Politics

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

Wednesday

6 Jul 2016

Brexit Britain deserves a better PM than Theresa the Technocrat

Please, no, not Theresa May. Theresa the technocrat, who doesn’t do ideology, passion or even gossip, would be the worst PM for Britain right now. Post-Brexit Britain, where politics has become interesting again, after 17.5m souls gave an otherworldly establishment just the fright it needed, needs a leader who is properly political, up for debate, and maybe even a ruck. Not May, not this apolitical politician, not this woman who says ‘I will get the job done’ as if she’s applying for a position in HR rather than Downing Street. Having May run Brexit Britain would be like having a bank manager referee a Mike Tyson fight. You can tell

James Forsyth

Jeremy Corbyn refuses to mention Tony Blair in his Commons statement on Chilcot

As the House debated the Chilcot report, it was hard not to look round the Chamber and reflect how many MPs were not members when the Commons voted on whether to commit British forces to the conflict in Iraq. But the two party leaders were there then. David Cameron voted for the war, Jeremy Corbyn did not. Cameron took the House through the Chilcot report’s conclusions in a measured, non-partisan way. He ended by urging the country not to jettison the special relationship, confidence in the intelligence agencies and an appreciation that military intervention can be effective following Iraq and the failures detailed in this report. Then came Jeremy Corbyn.

Steerpike

Watch: John Bercow lets the Beast of Bolsover’s ‘dodgy Dave’ comment slide

In April, Dennis Skinner was ejected by the Speaker from the Commons after he called the Prime Minister ‘dodgy Dave’. However, today John Bercow appeared to feel no need to discipline the Beast of Bolsover for using the term at PMQs. When asking David Cameron to help him find the funding for a hospital in his constituency, Skinner suggested this could give way to some positive press for the PM. However, there was a snag in the likely headline: ‘The press might have a headline saying: “the Prime Minister dodgy Dave assists the Beast to save the bolts of a hospital”. What a temptation!’ Perhaps now the Prime Minister is on

Steerpike

Was ‘the deadly Mail’ right after all on Iraq, Michael Gove?

Last week the Daily Mail endorsed Theresa May as the next Tory leader. The declaration took many by surprise as not only was it very early in the campaign to come out for a candidate, it had been thought that the paper might opt for Michael Gove — after his wife Sarah Vine suggested Paul Dacre favoured him in a leaked email. So, why did Dacre snub Gove just a day after he announced his leadership ambitions? While some have taken it to be a sign that the Daily Mail editor was unimpressed by the manner in which the Justice Secretary had turned on Boris Johnson, could any ill-feeling run deeper than that? In

Isabel Hardman

‘I will be with you, whatever’: What Chilcot tells us about Tony Blair

The Iraq Inquiry report is utterly scathing about Tony Blair. It paints a critical picture of his sofa government, in particular the way in which that government approached planning and preparation for Iraq without Saddam Hussein, and his ‘certainty that was not justified’ in presenting the severity of the threat posed by Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction to Parliament. The Prime Minister also appeared more concerned about the politics of the military action than its detail, and failed repeatedly to ensure that the relevant ministerial oversight and Whitehall resources were directed to the conflict. And he seemed unable to challenge or disagree with the US when necessary. It includes a series of

Isabel Hardman

Iraq Inquiry: Key points from Sir John Chilcot’s statement

Should the UK have gone to war in Iraq? Did it have the necessary legal basis and intelligence to do so? And did it mess up once involved militarily in the country? Sir John Chilcot’s Iraq Inquiry finally published its report this morning, and these are the key conclusions that he reached in his statement: While military action against Saddam Hussein ‘might have been necessary at some point’, in March 2003, he posed no imminent threat, the strategy of containment could have been continued for ‘some time’, and the majority of the Security Council supported continuing UN inspections and monitoring’. ‘Military action at that time was not a last resort,’

Fraser Nelson

As Basra slid towards hell, Blair looked the other way

There has always been a faction of the Labour party that wanted Tony Blair in the dock for the Iraq war — no matter how pointless it would be. This was the sole purpose of the Chilcot inquiry. Gordon Brown agreed to it simply to assuage his backbenchers, and the whole exercise was intended to be more a mischievous distraction than an inquisition. But almost by accident, the inquiry has exposed the real scandal of Iraq: the appalling mismanagement of the war and the defeat of the British army, which left the people of Basra to the death squads. The WMD have become weapons of mass distraction. Mr Blair spent

Steerpike

Sarah Vine takes a break from the Daily Mail

The past week has proved to be a busy time for the Gove household. After Sarah Vine declared in her Daily Mail column that she — along with her husband — had been handed the responsibility of leading the country on behalf of the Brexit voters, she was left red-faced when an email she wrote expressing doubts about Gove supporting Boris Johnson’s leadership bid was made public. In this, she suggested that her Mail boss Paul Dacre — along with News UK’s Rupert Murdoch — would find it difficult to get behind a Boris Johnson leadership bid if Gove was not involved. Alas when the Justice Secretary turned on BoJo and announced that he would

Tuesday

5 Jul 2016

James Forsyth

As Crabb drops out, can Gove pass Leadsom?

Theresa May is, without a doubt, going to the membership round—and with the support of vastly more MPs than her opponent. In the first round, she won the support of 165 MPs—exactly half the eligible electorate. The question now is who will be her opponent? Andrea Leadsom finished second with 66 votes, Michael Gove was third on 48, Stephen Crabb got 34 and Liam Fox was eliminated after receiving 16 votes. Crabb has chosen to drop out of the race of his own accord after finishing fourth. If Gove is to overtake Leadsom, he is going to have to pick up a lot of votes from the Crabb pool. The

Ross Clark

Speed is of the essence in the Tory leadership contest

The Conservative party’s electoral system won an unlikely compliment this afternoon from Labour MP Ian Austin, who declared that it showed how a ‘serious party’ operated. It might look serious compared with the fiasco of Labour’s leadership crisis, but does the election of a new Prime Minister really have to be dragged out over two months, and at a time when the country is crying out for someone to take leadership over Brexit? It is bizarre that 100,000 Conservative party members are deemed to require twice as long to make up their minds as 46 million UK voters have to decide in a general election campaign. Until 2001 the Conservative

Isabel Hardman

May comes top in first round of Tory leadership voting, Fox eliminated

Graham Brady has announced the results of the first round of the Tory leadership contest as follows: Stephen Crabb 34, Liam Fox 16, Michael Gove 48, Andrea Leadsom 66, Theresa May 165. So as expected, Theresa May is out on top by a considerable margin, but what is striking is how close Michael Gove has come to Andrea Leadsom, given the rather visceral reaction in the Tory party to the way he treated Boris Johnson last week. Perhaps some of Leadsom’s support drifted away after last night’s hustings which even her supporters acknowledge did not go particularly well. There may now be pressure on Stephen Crabb to drop out after a not-particularly-good

Fraser Nelson

Some thoughts on today’s Tory leadership elections

You know what to expect: Theresa May wins, Andrea Leadsom comes second. Liam Fox forced out today, Stephen Crabb probably joins him voluntarily leaving Michael Gove to fight with Leadsom for second place – or, perhaps, both dropping out to let May take the crown. You also know that the expected stopped happening in British politics some time ago. Andrea Leadsom bombed in the Tory hustings last night; one Tory MP present told me that he’d have been embarrassed to have delivered a speech of that quality to a golf club. She finished by saying she was standing to be party leader then added, in a quiet voice as if

Isabel Hardman

Oliver Letwin left holding the Brexit baby

Last week’s announcement that Oliver Letwin would be charged with putting together different models of Brexit for whoever takes over as Prime Minister to adopt didn’t necessarily reassure that many Tory MPs. Today the head of that Brexit unit came under sustained fire from MPs on the Foreign Affairs Committee who seemed staggered not just that the government had done no contingency planning for Britain voting to leave the EU but also that the new unit didn’t yet seem to know what it was doing. So many of the Committee’s questions received the same answers, all along the lines of ‘I can’t tell you that’ or ‘it’s not in my

Steerpike

Ken Clarke caught on camera discussing Tory leadership hopefuls – ‘Theresa is a bloody difficult woman’

Don’t expect to see Ken Clarke on Sky News anytime soon. The former Chancellor has been left red-faced after the broadcaster aired footage of him engaging in a very honest assessment of the Tory leadership — not realising the camera was rolling. No candidate mentioned got off scot-free during his lively discussion with Sir Malcolm Rifkind. While raising the prospect of Michael Gove as Prime Minister, Clarke expressed concerns about his ‘wild’ views on foreign policy — concluding that, with the Justice Secretary as PM, Britain would go to war with ‘at least three countries at once’: ‘I remember having a discussion once about something we should do in Syria or Iraq

Mark Piggott

Brexit regrets? Yes – I wish I’d voted leave

I woke up on 24 June with a sense of impending doom. It was no doubt linked to the fact that after voting the day before, I had undergone an operation and so was waking up in a hospital bed. It wasn’t helped by the fact that I was also waking up to the news that Britain had voted to leave the EU. It soon became clear that I wasn’t the only Briton who’d been badly bruised by the events of that historic day. On the airwaves and social media, angry Remainers were voicing their shock at what had just happened. More surprisingly, repentant sinners were beginning to beg for forgiveness: they’d voted Leave, not realising their votes counted, and wanted to

Simon Hart

How the rural vote could decide the Conservative leadership race

As I passed the Momentum rally in Parliament Square last week, I was reminded of the last time there was such a packed demonstration on Parliament’s doorstep. There might not be a huge crossover between Jeremy Corbyn’s supporters and Countryside Alliance members, but both groups seem equally passionate. Huge numbers of rural people protested against the last Labour government for a whole host of reasons, triggered by the bill to ban hunting. The largest demonstration brought over 400,000 people to London and our opponents had no response other than to poll the marchers, find that over 80% of them supported the Conservatives and argue that their protest could therefore be

Melanie McDonagh

Theresa May’s Ottolenghi revelation is gobsmacking

Forget footwear. The most telling thing about Theresa May, as suggested in interview with Robert Peston, is her cookbook collection – she has 100. Her remarks about her cookery writer of choice was an extraordinary exercise in character signalling. ‘Delia is very precise,’ she said, ‘and I like a bit of… throw a bit here and a bit there, and Ottolenghi is really interesting in the stuff that he does. Right. Unless you’re a member of the smirking liberal metropolitan elite – or, like me, a cookbook reviewer – or Theresa May, you may not be familiar with Yotam Ottolenghi, but this is as clear an indicator as you can

Tom Goodenough

Stephen Crabb sets out nervy Tory leadership pitch ahead of today’s vote

Stephen Crabb is one of the least experienced candidates in this Tory leadership contest and that was on show during his interview on the Today programme just now. To his credit, Crabb – unlike Theresa May – has made it clear that he doesn’t want EU citizens living in the UK to be ‘negotiating chips’ in any negotiation. He also comes across as likeable in his answers about the importance of staying civilised during Brexit negotiations. But whilst it’s patently obvious that Crabb is deeply principled it’s hard not to ignore the simple fact that he sounds nervous. This is sure to stand against him when he’s pitted against some

Tom Goodenough

Theresa May marches ahead in Tory leadership poll

Voting kicks off today amongst Tory MPs in the first round of ballots to decide who will be Prime Minister. Little seems certain about the outcome of a leadership election which has already offered up much drama in the first week. But based on the large support of Conservative MPs gathering behind Theresa May, it is difficult to imagine the Home Secretary not being on the final shortlist going to members. According to our list of which Tory MPs are backing who, May now has the support of more than 100 of her Conservative colleagues. That tally puts her way in front of her rivals, with Andrea Leadsom trailing in

Rob Wilson

Why I’m backing Theresa May

The EU Referendum has served to emphasise the huge divisions which exist across our country. One of the most prominent and significant of these divisions is the disparity between those who are seemingly economically comfortable and those who struggle on a daily basis. There are some who characterise these struggles as a natural conclusion of the austerity measures pursued by Coalition and majority Conservative Governments. If only it were that simple. The EU Referendum brought to the surface decades of growing anguish from sections of the country’s working people: wages that never seem to rise coupled with increased pressure on local public services – a double whammy of discontent. This