Politics

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

Monday

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Ed Miliband’s spin doctor makes a return to the Labour press office

After Labour’s disastrous election result, Ed Miliband’s spin doctor Tom Baldwin made a swift exit from Labour HQ. For many in the party this was a welcome move; the king of spin was blamed for a number of election gaffes, including allegedly telling the BBC’s Nick Robinson that Miliband saw the HSBC scandal as ‘another Milly Dowler moment’. Despite this, it appears that old habits die hard. Steerpike understands that Baldwin has been spied in the the press office at Labour party conference. Is the spinner making a return to party politics? Given that Baldwin not only has feuds with journalists on a number of nationals, but also wrote a post-election editorial accusing the BBC of showing bias against

Sebastian Payne

Watch: Tristram Hunt and Ian Lavery shows who is up and down in Labour

As the first day of Labour’s conference came to a close, LabourList hosted a ‘winning again’ rally in a dark corner of the Grand Hotel. A bunch of Labour speakers, including Eddie Izzard and Owen Jones, spoke about the party’s general election defeat and the glorious rise of Jeremy Corbyn. The two most contrasting speakers were Tristram Hunt, the former shadow education secretary, and Ian Lavery, the former NUM chief and shadow trade unions minister. The contrasting receptions Hunt and Lavery received shows which direction the party is heading. Hunt, one of the most prominent modernisers who is popping up at fringe events all over Brighton, was cheered and booed for a joke about

The Spectator

John McDonnell’s speech to the Labour party conference – full text

I warn you this is not my usual rant, they get me into trouble and I’ve promised Jeremy to behave myself. Jeremy and I sat down at the beginning of his campaign for the Labour leadership to discuss what they call the strap line for his campaign leaflets and posters. We came up with the strapline you see now. Straight talking, honest politics. It just embodied for me what Jeremy Corbyn is all about. So in the spirit of straight talking, honest politics. Here’s some straight talking. At the heart of Jeremy’s campaign, upon which he received such a huge mandate, was the rejection of austerity politics. But austerity is

Sebastian Payne

Labour’s EU debate focuses on workers’ rights and not working with the Tories

Labour conference has been debating the EU referendum this morning and there was not a scintilla of indication that the party wants to do anything but vigorously campaign stay in. The main issue raised was workers’ rights — Alan Johnson, who is leading Labour’s campaign to remain in the EU, said  ‘there is no progressive case for leaving the EU’ and pointed towards the Trade Union Bill as an example of how the government doesn’t care about this issue: ‘We know how this government feels about workers’ rights. The trade union bill did not come from Europe. That nasty, spiteful, repressive bill would not have emanated from any other mainstream, right

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Len McCluskey uses Tory rebel David Davis to attack trade union bill

The Labour conference is currently debating a motion on the Trade Union Bill, which Shadow Business Secretary Angela Eagle made clear in her speech that the party will oppose. It gave Len McCluskey a chance to give his traditional pre-Shadow Chancellor conference speech, though this year the Unite leader didn’t need to include any pleas to the Labour leadership to listen to him. Instead, he focused all the fire of his typically impassioned and forceful speech on the Tories. He suggested that the legislation curbing the powers of trade unions and their abilities to strike was more fitting for a fascist government. The Tories will be quite used to his

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Chris Bryant: government ‘fibbing’ about Channel 4 privatisation

Although Michael Dugher is now Labour’s shadow culture secretary, his predecessor Chris Bryant is still keeping a close eye on the issues. He took part in a panel discussion on the future of the BBC as part of the Labour fringe. During the talk Bryant was asked about reports last week that Channel 4 is to be privatised. The news broke after a government official was photographed entering 10 Downing Street with a document about privatisation proposals. Bryant says the document is proof that the government have ‘been fibbing throughout the summer’ about Channel 4. He says that they have lied to him when he asked questions concerning the channel’s future:

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

McDonnell: I can both oppose and support Heathrow expansion

Is the Labour party right to be so worried that Jeremy Corbyn is its leader and John McDonnell is its Shadow Chancellor? Neither of them seem to be putting much effort into pushing the policies that have upset their colleagues the most. The Labour party will maintain its position on Trident after constituency party delegates decided not to debate the matter this week. Jeremy Corbyn is quite happy for his colleagues to take a different view on this issue, too. Similarly, on Heathrow, both Corbyn and McDonnell are opposed to expansion of the airport, but today the Shadow Chancellor told the Press Association that he might take one position as

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Labour conference: John McDonnell sticks to boring

The most remarkable thing about John McDonnell’s Labour conference speech was that he was delivering it at all. The new Shadow Chancellor was clearly trying to assuage fears about him by being as boring (something he’d promised) and mild as possible, announcing reviews headed by big names such as Bob Kerslake of the operation of the Treasury and and an Economic Advisory Committee that includes Thomas Piketty and Joseph Stigltiz. Reviews and committees mean you don’t have to announce as many policies, which is handy if you’re trying not to rock the boat too much early on. But to be fair to McDonnell, it’s also what all mainstream politicians do

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Shadow Cabinet keeps business as usual at Labour conference

So far at this Labour conference, most of the fireworks have been on the Blairite side of the party, with figures such as Chuka Umunna, Ivan Lewis, Liz Kendall and John Woodcock making their displeasure known at events last night. But when it comes to Jeremy Corbyn’s frontbench, and some of the issues on which Corbyn himself has strong and controversial views, the conference has seemed surprisingly well-behaved: so far, at least. The party’s frontbenchers are almost continuing as though nothing has changed: last night at a schools fringe Lucy Powell set out an education policy that sounded roughly familiar to the one the last party leadership pursued: no support

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

John McDonnell tries to get voters to trust him and his party on the economy

The Shadow Chancellor’s speech at Labour conference has always been the second biggest slot after the leader. But in a sense John McDonnell’s speech today, just before lunch, is the most important slot of the whole conference because he is talking about the policy area that did the most to put voters off Labour in May. A review by Jon Cruddas found that voters were well-aware of Labour’s anti-austerity message, and that they didn’t like it, even though all the retail offers on energy bills and so on were popular. But McDonnell believes that voters need to be told of the dangers of austerity, which they haven’t, and then they

Sebastian Payne

Labour conference 2015: Monday fringe guide

Every morning throughout party conference season, we’ll be providing our pick of the fringe events on Coffee House. Labour conference kicks a up notch today, with big speeches due from Alan Johnson, Hilary Benn and John McDonnell. But as ever, much of the excitement can be found at the fringe events – with ministers, moderates, future leadership contenders, Corbynites and even the leader himself making appearances in stuffy Brighton hotels. Here is our pick of Monday’s events. Title Key speaker(s) Time Location A New Agenda for Social Europe: Building on the Past to Confront an Uncertain Future Alan Johnson, Roland Rudd 12:30 Balmoral, Hilton Metropole Full Steam Ahead for the

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Ghosts of Labour’s past at New Statesman conference bash

As Labour conference kicked off on Sunday on Brighton pier, it was a case of the ghosts of Labour’s past at the annual New Statesman party. The magazine’s editor Jason Cowley told attendees who had their journeys affected by train works not to worry as ‘Corbyn has a plan for the railways’, before reflecting on what had happened to the party in the space of a year.  ‘At our party last year in Manchester Ed Miliband was standing beside me and I introduced him as our next Prime Minister,’ he told partygoers at Brighton’s Al Fresco restaurant. While Miliband stayed away this time, the party’s new leader was also notably absent. With Lucy Powell locked deep in conversation with her

Sunday

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Stiglitz, Piketty – Jeremy Corbyn’s star ‘advisers’ are, like him, wrong about UK inequality

A new leader with little credibility asks famous economists to ‘advise’ him on economic policy. It’s an old trick. News that Jeremy Corbyn is seeking the counsel of Thomas Piketty and Joe Stiglitz is not surprising – both are in the business of selling books suggesting the world is becoming more unequal than ever, and that a crisis is looming. The problem is that this ain’t so – not in Britain, at any rate. Piketty’s central thesis was brilliantly dismantled by Chris Giles, the FT’s economics editor, who won an award for his expose. But at least Piketty published data that could be scrutinised: Stiglitz seems to make his up on

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

No Trident vote will calm Labour conference tensions

In the past few minutes, the Labour conference arrangements committee has decided not to hold a vote on whether to scrap Trident. This prevents a major split in the party early on into Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership. There was insufficient support from constituency party delegates for a debate and vote, and even though Corbyn was making a concerted effort to argue that it didn’t matter if there was a difference of opinion in the party, this is one matter that a number of MPs and members feel strongly is a part of the party’s identity. It does mean that this conference will have a little less tension around it. But it’s

Sebastian Payne

In photos: the Corbynisation of Labour conference

The main halls and speeches at party conferences tend to be the least interesting parts — the words are briefed out to the press in advance, what politicians say is on stage is usually dull and you can watch it all on TV anyway. It’s the fringe events and exhibitions that give a better sense of a party’s mood. Judging by the halls of the Brighton Centre, Jeremy Corbyn has certainly had an impact on the whole party (click on the pictures to enlarge). Wandering through the exhibition halls, I was struck just how many trade unions are present have big flashy stands. Unite the Union has is easily the most

Sebastian Payne

Chuka Umunna: I still won’t serve under Corbyn, despite EU u-turn

Chuka Umunna proved the Labour moderates still have a fan base at his first fringe appearance in Brighton. At a packed out Demos event, the former shadow business secretary and one-time leadership contender, said that a difference of opinion over the EU referendum was not the only reason he didn’t take a job in Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet. Despite the Labour leader’s new position of campaigning to remain In come what may — outlined in this op-ed — Umunna suggested he still wouldn’t take a position: ‘We had a good discussion and quite of that actually was really thinking about things in this reshuffle, but there were a number of issues and the EU was one of them. I

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John Prescott: how I hopped before the Queen

Given the criticism that Jeremy Corbyn received when he failed to sing God Save the Queen at a Battle of Britain memorial service, the Labour leader faces a new dilemma when he is sworn into the Privy council. Although it is custom to get on bended knee and kiss the Queen’s hand, the republican politician is said to be undecided over whether to adhere to this. However, according to John Prescott he may already be spared from one part of the ceremony. Speaking on the Sunday Politics,the former deputy Prime Minister told Andrew Neil that the ceremony does not actually require any kneeling, instead it consists of a fair amount of hopping: ‘When I was first asked

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Jeremy Corbyn’s new look Labour leadership means he’s happy not to lead

Jeremy Corbyn had a very good interview on Marr this morning. For anyone in the wider, non-Westminster world tuning in (and they do), the new Labour leader would have come across as reasonable, mild, and normal. When Marr pressed him on certain issues, Corbyn looked as though he was an academic having a good debate in his study over a glass of port (or marrow juice, maybe), rather than a politician panicking as he tried to remember the next line that he’d memorised from the spin doctor’s briefing. He even managed to get some quips about internal Labour democracy in, joking that the programme should film ‘compositing in action’. What

Sebastian Payne

Labour conference 2015: Sunday fringe guide

Good morning comrades! Labour’s annual conference kicks off in sunny Brighton today and it’s set to be one of the most exciting gatherings in years. We usually comb through the fringe listings to point you towards the most interesting events. However, the conference programme was printed before Jeremy Corbyn rose to leader and the majority of notable speakers have either quit or been sacked from the shadow cabinet. This makes picking out the best fringes a little more difficult than in previous years. Plus, in the brave new world of Corbyn’s leadership, the people to watch have changed. We’ve gathered a list below of events today featuring speakers both in and outside the new leadership team.

Saturday

Sebastian Payne

Revealed: Arron Banks told campaigners ‘I have Nigel by the short and curlies financially’

Nigel Farage claimed at Ukip’s conference yesterday that all Eurosceptic groups were being brought together under the Leave.EU umbrella organisation, headed up by Ukip donor Arron Banks. However, the other Leave campaign, run by Matthew Elliott and Dominic Cummings, was notably absent and its representatives did not appear at the conference yesterday. Elliott’s Business for Britain group, which aims to give a voice to Eurosceptic businesses, was also not mentioned as part of the umbrella group. When I asked Farage about this, he said ‘they don’t want to leave, they want to wait and see what the Prime Minister has come back with’. Banks also told Coffee House he had approached the