Politics

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

Tuesday

Sebastian Payne

Douglas Carswell vs Nigel Farage (again) — but are these real disagreements?

Is Douglas Carswell happily at home in Ukip? The Clacton MP’s latest policy intervention, this time on immigration, adds to the sense that his beliefs differ somewhat from his party and its leader. His op-ed in the Times today for example stated that Enoch Powell was wrong about the dangers of immigration: ‘Immigration has not been without its challenges. Yet it has been, overwhelmingly, a story of success. Britain today is more at ease with the multi-ethnic society that we have become than once seemed imaginable — and not just to Enoch Powell. Like many before and since, Powell underestimated the ability of a free society to adapt.’ Nigel Farage on the other hand has backed the ‘basic

Eric Joyce

Charities love to lobby so why should they be exempt from the Lobbying Act?

In the next few weeks, you’ll hear endless grumbles from charities about the Lobbying Act. They will argue it restricts their spending on political campaigning during the run-up to general elections. Of course, charities aren’t supposed to be party-political, and until now the highly-partisan campaigns they’ve run at election time have somehow never fallen foul of charity law. The bosses of these organisations claim they’re on a higher moral plane than other political campaigners. This allows them to dodge questions about whether they have a partisan objective. The moral high ground is built, they say, on their aims, motivation and modus operandi. But are these charities really acting in the public interest? Many

Sebastian Payne

Listen: two disastrous interviews by Natalie Bennett

It’s been an inauspicious start to the Green Party’s election campaign. Natalie Bennett has given two radio interviews this morning where she produced rather poor answers regarding her party’s policies. On the Today programme, Bennett said Britain’s foreign policy should be centred around appeasing Russia: ‘What we need to do is put diplomatic pressure on Russia, put economic pressure on Russia, but we also have to understand that if we’re negotiating with Russia, it’s really important not to take what you might call the Versailles approach, to understand that President Putin has to walk away with something – things that we might not necessarily like. So we have to stand up for international law, for human rights,

Steerpike Steerpike

Kirstie Allsopp comes to Sir Malcolm Rifkind’s defence

Sir Malcolm Rifkind’s decision to stand down as the MP for Kensington at the next election after a ‘cash for access’ sting hasn’t pleased everyone. In fact the good people of Kensington seem rather dismayed by the move. While Rifkind’s claim that his salary of £60,000 is not enough to live on received ridicule from many lefties, those who reside in the affluent borough can at least see his point of view. Kirstie Allsopp, the television presenter, has voiced her sadness that her local MP is to quit. Oh bugger it, I might as well say it – Malcolm Rifkind is my local MP & I doubt very much they’ll manage to replace him with someone better. — Kirstie Mary

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

The sad truth is that Malcolm Rifkind’s political career ended in 1997

For years I saw Malcolm Rifkind as an unusually principled politician, one of the very best and brightest talents in the Conservative Party. After the rout of Scottish Tories in 1997, he decided to stay and fight for his old seat, Edinburgh Pentlands, rather than follow Michael Forsyth and Ian Lang along the high road to the House of Lords. I was working covering Scottish politics for The Times then, and during the 2001 campaign I had a chance to see how hard he worked at at a time where he had little national profile. He was giving his all, fighting for Scotland at a time when his party had pretty much given up

Sebastian Payne

Malcolm Rifkind quits as ISC chair and will stand down at next election

Sir Malcolm Rifkind’s political career is over. Following the Dispatches/Telegraph lobbying expose, the former Conservative defence and foreign secretary and MP for Kensington has announced he is standing down at the next election. This has created a vacancy in one of the most sought-after Tory seats in the country, represented in a previous incarnation by Alan Clark and Michael Portillo. It’s hard to see how Sir Malcolm could have stayed on. His unforgiven attitude to the cash for access accusations — and remarks suggesting his £67,000 salary as an MP wouldn’t allow him to ‘have the standard of living my professional background would normally entitle me to have’ — were toxic for the Tories. His party withdrew

Sebastian Payne

A bad week for Ukip in the polls — and a good one for Labour

Ukip’s spate of bad publicity appears to be hitting it in the polls. The racism row over the Meet the Ukippers documentary comes as the party has dropped several points in two new polls. According to Lord Ashcroft’s latest national survey, the party is now on 11 per cent, while Labour is up five points to 36 per cent. This puts them four points ahead of the Conservatives, who are on 32 per cent. Another poll from ComRes/Daily Mail has Ukip down four points to 13 per cent, the Conservatives up three points to 34 per cent and Labour up two points to 32 per cent. YouGov has also reported that most voters

Monday

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Ed Balls struggles to land punches in tax showdown with George Osborne

Naturally, when George Osborne and Ed Balls squared up in the Commons this afternoon for a showdown on the HSBC tax row, it wasn’t a particularly pretty affair. There was shouting, heckling, yowling – and the backbenchers were pretty aerated, too. Indeed, the Tories had turned up intending to throw the Shadow Chancellor off pace before he’d even started, shouting ‘ANSWER’ at him every time he tried to say a single word. Balls had clearly turned up thinking that dragging the Chancellor to the Commons to answer his urgent question was victory enough. But an urgent question is only a victory if the minister responding leaves the Chamber thinking that

Steerpike Steerpike

Ed Miliband attempts to build bridges with the arts world, but where will the money come from?

After Labour confirmed that they would not reverse Tory art cuts, the luvvies turned on Ed. During a spending plans onslaught from the Tories earlier in the year, the party spin machine proudly boasted: p.44 of Tory dossier says Labour will cancel cuts to the arts budget. We won’t. — Labour Press Team (@labourpress) January 5, 2015 Leading to a thorough pasting from all sorts of media darlings: This is not something to brag about. RT @labourpress: p.44 of Tory dossier says Labour will cancel cuts to the arts budget. We won’t. — Neil Gaiman (@neilhimself) January 6, 2015 @labourpress And you’re proud of that? Jesus. — Simon Blackwell (@simonblackwell)

Steerpike Steerpike

Lord Brocket: Eddie Redmayne gives hope to Old Etonians

Chris Bryant found time to congratulate Eddie Redmayne on his best actor Oscar today despite previously claiming that British culture should not be dominated by privately educated actors of Redmayne’s ilk. While the shadow culture minister’s support for the Old Etonian may be lukewarm at best, The Theory of Everything actor can at least count on the constant support of his fellow alumni. Lord Charlie Brocket has come out to congratulate Redmayne on his win. The peer, who was jailed for an insurance scam in the 1990s, claims that Redmayne’s success will hopefully lead the way for more Old Etonian actors. ‘From a parents’ point of view, when you’ve put them through an Eton education

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

How long will Tories voice concerns over defence spending?

Can the Tories really avoid any proper discussion of their spending plans for the Ministry of Defence before the election? Though the international situation is so unstable, the party has clearly decided that as defence spending is not an election issue, it won’t talk about it. Perhaps they’d get away with this given Labour is hardly more enthusiastic and defence and foreign policy, were it not for Tory backbenchers, particularly those who have served in the MoD at some point. They used Defence Questions today to press Michael Fallon repeatedly on the issue. Former ministers such as Andrew Robathan and Liam Fox, and former defence select committee James Arbuthnot asked

James Forsyth James Forsyth

The latest proposals make the TV debates less likely to happen

TV debates became a little less likely to happen today. The broadcasters have announced that their proposed timetable is for the two seven party debates to come first with the head to head between Cameron and Miliband as the final instalment. This schedule will make the Liberal Democrats even more reluctant to agree to the debates. For one of their main worries has been that in the two way debate, Cameron could say anything about what the Liberal Democrats have blocked in government without them having any chance to respond. With no seven way debate following the Cameron Miliband head-to-head, this problem has been compounded: there is no venue for

Steerpike Steerpike

Only a matter of free time: Labour candidate blasts ‘invisible’ MP Sir Malcolm Rifkind

Sir Malcolm Rifkind claimed to an undercover reporter during a Telegraph sting operation that they would be surprised by how ‘much free time’ he has, despite being the MP for Kensington. One person who would not appear to be surprised by Rifkind’s admission is his Labour rival Dr Rod Abouharb. Rifkind flaunting his free time, more evidence of him being the invisible MP for Kensington. Isn’t being an MP http://t.co/MO2iavJRYR — Dr Rod Abouharb (@kensingtonrod) February 23, 2015 Speaking ten days before the allegations broke, the Labour candidate claimed that only 17 people out of 100 surveyed in the Kensington constituency could successfully pick out their MP from a line-up of eight. Abouharb, who is a lecturer

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Labour demands David Cameron commit to TV debate with Ed Miliband

Will any of the General Election TV debates take place? Labour hopes they will, and today Douglas Alexander has written to Grant Shapps demanding that the Tories commit to doing the head-to-head debate with Ed Miliband, even if all the smaller parties are tying themselves up into fights over he seven-way debate. Alexander writes: ‘In the light of the previous comments from yourself and Mr Cameron, I am sure you will agree this is a “credible debate” and an excellent opportunity for the British people to watch the two leaders who stand a realistic chance of being Prime Minister after May 7. ‘I am happy to confirm on Mr Miliband’s

James Forsyth James Forsyth

The lobbyist’s web still threatens the reputation of MPs, parliament and politics

Allegations that Jack Straw and Malcolm Rifkind were involved in the latest ‘cash for access’ scandal is a reminder of the threat that lobbying poses to both the reputation of parliament and politics. In 2011, as Liam Fox was caught up in the Adam Werritty scandal, The Spectator examined how the lobbying industry works and how it threatens to skew our democracy: Old hands in Westminster are confident that they know what lies behind the Liam Fox-Adam Werritty relationship. With a knowing glint in their eye, they lean forward and whisper: ‘He’s a lobbyist.’ They’ve seen it all before, they say. It explains why Werritty thought it was worth spending tens

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Conservative party suspends whip from Sir Malcolm Rifkind

Even if the two MPs caught up in today’s sting, Jack Straw and Sir Malcolm Rifkind, are found to have done nothing wrong, their parties cannot be seen to be protecting them. Straw was suspended from the Parliamentary Labour Party last night and this morning Sir Malcolm Rifkind has had the Tory whip removed. Rifkind says he will not stand down as chair of the Intelligence and Security Committee unless the Committee calls for him to stand aside. It’s difficult to see how he can stay in the role while the investigation into his behaviour takes place. There will also be an immediate investigation carried out by the Tory party,

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

The ‘anti-politics’ bunch will benefit most from the ‘cash for access’ allegations

Naturally, the parties set to benefit the most from any allegations of impropriety against MPs are the ‘anti-politics’ bunch: Ukip, the Greens and the SNP. You can always when the Greens think there are some votes to be snaffled from Labour by how quickly they issue a press release condemning the latest policy or revelations that concern the party. Today Natalie Bennett said: ‘The influence of big business in politics is corrosive, and seems to run through the veins of the entire political establishment. That’s why we need real change now.’ Jack Straw was rather swiftly suspended from the Labour Party following the publication of the joint Telegraph/Channel 4 sting. Ed

Sebastian Payne

Mini Election: Tim Montgomerie on his plan to fix British conservatism

Is conservatism in Britain broken beyond repair? Tim Montgomerie thinks it’s time for a reformation on the right. In the latest Mini Election video, I speak to the Times columnist and founder of ConservateHome about his new project The Good Right, which sets out his proposals for reuniting and reinvigorating the conservative movement. Given that the Conservative Party hasn’t won a majority since 1992, Montgomerie says the party needs to delve into its history pre-1979 and remember that the state can sometimes deliver the best answers — house building for example. He also thinks there are some upsides to David Cameron’s efforts to modernise the party but the project was too focused on attracting Guardian readers instead of disaffected conservatives. Watch the video

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Tories and Labour to make pledges knowing they are bad policy

This week, the two main parties plan to make iconic pledges that they hope will appeal to their core vote, but that are pretty poor policy. David Cameron will today pledge to keep ‘pensioner perks’ – universal benefits for older voters such as the free bus pass and the winter fuel payment – while Labour expects to announce its new tuition fees policy. The only thing that gives the Tories any sense of moral high ground in this is that they have at least worked out how to fund their pledge, while Labour is still scrapping over the money for and detail of its plan to cut tuition fees. Why

Friday

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Ruth Davidson’s Blue-collar Conservatism subtly rebukes David Cameron

Today’s Scottish Conservative conference in Edinburgh proved unexpectedly interesting. No, really. Or, rather, yes, really. Or whatever. David Cameron spoke, you see, and so did Ruth Davidson and they said very different things. For important Prime Ministerial timetabling reasons (ie, he needed to get back to London) Cameron spoke first and thus, unusually, served as the warm-up guy. Which merely helped emphasise the difference between what the Prime Minister said and what the Scottish Tory leader had to say. Some of this was a question of substance.Cameron declared that the national question is “settled” whereas Davidson warned that “This isn’t over and it hasn’t gone away”. Only one of them