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Politics

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

Wednesday

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Nigel Farage reinforces David Cameron’s own anti-Ukip squeeze message

Nigel Farage has talked in the past about his readiness to prop up a Labour minority government – he gave an interview to the Sunday People in October in which he said the Labour leader would just have to offer a referendum and a deal would be possible. But the fact that he has repeated it to the New Statesman this week is hardly helpful when his party is going head to head with the Tories in Rochester. His comments to Jason Cowley help David Cameron’s squeeze message, which is that if you vote Ukip, you get Miliband. Ukip are trying to sound as though they don’t care that this

James Forsyth James Forsyth

You can vote against the government and keep your Number 10 job

On Monday night, a member of the Number 10 Policy Board, Peter Lilley, voted against the government. Now, in the past, it has been made clear to the MPs on the board that if they defied the whip they would have to resign or be sacked. But despite this, Lilley is staying in place. Number 10 clearly doesn’t feel in a position to pick a fight over the European Arrest Warrant. Now, you can make a case that Lilley should be treated differently from the rest of the Policy Board. The rest of the Board is made up of new MPs, Lilley—by contrast—is a distinguished former Cabinet Minister. One can

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

How can Labour overcome Ed Miliband’s poor appeal to voters?

How do Labour campaigners overcome the Ed Miliband problem on the doorstep? Today’s Standard poll finds just 13 per cent of voters think he is ready to be Prime Minister, down from 22 per cent in June. MPs, candidates and activists have noticed a hardening in voters’ attitudes towards the Labour leader. One says: ‘Voters have gone from thinking “I’m not sure about this guy” to “I’ve made up my mind about this guy and I’m not going to vote for him”.’ But the candidate standing before them on the doorstep needs to work out how to persuade that voter to back them. So what do they do? One says

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Tories three points ahead of Labour in new poll

The Tories have pulled ahead of Labour in a new poll in today’s Evening Standard. The Ipsos Mori poll puts David Cameron’s party three points ahead of Labour, at 32, and Labour down four points to 29. The Lib Dems are on 9 and Ukip 14. This poll is just one poll, Labour will say, as it tries to stop more panic breaking out ahead of Miliband’s speech tomorrow. But it is a bad poll, the worst poll for Labour so far. The Labour leader does need to reassure his party that going neck-and-neck and sometimes behind the Tories is not a symptom of Labour’s weaknesses but a feature of

Nick Cohen Nick Cohen

Ukip’s puppet David Cameron cuts a pathetic figure

Well this is a pleasant surprise. After all the years of indifference, David Cameron has condescended to notice us. Not just notice us but want us too. His come-hither smiles and fluttering eyelashes are enough to bring a blush to the cheek. Faced with losing yet another by-election, the Prime Minister is telling  Labour and Liberal Democrat voters that they (we) should vote Conservative to stop Ukip in Rochester and – presumably – in every seat in Britain where Ukip is a contender come May. OK, I can hear my friends and comrades asking: what’s the deal? What do we get in return for calming our heaving stomachs and handing

Tuesday

Steerpike Steerpike

What has the killjoy Speaker got against oysters and champagne?

In his campaign to make every single member of the Conservative benches want to throttle him, the Speaker launched a bizarre broadside against Winston Churchill’s grandson Sir Nicholas Soames on Monday. Hansard reports the moment as such: Sir Nicholas Soames (Mid Sussex) (Con): Is my hon. Friend aware of the serial bad behaviour by the Co-op in my constituency and others in the south, where it is taking over pubs and converting them into shops, often on very unsatisfactory sites? The Ship Inn in Cuckfield in my constituency is uniquely badly placed to serve as a Co-op. Will he look at what he can do to review the article 4

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

School children excited to see David Cameron in Rochester (and TV cameras)

I spent an hour today following David Cameron around a school in Rochester as part of his latest campaign visit in the by-election. The school, Strood Academy, was candidate Kelly Tolhurst’s alma mater, and has the benefit of being in a snazzy building, which looks nice for photos. The children in the school were obviously thrilled that the Prime Minister was there: they didn’t know until he appeared on the premises and as he walked into a citizenship class, all the students’ eyes widened with surprise. He was mobbed as he walked through the building, with children turning to each other shouting ‘I shook his hand! I’ve got to tell

Sebastian Payne

Ukip now 12pts ahead of Tories in Rochester and Strood, but what about next year?

Ukip is still on track to pound the Tories into second place in the Rochester and Strood by-election, but not necessarily at next year’s general election, according to a new poll from Lord Ashcroft. The latest polling (see chart above) puts Tory defector Mark Reckless on 44 percent, the Conservatives on 32 percent, Labour on 17 percent and the Lib Dems on 2 percent. Although Reckless looks set to win back the seat he once held as a Conservative next Thursday, this doesn’t mean the same will happen at the general election. According to Ashcroft’s poll, 36 percent of those who named a preference said they would vote Conservative in 2015 — up four points from

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Does anyone actually want to win the next election?

A battle lost is worse than a battle won and there are fewer Pyrrhic victories in politics than you think. One of the staples of pre-election punditry, however, is that someone will always pipe up with the suggestion This is a Good Election to Lose. It is almost always bunk. Not least because, with the notable exception of the Liberal Democrats, major political parties are in the business of acquiring, then exercising, power. Shorn of that they lose their point. So there’s that. Nevertheless if you suspect there might be a but lurking a couple of lines in the future your premonition would, in this instance, be correct. But this might actually be

Steerpike Steerpike

Cameron causes chaos at City supper

Much harrumphing reaches Mr Steerpike today from the City of London. At last night’s Lord’s Mayor Banquet — the annual knees up at Mansion House to welcome the new Lord Mayor — the Prime Minister caused absolute chaos with his demands to exit in time to vote in the Commons. The Loyal Toast and speeches were moved to before dinner — breaking centuries of tradition — in order to allow the PM to slip out and traipse through the lobby in his full white tie regalia. ‘It was very strange,’ said one man in tights. ‘We had the Loyal Toast before grace, then the toast to the Lord Mayor before

Rod Liddle Rod Liddle

I’ve just seen the Rochester candidates’ debate. Sheesh. Poor Rochester

So – the Rochester and Strood by-election next Thursday. Who will win? I’ve been there a few times recently and my guess, from a feeling in my water, is that it will be Ukip by about ten thou. Good, I suppose. That will shake them all up a bit more, no? Last night, I watched the main candidates in debate on a BBC Newsroom South East (or whatever it’s called) special programme hosted with some acuity by Polly Evans, in front of the most left wing audience the BBC could cobble together at short notice. Christ help us, what a shower. The best, by a million miles, was Labour’s Naushabah Khan

Monday

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Government wins European Arrest Warrant ‘vote’

So Labour lost its vote delaying the vote on the European Arrest Warrant that wasn’t technically a vote on that measure anyway. The first vote, that the question not be put today so that Parliament could have a full debate and vote another day, was lost, with 272 MPs voting ‘no’ with the government and 229 voting with Labour. There had been a big debate on the Tory backbenches about the best tactic, with MPs angry about the government’s behaviour split over whether to vote with Labour or abstain. This meant that Labour lost the vote. Yvette Cooper then confirmed that her party would support the government on the measures,

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Uproar in the Commons: the story so far

This is an extract from tonight’s Evening Blend email, a free summary of the day’s political developments from the Spectator team. To subscribe, click here. And to read the email in full, click here. Thanks to Theresa May’s hard work, tonight’s vote on the European Arrest Warrant was looking to be a reasonably downbeat affair, with around 30 Tory rebels expected and the package of justice and home affairs opt-ins due to pass on the strength of government payroll and Labour votes. But things escalated rather quickly once MPs were inside the Chamber. All weekend there had been confusion about whether the vote on the European Arrest Warrant was indeed

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Government wins crunch vote on European Arrest Warrant by NINE VOTES

The government has just won the vote extending the debate on the justice and home affairs opt-outs by just nine votes – 251 ayes to 242 noes. This means that MPs have approved the motion for the debate to continue to 10pm, which rebels and Labour had turned against because the Speaker had said that this was not a vote on the European Arrest Warrant. Theresa May is insistent, though, that this is a vote on the matter. Such a narrow win is clearly a relief for ministers  – and many of them had been hauled into the Commons early by panicked whips who suddenly realised they were facing a

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Commons uproar: European arrest warrant debate in a ‘total mess’

The government is in a total mess this afternoon. The whole house of Commons has turned on Theresa May and Chris Grayling for the way they have handled the vote on the European arrest warrant. MP after MP is calling, via points of order, for the motion to be withdrawn. The whips are in frantic conversation. Update, 17.26  May is now speaking and she appears to be sticking to her line. I hear that whips are trying to get all of the payroll vote ready to support the business motion that the house will vote on, as there are fears that the government will lose it.

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Net migration target becomes an ‘aim’ or ‘objective’

When is a target not a target? Theresa May seems quite keen for us to think that Tory pledge to bring migration down to the tens of thousands was a ‘comment’ or an ‘aim’, now that it doesn’t look as though that’s going to be possible in time for the election. Today Number 10 did insist that there had been no change in the target, but also refused to call it a ‘promise’. The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: ‘There’s no change. That remains the objective towards which the Prime Minister and others are working… It has always been the objective. There’s been no change, the tens of thousands by

Steerpike Steerpike

Labour hedge bets on PR firm

The Labour Party has asked the mad men over at Lucky Generals to work with them at the next general election, according to Campaign magazine. Seasoned watchers of this sort of thing will recall that Lucky Generals created Labour’s car-crash party political broadcast featuring a shrinking Nick Clegg (above). Despite a well rounded and widespread panning of the advert, the agency boasts about it on their website. ‘The film was the most talked-about political broadcast of recent times,’ they claim. Yes, but for all the wrong reasons. Mr S also wonders how Lucky General’s work for bookies Paddy Power will sit with the Labour team. Miliband has promised to clamp

Steerpike Steerpike

Nick Clegg sweats it out on court against Cameron’s crony

On Friday, Mr S boarded the Thames cruiser the Silver Sturgeon to join TV presenter and former tennis pro Andrew Castle in welcoming heavy hitters Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray back to London for the ATP World Finals. But for Castle, it was a less experienced tennis player who was weighing on the former British No.1’s mind. ‘I played a charity match with Nick Clegg last month,’ the presenter, who regularly puts his old chum David Cameron through his paces on court, sighed during the Moët & Chandon Thames river cruise. Although Nick Clegg had previously described the match as ‘great, great fun,’ Castle confided to Steerpike that relations between

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

European Arrest Warrant vote mired in confusion

The government’s vote on the European Arrest Warrant this evening is becoming rather confused. The motion does not include a mention of the warrant itself, which ministers had hoped would have a psychological effect on MPs considering how to vote, as the division would not be solely about the most contentious measure. The motion is as follows: ‘That the draft Criminal Justice and Data Protection (Protocol No. 36) Regulations 2014, which were laid before this House on 3 November, be approved.’ The chairmen of three select committees last week described the voting arrangements for this evening. Keith Vaz, Home Affairs Select Committee chair, Bill Cash, chair of the European Scrutiny

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

May cautious on net migration target

Judging by how happy she is to talk about the case for remaining within it, Theresa isn’t expecting a big rebellion on the European Arrest Warrant later today. She may have driven down some of the numbers by not talking about the measure in the motion that’s before the Commons, but really it’s a combination of her behind the scenes talks with MPs to persuade them she has secured reform and a desire on the part of backbenchers not to make the story about Tory revolts when things are going so badly for Labour that’s swung it. There is, as ever, internal Conservative grumbling that the rebel whips haven’t been