Politics Archives

Monday

11 Jul 2016

Steerpike

Watch: Angela Eagle abandoned by hacks at leadership launch

Today the Eagle has landed. After touring television studios yesterday with talk that she would run to be the next Labour leader, Angela Eagle officially launched her campaign this morning. Alas there was a problem. As the launch neared its end, Andrea Leadsom managed to upstage her by putting on a rival press conference to announce that she was dropping out of the Tory leadership race. As hacks raced across Westminster to make it to Leadsom’s conference, the Labour leadership hopeful was left red-faced as she tried to take questions from the BBC and then ITV’s Robert Peston only to learn that they weren’t there. Given that Mr S understands that Eagle had to call

James Forsyth

Can Theresa May nurse the Tories back to health?

It might prove easier for the Tories’ new leader Theresa May to reunite the party post referendum than expected. First, many Tory MPs have been taken aback by the brutality of the past few weeks. They know how close the party is to entering into a post-Maastricht cycle of political violence and there appears to be a desire to pull back from the brink. Second, both sides have had their pound of flesh. The Leavers have seen David Cameron resign and George Osborne see his leadership hopes dashed; the Remainers have seen Boris Johnson and Michael Gove brought low by the leadership contest. May’s biggest challenge will, obviously, be to

Isabel Hardman

And then there was one… Theresa May’s team prepare for government

Chris Grayling has given this very brief statement on behalf of Theresa May in the past few minutes: ‘Can I start by thanking on behalf of Theresa May and on behalf of everyone involved in Theresa’s campaign team by thanking and paying a warm tribute to Andrea Leadsom. Her actions this morning have shown what a principled and decent politician she is and how willing she is to put the interests of the country before her own. She is a true public servant. Theresa is currently on her way back to London from Birmingham and she will make a statement later today. But on her behalf I’d just like to

Tom Goodenough

Angela Eagle picks the worst possible moment to launch her leadership bid

As leadership launches go, the timing could not have been worse for Angela Eagle. Moments before she was due to set out her pitch, rumours started to circulate that Andrea Leadsom was dropping out of the race for the Tory leadership. By the time Eagle had actually started speaking, Leadsom was elsewhere reading a statement confirming the news to a scrum of journalists. All of this seems particularly unfortunate for Eagle given how long she appears to have spent mulling the decision. In the end, she couldn’t have picked a worse moment to actually show her hand. Though the publicity was snuffed out by this morning’s other events, what about the

Katy Balls

Can Ukip make the most of Andrea Leadsom’s departure?

Andrea Leadsom’s decision to drop out of the leadership race — and by default make Theresa May the party’s new leader — has been met with a collective sigh of relief by the majority of Conservative MPs. However, for the same reason that many were worried by Leadsom’s appeal to grassroots Tories, they ought too to be worried about the opportunity her departure presents to their opponents. In the course of the — short-lived — leadership contest, Leadsom established herself as the Brexit purist, winning nominations from MPs on the right of the party. She also won the backing of leading figures in Ukip with both Arron Banks’s Leave.EU and Nigel Farage endorsing her. Over the weekend,

Lara Prendergast

Graham Brady rules out re-opening the Tory leadership contest

Following Andrea Leadsom’s announcement that she is bowing out of the leadership race, Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 committee, has confirmed that Theresa May is now the only remaining candidate. While he refused to confirm that she was now the country’s Prime Minister, he ruled out re-opening the contest, which means it is almost certain that May has got the top job. Gove has also voiced his support: Andrea Leadsom spoke with great dignity and courage today. I wish her every success in the future. We should now move as quickly as possible to ensure Theresa May can take over as leader. She has my full support as our next prime

Fraser Nelson

Andrea Leadsom drops out of leadership race

In what must be the shortest-lived leadership campaign in the history of the Conservative Party, Andrea Leadsom has just announced that she’s dropping out. She said in her resignation statement that there was not “sufficient support” from her colleagues – perhaps a nod to how many of them said that they would quit the party if she won. She said she wants “the immediate appointment of a strong and well-supported Prime Minister”. And that woman, she said, must be Theresa May. In the four days since the formal leadership race began, it became painfully obvious that Ms Leadsom was simply unfit for the job. She messed up an interview with The Times, saying she didn’t want to attack

Isabel Hardman

Andrea Leadsom: Theresa May is ‘ideally placed’ to implement Brexit

Andrea Leadsom has withdrawn from the Tory leadership race, saying ‘the best interests of our country are best served by the immediate appointment of a strong and well-supported Prime Minister’ and that she did not have sufficient support to lead a strong and stable government. She said Theresa May was ‘ideally placed’ to implement Brexit and that she would withdraw immediately so that the new Prime Minister could be appointed immediately. Leadsom did not mention the torrid weekend that she has had, in which she sustained heavy criticism for her comments about having children giving her a ‘direct stake’. But even her supporters had come away from the past few

Philip Kyle

MEPs tell Brits: Auf wiedersehen et bonne chance

‘I am deeply concerned. I am usually quite the optimist but this is probably the first time that I have ever been pessimistic about the future of the European Union. Brexit will feed populism across Europe. And we can hardly expect to bounce back with the heads of State and government that we have today in Europe.’ Françoise Grossetête is a veteran at the European Parliament. The French 69-year-old MEP first took office in Brussels in 1994. For the last two years, she has been the deputy leader of the EPP group, the europhile conservative group in the European Parliament. Grossetete is not her usual chirpy self, as she gives

Tom Goodenough

Andrea Leadsom gives an apology of sorts. But is it too late?

Andrea Leadsom initially tried to go on the attack following the row over her motherhood comments sparked by an article in the Times on Saturday. Today, the Tory leadership candidate appears to be attempting a different technique to put out this fire for good. At first, she was ‘disgusted’ by the presentation of the piece which suggested she was a better choice for PM than Theresa May because she had children. Today, she had this to say: ‘I’ve already said to Theresa how very sorry I am for any hurt that I have caused and how that article said completely the opposite of what I said and believe.’ The problem

Steerpike

March against democracy, part II: the Brexiteers strike back

At the march against democracy last weekend, tens of thousands of people wandered the streets of London, desperately trying to work out what democracy meant as they tried to call for the result of the referendum to be overturned. Now the Brexiteers are fighting back. However, instead of marching for democracy, the 20 or so campaigners were standing relatively still for democracy outside the Mishcon de Reya offices. The law firm have been in the news of late thanks to their attempt to launch legal action to make sure that the formal negotiations to leave the EU aren’t started without an act of parliament. The demonstration was organised by ‘Invoke article 50

Sunday

10 Jul 2016

Katy Balls

Angela Eagle flounders as she makes her leadership bid to ‘heal Labour’

After weeks of uncertainty, the Labour coup is officially on. While Jeremy Corbyn made clear on Marr that he has no intention of stepping down, Angela Eagle has done the rounds on Peston and Sunday Politics declaring that she will run for leader if Corbyn refuses to go. So with a fresh leadership election on the horizon, it’s now on Eagle to make the case for her candidacy. In an interview with Andrew Neil on Sunday Politics, Eagle argued that Corbyn’s position was untenable now he had lost the confidence of the majority of the PLP — stating that he couldn’t ‘lead behind a closed door’. She also argued that Labour’s electoral performance under

Alex Massie

What kind of Brexit has Britain chosen? We need a general election to find out

Britain voted for Brexit so Brexit is going to have to happen. That’s the way it works and there’s no point in Remainers wishing otherwise. But if Britain evidently voted for Brexit it is far less clear what kind of Brexit it voted for. As with the death of old man Talleyrand, we are left to wonder what the British people meant by this. Some things are becoming clearer, however and one of those things is that Andrea Leadsom does not actually need to win the Tory leadership battle to win the Brexit war. If Brexit trumps everything else, Leadsom may win even if Tory members choose Theresa May. Theresa May

Steerpike

Momentum chief: winning elections is for political elites

Oh dear. Today Jeremy Corbyn fuelled concerns that he isn’t interested in winning power when he failed to say that winning a general election was a priority, during an appearance on the Andrew Marr Show. Now Jon Lansman, the Momentum chief, has waded into the ‘should winning matter to a major political party?’ debate. After tweeting his followers to urge them to stand by Jeremy Corbyn in the face of the Labour coup, former Blair spinner John McTernan responded by suggesting that Corbynistas only care about their leader — rather than the party or country: To Corbynistas and most party members, democracy matters — Jon Lansman 🟣 (@jonlansman) July 10, 2016 While

Isabel Hardman

Jeremy Corbyn hints at legal challenge if he’s kept off the ballot paper

Jeremy Corbyn was insistent this morning on the Andrew Marr Show that he isn’t going anywhere. More than that: he insisted that Labour is ‘changing the way politics is done’. His opponents in the party would agree, as it happens. Corbyn is going nowhere, certainly not anywhere near to Number 10, but also nowhere near being a functioning Opposition leader. And he is changing the way politics is done, by making it more and more difficult for Labour to ever get into power. The interview itself was proof that under Corbyn, Labour cannot function as an Opposition. Even those in the party who support the direction in which he is

Matthew Taylor

New poll finds twice as many young people voted in the EU referendum as previously thought

A new poll has indicated that in last month’s referendum, younger voters turned out to vote in twice the numbers as was previously thought. A Sky Data poll in June suggested that as few as 36 per cent of 18-24 year olds had bothered to make an appearance at the polling station, alongside a relatively disappointing 58 per cent of those aged 25-34. However Opinium, conducting a new poll for the London School of Economics, found that 64 per cent of registered voters under 24 had cast a vote in the referendum, with a similar number for 25-39 year olds. The finding goes some way to contradict the received wisdom

Charles Moore

Is a new political party for Remainers really the way forward?

Shocked Remainers want a new political party — pro-European, ‘pro-business’ and free of any viscerally right- or left-wing taint. They anxiously insist that it will not be like the SDP in the early 1980s, but it is hard to see why not. Both then and now, the appeal is to a particular idea of virtue in politics. Then as now, the new party defines itself by its distaste for people it sees as unvirtuous and lower-class. Then as now, it therefore lacks roots outside bits of London, university towns, and the well-off and well-educated. Above all — then as now — the new party underestimates the capacity of the Tory

Saturday

9 Jul 2016

Isabel Hardman

Angela Eagle threatens Labour leadership bid on Monday

Finally, the Labour coup is about to begin. Or at least, Labour MPs are talking about the fact that the Labour coup is about to begin, after weeks of threatening it. After talks between the party’s Deputy Leader Tom Watson and Labour’s trade union backers broke up today, Angela Eagle has said she will launch her leadership challenge to Jeremy Corbyn on Monday. The talks broke down because Corbyn would not resign and the parliamentary Labour party would not accept his leadership after voting overwhelmingly in favour of a motion of no confidence two weeks ago, and so there was no possible compromise to reach. Corbyn’s camp are confident that

Melanie McDonagh

The reason Theresa May is the better candidate has nothing to do with motherhood

Well! It hasn’t taken long for the commentariat to get over their excitement at the prospect of another female prime minster, has it? Can you imagine what the Guardian would be making of it were the contest between Angela and Maria Eagle, Venus and Serena Williams-style (or even, David and Ed Miliband-style)? It’d be triumph for feminism, a belated victory for the kind of positive discrimination gender politics which has proved so terrifically successful in the Labour party. Well, it turns out that it’s not just a woman that feminists wants, it’s a particular kind of woman. Their kind of woman. No others need pretend to the gender. The knives,

James Forsyth

May must sound optimistic about Brexit

Theresa May’s biggest weakness in the Tory leadership race is that she backed Remain while most Tory members went Leave. But, as I say in The Sun this morning, if she can sound confident and optimistic about Brexit, then she will win and become Britain’s next Prime Minister. May needs to make clear that now the referendum result is in, she’s sees Brexit as an opportunity to be seized, not as a risk to be managed. She can’t afford to cede optimism on this to Andrea Leadsom. I understand that her Leave-voting supporters—Liam Fox, Priti Patel, David Davis and her campaign chair Chris Grayling—will all be out and about this