Politics Archives

Thursday

20 Oct 2016

Sir Philip Green might not be a ‘Sir’ for much longer

Sir Philip Green might not be a ‘Sir’ for much longer. MPs have just backed a motion calling for him to be stripped of his title. For now, he remains a ‘Sir’, as the vote today doesn’t have any immediate effect, and MPs are powerless to actually take his title away. Only the Honours Forfeiture Committee can do that, and the committee will now decide whether to ‘cancel and annul’ the billionaire’s beloved gong. Yet given the sentiment on display today, and the level of public anger generally, it’s difficult to see how they won’t side with MPs on this. Unfortunately, when the committee does come to its decision, we

Steerpike

Chuka can’t

Although Chuka Umunna was widely tipped to succeed Keith Vaz as chair of the home affairs select committee, in the end it was Yvette Cooper who proved triumphant. In fact, Umunna came a distant third in the election — with Caroline Flint coming second. So, what went wrong? The word being put round Westminster is that the vote was split between Cooper and Umunna until the Tories — allegedly worried that Umunna would prove too great a threat as chair and then have a springboard to become leader — conspired to thwart the New Labour darling. Alas, this version of events fails to ring true in the Conservative camp. ‘Let’s just say no Tories

James Forsyth

Order, order! It’s up to May to stop this ministerial bickering

Even by the accelerated standards of modern politics, this is fast. Three months after the Chancellor was appointed, the Treasury has had to deny that he has threatened to resign. No. 10, for its part, has had to declare that the Prime Minister has ‘full confidence’ in Philip Hammond. It is telling that neither felt that they could just laugh off the reports. So what is going on? The most innocent explanation is that Westminster is still adjusting to the return of normal relations between Downing Street and the Treasury. David Cameron and George Osborne did everything but actually merge the two. Indeed, until the coalition came along, they planned

The Spectator

The King’s contribution

From ‘A Royal contribution’, The Spectator, 7 October 1916: His Majesty has passed through troublous times, in the constitutional controversy, in the Irish imbroglio, and in the war, when passion rose to its highest point. The temptation to go behind his Ministers, and to snatch popular favour at their expense, must have been tremendous sometimes. ‘Remember, I am not responsible for this!’ represents the attitude of many sovereigns who have called themselves constitutional. The King never by a hint, a suggestion, a word, or a gesture has taken the stage against his advisers. For one thing, he was far too much of a gentleman to do so; and for another, he

Martin Vander Weyer

The Nissan test: can we really negotiate Brexit sector by sector?

I wrote last month that a key test of Brexit success will be whether Nissan is still making cars here in ten years’ time. A few days later, Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn issued a warning that ‘If I need to make an investment in the next few months and I can’t wait until the end of Brexit, then I have to make a deal with the UK government.’ The investment decision he referred to — expected by Christmas, which means before Brexit talks even begin — is whether to build the next Qashqai model at Sunderland or in France, to avoid tariffs on exports when we leave the single market.

Wednesday

19 Oct 2016

Leaf Arbuthnot

My crush on Jeremy Corbyn is no longer cool

There are some crushes that ought to be crushed. When I was about nine, I fancied our village vicar — he had a pleasant, boring face and would throw Mars bars into the congregation during sermons. Things came to a halt after I saw him by chance at a local swimming pool. Underneath his cassock was a lawn of hair so dark, you couldn’t see his skin. Even his arms were furred. I was, in the way of many nine-year-olds, ruthless in my judgement. I stopped fancying him at once and avoided him at church, calling him ‘Gorilla Priest’ in my head. Years on, I find myself contending with another

James Forsyth

Philip Hammond and the gap between No 10 and 11 Downing Street

98 days into the Theresa May government and Philip Hammond is the Cabinet Minister under the most scrutiny. The reports of tensions both between him and the Cabinet’s Brexit Ministers, and him and Number 10, mean that his words are parsed particularly carefully. In front of the Treasury select committee today, Hammond refused to say whether or not he had seen the section of Theresa May’s conference speech that criticised the effects of the Bank of England’s monetary policy. This was effectively an admission that he had not. Given that one well-placed insider told me that May’s comments produced ‘serious trouble’ between her and Hammond this is not that surprising.

Katy Balls

Labour moderates return to the frontline

Although Jeremy Corbyn has managed to tempt some MPs who resigned from his shadow cabinet back to the frontbench, there are still many with ministerial experience who are too proud, principled or outspoken to return. So, with that in mind, today’s select committee elections offered a way for moderates to make their mark without having to compromise their values. After Keith Vaz was forced to resign from his coveted role as chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee, several former Labour ‘heavyweights’ entered into the race to succeed him. Although Chuka Umunna had widely been tipped as the favourite, it was a case of Chuka can’t. In a sign of his limited popularity in the House

Tom Goodenough

Tories on 47 per cent share of the vote in latest poll

Polls have made miserable reading for Jeremy Corbyn ever since he won his first leadership election last year. And the bad news for the Labour leader is that they seem to be getting worse. The latest Ipsos Mori survey out today hands the Tories an 18 point lead, giving them a 47 per cent share of the vote. That’s the largest percentage of voters saying they’d back the Tories since before the 2010 election. It’s also a clear sign that Theresa May’s leadership is going down well with voters. Here are the numbers: Conservatives: 47% (+7) Labour: 29% (-5) Lib Dems: 7% (+1) Ukip: 6% (-3) Greens: 4% (-1) This latest

Lloyd Evans

PMQs Sketch: Theresa May torpedoes Jeremy Corbyn in six syllables

Today we saw government without opposition. At least without opposition in the hands of the Opposition leader. Rambling, disorganised Jeremy Corbyn spent his six questions getting nowhere over the health service. Familiar catcalls were heard on both sides. ‘You wasted billions.’ ‘No we invested billions.’ Mrs May attempted to break the record-book by insisted that ‘half a trillion’ will be spent on health during this parliament. Corbyn’s backbenchers took up the cause. The Labour party is teeming with broken princes and queens-across-the-water who spend their time brooding, and muttering, and plotting their route back to power. Any chance to expose Corbyn as a waffling nuisance is happily seized. Lisa Nandy

Katy Balls

Lisa Nandy provides the real opposition at PMQs

Today’s PMQs marked a return to old form for Jeremy Corbyn. After two reasonably successful bouts against the Prime Minister, the Labour leader appeared to struggle as he failed to land any knockout blows. Corbyn focussed on the NHS, beginning with mental health. While he claimed the NHS has gone into its worse crisis in its history, May managed to bat off his concerns fairly easily — even if he did expose some vulnerability in the government’s record. On funding, she simply pointed out that the Conservatives were giving the NHS more than it had originally asked for — something Ed Miliband had refused to guarantee at the general election. On cuts, the Prime Minister

Steerpike

Watch: Theresa May’s risqué PMQs joke about Mrs Bone

Theresa May’s track record of telling jokes in the Commons isn’t good. Last month at Prime Minister’s Questions, her wise cracks went down badly and she was criticised by a Labour MP for telling ‘silly jokes when asked serious questions’. At today’s PMQs, she was at it again – and Mr S is pleased to report she had much more luck in making her fellow MPs laugh. Backbencher Peter Bone has long been a thorn in the side of Tory leaders. But ever since the Brexit vote, he’s been somewhat more upbeat about life. And on his birthday today, he had an extra reason to be happy. Yet despite his

Tuesday

18 Oct 2016

Katy Balls

Theresa May lays the groundwork for Heathrow expansion

After years of delays, point-scoring and heel-dragging, the government will next week announce which airport — or airports — will get the green light for expansion. While it’s a decision that eluded Cameron during his premiership, Theresa May’s spokesman confirmed today that the outcome is now imminent. However before anyone gets their hopes up that the airport saga will soon be over, it’s worth pointing out that the final vote will not take place for at least another year. The government decision will be made by a cabinet sub-committee, with no London MPs among its members. Those on the committee include May, Philip Hammond, Greg Clark, Chris Grayling and Sajid Javid. While the

Andrew Shirley

UK farmland: will the fields still be gold after Brexit?

I first started tracking the farmland market in the UK at the turn of the century when I joined Farmers Weekly magazine as its property editor. Back then decent farmland was priced at around £2,500 an acre. Fast forward to the present day and land routinely changes hands for more than £10,000 an acre. According to the Knight Frank Farmland Index (I jumped the journo/corporate fence in 2008), the average price of bare farmland in England and Wales – that’s land with no houses or buildings on it, just crops or animals – was worth £2,037 an acre in 2000. It’s now £7,672 an acre – a rise of almost

Ed West

In defence of small nation states

Scotland may have a second referendum within three years, as many Remainers correctly predicted. If the British government makes a mess of Brexit, the Scots may be inclined to leave the sinking ship and rejoin the EU. If Britain succeeds in going it alone outside a larger federation and doesn’t suffer a huge economic setback then perhaps the Scots might think they can do so too. I’m rather inclined to believe that neither the UK or the EU will necessarily be around as this century matures, and it won’t be the economic or emotional catastrophe people imagine. Sad though it would be to see ane end of ane auld sang, Scotland

Nick Cohen

Press censorship has begun in Scotland

The silencing of Stephen Daisley has nagged away at journalism in Scotland for months. His employer, STV, holds the ITV licences for central and northern Scotland, and is staying very quiet. The Scottish National Party rolls around like a drunk who has won a bar fight. Its politicians and its claque of Twitter trolls celebrate their power to bully and tell direct lies about the journalist they have humiliated. The BBC endorses them. The National Union of Journalists supports them. Everyone behaves as if they are living in a one-party state. Not a dictatorship with men in uniforms marching down the street. But a democratic one-party state like Scotland has

Monday

17 Oct 2016

James Forsyth

Steven Woolfe’s departure shows how far off becoming a well-run political party Ukip is

Steven Woolfe isn’t just dropping out of the Ukip leadership race tonight, he’s quitting the party altogether. He has left with an attack on those who make Ukip ‘ungovernable’; echoing Arron Banks and Nigel Farage’s criticisms of the party’s National Executive Committee. (Though, given that Woolfe ended up in a fight in the European Parliament, he is perhaps not best placed to lecture on behaviour) Woolfe’s departure—and the circumstances of it—shows how far off becoming a well-run political party Ukip is. As long as it persists with this in-fighting and backbiting, it won’t be able to take advantage of the huge opportunities that Jeremy Corbyn and Labour’s London-centric top team

Steven Woolfe

Why I don’t want to lead ungovernable Ukip, by Steven Woolfe

Six years ago, I joined Ukip. Since then, I have campaigned with all my energy, time and determination to champion the party’s core beliefs and values. I have been proud to stand in local, general, PCC and London assembly elections – and of course to be elected as a North West MEP. I have been proud to be a part of the team led by Nigel Farage, one of Britain’s greatest ever politicians. He brought me into the party and helped us win the referendum – a moment I will always treasure. Without Nigel, the donors, the team members and the activists, the UK would not be free today. It was because

Steerpike

UK consumer confidence hits five-year high as Brexit bounce continues

Another day, another piece of embarrassing data for those who predicted that the Brexit vote would trigger an immediate recession. Their foundation was based on the belief that confidence would plunge. As things turn out the Deloitte Consumer tracker has hit an all-time high. It has only been running for five years, so the real story could be even more impressive. And while George Osborne was talking about half a million jobs going as a result of the Brexit vote, the Deloitte survey found a strong increase in confidence of job security, up from -10 per cent to -4 per cent. And how does this compare with what was being

Steerpike

Notting Hill set splits in two – ‘it’s agony’

Since the EU referendum result led to David Cameron’s resignation, the former Prime Minister’s friendship groups have experienced a change of fortune. While the Chipping Norton set have simply found themselves cut out, over in Notting Hill they are turning on one another. In fact, things have got so bad that Cameron’s friends are no longer able to invite the whole gang to their infamous dinner parties. In an interview with the Times, Simon Sebag Montefiore — the historian at the heart of the Notting Hill set — bemoans the fact that Michael Gove’s decision to back Leave has now led to the group splitting into two camps of #TeamDave and #TeamGove. ‘It’s