Politics

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

Thursday

The Spectator

‘In’ trouble

David Cameron wants to get the European Union referendum over with quickly — and understandably so. Things are still going well for him, and his political opposition is in disarray. The ‘in’ campaign will draw heavily upon his personal authority and the public is not (yet) fed up with him. Ideally, he wants to start campaigning next month — and many of his allies are at it already. Opinion polls show a large number of undecided voters. So this may very well be a campaign where a great many are open to persuasion and hoping for a high-quality debate. They will have been disappointed so far. The ‘in’ campaign has

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Gove axes another Grayling plan

You can tell when Michael Gove is driving all over another one of the policies of his predecessor Chris Grayling purely by the volume of incredibly polite language and fulsome praise that he deploys when doing so. In a written ministerial statement published today, the Justice Secretary announces that he will not be going ahead with major changes to the legal aid system designed by Grayling when he was Justice Secretary. The statement says the following: I would like to place on the record my gratitude for the determined, yet sensitive, way in which my predecessors pursued these economies. Gove also praises the ‘careful negotiation’ that Grayling carried out on the

Ed West Ed West

Our leaders should read history books – but not just ones about the Nazis

If I was in charge of the Home Office I’d employ someone whose sole area of expertise was Hitler’s Germany and whose only job was to keep an eye out for any vague echoes of Nazism, however fatuous, in the working practices of the government or its contractors. This would have avoided Monday’s controversy over asylum seekers being made to wear red wristbands in order to receive free meals, because being asked to wear ID to qualify for things is exactly like being a Jew in Hitler’s Germany. A chilling echo, as many people commented. I imagine the reason for this policy is that it’s more convenient than asking someone with a not

Gavin Mortimer Gavin Mortimer

Anyone who joins Isis should be tried for treason

Fifteen months ago Philip Hammond talked about treason. In an exchange with Conservative backbencher Philip Hollobone in the House of Commons, the Foreign Secretary declared: ‘We have seen people declaring that they have sworn personal allegiance to the so-called Islamic State. That does raise questions about their loyalty and allegiance to this country and about whether, as my honourable friend rightly says, the offence of treason could have been committed.’ Mr Hammond promised to refer the matter to the Home Secretary, Theresa May, but the silence since has been deafening. Meanwhile the number of Britons travelling to Syria to join Isis continues to rise. 800 at the last count, according to a statement

Tom Goodenough Tom Goodenough

Today in audio: Thursday 28th January

Haven’t had a chance to follow the day’s political events and interviews? Then don’t worry: here, The Spectator, brings you the best of today’s audio clips in one place for you to listen to. David Cameron defended the Government over its handling of the Syrian refugee crisis after being criticised for refusing to accept 3,000 unaccompanied child migrants into Britain: He also said he was ‘very clear what he meant’ when he referred to a ‘bunch of migrants’ in Calais during yesterday’s PMQs: The PM’s original remarks can be heard here: Meanwhile, George Osborne said the sale of Lloyds shares would be delayed until financial markets had calmed down: Speaking

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

MPs plan to water down controversial ‘Saatchi Bill’ on medical treatments

The latest incarnation of the Saatchi Bill – a piece of legislation properly known as the Access to Medical Treatments (Innovation) Bill – has its report stage in the Commons tomorrow. I’ve written before about the problems with this Bill, which is now being taken through Parliament by Tory MP Chris Heaton-Harris, and it now seems that a cross-party group of MPs will tomorrow succeed in making a well-meaning bill less dangerous. A series of amendments from Labour, Tory, SNP, SDLP and DUP members will remove the sections of the Bill that are aimed at preventing a doctor from being sued for negligence if they decide to use an ‘innovative’

Steerpike Steerpike

Another day, another Johnson comes out for the In campaign

Although David Cameron has said he will allow ministers a free vote on the EU referendum, only a handful of cabinet ministers have so far taken the plunge and declared themselves to be ‘Outers’. While Boris Johnson had at one point been tipped to lead the Out campaign, the Mayor of London has remained rather quiet on the matter of late. However, if his family’s movements are anything to go by, he may well be preparing to get behind the Prime Minister on the matter. This week two members of the Johnson clan have suggested that they wish to remain in the EU. First, Jo Johnson — the Minister for Universities and Science — indicated in an article

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Three reasons why this Eurosceptic infighting is such a gift to David Cameron

There will have been gales of laughter in Downing Street and the In campaign this morning as they read Sam Coates’s account of the attempted coup in the No campaign. This Eurosceptic infighting is a huge gift to David Cameron for three reasons. 1). It will deter serious people from politics and business getting involved with the NO campaign. Few will want to sign up with a campaign that is already riven by infighting. Ministers and Tory MPs who were on the fence about what to do come the referendum, will be that much closer to sticking with the Prime Minister this morning. 2). Campaigns that win aren’t arguing about internal

The Spectator

Why does EU ‘in’ campaign insist on insulting voters’ intelligence?

David Cameron wants to get the European Union referendum over with quickly — and understandably so. Things are still going well for him, and his political opposition is in disarray. The ‘in’ campaign will draw heavily upon his personal authority and the public is not (yet) fed up with him. Ideally, he wants to start campaigning next month — and many of his allies are at it already. Opinion polls show a large number of undecided voters. So this may very well be a campaign where a great many are open to persuasion and hoping for a high-quality debate. They will have been disappointed so far. The ‘in’ campaign has

Steerpike Steerpike

Evan Davis slips up introducing Hilary ‘Big’ Benn on Newsnight

While Hilary Benn has been called a lot of names in recent months by hard-left activists after he voted in favour of airstrikes in Syria, Mr S suspects that the moniker given to him on tonight’s episode of Newsnight will be a first. Introducing an interview with Benn on the war in Yemen, Newsnight‘s Evan Davis appeared to be feeling creative with regards to the shadow foreign secretary’s name — referring to him as ‘Hilary Big Benn’: ‘And a little earlier I spoke to the shadow foreign secretary Hilary Big Benn and I began by asking him what he wants the British government to do now in light of the criticisms in the report.’ Mr S

John Butler

Turkey’s climate of fear

   Istanbul Few AK party supporters hanker after the Isis way of life: for many of them, it would be a death sentence Turkey is less and less a democracy, more and more a paranoid one-party state. If you don’t believe that, look at what happens to those who draw attention to the government’s failures and crimes. The editors of Cumhuriyet, a centre-left broadsheet, have been delivering their editorials from jail since November. A statement issued this month by the Izmir Society of Journalists claimed that 31 journalists were in prison while 234 were in legal limbo awaiting trial. Over the course of last year, they added, 15 television channels

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Stay or leave, Europe is sinking anyway

[audioplayer src=”http://rss.acast.com/viewfrom22/whysexmatters-thedeathofsportandistheeusinkingwhetherbrexithappensornot-/media.mp3″ title=”Isabel Hardman, James Forsyth and Fraser Nelson discuss whether the European project is in grave danger – regardless of Brexit happening or not” startat=1420] Listen [/audioplayer]As Tory ministers wrestle with their consciences before the EU referendum, an intriguing new argument for voting to stay has emerged. Rather conveniently, it resolves the conflict between principle and personal loyalty to David Cameron that several members of the Cabinet are wrestling with. It goes like this: the European Union is going to collapse in the next ten to 15 years. So, you can vote for Britain to stay in, safe in the knowledge that the EU will be gone within a

Wednesday

Lloyd Evans Lloyd Evans

PMQs sketch: Cameron’s ‘b— word’ sets off a Twitter-quake of offence

Jeremy Corbyn hasn’t changed his clothes since Christmas. He arrived at PMQs today in his dependable outfit of non-slip shoes, biscuit-coloured suit and minimum-wage tie. His white, flattened scalp and his mood of perplexed fatigue make him look like a dutiful pensioner inspecting a care-home for his beloved mum and wondering if he might check in as well, while he’s there. Today, however, mighty deeds summoned him to parliament. International monsters awaited his challenge. There were slavering dragons to tame. And famous victories to be won and celebrated. But he wasn’t up to it. As always. When Corbyn fails, it has to be said, he does so placidly and almost

Steerpike Steerpike

Did David Cameron adopt the ‘dead cat’ strategy at PMQs?

David Cameron has today come under fire after he used the phrase ‘a bunch of migrants’ to describe the refugees Jeremy Corbyn met on a recent trip to Calais. Various politicians and columnists have since claimed Cameron’s words were ‘divisive’ and ‘dehumanising’. Alex Salmond has gone one step further and accused him of making the controversial comment on purpose as part of a ‘dead cat strategy‘ to distract from the government’s ongoing Google tax row. However, Anna Soubry has leapt to Cameron’s defence claiming the phrasing was a slip in the heat of the moment — adding that anybody who says that it was scripted is ‘being silly and playing cheap politics’. Yet this wouldn’t

James Forsyth James Forsyth

PMQs: Corbyn misses his chance over Google’s tax deal

Today’s PMQs was an opportunity for Jeremy Corbyn to embarrass the government and align himself with public anger over how little tax some multinationals pay. But he missed this opportunity. By going on HMRC’s deal with Google in isolation, he allowed Cameron to point the finger of blame at the last Labour government. Indeed, Cameron even dragged Corbyn into defending the record of the Blair and Brown governments on corporate taxation. A far more effective tactic would have been to contrast the British deal with the French and Italian ones. Why have these governments managed to get more tax out of Google than our own? Another problem with Corbyn at

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Scotland’s free-speech opponents remain as hypocritical as they are illiberal. Shame on them.

Like an old friend you do not actually like very much, the Scottish government’s Offensive Behaviour at Football Act will not go away. It is five years since this offensive piece of legislation was passed and time has done nothing to lessen either its absurdity or its offensiveness. To recap for readers who, for doubtless honourable reasons, have not kept up with one of the more extraordinary speech-curbing measures passed by any UK legislature in recent years, the bill’s premise is that creating new kinds of thought and speech crime can eliminate thoughts and speech deemed offensive. (Some past reflections on this execrable bill can be found here, here and here.)

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Eurosceptics to push Cameron on EU renegotiation in Commons debate

It’s fair to say that David Cameron’s answer to John Baron at last week’s Prime Minister’s Questions, in which the Tory leader basically confirmed to his backbench colleague that he was ignoring him, hasn’t exactly helped relations with the eurosceptics in the Tory party. The row was splashed across the front page of the Sunday Telegraph this weekend, and I now understand that Baron has secured a Commons debate that will take up the issue he has been trying to raise with the Prime Minister. Baron’s debate will be in a backbench business session on 4 February, and has a rather spiky motion for discussion: ‘That this House believes in the

Steerpike Steerpike

Watch out Laura! Corbynistas strengthen ties with Robert Peston

Even though Robert Peston has only been in his new job as ITV’s political editor for little more than a week, he has already managed to slip-up. On top of experiencing difficulties getting into the ITV building, the former BBC economics editor — who Marr once described as a man ‘crippled by a sense of his own lack of self-worth’ — managed to refer to Liz Kendall as ‘Liz Corbyn’ during one of his first broadcast interviews. However, should any of his former BBC colleagues struggle to take him seriously, they may now need to reconsider. With relations between Labour and the BBC at an all-time low over accusations of anti-Corbyn bias, ITV look set

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Google tax row is convenient for Labour

In the Google tax story, which continues to run in the papers today, Labour has found a theme that it can exploit in the Commons and in speeches over the next few weeks. Given so many Tories were prepared to criticise the ‘derisory’ amount the tech giant has agreed to pay back when the Commons discussed the matter on Monday, Jeremy Corbyn will feel he is on reasonably safe ground raising the issue at PMQs today.  Tax is always a handy issue, not just because it allows oppositions to promise to spend more using only the fruit of the magic money tree of cracking down on tax avoidance, but also

Tuesday

Tom Goodenough Tom Goodenough

Today in audio: Tuesday 26th January

Haven’t had a chance to follow the day’s political events and interviews? Then don’t worry: here, The Spectator, brings you the best of today’s audio clips in one place for you to listen to. Jesse Norman had an awkward time on the Victoria Derbyshire show after being taken to task by a furious Paula Radcliffe. Speaking on Today, Vote Leave’s Jon Moynihan accused the other side in the EU renegotiation debate of trying to create FUD — fear, uncertainty and doubt. Although, it seems, he may not have known what that the term means north of the border… Labour’s Liz Kendall was on Daily Politics, speaking about the state of