Politics Archives

Monday

6 Jul 2015

How the trade unions make it more difficult for Labour to win back Ukip voters

Do unions like Unite want Labour to win the next election? A fair few people, including a number of Labourites, have been asking this question since the union announced its backing for Jeremy Corbyn at the weekend, but it’s a something that those involved in the election campaign were asking as polling day approached, too, for slightly different reasons. The party found that it had a problem with Ukip during the election campaign – and some wise figures like John Healey had been urging the leadership to get to grips with Nigel Farage’s party long before election chiefs actually did do anything. While there is now a general acceptance among

Isabel Hardman

How can Labour avoid being a useless Opposition in this week’s Budget?

One of the toughest jobs in politics is responding to a Budget. It’s the job of the leader of the Opposition, and given the Labour Party has still got two months until it elects its chief, that job falls to Harriet Harman as interim leader. Therefore Harman has an even tougher version of one of the toughest jobs in politics, as she has to work out not just how to scrutinise the government’s spending plans, but also how to stop her party having an unpleasant fight over its stances on certain controversial cuts. If a cut is, in Labour’s view, wrong, then it will struggle to make much headway in

Steerpike

Anna Soubry and Alex Salmond bury the hatchet following sexism row

Only last month, Alex Salmond found himself at the centre of a sexism row after he told Anna Soubry to ‘behave yourself woman‘ during a Commons debate. The chippy Cabinet minister went on to criticise the former SNP leader for his comments, claiming he had a 19th century attitude to women, by which they ‘should be seen, and not heard’. Happily, the pair now appear to have put their differences behind them during a trip to Aberdeen. Soubry reports that Salmond provided great entertainment on their flight from Aberdeen back to London. The feeling is mutual, with Salmond boasting that Soubry behaved ‘impeccably’ this time around. She even gave him

Nick Cohen

Does anybody still believe that the EU is a benign institution?

Ever since Margaret Thatcher U-turned in the dying days of her premiership, there has been a kind of agreement between Left and Right on what the European Union is. Most Conservatives followed the late-vintage Thatcher. They stopped regarding the EU as a free market that British business must be a part of, and started to see it as an unaccountable socialist menace that could impose left-wing labour and environmental policies on a right-wing government. As many critics have said, the Tory version of British nationalism that followed had many hypocrisies. It did not want foreigners infringing national sovereignty when they were bureaucrats in Brussels but did not seem to mind

Steerpike

Exclusive: top Scottish academic speaks out over Mhairi Black ‘slut’ tweet

After Scottish Labour compiled a dossier of online abuse by cybernats, Scottish nationalists were quick to respond that supporters of other parties are just as bad. Step forward Jill Stephenson, Professor Emeritus of Modern German History at the University of Edinburgh. The retired academic is in the firing line over tweets she sent ahead of the election calling SNP MP Mhairi Black a ‘foul-mouthed slut’. After the Scottish Herald dug up the tweets over the weekend, the SNP responded with a strongly worded statement against her: ‘As we have repeatedly stated, the online debate in Scottish politics should be respectful at all times – that clearly includes people who oppose the SNP and independence, as this person

Fredrik Erixon

Greece has chosen to inflict heavy economic damage on itself

The Greek referendum will change nothing. Greek voters already expressed their great dissatisfaction with the bailout packages when they elected Syriza to power in January. The proposition they were asked to vote about now does not exist – and the referendum was just a sham. The bailout agreement that Greece and its creditors battled over for the past half-year is a dead parrot; it has ceased to exist. And yet the referendum result may change everything. It has made it close to impossible for euro governments to aid Greece with more money. While other leaders can backpedal their statements in the past week that the Greek referendum was really about its

Isabel Hardman

Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis resigns

If Greece had voted ‘Yes’ to the austerity package proposed by its creditors, then there would have been a round of resignations at the top of Syriza. But this morning, even though the party is celebrating a ‘No’ vote, its finance minister Yanis Varoufakis has resigned. Writing on his blog, he explains that in order for the country to get a good deal that it can accept, he needs to let someone else take over: ‘Soon after the announcement of the referendum results, I was made aware of a certain preference by some Eurogroup participants, and assorted ‘partners’, for my… ‘absence’ from its meetings; an idea that the Prime Minister

Sunday

5 Jul 2015

James Forsyth

Greece says No, will Germany now try and kick it out of the Euro?

Greece has voted No in the referendum and resoundingly so. With more than 90 percent of the votes counted, No is leading 61% to 39%. The result is a massive humiliation for Eurozone leaders who have spent the last few days telling the Greeks to vote Yes and warning them that this was really a referendum on whether the country should stay in the single currency or not. Tonight, Syriza have been making clear that the Greek government intends to remain within the Euro. However, the German government is making clear that it is not interested in further negotiations with Athens or a new bailout deal. Sigmar Gabriel, the deputy

David Patrikarakos

Alexis Tsipras asked if people were happy. The answer was always going to be ‘no’

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has just done something unthinkable. He has won the Greek referendum. And make no mistake, it was him that won it. It was his decision to call a referendum just over a week ago and send the EU into a panic. The last Prime Minister to try that was George Papandreou in 2011 before he was forced to backtrack rapidly. He resigned shortly after. But winning the referendum isn’t what is so astounding – opinion polls were neck and neck throughout last week and once voting closed at 7pm Greek time it became almost immediately apparent that the No side would win. What makes his feat so

James Forsyth

Greek voters say Oxi, what will the Eurozone do now?

With half the votes counted, the No side in the Greek referendum is leading by 61% to 39%. With this lead for No at this stage in the count, it seems certain that it has won. The question now is how the Eurozone will react to this result. Before the vote, the Eurozone powers made clear that they wanted Greece to vote Yes. The Germans, French and Italians all repeatedly warned the Greeks that this was effectively a vote on whether to stay in the Euro or Not. Jean-Claude Juncker even hinted that this was a referendum on whether Greece should stay in the EU or not. So, what will

Ed West

Globalists v localists: the new reality of 21st century politics

Tonight it looks like the Oxi’s have it, and Greece’s fraught relationship with the Franks has reached a new phase, with possible Grexit coming; that’s assuming the exit polls are correct and that this whole torturous episode doesn’t continue. Whether Grexit takes place or not, though, the whole episode has fundamentally damaged the European Union by undermining the very idea it was built on – solidarity. If you ever get Irish people on the subject of the Great Famine, the essential point they always make is that had the potato blight hit Yorkshire, no one would have starved because London would have come to its aid. Yorkshire is the example

Isabel Hardman

Polls suggest narrow ‘No’ vote in Greek referendum

If the final result in the Greek referendum is as close as the polls (not exit polls, so treat with caution) below suggest, then as well as the trauma and drama of Grexit, the country will have to cope with deep divisions. The same would be the case if there is a narrow win for ‘Yes’. In either case, that just over half of the country voted one way, and just a few fewer people went the other way naturally means there will be a lot of voters who are bitterly disappointed. Whatever the result, the future for Greece is going to be difficult and many people will suffer a

Isabel Hardman

‘No’ side confident as polls close in Greek referendum

The polls have just closed in the Greek referendum, and the ‘No’ side seems, currently, to be rather more confident of a victory. The Guardian reports a briefing from the EU Commission that those in favour of rejecting the anti-austerity deal from Greece’s creditors could be 8-10 points ahead, while others claim ‘No’ had a late surge. Syriza members have also been talking about what would happen in the event of a ‘No’ vote, with Yanis Varoufakis saying Greece could do a deal with its lenders in 24 hours. If the country has voted ‘No’, then Grexit is expected, unless the country stays suspended in negotiations for longer. Not only

Fraser Nelson

When will George Osborne commission a war memorial for soldiers?

We learn today that George Osborne will say in his Budget that he’s using the fines he’s collected from bankers to build a memorial to terror victims. I find this juxtaposition rather odd: why link terrorism to banking? Why not just be honest: that any memorial will be funded from the the same tax pool as everything else? But moreover, I do wonder where this memorial will go. We’re told that the Chancellor will consult with the relatives of the victims before agreeing a location. These memorials do serve a purpose: they become part of the world our ministers operate in; part of their daily lives. Most politicians will know

Charles Moore

The IMF doesn’t need to be run by a European

How much longer should the IMF be run by a European? The job of the fund is to assist any member country which is in trouble, not to advance the dream of European integration. So far, since it all began after the war, the IMF’s managing directors have been Europeans, most commonly French. The current one, Christine Lagarde, is a French former politician, as was her predecessor, the socialist sex-maniac Dominique Strauss-Kahn. In her opinion, the needs of the EU trump everything, but that is a political view, not a financial one. It must be annoying for the scores of poorer, non-European IMF members — e.g. the Philippines, Mexico, Jamaica — to

Saturday

4 Jul 2015

James Forsyth

Which way will Greece vote?

This time tomorrow, we’ll have had the first projections from the Greek referendum. We will have an idea as to whether the country has said Oxi or Nai. At the moment, the polls make the referendum too close to call. Whatever the result, there’ll be no quick deal between Greece and its creditors. But if the Greeks vote Oxi, then the country could be forced out of the Euro by the ECB cutting off assistance to its banks. If that were to happen, then the Eurozone would have to move to integrate very quickly to prevent Portugal, Italy, Spain and even France being pushed towards the Euro exit the next

Charles Moore

Does the EU want the Greeks to vote for Golden Dawn?

If Greece does vote Yes, and Mr Tsipras has to go, who is left to run the country? The voters have tried all the main parties, only to find them broken by the demands of the eurozone. The only category left is the extreme right, so there would be a sort of desperate logic in electing the repulsive Golden Dawn party. Otherwise, there really doesn’t seem any point in having any more votes at all. Greek citizens — or rather subjects — might as well invite the satraps of the troika formally to take up the reins of power, sit back, and see how they manage. If they do not like

Friday

3 Jul 2015

Fraser Nelson

In pictures: The Spectator’s readers’ tea party

‘They are just as you hope they’d be,’ said my colleague Damian Thompson midway through our readers’ tea party today. I knew what he meant: we were actually getting to meet the people we work for, the people we imagine when we’re commissioning or writing stories. You build up a fairly clear idea what they’re like – and what they’re not like. There’s no typical age: today we welcomed readers from 25 to 85. They come from a wide range of backgrounds; architects, students, lawyers, priests, financiers. And from all over the country: I met subscribers who drove down from Oldham and even Glasgow to join us today. Taki was there, as

Steerpike

Lib Dems claw back power from the Tories

When Vince Cable lost his seat to the Tories in the general election, it was a a victory that brought much entertainment to the Conservatives, with David Cameron’s former head of strategy Steve Hilton making light of it at his book launch. Now, the Liberal Democrats finally have reason for cheer, and while it might not be the election they had hoped to win, they have finally beaten the Tories in one battle. After Tania Mathias, who won the Twickenham seat for the Tories in the election, gave up her council seat in Hampton Wick, a by-election took place yesterday. Despite the ward being a traditional Tory stronghold, the party failed to retain

Isabel Hardman

Is Cameron ready for his European opportunity?

Could Greek voters back austerity measures to keep their country in the eurozone this weekend? Today’s papers cover a poll by GPO which put ‘Yes’ on 47.1 per cent and No on 43.2 per cent. This result would see resignations at the top of Syriza, but effectively no Grexit. If Alexis Tsipras’ gamble of saying he’ll resign if the country does indeed vote ‘Yes’ to the cuts demanded by Greece’s creditors pays off, and voters plump for Syriza’s preferred option of ‘No’, then David Cameron will find himself with what James describes in this week’s Spectator as a ‘glorious opportunity to craft a looser form of EU membership’ because the