Politics

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

Sunday

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Do our spies really depend on the EU?

Sir John Sawers, an ex-MI6 chief, insisted to Andrew Marr earlier that No10 did not put him up writing today’s article in the Sunday Times saying that Britain needs the EU to ensure its security. I can quite believe it. No10 abandoned this line of argument after the Belgian Airport atrocity, and the subsequent debate which exposed how EU-wide security does not work. We saw, then, that geographical proximity is terrifyingly unrelated to the quality of intelligence collaboration. The French and Belgians were unable to exchange information about terror suspects, in spite of having a common border and common language. If you rely on institutions that don’t work, you put lives

Robert Colville

George Galloway was humiliated in London. Hooray!

It’s rare that an election result leaves you with a sense of giddy, disbelieving glee, but there it was in black and white. Galloway, George, Respect (George Galloway) Party, 37,007 votes. Walker, Sophie, Women’s Equality Party, 53,055 votes. Once you took second preferences into account, Walker and her newly formed feminist movement beat Galloway and his band of Islamists by almost 100,000 votes. This result is so striking, and so perfect, because Galloway is one of those old-fashioned socialists whose attitudes towards gender equality are distinctly retrograde: it is the man’s job to further the revolutionary cause and the woman’s to provide dutiful comradely support. Indeed, while he may not be

Charles Moore Charles Moore

We didn’t have a real choice in the 1975 referendum. We do now

The comparison between the referendum questions — that asked in 1975 and the one which we shall be asked on 23 June — is interesting. In 1975, the question was ‘Do you think that the United Kingdom should remain part of the European Community (Common Market)?’ (Answer: Yes/No). Today, the question will be ‘Should the United Kingdom remain a member of European Union or leave the European Union?’ (Answer: Remain/Leave). The modern question is the fairer, and it also brings out how things have changed. In 1975, it seemed almost obvious that the answer was ‘yes’: even many who did not like EEC entry could see it was strange to leave only

Saturday

James Forsyth James Forsyth

These results have made Labour’s problems worse

As the dust settles on Thursday’s election, it becomes ever clearer that—with the exception of London—these were awful results for Labour. They were bad enough to suggest that the party is on course for a third successive general election defeat. But, as I say in The Sun, not disastrous enough to persuade the Labour membership that they need to dump Corbyn. One Tory Minister remarked to me yesterday, ‘Labour have done well enough to keep Corbyn. I can live with that.’ Before adding, ‘Corbyn’s survival is the single most important thing for 2020’. The result that should worry Labour most, though, is the Scottish one. As the third party of

Charles Moore Charles Moore

Why the FT’s Martin Wolf is wrong about the EU

Last week, I wrote about the fevered state of mind of the Financial Times as British voters threaten to throw off their EU chains. Here is another example. Martin Wolf, usually the best columnist in the paper, wrote a column giving ten reasons to remain. He said: ‘Above all, those promoting departure ignore what the UK’s European partners think about the EU. Their political elites, particularly of Germany and France, regard the preservation of an integrated Europe as their highest national interests. They will want to make clear that departure carries a heavy price, which is likely to include attempts to drive euro-related financial markets out of London.’ Those who

Ross Clark Ross Clark

The housing crisis was Sadiq Khan’s secret weapon

As Isabel Hardman wrote yesterday, many interpret Labour’s failure to fail on a bigger scale in yesterday’s election results as the worst possible result for the party.  Sadiq Khan, who had nominated Corbyn for the leadership, won comfortably in London.  Predicted to lose 150 or more council seats, by midday Labour was down a net 26 seats.    This neither puts them in an encouraging position from which to build towards the 2020 election nor signifies a disaster which might provoke Jeremy’s Corbyn’s defenestration and replacement with a more electable leader. But the Conservatives would be very unwise to take comfort from the results. Instead they should ask themselves why Corbyn’s Labour

Friday

Steerpike Steerpike

Jemima Khan distances herself from her brother’s mayoral bid: ‘sad that Zac’s campaign did not reflect who I know him to be’

Following Thursday’s elections, Sadiq Khan is on course to be the new mayor of London, with his rival Zac Goldsmith trailing a distant second. With Goldsmith’s campaign billed as ‘racist’ and ‘divisive’ by critics, the Tories will now need to work out who is at fault for his disastrous mayoral bid. However, while Goldsmith could do with all the friends he can get right now, even his own sister is unimpressed with his efforts. As Khan was crowned mayor, Jemima Khan took to Twitter to congratulate the Labour MP: Congratulations to @sadiqkhan-1st Muslim Mayor of London- a city for all cultures, backgrounds & religions. A great example to young Muslims — Jemima Goldsmith (@Jemima_Khan) May 6, 2016

Stephen Robinson

I’m not surprised Zac Goldsmith lost – his campaign was a catastrophe

Zac Goldsmith has spent much of the past few weeks telling us that the London mayoral vote ‘will be very close’. But it wasn’t, in the end: he lost by a fairly large margin. Some political campaigns are failures; others are simply tragedies, and Zac Goldsmith’s falls into the latter category. As I found out when I spent some time on the campaign trail with him. The candidate himself is an amiable enough soul, though his thin CV and past business failures scarcely qualify him to stand up as the candidate of enterprise against what he classes as the ‘divisive’ figure of Sadiq Khan. Khan seems dim and slippery and could have been beaten

Toby Young Toby Young

Zac Goldsmith has nothing to be ashamed of

It’s disappointing to see how many Tories are buying into Labour’s spin about Zac Goldsmith having fought a ‘dog whistle’ campaign and – even more ludicrously – blaming that for his defeat. Any Conservative candidate faced an uphill struggle getting elected in London, one of the only areas in the country where Labour did better in 2015 than it did in 2010. Even Boris, who has a rare ability to appeal to Labour voters, only beat Ken Livingstone in 2012 by 62,538 votes. The first prominent Conservative to peddle this theory was London Assembly member Andrew Boff, who appeared on Newsnight to accuse Goldsmith of equating ‘people of conservative religious

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Sadiq Khan wins the London mayoral race

Sadiq Khan is the new Mayor of London. After what seemed like an eternal wait, withs second preferences counted, he claimed 57pc of the vote to Zac Goldsmith’s 43pc – a comfortable margin of 14pc. So after eight years of Tory control, Labour has retaken City Hall.  Khan’s result is Labour’s best of this election cycle. He has won a decisive victory in a contest which has seen turnout go up, and by a wider margin than Boris’s 2012 victory. There’ll be much criticism of Goldsmith’s campaign in the next few days, but it is worth noting just how relentless Khan was. He hit his key messages endlessly, never missing an opportunity

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Government drops plans to force all schools to become academies

It’s a good day for the Conservatives to bury bad news, when all attention is on Labour and the SNP’s election performances. So that must be why in the past few minutes Nicky Morgan has announced she is U-turning on the government’s plans to force all schools in England to become academies. The Education Secretary will no longer force good schools to change their structure, but will instead focus on selling the benefits of academies within the education community. This is a significant shift. In reality, it is all the government could do as there were too many Tory MPs opposed to the plans as set out in the White

Steerpike Steerpike

George Galloway’s battle bus lives on to fight another day

With George Galloway predicted to have won roughly one per cent of the vote in the London mayoral election, his dream of becoming Mayor is fading fast. So, barring a drastic recount, the next question to ask is: what will become of his battle bus? Barely a day has gone by in the campaign when Galloway has not been spotted in the bright blue bus touring the streets of London. Happily, Steerpike understands that Londoners can expect to see more of the Respect politician and his vehicle. Rather than return the vehicle, Mr S hears that Galloway now owns the bus and plans to paint it as he requires for his

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

What will Labour moderates do now?

The election results that we’ve had through so far are a pretty potent combination for the Labour party. Diane Abbott said this morning that they show that Labour is on course to win the 2020 general election, while Jeremy Corbyn skirted around what they actually meant for the party in the long-term when he gave his reaction. The potency lies in the party’s devastation in Scotland that points to a long-term structural inability to win a majority coupled with English council results that, by being less bad than expected, deceive about the challenge the party faces in winning in those areas in 2020. The party’s moderates are concerned this morning

James Forsyth James Forsyth

The SNP’s decline has finally begun

We are past peak SNP. The party has won a third successive Scottish Parliamentary election, an achievement that is not to be sniffed at, but it has lost its overall majority. There are signs that the normal rules of political gravity are beginning to apply in Scotland again. Equally telling is that the SNP is out of big ideas. Its manifesto was a thoroughly managerialist document. It also now seems highly unlikely that there will be another independence referendum before 2021, and the next Scottish Parliament elections. The SNP now faces a challenge of how to use the extensive powers that are coming the Scottish Parliament’s way. If it doesn’t

Steerpike Steerpike

Ukip candidate who blamed litter on eastern European migrants is elected to the Welsh Assembly

As Nigel Farage come to terms with his old foe Neil Hamilton’s success in the Welsh elections, there is another new Welsh Ukip Assembly Member who could also prove problematic for party harmony. Earlier this year, Ukip candidate Gareth Bennett made the news after he blamed increased litter in Cardiff on eastern European migrants. He then appeared on Daily Politics where he admitted that he had no evidence to back up the claim: ‘where would I have gleaned the evidence for? Where is this data kept?’. While Mr S understands that Ukip’s high command were less than pleased with the interview, Bennett threatened to sue his own party for loss of earnings if

Alex Massie Alex Massie

A force awakens in Scotland: the Union strikes back

Nicola Sturgeon has her mandate but it is a smaller, feebler, mandate than almost everyone thought likely as recently as 18 hours ago. The SNP remains the natural party of government in Scotland – a position it is unlikely to relinquish for the foreseeable future – but it no longer enjoys an overall majority at Holyrood. The nationalist advance, seemingly all-powerful and unstoppable, has not been stopped but it has been checked. Now you could hardly call winning almost half the seats in a system expressly designed to make a majority all but impossible except in the most freakish circumstances a disappointing result. And, indeed, the SNP share of the

Hamish Macdonell

At long last, the Scottish Conservatives are back

The Tory achievement in Scotland was delightfully encapsulated in one sharp moment during the BBC’s overnight coverage. Jackson Carlaw, the Scottish Tory deputy leader, turned to Alex Salmond, pointed his finger and said: “Alex Salmond said we deserved to stay in purdah, well, we are not in purdah any more.” That retort summed up the frustration built up over decades of defeat and put-downs from the SNP and Labour. Mr Carlaw’s message was simple: the Tories are back in Scotland. In many ways, he was right. Remember the 1997 wipe-out? The election when the electorate came together to kick out every Tory MP in Scotland? Now the party is the official opposition in Scotland.

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Corbyn’s enemies’ greatest fear is coming true: he’s avoiding disaster

This morning the Labour party is waking up to both disaster and relief. Disaster because the party is falling into third place in the Scottish Parliament – and third to the Conservatives, a party it has long teased for being unpopular and unacceptable north of the border. And relief because so far in English council seats, Labour is holding its own in a way that pollsters did not predict. If today does, as widely expected, finish with a victory for Sadiq Khan in the London mayoral contest, Jeremy Corbyn can face his critics in his party with a fair amount of confidence. He can even brush off the humiliation of

The Spectator

Election results: what you need to know

Summary: Sadiq Khan becomes Mayor of London. SNP fail to win a majority. Scottish Tories become second largest party in Scottish parliament; Scottish Labour in meltdown. Little change in England, Ukip gained seven seats in Wales. Scotland:  SNP fails to win majority; Scottish Labour in meltdown The SNP won 63 of the 129 seats at the Scottish Parliament. The Scottish Tories are now the second largest party. They gained 16 MSPs to reach 31 in total. Labour had its worst result since devolution with 24 MSPs, a loss of 13. Scottish Labour is in meltdown. Its new leader, Kezia Dugdale, failed to take Edinburgh East constituency from the SNP – while Ruth Davidson unexpectedly took Edinburgh Central. This is the

Thursday

Charles Moore Charles Moore

The Spectator’s notes | 5 May 2016

The comparison between the referendum questions — that asked in 1975 and the one which we shall be asked on 23 June — is interesting. In 1975, the question was ‘Do you think that the United Kingdom should remain part of the European Community (Common Market)?’ (Answer: Yes/No). Today, the question will be ‘Should the United Kingdom remain a member of European Union or leave the European Union?’ (Answer: Remain/Leave). The modern question is the fairer, and it also brings out how things have changed. In 1975, it seemed almost obvious that the answer was ‘yes’: even many who did not like EEC entry could see it was strange to leave only