Politics

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

Friday

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

David Cameron’s contradictory EU stance

Of all the talks he will have with European leaders about his plans to renegotiate Britain’s relationship with Europe, David Cameron was always likely to enjoy his meeting with Angela Merkel the most. And she doesn’t seem to have disappointed him, saying treaty change was not ‘impossible’ and that ‘we would like to be a part of the process that is going on in Great Britain at the moment and we would like to be a constructive partner in this process’. This is very encouraging for Cameron, though the feeling in Europe generally is still that treaty change is too hard or inconvenient. Which is why Number 10’s insistence on

Steerpike Steerpike

Did the New Statesman censor its censorship issue?

This week’s New Statesman, guest-edited by Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer, is titled ‘Saying the unsayable’. It promises to ‘address the ideas of censorship, taboos, offence and free speech’. The magazine has Stephen Fry revealing two opinions that will get him in ‘trouble’, as well as Rowan Williams writing on ‘Why religion needs blasphemy’. It was also supposed to have cover art penned by the American cartoonist Art Spiegelman, with the magazine even running a teaser of the artwork earlier this week on their website. Alas this article has now been taken down, and the cover image of the magazine changed to a photo of guest editors Palmer and Gaiman. Now, Spiegelman has accused the magazine of censoring him.

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Alex Salmond knows all about the art of politics

‘The art of politics is not to lie,’ claimed Alex Salmond on last night’s This Week. A noble sentiment for sure, but Mr S feels it’s his duty to remind readers of a story that broke in October 2013. The Telegraph reported that ‘Alex Salmond spent almost £20,000 of taxpayers’ money to keep secret legal advice about an independent Scotland’s EU status that never even existed’. Although Salmond suggested in a television interview that he had received advice from Scottish Government law officers on the matter, it later transpired that ‘no specific legal advice’ existed. Shall we just leave it at that?

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Coffee Shots: Suzanne Evans, Ukip leader 8th – 11th May 2015

After Nigel Farage resigned as the leader of Ukip following his South Thanet defeat, he appointed Suzanne Evans as the party’s temporary leader. However, this appointment turned out to be fleeting, with Farage ‘unresigning’ days later. Happily, Evans got a chance to relive her glory days when she appeared on BBC’s This Week. The producers appeared to have some fun with her on-air description, billing her as ‘Former Ukip leader, 8th – 11th May 2015’. Given that she recently stepped down as the party’s policy chief following divisions in Ukip over Farage’s ‘unresignation’, Mr S wonders whether Evans might continue to use the BBC’s description for future interviews.

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Ben Harris-Quinney suspended from Conservative party

Earlier this month Ben Harris-Quinney stepped down as the chairman of the Bow Group, following internal frictions over the Conservative think tank’s partial Ukip endorsement ahead of the election. Now Harris-Quinney, who was elected as a Tory councillor earlier this month, has been suspended from the Conservative Party. In an email circulated to staff, a Conservative spokesman reveals the suspension is pending an investigation into the circumstances in which he joined the party ahead of running as a council candidate: ‘Ben Harris-Quinney has been suspended from the Party with immediate effect pending an urgent investigation by the Disciplinary Committee on behalf of the Board. The investigation will also cover the circumstances in which he was able

Alex Massie Alex Massie

The SNP is a party happy to pursue the wrong policies ‘for the right reasons’

Of course, as the SNP keep reminding us, this year’s general election had nothing to do with advancing the case for independence. Besides, please, you must remember there’s much more to the party than its thirst for national liberation. Any suggestion to the contrary is quite deplorable. Which is fine, I suppose, as far as these things go. Unfortunately these things do not go very far. If you doubt this, ask yourself this question: would the SNP advocate, far less pursue, any policy it thought likely to hinder the drive towards independence? Helpfully – for us, if not for the party leadership – this question was answered by Kenny MacAskill earlier this week.

Sebastian Payne

The Europhiles need to act soon — or lose momentum to the sceptics

Who will speak up for Britain’s relationship with Europe? Even those abroad have noticed that the recent talk from the government and pressure groups has all been tinged with Euroscepticism. During David Cameron’s visit to France yesterday, the French foreign minister Laurent Fabius said he was unhappy with this attitude: ‘I find this process quite dangerous … The British population has got used to being repeatedly told: ‘Europe is a bad thing’, and the day they are asked to decide, the risk is that they will say well you told us: ‘Europe is a bad thing’.” Fabius went on to use a football analogy to describe Britain’s behaviour: ‘One can’t join a football club and

Sebastian Payne

Andy Burnham’s barmy online army

Andy Burnham’s campaign has ensured he remains the current favourite to be the next Labour leader. Part of his nascent leadership campaign is an online army of fans who are promoting his cause and attacking his opponents. Twitter and Facebook are going to be key battlegrounds for each of the contenders — offering an easy way to spread a message without the filter of the media. Naturally, Burnham’s campaign has an official Twitter account: @Andy4Leader. As far as I can see, this is the only official account associated with Burnham’s campaign. The account has 1,421 and mostly retweets favourable news from others about Burnham. On May 13, it posted this

The Spectator

The Spectator at war: Who governs Britain?

From ‘Government by Newspaper’, The Spectator, 29 May 1915: WE went to press last week too early to comment upon the outrageous attack made by the Daily Mail upon Lord Kitchener. In condemning Lord Northcliffe for his action in this matter we find it difficult to show that restraint and moderation of language which the gravity of the situation demands. Though, in our opinion, the importance of the whole incident and the power of Lord Northcliffe to injure the Secretary for War or anybody else have been very much exaggerated, the attack deserves, and must receive, the severest reprobation. But while the Daily Mail thoroughly deserves all that has been

Thursday

Peter Jones

The northern powerhouses of ancient Turkey

Government claims that it will ‘free’ northern cities to turn themselves into ‘powerhouses’. Since most of them are held by Labour, this is obviously nonsense. The tedious tribal backbiting and recriminations will continue as usual. There is a better way. When Alexander the Great died in Babylon in 323 bc, the Greek generals he had left in charge of his vast empire all began scrapping to become the next Alexander. Eventually they gave up, leaving three main power blocs: Greece, Egypt and Asia. It is the relationship between Antiochus III, the ‘great’ king of Asia (242–187 bc), and the fractious, freedom-loving Greeks living in western Turkey, that provides a model for how things might be

The Spectator

Redefining aid

In this week’s Queen’s Speech, the government promised as usual to cut red tape for businesses. But David Cameron is remarkable in his enthusiasm for simultaneously wrapping his own government in red tape. He has proposed a law to prevent the Chancellor raising rates of income tax, and in one of the last acts of the coalition he pushed through a law which commits British governments for ever after to spent at least 0.7 per cent of Gross National Income (GNI) on international aid. There is little chance of the Prime Minister failing to meet his self-imposed spending target. Civil servants at the Department for International Development (DfiD) have proved

Damian Mcbride

George Galloway could be London’s Nicola Sturgeon

When you tell people you work in or around politics, and if you can break through the initial contempt or boredom, one type of question tends ‎to surface first: ‘what is so-and-so really like?’ There are three answers to that question, only one of them good: ‘They’re exactly how they come across on telly‘, which — unless you’re the likes of Boris Johnson or William Hague — is usually not a compliment. It tends to mean the individual is the kind of wooden, humourless, unthinking, battery hen politician that makes the public yawn, scream or both; ‘They’re a total (uncomplimentary word)’. That word might refer to their private behaviour towards

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Labour could U-turn on the benefit cap

The most striking aspect of Labour’s response to the Queen’s Speech yesterday was that it is ‘sympathetic’ to the Tory plan to lower the £26,000 benefit cap for workless households to £23,000. This is a policy position that Harriet Harman developed after some discussion with the rest of the party as she prepared to respond to the Speech. The party is well aware that it struggled to respond well to the introduction of that cap in 2010, and that given it ended up being one of the most popular policies pollsters have ever touched, it can’t make the same mistake again. But what’s interesting is that not all leadership candidates

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

George Galloway’s presence will spice up the London mayoral campaign

George Galloway’s announcement on Twitter this afternoon that he is standing for London Mayor hasn’t surprised many, given he suggested he would do so before he even lost his seat as Respect MP for Bradford West. But it is still significant because it means that there will now be a fierce left-wing force splitting the Labour vote in London, even though the party does have an impressive line-up of big names bidding for the candidacy. One thing is clear: Galloway won’t make the campaign any more boring. He is a magnificent orator, and easily recognisable, too, which helps in any contest, but especially in a London fight that follows Boris

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Will Cameron’s renegotiation efforts be boosted by the Out campaign’s troubles?

David Cameron is in Holland and France today trying to pave the way for the renegotiation of the terms of Britain’s EU membership. Number 10 believe that now the referendum is definitely happening, the bill for it was published today, they can get other countries to engage with Cameron’s concerns. As I say in the column this week, Cameron’s renegotiation strategy has become clearer in recent weeks. Rather than trying to address every concern about EU membership, he is – as one Cabinet Minister told me – going to ‘focus on three or four big things and make a really big push on them.’ The fact that Iain Duncan Smith

Martin Bright

Tony Blair has long been an irrelevance in the Middle East peace process

Following months of speculation, Tony Blair has finally announced he is standing down as the Quartet Representative to the Middle East after eight years in the post. It is tempting to ask whether anyone will notice. His time in the job has been marked by a stagnation of the Peace Process, a hardening of the position of increasingly belligerent Israeli governments and a growing distrust among the Palestinians. Tony Blair himself had long become an irrelevance in negotiations. The truth is that Blair was hamstrung from the moment he took the job (immediately after he stood down as Prime Minister in 2007). He was never a ‘Peace Envoy’, although there was

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Alex Salmond insists on Nats dining separately from hacks

The Kennington Tandoori is a favourite late-night eatery for MPs of all persuasions. Last night was no exception, with Tom Watson spotted planning his bid for deputy leader of Labour over curry and beers, and the SNP’s foreign affairs spokesman Alex Salmond seen enjoying poppadoms with a gaggle of Nats. But word reaches Mr S that all was not well with the restaurant’s seating plan. When the SNP gang arrived, they were somewhat unsettled to find that seated next to their table was a group of  journalists, who were also settling down for a curry. After some furtive glances across the restaurant, the hungry hacks were eventually moved to another table, to ensure they couldn’t listen in on the Scottish Nationalists’

Daniel Jackson

The Stalinist logic behind the SNP’s approach to education

Early in the campaign for Scottish independence the SNP commissioned a party political broadcast called Two Futures. It told the story of Kirsty, a baby due to be born on polling day. ‘What kind of country will I grow up in?’ she asks in a childish falsetto. One vision of the future is full of colour and gap-toothed smiles, with children skipping and laughing on their way to school. A nuclear family sit around the breakfast table in a sun-kissed kitchen eating fruit (this scene acts as a useful reminder that the broadcast is set firmly in the realm of fantasy). The alternative is a future in which Scotland votes

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Mary Portas’ awkward train encounter with Ed Balls

When the Conservatives won a surprise majority in the election, many businesses breathed a collective sigh of relief that the two Eds would not have a chance to implement their ‘anti-business’ policies. Retail expert Mary Portas appeared to express her own personal relief when she appeared at Hay this week to discuss her memoir. Portas, who was appointed by David Cameron to head a review into Britain’s high streets, recalled an awkward encounter she had with Ed Balls on a train: ‘I saw Ed Balls on the train once and he was so pleased that he’d negotiated a mammogram centre in an Asda in his constituency. I thought ‘quelle horreur’. Can you imagine getting your boobs out after

Sebastian Payne

Podcast: defeating Isis, the Queen’s speech and Cameron’s EU negotiations

Defeating Isis is a task that neither America nor Britain are particularly keen to take on. In this week’s View from 22 podcast, Andrew Bacevich and Douglas Murray discuss what Western countries can realistically do to take on the group and which countries America and Britain should work with. Should Iran be considered a potential partner? And even if America was more keen to take action, would it be successful? Isabel Hardman and James Forsyth also discuss this year’s Queen’s Speech and the government’s legislative agenda for the next year. Was it a very Tory speech, or does it show that David Cameron is sticking to the centre ground? Does the absence of a British Bill of Rights show that Cameron is conscious