Politics

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

Tuesday

Steerpike Steerpike

Did Zac Goldsmith pick up some tips on tackling extremism from Yvette Cooper?

During last night’s BBC mayoral debate, Zac Goldsmith was asked whether he had run a racist campaign against Sadiq Khan — following negative press surrounding the Labour candidate’s links to extremists. After Khan found himself under fire for sharing platforms with characters like Suliman Gani, as well as for his work for Louis Farrakhan — the man who claimed Hitler was a ‘very great man’ — Labour’s Yvette Cooper complained that the Tories’ mayoral campaign amounts to racism: ‘It’s time to call it out for what it really is before it gets worse. What started as a subtle dog-whistle is becoming a full-blown racist scream.’ However, Cooper hasn’t always appeared to hold such strong views when it comes

Monday

Katy Balls Katy Balls

BBC mayoral debate: Sadiq and Zac try to set the record straight over ‘extremism’ allegations

As the European referendum campaign gains momentum, the London mayoral election has had to take a backseat in recent weeks when it comes to setting the news agenda. Tonight the mayoral candidates had a chance to turn this around as part of the BBC’s London’s Mayor debate. While Respect candidate George Galloway was left out of the line-up, the five main candidates — Zac Goldsmith, Sadiq Khan, Caroline Pidgeon, Sian Berry and Peter Whittle — joined Andrew Neil for the biggest debate of the campaign. With the election widely seen to be a two-horse race between Khan and Goldsmith, the pair dominated the evening as their campaign feuds bubbled to the surface. The first topic on the agenda was

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Labour MPs fry Corbyn over McDonald’s ban

Although the weekly meeting of the parliamentary Labour party is a private affair, Jeremy Corbyn’s spokesman offers journalists lurking in the committee corridor outside a briefing as soon as it has concluded. Today he had to take questions from hacks on whether or not his boss goes to McDonald’s – prompted by the news that the Labour party is banning the fast food outlet from having a stall at its party conference. Both the staff and the burger ban came up at the meeting. It started with an observation from Baroness Armstrong that the Labour leader now has a phalanx of staff with him when he attends these sessions, as opposed

Tom Goodenough Tom Goodenough

Today in audio: Osborne slammed over ‘absurd’ Brexit warning

George Osborne’s warning over what Brexit will cost the UK economy has dominated the headlines for much of the day. But how have the Treasury figures gone down in Westminster? Based on the number of Tory MPs queuing up to slam the Chancellor’s claims, it would seem not very well at all: Kwasi Kwarteng said he thought the figures were ‘absurd’. He attacked the Treasury as an organisation not qualified to make predictions about economic outcomes following its failure to predict the 2008 credit crunch: John Redwood also used the same word to describe his disdain for the warning that Brexit would cost British families £4,300. He said the predictions

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Labour backbenchers focus fire on Emily Thornberry again at Defence Questions

Departmental questions in the House of Commons are generally an opportunity for backbenchers of all parties to hold the government to account. But a strange pattern is emerging at Defence Questions, whereby the backbenchers of each of the two main parties pour their efforts into making life uncomfortable for their own frontbenchers, even though Labour’s team isn’t actually in government. So today Michael Fallon and his ministers had to contend with complaints from Sir Edward Leigh about the suggestion that Britain leaving the European Union would harm Britain’s national security. But Emily Thornberry, who is supposed to focus her fire and that of her party on ministers, had to deal

Steerpike Steerpike

Leave.EU hit back at Osborne over Brexit comments: ‘if this is our economic team, we are in deep s–t’

George Osborne’s claim that the Treasury thinks Brexit would make you £4,300 worse off has gone down like a cup of cold sick with the Leave camp. While many Brexiteers have hit back in less than polite terms, it’s Leave.EU who win the award for ‘most blunt response’. In light of the claims, Arron Bank’s Brexit group have added a new picture to their Facebook group. The banner reads: ‘If this is our key economic team we are in deep s–t’. It seems that now Leave.EU are out of the race in terms of winning the official designation, they are able to speak freely.

Melanie McDonagh Melanie McDonagh

Has Boris finally realised why Turkey shouldn’t join the EU?

So good to see Boris Johnson making the obvious case for Brexit, namely that the Turks are at the door. And it’s not just the imminent prospect of visa-free travel for 75 million of them as part of the deal that Angela Merkel struck with that problematic individual, Recep Erdogan, that we’ve got to worry about. The other, longer-term threat of Turkey actually joining the EU should also be cause for concern. That process has been expedited, too, as part of the Greek migrant exchange which the Pope was so cross about. As ever, Mr Johnson put his finger on the nub of the problem, in an interview with the Sunday

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Government reserves the right to take military action without parliamentary approval

One of the more significant constitutional innovations of recent times is the assumption that the government must get parliament’s permission before committing British forces to military action. This precedent, set with the 2003 Iraq vote, has been upheld by this government; it famously resulted in Britain not bombing Syria in 2013 following the use of chemical weapons in the civil war. There had been pressure on the government to formalise this new constitutional convention, to legislate that the government needs parliament’s permission before military action can be taken. But in a written ministerial statement today, the Defence Secretary Michael Fallon rejects that option. He makes clear that while the government

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Priti Patel brings primary schools into the EU debate

Another interesting change of tack in the EU referendum campaign comes from the Leave camp today, with Priti Patel warning about school places. The employment minister warns that EU migration is putting ‘unsustainable pressure’ on schools, saying: ‘The shortage of primary school places is yet another example of how uncontrolled migration is putting unsustainable pressures on our public services. ‘Education is one of the most important things the Government delivers, and it’s deeply regrettable that so many families with young children are set to be disappointed today.’ In one sense, this isn’t a surprising intervention: it’s primary school offer day, when parents find out whether their children have got places

Tom Goodenough Tom Goodenough

The Coffee House podcast: George Osborne’s Brexit warning

George Osborne has warned today that Brexit will cost each household in the UK around £4,500. The Chancellor also said leaving the EU would make Britain ‘permanently poorer’. But is there any truth in Osborne’s claims? In this Spectator Coffee House podcast, Fraser Nelson joins Isabel Hardman and James Forsyth to discuss the figures and whether the numbers add up. Speaking on the podcast, Isabel Hardman says the Treasury report shows a change in argument by the Government in making the case for staying in the EU: ‘The really interesting thing about this is that George Osborne is doing this at all. He and his Tory colleagues at the start

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

The deceptions behind George Osborne’s Brexit report

Sometimes, George Osborne’s dishonesty is simply breathtaking. Let’s set aside the way he has positioned himself over the years (if he believed that leaving the European Union ‘would be the most extraordinary self-inflicted wound’ he might have told us – and his constituents – earlier, rather than proceeding with the farce of renegotiation). But it’s his maths, today, which shames his office – and his use of this maths to make the entirely false suggestion that the Treasury thinks Brexit would make you £4,300 worse off. For anyone who cares about honesty in politics, and the abuse (and reporting) of statistics, this is an interesting case study. His chosen date is 2030. By then,

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

How ministers had to change tack in the EU referendum campaign

George Osborne harnesses the might of the Treasury machine today in the EU referendum campaign, publishing a weighty tome that tweaks 200 pages to warn of the consequences of Britain leaving the EU. He also warns of a ‘profound consequences for our economy, for the living standards of every family, and for Britain’s role in the world’. Those profound consequences include every family being £4,300 a year worse off as a result of Brexit, the Chancellor argues. John Redwood has already dismissed the document – which hasn’t yet been published – as ‘absurd’. But what it does tell us is that the government has accepted that the security argument alone

Helen Nugent

Money digest: need-to-know financial news

The Times reports this morning that Britain will be poorer by the equivalent of £4,300 a year per household if there is a vote to leave the European Union. In an article for the paper, George Osborne says that a Canadian-style post-Brexit deal with Europe, an approach advocated by Boris Johnson, would cause Britain’s economy to shrink by 6 per cent by 2030. He asks whether this is a ‘price worth paying’. The Chancellor added: ‘The conclusion is clear: for Britain’s economy and for families, leaving the EU would be the most extraordinary self-inflicted wound.’ A Treasury analysis on the cost of an EU exit will be published today. A story about saving makes

Steerpike Steerpike

Tories’ ‘ludicrous’ phone bank email falls flat with voters

As CCHQ try to gather momentum behind Zac Goldsmith’s mayoral campaign, they are hoping that they can count on Tory supporters to do their bit. On top of leafleting, voters are being invited to take part in phone bank sessions at the Connect call centre. In the event that this alone would not be enough to entice would-be volunteers, they have a ‘voter communications intern’ sending out messages to increase attendance at the sessions. Alas word reaches Steerpike that the tone of the emails coming from ‘voter communications’ is going down like a lead balloon with a number of well-heeled supporters. A recent email from the intern about a recent caller connect session has been doing the rounds.

Steerpike Steerpike

Watch: Tristram Hunt feels the heat over the EU on Sunday Politics

With the outcome of the EU referendum predicted to be on a ‘knife edge’, there are growing concerns that David Cameron may have misplayed his hand. So, in order for the Remain camp to reclaim a lead in the polls, they need some solid media performances from names the public can trust. Alas, they may soon come to regret Tristram Hunt’s appearance on yesterday’s Sunday Politics. During a tense exchange with Andrew Neil, Hunt struggled to rebut Neil’s questions on immigration, going on to accuse the BBC presenter of offering up his own version of ‘project fear’. TH: In the long run, I think there is a really interesting question about

Sunday

Brendan O’Neill Brendan O’Neill

The strange death of left-wing Euroscepticism

Jeremy Corbyn’s eye-swivelling about-face on the EU – he once wanted to leave, now he wants to stay – has become a source of mirth for Eurosceptics and a sign of hope for Europhiles. To the anti-EU lobby, the fact that Corbyn voted against staying in the common market in the 1975 referendum and against EU treaties as an MP, yet now wants us all to vote to stay in, shows what a slippery character he is. For the Brussels-loving brigade it confirms that even the most heathen of EU haters can see the light. The ‘sinner who repents’ – actual words used in the Guardian‘s editorial on the newly

Saturday

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Boris v Barack on Brexit

The US President flies into town next week to wish the Queen a happy 90th birthday and to encourage Britain to stay in the EU. Obama’s will be the most high profile, foreign intervention in this referendum yet. His message will be that it is in the interests of Britain, the US and the West for us to remain in the EU. But the Out campaign have their ‘Love Actually’ moment ready, as I say in my Sun column today. Boris Johnson will knock back Obama’s advice shortly after the president has spoken, pointing out—as he did in this BBC interview—that it is ‘nakedly hypocritical’ for the US to urge

Friday

Steerpike Steerpike

Belgian expat trolls Vote Leave campaign

It’s been a good week for Vote Leave after they were given the official designation to campaign for Brexit in the EU referendum. Despite this, they still have a few problems they need to overcome. One of these comes in the form of Rick Astley, the eighties singer. A Belgian expat by the name of Mario Van Poppel has decided to try and cause some problems for the Leave camp’s digital operations. Van Poppel — who is based in London — has purchased several Vote Leave domains. While the official Vote Leave website can be found at www.voteleavetakecontrol.org, a visit to voteleave.com, voteleave.co.uk, voteleave.net or voteleave.org now leads to a video of Rick

Tom Goodenough Tom Goodenough

The BBC sitcom Citizen Khan isn’t Islamophobic – it’s just idiotic

If you’ve never watched ‘Citizen Khan’, then count yourself lucky. It’s a sitcom in the loosest sense of the word and a prime example of a comedy show which would only ever appear on the BBC: achingly unfunny, contrived and featuring entirely unbelievable characters. Crucially, though, if the show is one thing, it’s politically correct, in that it centres around a family of Muslims living in a deprived part of Birmingham. But Labour’s Rupa Huq has decided otherwise. She has claimed the show is ‘Islamophobic’: ‘I feel if I didn’t know what the year is, you would think it’s an every day tale of a Birmingham family of Muslims but they’re really quite

Steerpike Steerpike

Friday caption contest: the three Europhiles

Although Jeremy Corbyn has been slow to get involved with the EU campaign, David Cameron is still keen to show the public the Remain side has cross-party support. So, what better way to prove this than a photo opp with Labour’s Neil Kinnock and Liberal Democrat Paddy Ashdown. Mr S welcomes your caption suggestions for the photo of the three Europhiles. The winner will be revealed on Monday. Update: … and the winner is Alun Morris for coming up with the caption: ‘celebrity threesome fight losing battle to prevent the public knowing the truth’.