Politics

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

Sunday

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Jeremy Corbyn’s poll ratings are bad, but not disastrous. Why pretend otherwise?

Like most political journalists, I regard Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership of the Labour Party as an unalloyed disaster. But it is, perhaps, time to admit that this view is not so widely shared amongst the public. “Almost a third of Labour supporters do not think that Jeremy Corbyn will lead Labour into the next election,” says today’s Observer. The more striking finding is that most Labour supporters (56pc) do think that Corbyn will stay until 2020. He may be hated by Labour MPs, but his approval rating is high amongst Labour members – even amongst those who voted for Andy Burnham. It’s a thing. Even if Labour MPs were to break the habit of a lifetime

Saturday

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Boris for Foreign Secretary?

David Cameron is warming to the idea of making Boris Johnson Foreign Secretary. As I write in The Sun this morning, Cameron is drawn to the idea of sending Boris to the Foreign Office in a post-May reshuffle. But a Cabinet ally of the Prime Minister stresses that Boris will have to be ‘unequivocally yes’ come the EU referendum if he is to be Foreign Secretary. It is easy to see why the idea of doing what it take to bind Boris in before the referendum is gaining traction in Number 10. Polling shows that Cameron backing Britain staying part of the EU gives the In campaign a big boost.

Friday

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Green Tories hopeful that their time is coming

If the responses to last week’s Paris agreement on tackling climate change are anything to go by, you’d think politicians were warming to the issue. David Cameron said that ‘this generation has taken vital steps to ensure that our children and grandchildren will see that we did our duty in securing the future of our planet’. But the political excitement around the summit was not part of a trend, but a mere spike in interest. Politicians don’t talk very much about green issues at present. They barely discussed the environment at all during the election, and generally see it as being of such low salience that they needn’t talk too

Brendan O’Neill Brendan O’Neill

10 reasons why Corbyn’s critics are the worst people in British politics right now

This has been a difficult year for me. For I have been compelled to break a pact I made with myself when I was 18 years old and do something I promised I would never do, something which goes against every cell and fibre of my being. I’ve defended a leader of the Labour Party. I can’t tell you how alien this feels. Imagine if Princess Diana had become press officer for a landmines factory, or if the Pope started moonlighting for Marie Stopes. Now you know how it feels for me to say vaguely nice things about Labour, a party whose paternalism, illiberalism, killjoyism and cretinism have been rubbing

Sebastian Payne

Nigel Farage warns Douglas Carswell: ‘it’s going to have to end’

Nigel Farage popped up on the Daily Politics today to warn Douglas Carswell that critical comments about his leadership cannot continue. The Ukip leader said the Clacton MP’s views don’t have any particular significance, despite the fact he is the only Kipper who was elected in May’s general election: ‘Well he did but so what? He’s one person. So what? We cannot have one individual every single time there’s a Ukip conference and it finishes with a story of disunity and it’s all being caused by one person. And frankly, I think it’s going to have to end.’ Farage was quite shifty on what the ‘end’ might be, although he did point out ‘it will not

Steerpike Steerpike

Christmas cheer in short supply at Ukip HQ

As MPs and staff depart Westminster to begin their Christmas break, spare a thought for those at Ukip HQ who have found their party on the brink of civil war today after Douglas Carswell called for Nigel Farage to be replaced with a new leader. What’s more, if that wasn’t enough to dampen the festive spirit for Kippers, Steerpike understands that they have further reason for woe. After a testing year for the party which saw disappointing election results and financial difficulties, they have been dealt the ultimate blow: no Christmas staff party. While over at Labour HQ in Brewers Green, Corbynistas and Blairites alike have been partying most nights this week at a range of festive events, the party

Sebastian Payne

Is Douglas Carswell trying to oust Nigel Farage?

Douglas Carswell set off a bomb in Ukip this morning, declaring that the party needs a ‘fresh face’ and it should become an ‘optimistic, sunshine, smiley, socially liberal, unapologetically free market party’. These comments have been interpreted as a leadership challenge to Nigel Farage, who has in turn told Carswell to ‘put up or shut up’ — i.e. challenge him for the leadership or be quiet. Relations between Farage and Carswell have never been particularly healthy but this marks a new low in their relationship. What prompted Carswell to make these remarks now — is this the beginnings of an effort to remove Farage or an airing of grievances? The timing is certainly suspicious,

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Why is David Cameron so cheerful after his European Council summit?

David Cameron was in such a hurry to tell everyone about how well last night’s talks with EU leaders had gone that the crest hadn’t been properly stuck on his lectern when he gave his press conference. It wobbled off and hung at an angle as the Prime Minister reported ‘a lot of goodwill’ and claimed that progress was being made in preparation for the European Council summit in February where he hopes to sign off his renegotiation plan. But nothing was agreed last night and EU leaders are claiming that Cameron has accepted he cannot discriminate against citizens of other member states, why was the Prime Minister in such

Steerpike Steerpike

Watch: Jacob Rees-Mogg teaches David Dimbleby a lesson over Eton jibe

Last night David Dimbleby was joined on Question Time by a panel comprised of Jacob Rees-Mogg, Piers Morgan, Emily Thornberry, Mark Reckless and Hannah Bardell. As talk turned to the prospect of Heathrow expansion, Rees-Mogg — who supports the plans — said that for all the fuss about noise caused by planes, he had suffered few problems with this when he lived near Slough. At which point Dimbleby couldn’t help but interrupt and change the topic — asking if this had been when the Tory MP attended Eton. Alas for all of Dimbleby’s wit, the BBC presenter — who attended Charterhouse — received a reply that he had not been expecting. Rees-Mogg proceeded

Dan Hitchens

Why is the National Audit Office chairman defying his own code of conduct?

Everybody skims over a document at some point: when you’re asked to agree to terms and conditions before accessing wifi, you don’t always look too carefully at the details. But you might hope that the officers of the National Audit Office would be more scrupulous. The NAO – which scrutinises £1 trillion of public spending and revenue – has massive and unique powers. At Wednesday’s PMQs, for instance, Jeremy Corbyn based his claims on a new NAO report into NHS funding. With this level of influence, it has to be whiter than white. For that reason – and in the wake of the NAO’s then-head running into some trouble over his

Thursday

James Forsyth James Forsyth

The Vote Leave campaign could be formidable – but it has an Achilles heel

As David Cameron prepares to make his case to European leaders over dinner this evening, the Out campaign is stepping up its preparations for the referendum. Vote Leave will host 10 regional launches in the New Year and appoint campaign directors for each region. It’ll also hire staff to work at a constituency level. Combine this with a central campaign team that contains former senior aides to Theresa May, Michael Gove and Philip Hammond and you have the basis for a formidable operation. With the backing of senior business figures such as Crispin Odey and Luke Johnson, they also shouldn’t have any trouble raising money. But the campaign itself is

Steerpike Steerpike

Merry Christmas: a sponsored message from your MP

MPs have done their best this year to make their Christmas cards stand out. To do this, Nigel Evans opted to make himself the centre of attention, while Jeremy Corbyn managed to catch the Daily Mail‘s attention with a picture of some snow-covered bicycles. However, one such card has caught Mr S’s attention for a rather different reason than any of the above. Suella Fernandes — the MP for Fareham — has sent out a card which contains an extra message. Only it’s not from the Tory politician — or her staff — instead it’s from the official sponsor of her 2015 Christmas cards! While Mr S is glad to see Fernandes is

Douglas Murray

The Muslim Brotherhood review has left many questions unanswered

The findings of the UK government’s review into the Muslim Brotherhood have finally been published.  Commissioned by the Prime Minister in April 2014, the full report will not be released. Although the review finds that the Muslim Brotherhood does not meet the threshold of violence which would see it proscribed in the UK, it described members of the Muslim Brotherhood as possible extremists. As such the government has listed a set of renewed actions, including visa bans, on individuals associated with the group and promises to keep the group’s activities under review in order to consider proscription at a future date. The key passage from the Prime Minister’s announcement this morning is this:

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

The Strathclyde review won’t make Parliament work better

The Strathclyde Review into the power of peers to block legislation sent up by the Commons reports today, and it is expected to strip the House of Lords of its ability to kill off secondary legislation. And the way the government will bring in this reform, which will enshrine the primacy of the Commons, is by primary legislation, which means that if peers try any funny business, ministers can deploy the Parliament Act and force the change through.  Labour says this is a ‘massive overreaction’ to the tax credits row earlier in the autumn. But this reform, naturally, won’t change two major problems with secondary legislation that have very little

Steerpike Steerpike

Peace in our time? Jeremy Corbyn befriends hacks at Labour Christmas bash

It’s safe to say that Jeremy Corbyn’s relationship with the mainstream media (MSM) can hardly be described as a harmonious meeting of minds. In fact, ever since Corbyn was elected as Labour leader he has regularly hit out at the MSM, even finding time in his conference speech to name and shame certain publications for their coverage of his campaign. So hacks gathered at Labour’s HQ for his Christmas press drinks with a degree of trepidation. While David Cameron’s press drinks the day before had included a range of hot restaurant-style canapés for guests, Labour staffers took a more relaxed approach offering popcorn and clementines. Despite concerns that Corbyn would be a no-show at his own bash, the Labour

Wednesday

Lloyd Evans Lloyd Evans

The Donald must be thrilled to be name-checked by David Cameron

Corbyn was back on drone duty at PMQs. He monotoned his way through six questions about NHS funding and gave the impression that a winter crisis would really make his Christmas. Ed Miliband had the same habit of suggesting that only mass-death could save him. Semi-comatose Corbs remained on ‘stand-by mode’ throughout. He didn’t react even when the Tories pounced on an unforced gaffe. As he offered his Christmas greetings to the nation, the Labour leader mentioned Britain’s very own space daredevil, Tim Peake, – ‘who is not on the planet.’ ‘Nor are you,’ hooted the Tories. Angus Robertson of the SNP asked David Cameron for ‘guarantees’ that Scotland won’t

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

How Cameron quoted a ‘supporter’ at PMQs who was actually criticising him

Today at Prime Minister’s Questions, David Cameron quoted Gary Porter, the Tory chair of the Local Government Association, praising reforms in the spending review that will allow councils to raise money for the cost of social care using council tax. The Tory leader was using the quote to prove Jeremy Corbyn wrong in his warnings about the NHS and social care. He said: ‘If he wants to swap quotations, this is what the chairman of the Local Government Association says: “The LGA has long called for further flexibility in the setting of council tax… Today’s announcement on council tax will go some way to allowing a number of councils to

Steerpike Steerpike

Jeremy Hunt makes peace with James Naughtie

Today marked James Naughtie’s last day in the presenting chair on Today after 21 years. To honour his time as a presenter on the programme, John Humphrys played some of his highlights from over the years, before asking Naughtie to recall the parts of his job that he did not enjoy. The Scottish presenter responded by referring to his now infamous Jeremy Hunt gaffe in 2010, which saw Naughtie’s introduction to an interview with the then Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt go disastrously wrong when he mispronounced his name. Naughtie ended up saying ‘c–t’ instead of Hunt: ‘Things I haven’t enjoyed? Oh, getting things wrong. I can’t remember who the Culture Secretary is at

James Forsyth James Forsyth

PMQs: Cameron tries to bring Christmas cheer to the Commons

The last PMQs before Christmas will not live long in the memory. After last week’s rather entertaining Eagle Osborne clash, it was back to the Cameron and Corbyn show. The Labour leader has now abandoned his ‘new politics’ style and today asked all of his questions on the NHS. The exchanges weren’t particularly enlightening as Cameron parried the Labour leader with relative ease. Cameron was clearly keen to whip up the Tory benches and send them off for the holidays in good cheer. But the atmosphere in the Chamber remained relatively muted. . Angus Robertson went on the EU renegotiation, the subject which Corbyn should have led on as six questions

Sebastian Payne

John Major: leaving the EU would push Britain into ‘splendid isolation’

David Cameron is heading off to a European Council meeting tomorrow, where talks will continue on reforming Britain’s relationship with Brussels. But this will not yield results instantly, according to one of his predecessors. Sir John Major explained on the Today programme this morning why Thursday and Friday won’t be ‘high noon’ for these talks: ‘It’s a process, there will be discussion aimed at an agreement. That discussion will take place, everybody will leave and state their own positions but underneath that, there will be a movement either towards an agreement or against and we won’t actually know about that until they come to the crunch sometime next year.’ Although Major said he does