Politics

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

Tuesday

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Culture Secretary John Whittingdale admits relationship with dominatrix

If match.com is missing an advertising strap line, how about saying “Where lonely cabinet members can meet lonely dominatrices?”. According to John Whittingdale, the Culture Secretary, this is precisely what happened to him – a relationship that the press knew about, but decided not to publish on the grounds that he’s single, is richly entitled to date whoever he likes and updating the public on his progress on match.com was not in the public interest. Bizarrely, the press regulation advocates Hacked Off is accusing the press of being too prudish and thinks it’s a scandal that Whitto was not humiliated and mocked. A cover-up, it says. We haven’t quite had

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Will Ruth Davidson’s ski-doo stunts pay off at the ballot box?

Just a few days into the official campaign for the Holyrood elections and Ruth Davidson has had to change her tactics. The plan had originally been for the Scottish Conservatives to run a serious campaign which has fewer tanks than the election campaign, and more serious speeches. ‘We tried that whole idea of you know we’re going to do this really stripped down, just speeches, and just like listening to people bla bla bla,’ says Davidson. ‘And then kind of all the press went this is really boring and we went, yeah, it kind of is.’ And so Davidson has been playing ice hockey, racing blue and red cars, and

Tom Goodenough Tom Goodenough

Could the IMF’s Brexit warning swing it for Remain?

The IMF has published one of the starkest warnings so far against Brexit from an organisation based outside of Britain. The latest set of figures from the International Monetary Fund predict that there will be a 0.3 percentage point dip in Britain’s growth forecast this year, as a result of the referendum. And the IMF warned that if Britain did vote to leave the EU, it could lead to ‘severe regional and global damage’. Both sides have used the statement to exchange in the latest round of tit-for-tat. George Osborne has said ‘for the first time, we’re seeing the direct impact on our economy of the risks of leaving the

Steerpike Steerpike

Watch: Syed Kamall’s rude gesture towards Belgian MEP caught on camera

Given that Syed Kamall is backing Brexit, the Conservative MEP has made little secret of his dislike for aspects of the EU Parliament. However, today Kamall appeared to struggle to keep such feelings in check when a Belgian MEP spoke as part of a session of Council and Commission statements on Counterterrorism following the recent terrorist attacks. Clearly unimpressed by Guy Verhofstadt’s words, Kamall was caught on camera expressing his displeasure: Tory MEP @SyedKamall caught on camera doing…well, I'll let you decide what he's doing to @GuyVerhofstadt… pic.twitter.com/NsslpWbbOH — Peter Spiegel (@SpiegelPeter) April 12, 2016 Mr S will leave readers to reach their own conclusion over what Kamall’s gesture means.

Nick Cohen Nick Cohen

It’s a Eurosceptic fantasy that the ‘Anglosphere’ wants Brexit

No one does as much damage to a country as patriots who affect to love it the most. If you doubt me, ask yourself what is missing from the European debate. The virtue-signalling right flap their arms to semaphore their belief in restoring Britain’s greatness. Yet they do not answer an obvious question: if leaving the EU is in our interests, why do none of our allies want us to do it? The original opponents of British entry to what was then the Common Market could point to Australia and New Zealand, who hated the idea of Britain turning its back on the EU. Even today, 40 years on, David Davis

Steerpike Steerpike

Spice Girls get cold feet about Brexit

When Simon Sebag Montefiore interviewed the Spice Girls for The Spectator, the five pop starlets surprised a lot of fans when they revealed their views on UK politics, the monarchy and Europe. Posh Spice, now known better as Victoria Beckham, emphasised the importance of the single currency: ‘The Euro- bureaucrats are destroying every bit of national identity and individuality. Let me give you an example — those new passports are revolting, an insult to our kingdom, our independence. We must keep our national individuality.’ Meanwhile Ginger Spice, also known as Geri Halliwell, declared that the Spice Girls as a collective were Eurosceptic: ‘All those countries look the same. Only England looks different. That is why

Steerpike Steerpike

Jeremy Corbyn to give ‘Corbyn the Musical’ a miss

Tonight marks the first preview performance of the much-anticipated Corbyn the Musical: the Motorcycle Diaries. The ‘no-holds barred political satire’ musical — written by Rupert Myers and Bobby Friedman — imagines Jeremy Corbyn facing a nuclear crisis. It will also offers a take on what may have gone on when Corbyn and Diane Abbott are said to have gone on a motorcycle holiday in the 1970s. Alas Mr S hears that the Labour leader is less than amused with the idea; he is yet to respond to an invitation to attend. So, to give Corbyn — and those who failed to get tickets in time — a taste for the musical, here are the lyrics

Steerpike Steerpike

Ed Miliband makes a comeback on The Agenda

One of Ed Miliband’s most embarrassing television moments from his time as Labour leader came when he appeared on The Agenda in 2014. Red Ed was lost for words when former pop star Myleene Klass turned on him on the ITV show as she berated him over Labour’s proposed mansion tax. The former Hear-Say star criticised Miliband’s approach to tax: ‘Ed’s getting isolated because no one thinks it is going to work. You may as well just tax me on this glass of water. You can’t just point at things and tax them.’ So it was a bold move for Miliband to return to the scene of the crime last night

Peter Oborne

Revealed: UK government blocks foreign journalists from press freedom conference

On its website the Foreign and Commonwealth Office claims that ‘we’re strengthening the Commonwealth as a focus for democratic practice and development. We’re working with the Commonwealth Secretariat to strengthen its institutions so it promotes human rights, democratic values and the rule of law.’ It continues: ‘we’re engaging with civil society across the Commonwealth.’ In the light of this declaration  one would expect the FCO to welcome this week’s conference in London by the Commonwealth Journalists Association. The would-be participants spend their lives, often at high personal risk, to bring the truth to their followers in their own countries. They include many of the best and bravest editors and reporters.

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Parliament is becoming an easy place for ministers to calm rows

The government has had a messy few weeks: that much is clear. And the latest mess, which is the row following the Panama Papers leaks, is still all over the press a week after the story broke. There are apparently more revelations to come. But the government has also settled into a pattern of having multiple damaging rows which are played out in the media over days, with a series of ill-judged responses making matters worse, followed by an attempt to calm things down in the House of Commons on a Monday afternoon. Before recess, there was the medley of statements on the resignation of Iain Duncan Smith and the

Monday

Tom Goodenough Tom Goodenough

Today in audio: PM branded ‘dodgy Dave’ as tax row rumbles on

David Cameron has been defending himself in the Commons following the publication of his tax return. He said he found some of the comments about his father ‘deeply hurtful’. He also held his hands up for not responding to criticism sooner following last week’s Panama papers controversy: One of the more personal jibes thrown at him in the chamber came from Dennis Skinner, who branded the PM ‘dodgy Dave’ in a remark which got him booted out of the Commons: Jeremy Corbyn was more measured in his response to David Cameron, but he still used the debate to say there was ‘one rule for the super-rich and another for the

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Has David Cameron’s tax debacle united the Tories?

Yet again, David Cameron has reason to be grateful for the quality of the opposition facing him. First of all, Jeremy Corbyn took until Cameron’s statement to release his own tax return, meaning that journalists were studying that as much as his response in the House of Commons. Second, Corbyn’s own response was long on verbiage but failed to ask any difficult questions of Cameron. Finally, Dennis Skinner had John Bercow order him from the chamber for refusing to withdraw his use of the word ‘dodgy’ about Cameron, which rather reinforced the point that the case against Cameron is long on name-calling and short on specifics. Cameron himself came armed

Douglas Murray

Trevor Phillips is finally discovering the pitfalls of the term ‘Islamophobia’

The former head of the UK Equality and Human Rights Commission has once again said the ‘unsayable’.  In a piece for the Sunday Times (ahead of a Channel 4 documentary to go out on Wednesday) Trevor Phillips unveils an in-depth new poll carried out by ICM (which can be viewed here). The findings include the facts that: 23 percent of British Muslims polled support the idea of there being areas of the UK where sharia law is introduced instead of British law. 39 percent believe wives should always obey their husbands. 31 percent believe it is acceptable for British Muslims to keep more than one wife. 52 percent think homosexuality

Steerpike Steerpike

Watch: Dennis Skinner ejected from Commons over ‘dodgy Dave’ insult

This afternoon David Cameron has had to face the music in the Commons over his shares in his father’s offshore fund. While he received a lukewarm response from his own party, the most hostile response came from the Beast of Bolsover. After Cameron gave an address on his tax affairs, Dennis Skinner angrily responded by calling the Prime Minister ‘dodgy Dave’: ‘At the time when he was dividing the nation between striders and scroungers, I asked him a very important question about the windfall he received when he wrote off the mortgage of the premises in Notting Hill, and I said he didn’t write off the mortgage of the one the taxpayers were helping to

Tom Goodenough Tom Goodenough

Osborne and Corbyn publish their tax returns – but are they any more interesting than the PMs?

George Osborne and Jeremy Corbyn have now both followed in the Prime Minister’s footsteps by publishing details of their tax returns. As James Forsyth said on our Spectator podcast earlier today, it was just a matter of time before the Chancellor and Labour leader bowed down to pressure. But what do the two documents actually tell us? The simple answer is that Osborne and Corbyn’s tax returns make for even less interesting reading than David Cameron’s. Properly speaking, Osborne’s isn’t even a tax return at all but rather a summary of the main bits. It shows his earnings as Chancellor; it also appears to show that he isn’t putting any

Tom Goodenough Tom Goodenough

The Coffee House podcast: David Cameron’s tax headache

David Cameron has bowed down to pressure by publishing his tax return and now the Chancellor has done the same. But where will the calls for financial transparency end? And how did this issue blow up into such a big political row? Spectator editor Fraser Nelson joins Isabel Hardman and James Forsyth to talk about the Prime Minister’s tax headache. Speaking on the podcast, James Forsyth says the whole topic shows Downing Street is so fixated on Europe that it has taken an eye off the ball. He tells Fraser: ‘I think what is going on is this: Europe is totally and utterly distracting Downing Street from everything else. This

Steerpike Steerpike

Has Jeremy Corbyn lost his tax return?

Oh dear. Although Jeremy Corbyn spent the best part of last week calling on David Cameron to publish his tax return, the Labour leader appears to be struggling to follow his own advice. Despite Corbyn promising to publish his tax return last Tuesday, the document is yet to see the light of day. Rather than a tax evasion conspiracy, it’s thought that Corbyn simply can’t find it; with some outlets reporting that he has had to ask HMRC to send him a copy.  However, the Leader’s Office dispute this — they insist that it will be published soon. So as things stand, we have a Prime Minister for whom the Panama Papers have turned into

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Cameron’s handling of the tax row means it won’t go away any time soon

David Cameron will give a statement in the Commons addressing the row about his tax arrangements, with George Osborne expected to publish his own tax return in the coming days too. That the Prime Minister has had to prepare a statement for MPs so that he can avoid being hauled to the Commons by Labour with an urgent question shows both how serious this row is for Cameron, but also how he is trying to compensate for being unprepared last week. He had clearly underestimated how potent the revelations in the Panama Papers would be, thinking that they could be dismissed with a mere line about this being a ‘private

Steerpike Steerpike

Liz Kendall hits out at ‘old-fashioned misogyny’ on the hard left

Although Liz Kendall insists that she gets on well with her former Labour leadership rival Jeremy Corbyn on a personal level, she is less fond of some of his supporters. While it’s well known that Kendall is on the opposite end of the spectrum to Corbyn when it comes to their political views within Labour, the Blairite says that it is the  ‘old-fashioned misogyny’ of the hard left that she takes issue with. In an interview with the Sunday Times, Kendall says that many members of the hard left targeted her with misogynistic abuse just because she held opposing political views: ‘There’s a lot of old-fashioned misogyny on the hard left; you’ve only got

Sunday

Steerpike Steerpike

Polly Toynbee forgets to check her privilege on Marr

With the Sunday papers filled with the details of David Cameron’s past tax returns, the subject of his family’s wealth remains high on the news agenda. Happily Guardian heavyweight Polly Toynbee was on hand to offer her take on the row during the Andrew Marr show paper review. Toynbee argued that the real story was not any supposed wrongdoing on Cameron’s part when it comes to paying tax, but instead his personal wealth is the problem. She went on to muse that the Prime Minister was ‘phenomenally rich’ and that this would not sit well with the public given the ‘extraordinary growth of inequality in this country’: ‘That’s the real story, it’s not really about