Politics Archives

Thursday

17 Dec 2015

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

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

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

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

16 Dec 2015

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

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

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

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

Tuesday

15 Dec 2015

Alex Massie

Every journalist should have the courage to betray his party. Does Owen Jones?

You know what’s tough these days? Being a left-wing polemicist, that’s what’s tough these days. You don’t need to take my word for this. Just ask Owen Jones. Here he is, complaining about the “unfree media” that makes it “impossible to have a rational conversation about Jeremy Corbyn, Labour, or just politics full stop.” Now you may be tempted to say ‘Aw shucks, too bad for the poor booby‘. But this would be a needlessly ungenerous reaction. Because he has a point. True, it’s a point occluded by leftist posturing about the unfree press but, beneath all that guff, there is a point to be made here about the nature of modern political

Isabel Hardman

George Osborne is outmanoeuvring Labour with his devolution revolution

George Osborne has been busily signing more devolution deals today, with five pilot schemes moving power over health policy and spending from Whitehall to London boroughs. It’s part of the Chancellor’s devolution revolution that he is making a key part of his brand. It’s also – as is always the case with Osborne – a bit of clever politicking. Osborne caught Labour on the hop with his devolution deal for Greater Manchester earlier this year, with Andy Burnham struggling to work out what the party’s official line was on Labour councils happily signing up to a Tory deal. Many of his Labour colleagues were unimpressed with the then Shadow Health

Isabel Hardman

Can Cameron convince people to trust him on the EU referendum?

David Cameron will be relived that his European Referendum Bill is finally on its way to Royal Assent, after weeks of threats from Labour peers. But Europe being Europe, there are a whole heap of other problems that the Prime Minister needs to contend with too. It’s not just the specific question of whether David Cameron can get any sot of reform to access to benefits for migrants that looks like he’s won a battle, but whether the overall renegotiation and its result are really sufficient to impress MPs and then voters into backing staying in the European Union. Today’s European Scrutiny committee report on the renegotiation warns that the

Alex Massie

Why isn’t David Cameron’s EU referendum strategy working? (Because it’s stupid)

Expediency is usually just trouble deferred. That’s the first thing to remember about David Cameron’s ham-fisted approach to his european referendum problem. The second thing to remember is that it is not, and never has been, about europe at all. It’s always been about the Tory party. Which means the third thing to know is that it’s hardly a surprise Cameron’s approach is failing. Sure, everyone says, the Outers need to be ten points ahead if they’re going to win. And maybe that is right. But they’re running 50-50 at the moment and if I were an Outer I’d be happier about that than if I was an Inner. (This should

Steerpike

Watch: Tory MP’s ‘deleted’ video outburst over fake death threat

Since Lucy Allan was accused of faking her own death threat online, the Tory MP has gone underground — deleting her Twitter and changing her privacy settings on Facebook. Last night she made a brief return to social media in order to release a statement with an accompanying video. In this, she opted not to apologise for adding the words ‘unless you die‘ to a constituent’s letter. Instead she chose to blame the whole fiasco on activists who were unhappy she was elected. ‘Last week was without doubt the weirdest of my political life so far. It was never about my use of social media. It was only ever about activists unhappy

Sebastian Payne

Brexit is gaining momentum, according to two new polls

Two new opinion polls suggest that support is growing for Britain to leave the European Union. Today’s Daily Telegraph reports on an ICM survey which shows that half of voters back Brexit, if the undecideds are excluded: the first time since 2013 that voters are evenly split. But when the undecided voters are included, it is a much tighter split: 42 per cent would vote to stay in, compared to 41 per cent for leaving. It’s a similar story in a Survation survey in today’s Daily Express, which has a five-times larger 10,000 sample size. This survey reports that 42 per cent want to leave the EU, compared to 40 per cent who would vote to stay in. Taking

Monday

14 Dec 2015

James Forsyth

The Lords back down on votes at 16 for the EU referendum

The House of Lords has tonight rejected a Labour amendment that would have given 16 and 17 year olds the vote in the EU referendum. This removes the largest potential obstacle to getting the EU referendum legislation into law quickly. This means that, if the government can get a deal at the EU summit in February, a June referendum is still possible. The government’s victory in the Lords tonight was not expected. Most observers, including myself, thought that the opposition’s in-built majority would be enough to get the Labour amendment passed, and so start ping pong between the two Houses. But the Lords has backed down from a confrontation with

Steerpike

Coffee Shots: Merry Christmas from Jeremy Corbyn

It’s happened. Jeremy Corbyn has released his annual Christmas card. The Labour leader has refrained from following the traditional MP format by including a photo of himself on the card — and has instead opted for a picture of some snow-covered bicycles: While Corbyn should be congratulated on managing to use the C-word this time around, it’s fair to say that the photo isn’t the most cheery effort around. Still, at least he has managed to push his green credentials.

Steerpike

Another day, another fake MP death threat

Although Owen Jones was once Jeremy Corbyn’s main cheerleader, in recent months his relationship with the Labour leader has cooled as his former Guardian colleague Seumas Milne has usurped him in Corbyn’s trusted circle. Still, Jones is now at least on good terms with other members of the party. Today the Guardian columnist has interviewed the outspoken Corbyn rebel Jess Phillips for his YouTube channel. During the friendly exchange, Phillips — who previously told Diane Abbott to ‘f— off’ after they clashed over Corbyn’s shadow cabinet appointments — discusses Corbyn’s pros and cons. Phillips also promises to ‘knife Jeremy Corbyn in the front’ rather than the back, should it become clear to her that he is not up to

Andrew Lilico

Jobs miracle or low-pay disaster? Andrew Lilico and David Blanchflower debate

Dear David, From Q2 1979 to Q1 1981, quarterly real GDP fell in the UK by 5.5%. Unemployment rose rapidly, from 1.4m in Q2 1979 to 2.4m by the end of the recession, then continued rising through to its peak of 3.3m in 1984 – 12% of the workforce. Unemployment stayed above 3m for 51 straight months. This is the pattern economists expect in a serious recession. Unemployment rises, then stays persistently high, falling back only well into the recovery. It has also been the experience of much of the developed world since the Great Recession of 2008/09. So, for example, whereas US unemployment was below 5% in 2007, it rose