Politics

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

Friday

17 Mar 2017

George Osborne is the archetypal part-time MP

For once, Jeremy Corbyn was spot-on. Learning of the news that George Osborne is to be made editor of the Evening Standard he didn’t bleat about Tory domination of the press, but tweeted ‘It’s taking multi-tasking to an extreme level – what a joke’. What is wrong about Osborne’s new job is not that it confirms that the Evening Standard is a Conservative-supporting newspaper. That is there for all to see, but why does it matter when there is absolutely nothing to stop a Labour-supporting entrepreneur, or anyone else, setting up a rival London newspaper? What ought to concern all taxpayers is that we are already paying the former chancellor

Fraser Nelson

An MP as editor? It’s been done before – at The Spectator

What on earth does George Osborne know about journalism? How can someone with no journalistic experience go straight in as editor – editor! – of the London Evening Standard? What were its proprietors thinking? To have dinner with an MP is one thing, but to hire him as an editor? And what does this sacked politician know of the demands facing an editor in the digital era? How can he combine such a demanding job with his duties in parliament and towards his constituents in Tatton? If I wasn’t an editor, these might be a few of my reactions to the extraordinary news today. But much as I hate to

Steerpike

MP for Tatton takes up part-time job as… Evening Standard editor

Fraser Nelson, James Forsyth and Freddy Gray grapple with Osborne’s shock appointment: In recent months, Mr S has kept readers up to date with the multiple jobs (and large salaries) George Osborne has taken up since returning to the back bench. Just last week, the former chancellor used Budget day to sneak out the news that he would be earning an extra £650,000 per annum in his part-time role as an advisor to BlackRock. However, Osborne’s latest job takes the biscuit. Osborne has been announced as the new editor of the Evening Standard. Former Independent editor — and Lebedev sidekick — Amol Rajan managed to somehow bag the exclusive: 1/ EXCLUSIVE: @George_Osborne

Fraser Nelson

How can the Scottish Greens reconcile their manifesto promises with backing Sturgeon?

It has been barely two years since the last Scottish referendum, with no sign that opinion in Scotland has changed since then. Yet still Nicola Sturgeon hopes to vote to request a new referendum in the Scottish Parliament next week. But here’s the thing: last year, Scots voted to strip the SNP of its Holyrood majority, precisely so they could stop pretending that their agenda is the will of the nation. Thus stymied, Ms Sturgeon would need help in her vote for a new referendum from the six Green MSPs who support secession. But how could they reconcile this with their manifesto pledge (pdf, p19)? Scotland can champion a more open

Stephen Daisley

MPs can no longer employ family members – and SpAds are delighted

It wasn’t quite our answer to the West Wing — too young, too cynical — but it filled a Bartlet-shaped hole in the TV schedule. Party Animals followed a clique of sexually bipartisan political advisers at Westminster in the dying days of New Labour. Matt Smith and Andrea Riseborough played researchers to a Caroline Flintish Home Office minister, pragmatic and idealistic in the right measure, while Shelley Conn and Pip Carter worked for her shadow number, a sort of dishy Ed Vaizey eager to modernise the Tories one decriminalised spliff at a time. There was little in the way of Sam Seaborn idealism and the implausibly attractive leads seemed to

Thursday

16 Mar 2017

The Spectator

Letters | 16 March 2017

Pope Francis’s mission Sir: Despite Damian Thompson’s intimations (‘The plot against the Pope’, 11 March), Pope Francis is going nowhere except onwards and upwards. Jorge Bergoglio has a loving family background which gives him a mature, balanced personality. He is gifted with a fine, open mind, underpinned by an Ignatian spirituality which reminds him of his sinfulness and his constant need for God’s grace. He also has vast experience of the pastoral ministry in the Buenos Aires slums. No doubt there is a ‘Borgia’ element in the Vatican. This lust for power is not at all what the crucified Christ encouraged in His disciples. As the Pope presses on with

Charles Moore

The Spectator’s Notes | 16 March 2017

The great achievement of the Scottish Nationalists is to persuade people outside the borders of their own nation — including the London-based media — to equate them with the Scottish people. Obviously, they are their chief elected representatives just now, but the result of the referendum on Scottish independence quite clearly showed that the equation is false. So when Nicola Sturgeon says there has to be another referendum because of Brexit, the equation should be much more firmly challenged. There is no moral reason why the result of a declaredly UK-wide referendum should require another vote in part of the kingdom (next, UDI for London?). Nor is there a constitutional

The Spectator

Hammond’s humiliation

After Philip Hammond delivered his Budget last week, he went to speak to a meeting of Conservative backbench MPs. Several were deeply alarmed about his tearing up of their manifesto pledge not to raise National Insurance. One asked him how sure he was about all this. Would they find themselves going out to defend this tax rise to their constituents, only to find him abandoning the policy later? No, the Chancellor replied, he would not change his mind. This tax rise was the centrepiece of his Budget, and it could not be scrapped. He was not for turning. For a Chancellor to abandon his main Budget policy within a week is nothing

David Turner

Does it always pay to switch?

When Isobel Walters guides parents through the process of switching a child’s school, she speaks from first-hand experience. In the 1990s she stayed at her first independent senior school for only eight weeks before changing to another. ‘The second school was just as academic, but it focused a lot more on sport,’ she says. ‘I started on the sport, and I was away — the move worked well.’ Walters, who runs IW Schooling Consultants, has used her own life lesson to advise clients. She quotes a recent example of a girl who came from abroad to study at a girls’ boarding school in a London suburb, only to find that,

Steerpike

Government’s ‘plan for Britain’ isn’t working

Theresa May’s omnishambles of a week is showing no signs of improvement. As the Budget U-turn and expenses probe play out, many have been left asking: is this a government that is ready for Brexit? But fear not — they have a plan. In fact, Theresa May has even had a website built so she can share her ‘Plan for Britain’ with the nation. Only there’s a snag. The website isn’t working. On the day of its launch, it’s down as a result of technical issues. Visitors to the page are told that it ‘isn’t working’ — much like Theresa’s government at the moment.

Ross Clark

Theresa May must call an election immediately

Each day, I can see more clearly a pivotal line from Theresa May’s future biography: ‘Ultimately, her downfall can be traced to one mistake: her failure to seek her own mandate and call and general election in the spring of 2017, when Labour was at its weakest and she was still enjoying a political honeymoon.’ A fortnight ago William Hague made the case for an early election. Since then, the evidence has grown. In the past 24 hours alone the lights outside the Prime Minister’s windows have twice flashed: go to the country now, or you will regret it. The U-turn on National Insurance for the self-employed should be warning

Alex Massie

Why is the UK government so happy to give the SNP what they want?

‘Now is not the time’ is not an answer to anything, not least since no one has actually suggested a second referendum on Scottish independence take place ‘now’. In that respect, the Prime Minister’s line today answers precisely nothing and cannot be sustained inevitably. I should have thought this sufficiently obvious enough that even people in Downing Street could have discerned this. But evidently not. The SNP are past-masters when it comes to mining grievance. That being so, however, you wonder at a strategy that hands them a gold-plated grievance and does not even seek to charge them a fair price for it. Theresa May might as well have said:

Steerpike

Watch: Tory chairman loses his temper over election spending row

Oh dear. It’s not turning out to be the best week for the conservatives. On top of an embarrassing omNICshamble U-turn, Theresa May is on a sticky wicket over ‘IndyRef2’ and now the Conservatives have been fined £70,000 by the Electoral Commission — for failing to declare a total of £275,813 in campaign spending in the general election. With criminal charges now being considered across 12 police force areas over claims of expenses fraud by the Tories, perhaps it’s understandable that Patrick McLoughlin — the party chairman — wasn’t in a chatty mood when he bumped into Sky’s Darren McCaffrey. Alas, McLoughlin struggled to control his temper on facing questions — resulting

James Forsyth

‘Now is not the time’ – Theresa May plays hardball with Nicola Sturgeon

Theresa May has just declared that ‘now is not the time’ for a Scottish independence referendum. Given that no referendum can take place without the UK government’s consent. May is effectively ruling it out whatever the Scottish Parliament decides next week. Now, it is not a surprise that the UK government won’t let an independence referendum take place during the Brexit negotiations. Scottish voters can’t possibly make an informed decision until they know both the terms of the Brexit deal and what kind of relationship with the EU or the single market an independent Scotland could have. But what is new in May’s statement is her refusal to suggest when

Charles Moore

Sturgeon’s great trick has been to convince us the SNP represent all Scots

Steerpike

The Queen backs Brexit

Champers at the ready. After much speculation last year over Her Majesty’s feelings towards the EU, the verdict is finally in: the Queen backs Brexit. Her Majesty has given Royal Assent to the government’s Brexit Bill — thereby making it an Act of Parliament. Theresa May now has permission to trigger the UK’s exit from the EU at a time of her choosing. The news has been met by celebrations in the Commons: Here's the moment the Commons learns the Brexit bill has become law pic.twitter.com/SWIz4oecR6 — BBC Parliament (@BBCParliament) March 16, 2017 However, over in the Lords it’s a more muted affair: And here's the moment the Lords hear the

Rose Asani

Geert Wilders didn’t win – but he has reshaped Dutch politics

Rotterdam If the 2017 Dutch election was seen as a bellwether for populism in Europe, the verdict is still out. Mark Rutte’s liberal VVD may have come out on top, but it was a limping victory. One which saw the party lose around a quarter of its seats and radically shift its position over immigration. Just a year ago Rutte stood firm that immigrants were welcome in his country. But as the winds seemed to favour the anti-immigration stance of far-right parties, his rhetoric changed. ‘Act normal or go away,’ he said recently. It was in response to growing concerns that immigrants arriving in the Netherlands were not yet integrating.

James Forsyth

Double trouble | 16 March 2017

Theresa May is a cautious politician. She has risen to the top by avoiding unnecessary risks; no one survives 18 years on the Tory front bench by being a gambler. But few prime ministers have the luxury of choosing their battles, and she would not have chosen the two that may now define her premiership: successfully negotiating Britain’s exit from the European Union while saving the United Kingdom. If she achieves both, she will join the pantheon of great prime ministers. If she fails, she’ll be keeping Lord North company in the history books. Unlike David Cameron, May has been preparing for a new Scottish referendum from the moment she

Simon Barnes

Little birds, big trouble

A British military base is being used for a multi-million-quid criminal enterprise, possibly involving the Russian mafia — and Britain seems powerless to prevent it. Last year they had a crack at enforcement and had to give up. Mafia 1, British army 0. It’s happening in Cyprus, in the British Sovereign Base Areas. The situation in Cyprus is a bit like the Schleswig-Holstein Question, but with more complex problems of nationality, culture and power. It has let this criminal enterprise thrive and prosper on the fringes, with the result that Britain is providing the infrastructure for a major illegal business with suspected links to Russian criminal organisations. Which is a

Hugo Rifkind

Prisoners, phones and Amazon’s bottom line

On the Amazon page that sells the world’s smallest mobile phone, the reviews are mainly about putting it into your bottom. ‘What more can you ask for,’ writes a man called John Doe, ‘than this ergonomic phone that fits snugly in your rectum?’ Sean writes, ‘No anal problems!!! Didn’t hurt my bum at all!’ Pookey says it’s ‘easy to butt dial’, although may be talking about something else. For another customer, the big problem is that ‘you can barely feel the vibrate function when it is concealed’. Although don’t worry, because ‘Bluetooth reception is OK’. Why ever take it out? Many of these phones are advertised under the slogan ‘Beat