stands any chance at all of triumphing in 2020. It seems that, at any cost, the Labour leader is determined to stumble on. Yesterday, he announced a reshuffle – shaking up the cast of nobodies in his shadow cabinet. Whatever Corbyn does, though, if he stays put it’s clear that these next few years are going to be a ‘miserable experience’ for him, says the Daily Telegraph. It’s inevitable that whether the Labour leader has a

Steerpike

Richard Burgon to the rescue

With Labour lagging behind the Tories in the polls and the party divided over Brexit, there has been much speculation of late over Jeremy Corbyn’s future as Labour leader. While Clive Lewis is rumoured to be considering a leadership challenge, Corbyn appeared to pave the way for a more Corbyn-friendly successor yesterday when he appointed Rebecca Long-Bailey as shadow business secretary. But while the PLP fret over Lewis and Long-Bailey, is there another able candidate who is being overlooked for the top job? Step forward, Richard Burgon. Word reaches Steerpike that a number of Labour MPs have been asked to support the shadow justice secretary as a possible future leader. ‘Currently it’s a groundswell of grassroots

Thursday

9 Feb 2017

The Spectator

Letters | 9 February 2017

No fear Sir: Why does Matthew Parris think I am ‘secretly terrified’ of having voted to leave the EU (‘Brexiteers need ladders to climb down’, 4 February)? Anyone over the age of 50 knew that choosing to vote Leave or Remain was not an easy decision. My own beliefs nudged me just far enough to vote Leave; my partner’s beliefs nudged him just far enough to vote Remain. Mr Parris admits that he can imagine Brexit being a surprising success, and I may have to face the fact that it could be a failure. We are both reasonable people. I was satisfied with the result, but since June I have

Charles Moore

The Spectator’s Notes | 9 February 2017

As we have been reminded this week, the most famous words (apart from ‘Order, order’) ever uttered by a Speaker of the House of Commons were those of William Lenthall. When King Charles I entered Parliament in search of the ‘five birds’ in 1642, Lenthall knelt to the King but told him, ‘I have neither eyes to see, nor tongue to speak in this place but as the House is pleased to direct me.’ It is only on that basis that the Speaker speaks. As soon as John Bercow said — of the speculative possibility that Donald Trump should address both Houses of Parliament — ‘I feel very strongly that our opposition

James Forsyth

Motion of no confidence in Bercow tabled

The Tory backbencher James Duddridge has formally tabled a motion of no confidence in the Speaker John Bercow. Duddridge’s attempt to remove the Speaker follows Bercow’s outburst against Donald Trump from the chair on Monday, which further called into question his impartiality and his judgement. Duddridge’s motion is unlikely to succeed. The SNP and nearly all Labour MPs will back Bercow while the government has no appetite for getting drawn into this fight. The vote, though, will be an embarrassment to the Speaker. There’ll be a sizeable number of Tories who vote for it, 150 is the number being talked about tonight, and it will show how Bercow has lost

Matthew Lynn

Marine Le Pen’s plan to leave the euro is deranged

Unemployment is crucifyingly high. Factories have lost competitiveness. The share of euro-zone exports is in relentless decline. Industrial production is still lower than it was in 2008. The euro might have been a French idea – but France has turned into one of its main victims. The National Front Leader Marine Le Pen is certainly right to insist that France can’t recover while it is inside the single currency. There is a problem however. Her plan for getting out is completely deranged. The first round of voting in the Presidential election is only three months away, and the National Front leader seems almost certain to make the second round. So in the

Katy Balls

Jeremy Corbyn’s new shadow cabinet favourite

On Wednesday, 52 Labour MPs chose to defy Jeremy Corbyn’s three-line whip and vote against Brexit in the Article 50 vote. With rebels Clive Lewis, Rachael Maskell and Jo Stevens all resigning from the frontbench as a result, Corbyn has today had to begin a reshuffle of his shadow cabinet. The Labour leader says he is ‘pleased to announce’ that Rebecca Long-Bailey will replace Lewis as shadow business secretary, with Peter Dowd moving to fill Long-Bailey’s previous position as shadow chief secretary to the Treasury. Christina Rees replaces Stevens as shadow Welsh secretary, while Sue Hayman will succeed Maskell as shadow environment secretary. As for the 14 frontbench MPs who rebelled but are yet to

Steerpike

Corbyn’s war with the BBC rages on

There’s little love lost between the BBC and the Leader’s Office. Jeremy Corbyn’s team have regularly accused the Beeb of anti-Corbyn bias, with the BBC trust recently concluding that its political editor Laura Kuenssberg inaccurately reported the Labour leader’s views about shoot-to-kill policies in the aftermath of the terror attacks in Paris. Today, the battle took another turn for the worse as Corbyn appeared on BBC Breakfast. Things soon turned sour when the presenter asked Corbyn about rumours that he was planning to stand down. At which point, Corbyn said he was surprised the BBC was fuelling the ‘fake news’ epidemic: BBC presenter: There’s a story going about that you’ve set a

Tom Goodenough

What the papers say: Would the Lords dare block Brexit?

Theresa May’s Brexit timetable is on track after MPs overwhelming backed the Government’s Article 50 bill in the Commons last night. Not everyone is happy with the role that Parliament has played so far in holding ministers’ feet to the fire over Brexit though. In its editorial this morning, the Guardian says MPs failed their first test: ‘Too many MPs genuflected’ to the referendum outcome – a result which the paper describes as one of the worst political decisions in the UK since the second world war. It seems as though the referendum took away Parliament’s power – and not even the ‘heroic efforts’ of Gina Miller in winning her

Steerpike

Diane Abbott spurns David Davis in Strangers’ Bar

After the government’s Brexit Bill passed through the Commons unamended, whips, government ministers and Brexiteers were in the mood to celebrate. Alas, not everyone was on the same page. Although Diane Abbott was well enough to vote for Article 50 today, the shadow home secretary is far from happy about the government’s plans for a ‘Tory Brexit’. So, it was unfortunate timing that she ran into an elated David Davis in Strangers’ bar this evening. Riding high on the day’s events, the Brexit secretary approached Abbott and proceeded to try and plant a celebratory kiss on her. Her response? Abbott proceeded to tell him to ‘f— off’. Mr S suspects Davis ought to buy Abbott a ‘never kiss a

James Forsyth

Theresa May’s racing certainty

There are few things more predictable than people talking about the unpredictability of politics. We live in an age, we are told incessantly, in which anything can happen politically — and regularly does. Yet there is one exception. Westminster is already sure about the result of the next general election: a majority for Theresa May. One long-serving Tory MP tells me the party has never been more certain of victory in his lifetime. The Tories, with their 15-point poll lead, do look far better placed today than they did, say, 18 months before either of the Thatcher landslides, in 1983 and 1987. It isn’t just the Tory tribe who are

Robert Tombs

A choice of revolutions

Is France on the brink of a political revolution? Already, four established candidates for the presidency — two former presidents and two former prime ministers — have backed out or been rejected by the voters, and another, François Fillon, is on the ropes. The campaign is being taken over by outsiders, principally the Front National’s Marine Le Pen and a youthful former banker, Emmanuel Macron, while the Socialists have chosen an eccentric radical, Benoît Hamon. Should we welcome a shake-up in the cradle of European revolutions? What kind of shake-up might it be — socialist (the least likely), liberal with Macron or nationalist with Le Pen? Or can the outsiders

Rod Liddle

The dishonouring of David Beckham

How will we remember him, do you suppose? If you’re a committed football fan, possibly for that exquisite chip from the halfway line which left Wimbledon’s Neil Sullivan clutching at cold, empty air. A lovely goal, executed when he was only 21 years old, and which seemed to presage so much. As a stalwart of a Manchester United side that was as successful as any British club has been? Or, if you’re only an occasional football fan, for those moments when he was in an England shirt and either clutching victory from defeat (a free kick against Greece) or defeat from victory (a petulant kick at the calf of some