Politics

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

Wednesday

Philip Sime

Can the European press convince Britain to stay?

The debate around withdrawing from the European Union has dominated front pages and column inches for several months in Britain. However, with less than 24-hours until the UK makes the biggest democratic decision for a generation, the word ‘Brexit’ is now beginning to appear in newspapers across the continent and permeate the consciousness of our European neighbours. Europe is a continent in crisis. Brussels is desperately trying to foster unity while facing rising anti-EU sentiment, the most-severe migration crisis since WWII and a Eurozone struggling to recover from the 2008 financial crash. However, facing the prospect of a member state abandoning the Union, Europe’s leaders are now urging the United

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Expenses watchdog speeds up extra security for MPs after outcry

As reported yesterday on Coffee House, MPs have been incredibly frustrated by the response of parliamentary spending watchdog Ipsa to their requests for extra security measures following the murder of Jo Cox. This afternoon Ipsa’s chair Ruth Evans has written to MPs saying the regulator will ‘review and accelerate’ the process of approving applications for security funding, acknowledging that there have been complaints about how it is working at the moment. If Ipsa is able to speed up its approvals process, this will come as a huge relief to those MPs who are understandably nervous about their own vulnerability to copy cat attacks following Cox’s death. If not, parliamentarians are

James Bartholomew

Boris Johnson’s closing speech was the defining moment of the campaign

For me, last night provided the defining moment of the campaign. I was in the audience of 6,000 or so at the Wembley Arena listening to the final major debate, hosted by David Dimbleby. As far as I could tell, the evening was turning into a win on points for Vote Leave. Ruth Davidson, for the Remainers, had some moments of real success. She banged out a long list of military people who maintained that Britain would be safer within the European Union. She said she was going to take the words of these experts seriously even if the Leave speakers did not. But Andrea Leadsom, for the Leave side,

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

What next for Ukip after the EU referendum?

For someone who has spent his whole life building up to the referendum, Nigel Farage has had a rather patchy campaign. On the one hand, he has performed reasonably well in his TV question time slot, exceeding the expectations of those in the Leave camp who were dismayed that ITV had signed up the Ukip leader to its referendum programme. But on the other, he has unveiled a poster that bears striking similarities to ones used by the Nazis and has been shunned by the official Leave campaign. Today, the Ukip leader gave his final speech of a campaign that he has spent his political life pushing for. At one

Melanie McDonagh Melanie McDonagh

The collective amnesia over Turkey and the EU is astonishing

Just wondering: is there anyone out there who actually remembers supporting Turkish membership of the EU? Last night Sadiq Khan said the Brexit camp had been scaremongering with its ‘big fat lie’ that Turkey would join any time soon. (NB: Sadiq was a bit free with the ‘lie’ word; a generation ago, its use would have caused real offence; two generations ago he’d have been called out by the person he accused of being a liar. Ruth Davidson was more measured with her use of ‘untruth’.)  And Boris Johnson did look a bit abashed, though his retort (‘I am a Turk’) got lost in the exchanges. For he too was

Matthew Lynn

If Brexit is the result, start buying the market

It is four o’clock on Friday morning. The early returns suggest Leave is edging ahead. You’ve just seen a tweet that Peter Mandelson has fled the country, and that Boris Johnson has been seen pencilling in the names of his cabinet. What is the first thing you do? Rush down to Sainsbury’s and stock up on olives before they get banned? Text that Polish builder for some final painting and decorating before he gets sent home? Perhaps. But actually what you should do is very simple. Get on the phone to your broker, or more realistically go online, and get ready to start buying the FTSE, the pound, and every

Ben Kew

The Spectator’s Guide to EU Referendum day (and night)

Britain goes to the polls tomorrow for the most important vote in a generation, as the country decides whether it would like to remain part of the European Union, or leave. But what will happen on the day itself? And where are the key areas to watch out for overnight? Here, The Spectator has put together a run-through of what to look out for and when we can expect to find out the results: Thursday 23rd June 7.00am Polling stations open across the UK. Voters will be asked the question: Should Britain remain a member of the European Union, or Leave the European Union? 10.00pm Polling stations close and the

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Ruth Davidson is not the answer to English Tory prayers

Tacitus argued that, after 68, ‘the secret of imperial rule was revealed: an emperor could be made somewhere other than Rome’. It has taken metropolitan observers some time to wake up to the fact the same is true in Britain today. A star can be born far from London. The difference, however, is that not all roads lead to Westminster. It takes time for change to work its way through the system so perhaps it is not surprising that it is only now that we are seeing the fruits of devolution. In their different – very different – ways Nicola Sturgeon and Ruth Davidson have each demonstrated that devolution works. It has,

Nicholas Farrell

Spare a thought for the proud Brits denied tomorrow’s vote

I live in Italy at the heart of the European Union and have witnessed first hand how the euro has destroyed La Dolce Vita and reduced the Italian economy to basket case status. But even though I am a British citizen and probably better equipped than most to see just how awful the EU is, I am not allowed to vote in the referendum tomorrow. Why? Because I have not been registered to vote in the UK within the past 15 years. I may live abroad but I remain proudly British. I fly a Union Jack – bought in a ship’s chandlers in the port of Ravenna where the exiled poet Dante

Helen Nugent

Pension freedoms, expats and the EU Referendum

A third of the UK population don’t know anything about the pension freedoms introduced by the Government in April 2015, according to the fifth UK Readiness Report from Aegon.  The freedoms, introduced by Chancellor George Osborne, have given people with defined contribution pensions new opportunities to access their pension savings and use this money in the way they choose from age 55. However, a significant proportion of the population remain unaware of the changes and even among those that recognise the term ‘pension freedoms’, many are unclear what it means.  A third of the 4,000 people surveyed in the research say they’ve heard about the freedoms, but admit to not

Tom Goodenough Tom Goodenough

The PM boils his entire referendum campaign into a single word. But will it convince voters?

David Cameron has boiled down his entire EU referendum campaign into a single word: together. The Prime Minister made one of his final pitches to Britain on the Today programme just now. But despite doing his best to put forward the positive case for staying in, he still came unstuck on the age-old issue of migration. He was repeatedly quizzed on his net migration target to reduce numbers to the tens of thousands. We knew before that this is, to say the least, a tricky subject for Cameron. And he didn’t offer much in the way of substance to salve voters’ worries. Instead, when immigration came up, he flipped the

Tom Goodenough Tom Goodenough

Would a narrow win for ‘Leave’ be useful in getting a better post-Brexit deal?

In less than 24 hours, the polling booths will finally open. We’ve seen today the now familiar raft of letters from both sides calling on people to vote ‘Remain’ or back Brexit. 51 FTSE have signed a letter saying they think the UK should stay in the European Union. Whilst Tate and Lyle Sugars said Brexit would be the best way ahead for its business in a message to employees. But amidst this final push for votes, the polls show that tomorrow’s referendum will likely be an even race: the ‘What UK think’s’ poll of polls has ‘Remain’ on 51 per cent and ‘Leave’ on 49 per cent. So what

Steerpike Steerpike

Is it a case of Tim-Nice-But-Dim for Remain?

Another day, another Brexit poll. This time YouGov claim to have discovered what a name can tell you about someone’s voting tendency. If you’re called Sheila or Graham you’re most likely to vote Leave, whereas those by the name of Kathryn and Samantha are most likely to fall into the undecided category. However, the poll finding that caught Mr S’s eye relates to Remain. It claims that when it comes to men, those by the name of Tim are most likely to plump for In. So, is it a case of Tim-Nice-But-Dim for Remain? Harry Enfield’s Old Ardinian comic creation — a parody of pleasant yet intellectually challenged public schoolboys — said ‘yah to the euro’ back in 2002 (before admitting

Tuesday

The Spectator

Highlights: EU referendum Wembley debate

Boris Johnson, for Leave, and his successor as London Mayor Sadiq Khan, for Remain, were among six panellists who took part in the two-hour BBC debate at Wembley Arena. And here’s the coverage from the evening as it played out…

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Worried MPs call for expenses watchdog to be stripped of security role

Exasperated MPs have called for their security to be taken out of the hands of their expenses watchdog Ipsa after struggling to install additional protection at their homes and constituency offices following the death of Jo Cox. Coffee House is aware of a number of battles between MPs of all parties and Ipsa over approval for the installation of additional locks and intruder alarms. Some MPs are particularly frustrated to have been told that it will take two weeks for the regulator to approve their spending applications, when they are worried about an imminent threat now. None wanted to speak on the record. One MP said: ‘My constituency office is

Tom Goodenough Tom Goodenough

Coffee House shots: Who will triumph in tonight’s final TV showdown?

As many as eight million people are expected to tune into tonight’s BBC Brexit debate, where Boris Johnson, Sadiq Khan and Ruth Davidson will battle it out in their final attempt to win over voters ahead of the referendum. The last time Boris appeared in a TV debate, Remain’s ‘Operation batter Boris’ was mobilised in a misguided attempt to discredit the former Mayor of London. So can we expect more of the same tonight? On today’s Coffee House Shots, James Forsyth tells Fraser Nelson: ‘Ruth Davidson is a fierce debater. She is combative, she goes for people. It would be very surprising if she didn’t go for Boris. The one

Steerpike Steerpike

The Queen’s Brexit challenge to dinner guests: ‘give me three good reasons why Britain should be part of Europe’

Although the Sun were only recently found guilty of ‘significantly misleading’ its readers with its ‘Queen backs Brexit’ splash, it seems the red top was onto something after all. While the paper reported that Her Majesty had expressed Eurosceptic views at a private meeting prior to a referendum being on the table, it appears that she does still harbour doubts when it comes to the EU. The Queen’s biographer, Robert Lacey, reports that Her Majesty has been presenting her dinner guests with a special EU challenge of late. She has reportedly asked dinner companions: ‘Give me three good reasons why Britain should be part of Europe’. Lacey has suggested that the phrasing of the question means

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

David Cameron uses Downing Street to say ‘Brits don’t quit’

David Cameron has just given a rather bizarre statement in Downing Street pleading with voters to back Remain on Thursday. It was rather bizarre firstly because it didn’t contain anything new at all, and was just a restatement of the case for staying in the bloc, and secondly because it was in Downing Street, which is government property. The guidance from the Cabinet Office states that: ‘Government property should not be used for campaigning. Requests from campaigning groups to use government buildings for campaign purposes must be declined.’ Number 10 sources say that the clear guidance from officials was that this statement was within the rules. And Vote Leave sources

Niall Ferguson

Take it from a divorcee: Brexit will cost you dear

I suppose there are such things as amicable divorces. Mine wasn’t. Like the First World War, it was fought for more than four years, and ended with the Treaty of Versailles (by which I mean that it imposed territorial losses and the payment of annual reparations for a very long time). Which brings me to Brexit, the ultimate divorce. Leave aside the arguments based on economics. Leave aside history, too. Instead, permit me to get personal. You want to get a divorce from Europe? Very well, let me explain what divorce is like. Now, I get how you feel. You’ve reached the point when you just can’t stand the EU

Simon Sebag Montefiore

Victoria Beckham: ‘The Euro-bureaucrats are destroying every bit of national identity’

Victoria Beckham has said today she wants Britain to remain a member of the European Union. But ‘Posh Spice’ hasn’t always been so keen on the EU. In this Spectator piece from December 1996, Victoria described how she thought the ‘Euro-bureaucrats are destroying every bit of national identity’. Here’s what she had to say in an interview with Simon Sebag Montefiore: Interview the Spice Girls, I thought. But the Spice Girls are interviewed all the time. My interview, however, would be different. I would ask only questions that I would ask Mr Major, Mr Blair, Mr Heseltine or any other politician. Only one thing worried me about this plan. What