Politics

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

Thursday

14 Jul 2016

Theresa May’s reshuffle defies any logic

When I went to work at Foyle’s Bookshop as a student, when the owner Christina Foyle still ran the place, she would interview you and ask very kindly what your interests were: history, literature and cooking, you’d tell her. Then you’d find you’d been put at the cash till at some distance from all these departments. It was the same for everyone: economists ended up in fiction; pop fiends in natural science. It’s rather the impression you get from the reshuffle. The metaphor is normally used in the most offhand way, but it really does seem as if the PM has simply shuffled the jobs and distributed them pretty well

Steerpike

Theresa May’s purge of the posh

It’s not a great day to be an ambitious Tory who attended a private school — let alone Eton. After Theresa May promised to work to build a society with a focus on helping the working class rather than the rich, she has started by implementing this approach in her Cabinet. George Osborne, Nicky Morgan, Theresa Villiers and Oliver Letwin are among the privately-educated politicians to face the axe today. Meanwhile, the majority of the high profile briefs have gone to state school educated politicians. Alongside May, the Chancellor — Philip Hammond — and the Justice Secretary — Liz Truss — attended a state school. Meanwhile Justine Greening has made history by becoming the

Charles Moore

Why Brexit better mean Brexit

‘Brexit means Brexit’, says our new Prime Minister, but that does not tell us what she thinks Brexit would involve. Given the immense resourcefulness of the EU in perpetuating itself, one must guard against solutions which appear to satisfy Brexit conditions, but leave reality little changed. They might resemble how France withdrew from the military command of Nato in 1966. This assertion of French sovereignty by De Gaulle involved, among other things, the withdrawal of non-French Nato troops from French soil. In reality, however, the secret Lemnitzer-Ailleret accords between the United States and France ensured that France remained bound into participation in Cold War hostilities. Over time, French self-exclusion became

Ross Clark

Was Michael Gove punished for being too soft on crime?

Of today’s corpses piled up in Downing Street, none has caused more shock than that of Michael Gove. That Nicky Morgan, who signed Gove’s nomination papers to be leader, has also gone hints at some kind of personal animosity. But might the explanation be more straightforward than that – simply one of his policy and approach as justice secretary? Gove acquired a reputation as a great reformer during his time at the Department for Education, facing down huge opposition from teachers’ unions in the process. He incurred considerable personal cost for doing this, with David Cameron shifting him to the whips office before the last election on the instructions of Sir

Theo Hobson

Labour needs to rediscover its religious vision

One of our main political parties is at an immense disadvantage. Labour is tied to a form of idealism. Socialism is a strong form of idealism. It can only gain and hold power by diluting this idealism, mixing it with realism. This is psychologically difficult, existentially unstable. When it finds a way of gaining power, it is not calmly at ease with itself, but divided. And this intensifies after a period of power: purists seek revenge on those behind the ‘successful’ compromise. Blair’s Iraq war adventure is incidental to why he is so hated by the left. He is really hated for winning all those elections. How has such a party survived

Charles Moore

Andrea Leadsom’s line about children? Thatcher did it first

On Tuesday night in London, I spoke to Women2Win, a Conservative organisation dedicated to recruiting more women candidates. My title, suggested long ago, was ‘The Woman Who Won’. It referred to Margaret Thatcher. The day before my speech was delivered, another woman (and former chairman of Women2Win) won, so now there are two. Everyone seized the moment to compare and contrast them. There is a clear difference between Theresa May’s situation today and Mrs Thatcher’s in 1975. Mrs May, like Ted Heath in 1975, represents the side that just lost, Mrs Thatcher the side with a new idea about how to win. Mrs May is the establishment candidate: Mrs Thatcher

Philip Sime

Theresa May’s first day and Boris at the Foreign Office: How the foreign press reacted

A new British Prime Minister is always big news on the continent and around the world. This time around, with Mrs May tasked with redefining Britain’s relationship with the EU, the foreign press has taken a special interest in recent events in Downing Street. One of the big stories aside from Britain’s new Prime Minister taking up her role is Theresa May’s decision to make Boris Johnson Foreign Secretary. Here’s how the press around the world reacted to the news: France: With France bracing itself for a protracted period of arduous negotiations with the UK, Britain’s new Prime Minister is big news across the Channel. Le Figaro goes as far

Steerpike

BBC staff ‘whoop and cheer’ John Whittingdale’s sacking

During John Whittingdale’s tenure as Culture Secretary, the Tory MP has proved to be the thorn in the BBC’s side. So, it’s safe to say that some Beeb employees will be breathing a sigh of relief that Whitto has today been sacked from the Cabinet. However, it appears that staff at the Beeb have actually gone a bit further than just expressing mild relief. A BBC journalist claims that the newsroom actually erupted into ‘whoops and cheers’ on hearing the news that Whitto had lost his job: Although the hack has since deleted his tweet, this will only fuel concerns that the impartial Beeb isn’t so impartial after all when it comes to the Conservative government. Update: The

Steerpike

Liam Fox celebrates his new job

While today’s political climate might not be great for the country, the watering holes of Westminster are certainly doing okay out of the tumult. Mr S hears that Liam Fox was in a celebratory mood on Wednesday night after being appointed Secretary of State for International Trade. Steerpike is informed that the MP stayed close to a table loaded with the House of Commons’ finest fizz. What’s more Mr S hears a whisper his good old pal Adam Werritty was on hand to help Fox celebrate. At a time when too many politicians are gloom-mongering after Brexit, Mr S is pleased to hear the good doctor has lost no time in his new

Boris Johnson

The Boris archive: Africa is a mess, but we can’t blame colonialism

This article was published in The Spectator on 2 February 2002 by Boris Johnson, the new Foreign Secretary and former editor of the magazine. You would need a heart of stone not to have been moved by the little Aids-ridden choristers. We sat under a mango tree, before a dancing-space of packed red earth, and what a preposterous delegation we were. There was Mr Rod Liddle, the big white chief of the Today programme, not looking especially kempt. There was Vicky Scott of Unicef, and there was your correspondent, addressed repeatedly by the pleasing title of ‘Mr Honourable Johnson’. And as we sat in our armchairs, as though at some durbar,

Tom Goodenough

Watch: Home Secretary Amber Rudd on Boris – ‘he isn’t the man you want driving you home’

Amber Rudd didn’t pull her punches during the referendum campaign when she aimed her fire at Boris Johnson. During a heated ITV debate, she said this about Boris: ‘Boris? Well, he’s the life and soul of the party but he’s not the man you want driving you home at the end of the evening. This is a very serious choice you have to make.’ Of course, when Rudd said those words it would be difficult to imagine the events that would play out over the next few weeks. And now, just a month later, Britain is heading out of the EU, Theresa May is our new PM and Rudd and

Steerpike

Has Philip Hammond just blurted out Theresa May’s decision on Heathrow?

In his interview on the Today programme this morning, Philip Hammond said nothing memorable – which Mr S finds a relief. It’s about time that this job went back to being that of a finance minister, not a poseur itching to move to No10. The Today programme is listened to by six million people; by the end, Hammond had probably sent at least two million back to sleep. Mishal Hussein decided to try some quick-fire questions, to see if that would solicit something more interesting. Her gambit worked. What will he do about runways? ‘Well, on the decision about the location of London’s third, arm, London’s additional runway that will

Tom Goodenough

Watch: Angela Eagle’s terrible timing continues as she reacts to Boris’ appointment

Angela Eagle’s leadership launch has so far been characterised by one thing: her terrible timing. When she announced her bid to run against Jeremy Corbyn on Monday, journalists abandoned her speech after Andrea Leadsom dropped out of the Tory race at the same moment – leaving Eagle desperately trying to find anyone left in the audience who wanted to actually ask a question. And last night’s attempt to try and drum up support in her flailing campaign also came to a halt when the news filtered through that Boris Johnson had been made Foreign Secretary. After taking some time to regain her composure, Eagle told the crowd that the news

The Spectator

Theresa May’s Cabinet reshuffle in full

Theresa May has now finished the task of appointing her Cabinet. Here’s the list in full of who is in, who is out and who stayed put: Theresa May: Prime Minister (was Home Secretary) Philip Hammond: Chancellor (was Foreign Secretary) Boris Johnson: Foreign Secretary (was Minister without Portfolio) Amber Rudd: Home Secretary (was Energy Secretary) Michael Fallon: Defence Secretary (stays in his role) Liam Fox: International Trade Secretary (new entry) David Davis: Brexit Secretary (new entry) Liz Truss: Justice Secretary (was Environment Secretary) Justine Greening: Education Secretary (was Secretary of state for International Development) Jeremy Hunt: Health Secretary (stays in his role) Damian Green: Work and Pensions Secretary Chris Grayling: Transport

Steerpike

Lily Cole’s £200,000 government grant fails to pay off

What will be David Cameron’s legacy? The former Prime Minister is keen to be remembered for his social justice reform, but it’s more likely he’ll be remembered for taking Britain out of the EU. However, it’s some of his financial decisions that continue to trouble Mr S. Take, for example, the £200,000 of taxpayers’ money the Cabinet Office has gifted Lily Cole since 2013. Under the Innovation in Giving fund, the millionaire model received the money to fund her ‘sharing economy’ website Impossible. The site launched with the aim to match people with requests for help with those who have the skills to assist. So, a good use of taxpayers’ money? Perhaps

Isabel Hardman

May’s man of influence

Civil servants in the Home Office, even the senior ones, always felt a little nervous when walking towards Theresa May’s office. It wasn’t so much the meeting with the Home Secretary that they dreaded as the characters who lurked in the room directly outside hers. One senior official describes a typical scene: Fiona Hill, one of May’s special advisers, ‘sitting back, getting ready to go out with her stockinged feet on the desk, giving a civil servant an absolute rollicking’. May’s two other special advisers, Nick Timothy and Stephen Parkinson, were also forces to be reckoned with. Now, it seems, this team is being reassembled — to help her run

John Osullivan

She’s another Chamberlain

One name leapt off the text of Theresa May’s Birmingham speech, which began as the launch of her leadership campaign but morphed instantly into a programme for her government this week. It was that of Joseph Chamberlain, who was listed by the new Tory leader in her apostolic succession of great conservatives. It became clear as May developed the themes of her new Conservatism, moreover, that Chamberlain senior wasn’t being praised just because she happened to be speaking in Birmingham — the city he made into a worldwide symbol of great municipal government. She intended to follow in the footsteps of ‘Radical Joe’. And that could take her along very

James Forsyth

‘She doesn’t do likes’

As Tory MPs gathered at St Stephen’s entrance in Parliament to await their new leader on Monday afternoon, a choir in Westminster Hall began to sing. The hosannas spoke to the sense of relief among Tory MPs: they had been spared a long and divisive nine-week leadership contest. A period of political blood-letting brutal even by Tory standards was coming to an end. The United Kingdom would have a new Prime Minister. More than relief, there was hope for the bulk of MPs who had previously not been marked out for advancement. Theresa May’s accession shows that the narrow rules which were thought to govern modern British politics are not

Rod Liddle

At least Corbyn knows what he stands for

My favourite comment about Angela Eagle came from some unnamed spiteful Corbynista MP who, with reference to her twin sister Maria, a former cabinet minister, observed that Angela was ‘the lesser of two Eagles’ and ‘not even the best politician in her own family’. Perhaps he was the bloke who chucked a brick through Mrs Eagle’s office window this week, or left the succinct, if politically incorrect, answerphone message for her: ‘fucking bitch’. Although there are two or three hundred thousand semi-house-trained infants in the Momentum movement who might well have behaved likewise, I suppose. Feelings are running a little high across the political spectrum, aren’t they? This is becoming

Mary Wakefield

What’s to blame for a generation’s desperation?

Youth is wasted on the young, for the most part, and thank God for that. There’s nothing grislier than a teenage girl aware of her hypnotic effect on men, or a youngster who begins his important thoughts: ‘As a young person, I…’ These days, though, it’s not youth that’s wasted on the young so much as life, which is an altogether more troubling problem. Over the last year or so, I’d say a good third of the British kids I’ve met, from 15 to 25, have been suffering in some way from anxiety or depression. Often it’s obvious: severe anorexia; forearms calibrated with razor marks. The child says a wan