Politics Archives

Thursday

28 Apr 2016

The politically correct way to do racism

Exactly a year ago this week I was at a dinner party when a famous opinion pollster leaned over to me and said: ‘You know, the best thing about this election is that within two years Chuka Umunna will be the leader of the Labour party and Sajid Javid the leader of the Conservatives.’ He was referring to the last general election — the dinner party had been convened a week before it took place. I think the chap had been invited to tell us all what would happen at the polls — and indeed he delivered a lengthy and earnest peroration on this subject, utilising all the expertise and

Matthew Parris

Brexit Tories are feeling disrespected. How awful

There are moments when one wonders whether one is seeing and hearing the same things as others. For me such a moment occurred a fortnight ago when reading The Spectator’s weekly column by our political editor, James Forsyth. James is exceptionally well plugged in to the world of Westminster, but — beyond that — a person of cool and sensitive judgment, so I read what he writes with attention. He said this: ‘[The Prime Minister] is campaigning with no thought for the feelings of those in the party who disagree with him. It is one thing for a leader to disagree with close to half of his MPs and most

Wednesday

27 Apr 2016

Fraser Nelson

OECD says Brexit would cut immigration by 84,000 a year

We should assume that today’s OECD report on Brexit was intended to frighten Britain into voting to remain in the EU. Ángel Gurría, its secretary-general, has tried to translate his figures into a blood-curdling soundbite about losing a month’s salary by 2030 (something that could easily be remedied by a tax cut). Its finding is that the trade we’d apparently forfeit would make the UK economy 5pc smaller that it would otherwise be 2030, not quite so bad as the 6pc estimated by the Treasury. And by the OECD’s maths, the “cost” to households is closer to £700 a year than George Osborne’s made-up figure of £4,300 a year. But because the OECD report is

Steerpike

Listen: Ken Livingstone comes to Naz Shah’s defence – ‘what she said wasn’t anti-Semitic’

Just when you thought things couldn’t look much worse for Labour’s Naz Shah, Ken Livingstone arrives on the scene. After Shah apologised several times today for sharing anti-Semitic posts on social media, she has finally been suspended. However, not everyone appears to see what the big deal is. Popping up on LBC, Red Ken offered Iain Dale his take on the situation. The former London mayor said that he would not describe Shah’s comments on social media as anti-Semitic: KL: What she said was over the top and offensive, it wasn’t anti-Semitic. ID: Well it was anti-Semitic, everyone seems to agree that it was anti-Semitic — even Jeremy Corbyn seems to admit that KL:

Charles Moore

The FT has become the Daily Mail of the Europhile elite

An enjoyable aspect of the EU referendum campaign is the nervous condition of the Financial Times. Unable to maintain its usual pretence at judicious balance under the strain, it has become the Daily Mail of the Europhile global elites, warning of the Seven Plagues which will afflict us if we vote to leave. Rather as the Mail loves the headline beginning ‘Just why…?’, so the FT all-purpose referendum headline begins ‘Fears mount…’ Its star columnists like Philip Stephens and Janan Ganesh pour withering scorn on Eurosceptic ‘nostalgists’ and bigots. Although they — and most of the paper’s writers — are highly intelligent, it does not occur to them to take

James Forsyth

Jeremy Corbyn’s reluctance to suspend Naz Shah was revealing

Naz Shah has now been suspended by the Labour party over the anti-Semitic comments she made before she became an MP. The statement from the Labour party says that Shah has been suspended by ‘mutual agreement’ between her and Corbyn. This comes just after Buzzfeed alleged that Shah’s apology for her remarks had been toned down by the Labour party, with references to the problem of anti-Semitism on the left removed. Shah’s comments reveal just how alarmingly widespread anti-Semitic views now are. Jeremy Corbyn’s initial refusal to suspend her indicated that he was not prepared to take this problem as seriously as he should, This suspension by ‘mutual agreement’, which has

Steerpike

Labour accused of editing Naz Shah’s apology to remove references to anti-Semitism

It’s finally happened. Over 24 hours after news first broke of Naz Shah sharing anti-Semitic posts online, the Labour MP has been suspended. While Labour say this is by ‘mutual agreement’, the move comes after several apologies from Shah — and quite a long silence from Corbyn. However, the use of the term ‘mutual agreement’ is of particular intrigue in light of revelations from Buzzfeed. The website reports that Shah had her personal apology diluted after her team sent it to party officials to be approved. In Shah’s original draft, she is said to have written: ‘I helped promote anti-Semitic tropes. This was totally wrong’. However, this along with another mention of anti-Semitism was

Steerpike

Watch: Andrew Tyrie grills Arron Banks over his Vote Leave feud – ‘it does seem to be an extraordinary fratricidal war’

Last week Vote Leave’s Dom Cummings was hauled before the Treasury Select Committee to be grilled on the Brexit campaign by a po-faced Andrew Tyrie. What followed was a lively exchange between Cummings and the committee chair as Tyrie tried to pin Cummings down on figures used in Vote Leave’s campaign literature. Today Cummings’s comrade Matthew Elliott was supposed to sit before the committee but the Vote Leave chief exec was once again unable to make it. Instead Arron Banks — of the rival group Leave.EU — is answering questions from the committee on the Brexit campaign. With little love lost between Banks’s Leave.EU and Vote Leave — which won the official

Alex Massie

The Tories’ Return: New poll puts Conservatives ahead of Labour in Scotland

At the 1997 general election the Scottish Conservative and Unionist party won 17.5 percent of the vote and lost its last remaining 11 seats in Scotland. Scotland was now a Tory-free zone, at least in terms of its parliamentary representatives. Nearly twenty years later, the Scottish Conservative and Unionist party might, if next week’s elections to the Holyrood parliament follow the pattern revealed by today’s STV/Ipsos-Mori poll, finish in second-place. They may achieve this on little more than 18 percent of the vote. In other words, this is Schrodinger’s Revival: it is both real and not real and it all depends upon how you look at, or think about, it.

James Forsyth

PMQs: Jeremy Corbyn couldn’t repeat last week’s good performance

After his best performance as leader at PMQs last week, Jeremy Corbyn was back to his lacklustre self today. He again went on academies. But after having got Cameron to say that there would be a bill to make all schools academies in the Queen’s Speech, he failed to press on. By the end of Corbyn’s six questions, Cameron was visibly relaxed. Though, it was telling how the Tory benches go rather quiet when this subject comes up. Labour had a glimpse of what they could have had when Yvette Cooper questioned Cameron on child refugees. Cooper argued, passionately, that these unaccompanied child refugees in Europe are not safe and

Steerpike

Watch: Cameron takes a swipe at Farage over his ‘poncey foreign-sounding’ name pronunciation

With little love lost between the Prime Minister and Nigel Farage, today the Ukip leader found himself on the receiving end of David Cameron’s ire during PMQs. When asking Cameron whether the public should listen to Brexit figures like Nigel Farage, Ben Bradshaw pronounced Farage’s name as ‘Farridge’. This delighted Cameron, who proceeded to blast Farage for using the ‘poncey foreign-sounding’ pronunciation. BB: With the United Kingdom facing our most momentous decision in a generation in eight weeks time, does the Prime Minister think it makes more sense for all of us to listen to all of our closest friends and allies around the world, or to a combination of French fascists,

Lara Prendergast

Labour’s Lisa Nandy suggests that Naz Shah should be suspended from the party

Labour’s Lisa Nandy has just been on the Daily Politics, where she suggested that Naz Shah should be suspended from the party. When asked about Bradford West MP Naz Shah’s comments about Israel, Nandy told Jo Coburn that the Labour party should ‘suspend anybody who makes anti-Semitic comments in line with our policy and investigate it’. She said: ‘We have a policy that people who make anti-Semitic remarks are suspended and an investigation carried out…and the policy ought to be followed without any exception.’ ‘There has to be a suspension and an investigation when something like this occurs because it is so serious and it does have a knock-on effect

Steerpike

Ed Miliband moves on from bacon sandwich gaffe

Forget the big election debates, the defining moment of Ed Miliband’s Labour leadership was his attempt at eating a bacon sandwich. In 2014 ahead of the local and European elections, Miliband appeared pained and confused as he attempted to eat a bacon sandwich in Covent Garden. The pictures that followed went everywhere as he became the subject of much ridicule. So, Mr S was pleased to learn that Miliband has found a working man’s food that he appears to be able to eat in a normal manner. The MP for Doncaster North made a late night visit to the Yorkshire Pie House in his constituency last week. The restaurant reports that

Tuesday

26 Apr 2016

The Spectator

Leave wins the Spectator Brexit debate at the London Palladium

It was the largest debate in The Spectator’s history: we sold out the 2,200-seat London Palladium for our debate on whether Britain should leave the EU, sponsored by Rathbones. The lineup: Dan Hannan, Nigel Farage and Kate Hoey vs Nick Clegg, Liz Kendall and Chuka Umunna. Andrew Neil chaired. Here are summaries of all the speeches, as well as the full audio: Daniel Hannan for Out. https://soundcloud.com/spectator1828/daniel-hannans-speech-in-spectator-brexit-debate Tonight, I’m inviting you to make me redundant – and, into the bargain, make Nigel redundant. And I wouldn’t be doing if I were not confident that there will be plenty of openings for newly-unemployed MEPs in the boom that would follow our exit from the European Union. Why do

Steerpike

Nicola Sturgeon borrows Thatcher’s election slogan

Although Nicola Sturgeon puts her career in politics down to Margaret Thatcher, she scarcely has anything positive to say about the Iron Lady. In fact, the SNP leader says that she entered politics as a result of her anger at the impact of Thatcher’s politics on Scotland. Still, she appears to have no qualms about borrowing one of the methods Thatcher used to help ensure success at the polls. The SNP’s latest election advert bears the slogan ‘don’t just hope for a better Scotland, vote for one’. As Scottish Labour have since pointed out, this bears a strong resemblance to Thatcher’s 1979 election slogan, which read: ‘Don’t just hope for a better life. Vote for

Rose Asani

Don’t mention the poem! A tale from Angela Merkel’s Turkish trip

It was all smiles for the camera as German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other EU top brass visited Nizip refugee camp in the south-east of Turkey over the weekend. A photo opportunity with the Turkish Prime Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu and some refugees dressed in traditional costumes preceded the tour. I was among the journalists covering this sanitised pitstop in Gaziantep, a city close to the Syrian border. The whole event marked a month since the migrant deal between the EU and Turkey. Human rights groups have criticised the deal, which allowed failed asylum seekers to be deported from Greece back to Turkey. They argue that the EU has turned its back on refugees –

Alex Massie

Theresa May sells Tory members an empty promise: are they as gullible as she thinks they are?

What is Theresa May playing at? I mean, it’s one thing to treat the Conservative party’s remaining members as fools but it’s quite another to think the same of the rest of us. Her speech yesterday in which she attempted to carve a middle way through the Tory euro-forest has been generally well received. And, as a piece of political positioning, May’s ‘Reluctant Remain’ approach allows her to be with the Prime Minister but not enthusiastically so and against Boris but not comprehensively so. It is, if you like, a Tory Goldilocks approach. All of which is all very well and good and if this is the sort of thing you admire

Monday

25 Apr 2016

Steerpike

Watch: Dennis Skinner tells Jeremy Hunt to ‘wipe that smirk off his face’

Given that the last time Dennis Skinner criticised a Tory Cabinet member in the Chamber he was ejected from the Commons, the Beast of Bolsover was on remarkably mild form today. Following Jeremy Hunt’s statement on the planned junior doctors strike, Skinner told the Health Secretary that he ought to ‘wipe that smirk off his face’: ‘When the Secretary of State came into the chamber today I don’t know whether he realises it or not but there is a smirk and arrogance about him that almost portrays the fact that he’s delighted in taking part in this activity. He could start negotiations today. Wipe that smirk off his face. Get down to some

Tom Goodenough

Today in audio: Jeremy Hunt stands firm ahead of junior doctors strike

Jeremy Hunt has been facing questions in the Commons ahead of tomorrow’s junior doctors strike. The Health Secretary said the industrial action was ‘wholly unjustified’ and said ‘we are proud of the NHS but we must turn that pride into actions’: His sentiment wasn’t enough to placate Dennis Skinner, however, with the MP for Bolsover telling Hunt to ‘wipe that smirk off your face’: Labour’s Heidi Alexander insisted tomorrow would be one of the saddest days in the NHS – and said that the Health Secretary was to blame: Nicky Morgan also faced a tough time in the Commons as she defended Tory plans for all schools to become academies

Ed West

Is it possible to be both pro-EU and patriotic?

It’s safe to say that last week was a good one for the Remain camp, thanks in large part to the endorsement from President Barack Obama. Despite what people in online conservative echo chambers may believe, Obama remains fairly popular in Britain and his opposition to Brexit may well count for something. His tactic was to play on our fear of what might happen if we leave. And while leaving the EU is seen as a largely small-c conservative idea, favoured by older and less educated voters, it is paradoxically fear (that most conservative of emotions) which is driving support for Remain. Most voting Remain are scared, according to a poll for the @thefabians