Politics Archives

Friday

10 Feb 2017

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

Wednesday

8 Feb 2017

Coffee House

Will Philip Hammond’s Budget reveal the truth behind the Surrey ‘sweetheart deal’?

Isabel Hardman has been investigating the social care issue in Surrey for the Spectator in recent days. Yesterday, she spoke to the man whose texts Jeremy Corbyn quoted at PMQs today, the leader of Surrey County Council, David Hodge. Isabel and Hodge spoke just after Tory-run Surrey County Council had made the decision not to hold a referendum on a 15 per cent council tax increase to pay for social care. He told Isabel that ‘we have always believed that there was a way forward which wouldn’t involve a council tax referendum and I genuinely believe that the government now understands the scale of the crisis’. Hodge seems to think that

James Forsyth

The House of Commons votes for Brexit

The drink will be flowing in the government whips’ office tonight. For the Brexit Bill has passed through the Commons unamended and with an absolutely thumping majority at third reading of 372. This means that a clean bill will go to the House of Lords. This will strengthen the government’s hand there as peers will be more reluctant to make changes to a clean bill and one that has passed the Commons with such a large majority. Despite all the talk of knife-edge votes, the government’s majorities tonight were pretty comfortable—30 or above on all the amendments. In part, this was because of the government conceding just enough—the ‘Dear Colleague’

James Forsyth

Clive Lewis resigns from Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow Cabinet, will he now run for Labour leader?

Clive Lewis, the shadow Business Secretary has resigned from the shadow Cabinet. He has said that he couldn’t vote for an unamended Article 50 Bill, as the Labour front bench were being whipped to do, and so has quit Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow Cabinet. The question now becomes, does Lewis run for the leadership? He is now the bookmakers’ favourite (Ladbrokes has him at 5/1) and he’d be a far stronger candidate than Owen Smith. He was one of Corbyn’s original backers in 2015 and has strong left-wing credentials yet he demonstrated pragmatism on Trident and the nuclear deterrent. His resignation will give him more appeal among the hard-core pro-European wing

Steerpike

George Osborne continues to cash in from the backbench

Another month, another declaration of extra-income from the former Chancellor of the Exchequer. According to the latest register of interests, George Osborne brought in over £90,000 last month for just five hours work. This means that Osborne managed to out earn his annual MP’s salary of £74,962 in less than a day. Mr S praises the ex-chancellor for continuing to prove — despite his previous warnings — that Brexit isn’t so bad for business after all.

Lloyd Evans

Jeremy Corbyn blows a golden chance to roast Theresa May

How to sabotage a deadly ambush. This was Jeremy Corbyn’s contribution to the political play-book today. He came to Parliament lethally armed. A cache of secret messages apparently between a Government wonk and the leader of Surrey County Council suggest some very shady goings-on. Mr Corbyn’s task was simple. Read out the intercepts and watch Mrs May squirm. He duly recited the incriminating information. And it was astonishing. It was unanswerable. The PM was accused of conspiracy. How would she plead? Well, she didn’t. She couldn’t say a word because Mr Corbyn was busy wittering on, muddling the issue, and giving his foe a priceless gift. Time. Time to think.

James Forsyth

Jeremy Corbyn ambushes Theresa May at PMQs

Jeremy Corbyn ‘won’ PMQs today thanks to an old-fashioned ambush. The Labour leader had copies of texts that the leader of Surrey County Council thought he was sending to Nick at DCLG, presumably Sajid Javid’s special adviser Nick King, but which he had actually sent to another person. The texts seemed to suggest that a Tory government had done a secret deal with a Tory council to see off a referendum there on raising council tax by 15 per cent to fund social care. Now, the suggestion that a government—whose Chancellor and Health Secretary are both Surrey MPs—was doing backroom deals with one of the richest county councils in the

Tom Goodenough

Will Theresa May’s Article 50 plan emerge unscathed from its final Commons test today?

After two days of testing Commons debates, Theresa May’s Brexit timetable remains on track. Yesterday’s ‘concession’ – or non-concession, depending on how you look at it – by ministers did enough to limit the extent of the Tory rebellion (only seven Conservative MPs went against the Government, despite earlier reports that as many as 20 backbenchers were considering doing so). This meant the Government’s Article 50 bill emerged unscathed. Of course all that could change this afternoon. Today’s debate will be the last opportunity for MPs hoping to tinker with the bill which will kick start Brexit. In the spirit of this week’s mammoth sessions, it’ll be another long debate,