Politics Archives

Tuesday

6 Sep 2016

Sturgeon takes another tiny step towards Scottish independence

It has become one of those journalistic clichés to talk about ‘firing the starting gun’ in politics. There has been some debate among the hacks at Holyrood as to whether or not Nicola Sturgeon has already ‘fired the starting gun’ on the next Scottish independence referendum campaign. So, to do justice to that cliché (and to mangle it completely), I suggest something like this: today the First Minister reached for the key to the cabinet holding the starting gun, which would launch a second Scottish independence campaign. She hasn’t yet opened the cabinet but she has the key in her hand, should she decide to place it in the lock and turn. What

Isabel Hardman

May and Davis split on single market comments

Theresa May didn’t choose a quiet life when she appointed David Davis as the Brexit Secretary, Liam Fox as the International Trade Secretary and Boris Johnson as the Foreign Secretary. Mostly, the men have bickered amongst themselves up to this point. But today the Prime Minister’s official spokeswoman put some distance between May and her minister charged with Brexit negotiations. Yesterday Davis had told the Commons that he thought it unlikely that Britain would be able to retain single market access while also controlling EU migration. He said: ‘This government is looking at every option but the simple truth is that if a requirement of membership is giving up control

William Cook

How Alternative für Deutschland forced German politics to the right

‘When the world ends, I’ll go to Mecklenburg,’ quipped Bismarck, ‘because there, everything happens a hundred years later.’ Mecklenburg-Vorpommern has always been seen as somewhere behind the times, but has this sleepy backwater now become a portent of momentous things to come? In last weekend’s regional elections, Germany’s fledgling anti-immigration party, Alternative für Deutschland, came second, pushing Angela Merkel’s CDU into third place – in her own constituency. So was AfD’s Leif-Erik Holm right to say that this could be the beginning of the end for Merkel? And does this shock result mark the end of the beginning for AfD? I have a soft spot for Mecklenburg (my father’s family used

Steerpike

Ken Livingstone tries to defend Keith Vaz – but talks about Hitler instead

Today Keith Vaz has stepped down as chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee following a series of claims about his personal life. His decision comes after a number of his Labour comrades tried to help his cause by going onto the airwaves to wax lyrical about their colleague. Simon Danczuk — who is currently suspended from the party for sexting a 17-year-old — appeared on the Victoria Derbyshire show to claim that Vaz is a well-respected MP. He was joined by Ken Livingstone — who is currently suspended from the party over his claim that Hitler was ‘supporting Zionism’ before he ‘went mad and ended up killing six million Jews’. Livingstone did manage to wax lyrical about

Douglas Murray

Keith Vaz’s rent boys have done a valuable political job

Why do people always fall from grace for the wrong reasons? I had always hoped that if Keith Vaz finally fell from whatever form of grace he could lay claim to, it would be for really good reasons. Regular readers will know that my detestation of him dates back to 1989 when as a young MP he first offered support to Salman Rushdie in the business of the Ayatollah’s fatwa and then a few weeks later led a demonstration of thousands of angry British Muslims in opposition to Rushdie and his novel. Someone who is capable of that is capable of absolutely anything. Such as hauling the Metropolitan Police in front of your

Tom Goodenough

Will Keith Vaz cling on?

If yesterday’s appearance of Keith Vaz in the Commons was a show of defiance, today will be a taste of reality for the Labour MP. The steely silence when he asked questions in Parliament spoke volumes; MPs are not happy with Vaz’s attempts to carry on as normal in the wake of allegations surrounding a meeting with two male prostitutes at his flat. Yet as far as Vaz was concerned, it was business as usual. That will change this afternoon as he’ll finally have to confront reality. When the Home Affairs Committee meets shortly after 3pm, he’ll find out whether that Sunday Mirror expose is enough to end his chairmanship of

Steerpike

Coming soon: Sinn Féin at Labour conference on the ‘cost of Ireland’s partition’

Throughout Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership of the Labour party, his links to Sinn Féin have been called into question by his critics. As Mr S’s colleague Douglas Murray has previously reported, Corbyn was chumming up to the Irish republican party even while their military wing was blowing up ordinary pub-goers, shooting farmers in the head and planting bombs in Britain’s shopping centres. So while times have changed, Mr S was curious to learn of a fringe event taking place at Labour conference in Liverpool. Steerpike understands that Sinn Féin will host a talk titled ‘Brexit: the cost of Ireland’s Partition’. For this, Sinn Féin’s vice president Mary Lou McDonald, Dave Anderson — the

Alec Fullerton

Wasn’t the ‘March for Europe’ supposed to be about tolerance?

‘Get back to the 1930s, you f***ing fascists’ was one of the more printable insults screamed at the small group of Brexiteers holding a counter protest at the March for Europe on Saturday. Given the event was intended by the organisers to be a ‘huge celebration of peace, tolerance and diversity’, it’s a shame that no one had told some of those taking part. Let me set the scene for you. The march started as predictably as could be imagined: a sea of blue-clothed, London-types, largely middling in both age and class. Banners, flags, balloons and dance music, pumped out by a bicycle-drawn loudspeaker, filled the air. But this feeling of

Monday

5 Sep 2016

James Forsyth

Some clues as to what David Davis means by Brexit

David Davis has just finished his first statement to the Commons on the process for the UK exiting the European Union. Davis’s initial statement stuck closely to what the government has said already; the coordinated Labour backbench heckle of ‘waffle, waffle’ had some truth to it. But it was striking that Davis said he hoped the UK’s security relationship with the EU would be as close or closer post-Brexit; in Whitehall, Britain’s intelligence and military capabilities are regarded as one of our key assets in the negotiation. But in answer to the questions that followed, Davis–a naturally frank politician—gave a clearer sense of what he means by Brexit. In answer

Isabel Hardman

Are you ready for the 2017 Labour leadership contest?

Running through the summer like the writing in a stick of rock was the continually disappointing and dismal performance of Owen Smith in the Labour leadership contest, and Jeremy Corbyn’s spectacular ability to make party members love him more by confecting his own rows about trains and women going out for drinks. The post-match analysis in the Labour moderate camp has already begun, with few bothering to make any greater defence of the Smith campaign than ‘it might be a bit closer than the polls suggest’. Those who were sceptical about Smith’s ability to defeat Corbyn or – even though this leadership contest has included scant reference to this rather more

Katy Balls

David Lammy takes centre stage at the debate against democracy

In the EU referendum, Brexit triumphed after 17 million people plumped for Leave while 16 million voted for Remain. This act of democracy was not enough to satisfy some, however, with four million people subsequently signing a petition calling for a second referendum. As a result, a number of MPs spent their first day back from recess debating the motion. While David Davis set out the agenda for Brexit in the Chamber, the SNP’s Ian Blackford opened the debate in Westminster Hall. He said that the government’s ‘irresponsible’ behaviour was evident by the fact that all the public have been told is that ‘Brexit means Brexit’. So, what should Brexit mean? Blackford appeared to imply that it means breakfast.

Isabel Hardman

Vaz not going down without a fight

Keith Vaz has just asked a second question in the House of Commons, despite it being unclear whether he can continue as chair of the Home Affairs Committee for the long term following allegations about his private life in the Sunday newspapers. The Leicester East MP, who has a meeting with his committee tomorrow afternoon, is clearly not going down without a fight: he wouldn’t be standing up in the Commons, otherwise. When a scandal-hit MP stands up in the Commons in the days after lurid newspaper headlines, they are normally either mocked and heckled by jubilant colleagues on the other side of the house, or welcomed with supportive noises

Steerpike

Labour MP climbs the greasy pole with Flora plug

After the Government released its childhood obesity strategy last month, Theresa May stood accused of sidelining the issue. So, Mr S was pleased to receive an invite to an event focussing on the issue. Sharon Hodgson — the Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for School Food — is holding a breakfast on Tuesday morning to call on the government to do more to tackle child obesity. However, Hodgson is not alone in her mission — the Labour MP appears to have teamed up with Flora. In an email for the event sent out to hacks, Hodgson invites attendees ‘on behalf of Flora’. In fact, the brand of margarine gets a grand total of four mentions in the email invite

Isabel Hardman

Theresa May’s honeymoon period comes to an end

The Prime Minister and her colleagues are very slowly starting to reveal what they think they mean when they say ‘Brexit means Brexit’. This afternoon the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union David Davis will give a statement to Parliament on what the terms of negotiation might resemble for Brexit – or at least what the terms that ministers have come up with over the summer are. It may be that the Government isn’t actually ready to set very much out at all, but is just trying to avoid an urgent question from a hostile MP by giving a statement. Davis has described this as ‘an historic and

Ross Clark

G20 leaders have fallen for Project Fear

So, last week’s sharp rise in the Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for manufacturing wasn’t a freak. This morning its twin, the PMI for the much larger services sector, also showed a huge rebound to 52.9, more than reversing the fall to 47.4 in July and putting it marginally ahead of PMI for the Eurozone, which stands at 52.8. The combined PMI was 53.2 in August. Anything above 50 suggests that the economy in expanding while anything below 50 suggests contraction. Just like last week’s manufacturing figure, this morning’s news seems to have caught forecasters unaware: the consensus was for PMI in services to be 50.0. It is a reminder of just

Steerpike

Michael Gove returns to The Times

In the aftermath of the Leave vote, it’s safe to say that not every Brexiteer’s career path has played out as they hoped. After Michael Gove’s leadership bid backfired, the former Justice Secretary has found himself on the back bench. What’s more, his old pals George Osborne and David Cameron appear to have cut him from their once close friendship group. However, Mr S is pleased to report that Gove has reason to smile once again. As of next month he will return to The Times — where he previously worked before turning his hand at politics — to write a regular column for the Murdoch-owned paper. Steerpike understands that the appointment has

Tom Goodenough

Is May dropping the ‘Leave’ campaign’s immigration policy?

‘Brexit means Brexit’, Theresa May has repeatedly reassured us. But it seems Brexit might not mean an introduction of a ‘points-based’ immigration policy which Vote Leave – and a number of cabinet ministers, including Boris Johnson – had called for during the referendum campaign. The Prime Minister said the system was no ‘silver bullet’ and planned to look ‘across the board’ for answers instead. As is becoming clearer – and as James Forsyth pointed out after May’s Marr interview yesterday – the Prime Minister has a style in front of journalists which involves giving little away. So offering up the small titbit that a points system might not feature in May’s

Sunday

4 Sep 2016

Steerpike

Keith Vaz on the perks of poppers

Following the Sunday Mirror‘s claim that Keith Vaz is leading a double life paying young male escorts for sex, the MP for Leicester East is expected to step down from his role as the head of the Home Affairs select committee. In the texts and video footage published by the paper, Vaz appears to inquire about purchasing ‘coke’ as well as sending texts asking the escorts to ‘try and pick up some poppers’. While Vaz disputes the paper’s version of events, doubts have now been raised over the validity of an investigation the MP launched in 2011 into the effects of cocaine. However, it’s Vaz’s comments on poppers that have piqued Mr S’s interest. When

Steerpike

Eddie Izzard parts ways with his pink beret

During the EU referendum campaign, Eddie Izzard toured the country wearing a pink beret in a bid to convince young people to vote Remain. Alas his efforts failed to have the desired effect, with the Leave result only adding to his growing list of doomed campaigns. While Izzard’s kiss of death has since gone on to lose him another election — failing to win a place on Labour’s NEC last month — he appears not to be put off. This weekend the cross-dressing comedian turned activist took part in the March for Europe where die hard Remain-ers — seemingly unswayed by the referendum result — took to the streets to call for the triggering

James Forsyth

May says general election will be in 2020

Theresa May is on her way to her first G20 summit. But she has still sat down for the traditional start of term interview with Andrew Marr. Reading the transcript of it, it looks like a classic Theresa May interview: with very little given away. She avoided answering Marr’s questions on whether she would like to see more grammar schools and refused to say whether she shared her chief of staff Nick Timothy’s view that Chinese involvement in the Hinkley point nuclear project would be security risk. On Brexit, May said little new about the deal she would like to strike–confirming the sense that, as one Minister told me, the