Read about the latest UK political news, views and analysis.
Last year it was a bicycle, this year it’s a dove. Yes, Jeremy Corbyn has refrained from using a photo of himself for Labour’s annual Christmas card for a second year: However with May, too, opting for an illustration, Mr S is beginning to miss the Cameron and Miliband years.
It would be ‘wrong’ to dwell on the subject of Theresa May’s £1,000 leather trousers, says the Times in its editorial this morning. But equally it’s a mistake to pretend those trousers don’t exist when Tory backbenchers think the cost of them brings the PM’s judgement into question, the paper argues. The Times criticises Theresa May’s adviser, Fiona Hill, for the manner in which she hit out at the PM’s trouser critic, Nicky Morgan. The Mail on Sunday revealed yesterday that Hill sent a text to Morgan’s colleague, Alistair Burt, saying: ‘Don’t bring that woman to Downing Street again’, after the former education secretary criticised May’s sartorial choice. So what
It’s handbags at dawn over in Downing Street. Last week, Nicky Morgan used an interview with the Times to criticise Theresa May for wearing trousers costing nearly £1,000 while claiming to be in touch with the ‘JAMs’. The former education secretary said that she herself had never spent that much on anything ‘apart from my wedding dress’. Now Morgan has found herself the persona non grata — once again — with No. 10. The former education secretary has been banned from entering 10 Downing Street, with May’s Chief of Staff Fiona Hill breaking the news in a text referring to Morgan as ‘that woman’. However, it looks as though there is a second reason Morgan is on
After a disappointing result for Labour in the Sleaford by-election on Friday, over the weekend it fell on Diane Abbott and Ken Livingstone to take to the airwaves to try and generate some good PR for the beleaguered party. However, things didn’t go quite to plan as Abbott — the shadow home secretary — attempted to attack the Conservatives for in-fighting over Europe while not being able to say what Labour’s position was. Nick Robinson — standing in for Andrew Marr — went on to read quotes from different Labour politicians raising concerns about Jeremy Corbyn’s position on freedom of movement: NR: This is why people talk about confusion. The man who is
In the chaos after the Brexit vote, no one really noticed when Theresa May adopted an odd position on EU nationals*. Throughout the campaign, everyone – from Ukip to the Lib Dems, Boris Johnson to Andy Burnham – had been clear that the Brexit debate was not about deporting anyone. Those EU nationals who were in Britain should stay here. In a fractious debate, it was a note of rare consensus: no one’s status was in question. But days after the referendum, the then Home Secretary sat down on Robert Peston’s sofa and suggested that EU nationals might not be safe after all, and that she might use them as bargaining chips in her
During the coalition years, Lib Dem conferences were well-attended events with many businesses, too, opting to exhibit. However, since the party went from 57 seats to eight in the 2015 general election, they have struggled to maintain their allure. So, perhaps brains at Lib Dem HQ can be forgiven for attempting to capitalise on Sarah Olney winning the Richmond Park by-election. The party is now marketing its upcoming Spring Conference with the line: ‘Come and Meet our New MP’. Alas Mr S suspects it may take more than one new MP to put the party back on the map.
Labour’s dire performance in the Sleaford by-election is just the latest sign of a party in terminal decline. To cap it off, a YouGov poll out this week puts them 17 points behind the Tories – their worse showing since the gloomy days of Gordon Brown. Jeremy Corbyn is taking his share of the blame for the miserable state of the Labour party. But for me, the beginning of the end for Labour can be traced back to well before Corbyn. The third of March, 2011, to be precise. It was on this day the Barnsley Central by-election brought rising Labour star Dan Jarvis into Parliament. As a rookie reporter for the Barnsley Chronicle, I
Oh dear. Today Jeremy Corbyn tried to move the conversation from Labour’s bad polling to human rights, with a speech to mark International Human Rights Day. However, while Corbyn wished to speak about championing women’s rights across the world, Peter Tatchell and anti-war campaigners had other ideas. As the Labour leader spoke at Methodist Central Hall, Tatchell interrupted to accuse of Corbyn of not doing enough to condemn the actions of Russia in Syria: Jeremy Corbyn's speech had been disrupted by protests led by Peter Tatchell https://t.co/98nguJsSmY — Sky News (@SkyNews) December 10, 2016 ‘What is happening in Aleppo is a modern-day Guernica. We haven’t heard the leader of the Labour party speak out enough
Want proof of how bad things are for Labour? Jeremy Corbyn and his disastrous leadership is not even its biggest problem anymore. I write in The Sun that Labour’s biggest problem, and it is potentially an existential one, is that its reaction to the Brexit vote is threatening to make it a political irrelevance More than 60 percent of Labour seats voted to leave the EU. In these constituencies, being the party that is trying to block Brexit would be electoral suicide. That’s why the Labour leadership felt compelled to accept the government’s amendment this week saying Theresa May should start the formal, two-year process for leaving the EU by
When The Spectator was founded 188 years ago, it became part of what would now be described as a populist insurgency. An out-of-touch Westminster elite, we said, was speaking a different language to the rest of London, let alone the rest of the country. Too many ‘of the bons mots vented in the House of Commons appear stale and flat by the time they have travelled as far as Wellington Street’. This would be remedied, we argued, by extending the franchise and granting the vote to the emerging middle class. Our Tory critics said any step towards democracy — a word which then caused a shudder — would start a
One remark from the Christmas party season knocks insistently around my head. It came from Nigel Farage on a staircase in the Ritz. For those who didn’t enjoy 2016, a year of political revolution, he gleefully promised: ‘2017 will be a hell of a sight worse.’ My, my. What did he mean? Had he taken one Ferrero Rocher too many? Or does Farage, like an increasing number of MPs, expect a general election next year, including further dramatic upsets? The biggest reason for pooh-poohing a 2017 election isn’t the Fixed-term Parliaments Act but Prime Minister’s character. Theresa May is extremely cautious and she doesn’t want to test the electorate just
After all the ups and downs, wins and losses, celebrations and commiserations, 2016 is finally in its twilight hours. We’ve sat some of the Spectator’s top staff and contributors down with a glass of mulled wine to steady their nerves as we ask the big questions: What happened in 2016? And what’s coming in 2017? First, with an eye fixed firmly back in June, Isabel Hardman was joined by Tim Shipman, political editor of the Sunday Times and author of All Out War, Nick Cohen, and Spectator editor Fraser Nelson to discuss the first political earthquake of the year: Brexit. Next, we jumped ahead five months (not to mention crossed
Last night’s Sleaford and North Hykeham by-election played out in a predictable fashion overall. After Stephen Phillips resigned in anguish over ‘irreconcilable policy differences’ regarding the government’s Brexit stance, the Tories comfortably clung onto the seat — with their candidate Caroline Johnson winning over 50 pc of the vote. It was a good result, too, for Ukip — in an area where over 62 pc of voters backed Brexit in the referendum. After coming third there in the general election they won second place this time around. However, it will be encouraging to May that, despite this, Ukip’s vote share did actually decrease marginally — falling from 15.7 pc to 13.5 pc. Although the party
Boris Johnson was slapped down by Theresa May yesterday for his comments about Saudi Arabia. And the Foreign Secretary earns himself a similar rebuke in the Guardian this morning. The paper describes his remarks as ‘plain speaking without a purpose’ and says that ‘he frequently shoots from the hip or goes off half-cocked’. It warns that while speaking out of turn as a columnist could be ‘embarrassing’, now the ‘potential consequences are far graver’. But if so, why is Theresa May still tolerating Boris? In the eyes of the Guardian’s editorial, it’s because the PM thinks that ‘a cannon that misfires so often is less dangerous in front of her
Taking precedent Sir: In his excellent piece on the Supreme Court Article 50 ruling (‘Brexit in the balance’, 3 December), Joshua Rozenberg says that the 2015 European Referendum Act was not drafted with sufficient precision. But surely the whole basis of having an unwritten constitution is that the law is therefore interpreted on the basis of precedent — i.e. what is not stated. Jeremy Wright should keep the government’s case simple. Parliament’s own sovereignty is derived from the people. The European Referendum Act of 2015 was passed by both Houses of Parliament, clearly giving a mandate from Parliament. Our legal system works on precedent. None of the other four national
Now that almost six months have passed since the EU referendum, might it be time for old enemies to find common ground? Matthew Parris and Matt Ridley, two of the most eloquent voices on either side of the campaign, meet in the offices of The Spectator to find out. MATTHEW PARRIS: Catastrophe has not engulfed us yet, it’s true. But I feel worse since the result, rather than better. I thought that, as in all hard-fought campaigns, you get terribly wound up and depressed when you lose. Then you pick yourself up, dust yourself down and start all over again. But my animosities — not just towards the Brexit
One remark from the Christmas party season knocks insistently around my head. It came from Nigel Farage on a staircase in the Ritz. For those who didn’t enjoy 2016, a year of political revolution, he gleefully promised: ‘2017 will be a hell of a sight worse.’ My, my. What did he mean? Had he taken one Ferrero Rocher too many? Or does Farage, like an increasing number of MPs, expect a general election next year, including further dramatic upsets? The biggest reason for pooh-poohing a 2017 election isn’t the Fixed-term Parliaments Act but Prime Minister’s character. Theresa May is extremely cautious and she doesn’t want to test the electorate just
This morning’s Sun carries the story that all British soldiers involved in killings in Northern Ireland during the three decades of the Troubles now face investigation. More than 1,000 ex-service personnel ‘will be viewed as manslaughter or murder suspects in legal inquiry.’ According to information received by the paper, 238 ‘fatal incidents’ involving British forces are being re-investigated by the Police Service of Northern Ireland’s Legacy Investigations Branch. This is especially timely. In recent days I have been reading Austen Morgan’s new and so-far under-noticed book Tony Blair and the IRA. To my knowledge it is the first full account to date of the ‘on the runs’ scandal. This is
In what sense does anyone actually disagree with what Boris Johnson said about Saudi Arabia and Iran? Does anyone actually think that his observation that they are both engaged in ‘puppeteering’ in Syria and Yemen is not only true, but understates the seriousness of the problem? Does anyone believe the Foreign Office when it says that Mr Johnson’s remarks do not reflect the position of the Government? Now I know the argument, viz, that Saudi Arabia is an important and very sensitive ally and the way to deal with its sensitivities is to make criticism in private, which is what, we are invited to believe, Theresa May did when she
Although David Cameron tended to put a photo of himself and his wife Samantha on the front of his Christmas cards during his tenure as prime minister, Theresa May takes a different approach. Today the Prime Minister has released her official Christmas cards for 2016. Following her annual tradition as Maidenhead MP, May has chosen cards designed by children in her constituency: However, Mr S is concerned that one of the cards could only add fuel to the fire in the ongoing turf war between Larry the No. 10 cat and Palmerston, the Foreign Office cat. Given that Larry is a tabby cat, it looks as though Palmerston is the feline to make