Politics

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

Thursday

Ed West Ed West

Can we have some critical thinking in discussing Islam?

There are many disheartening aspects to the war on cartoonists, one of which is the way that some people are so caught up in their own culture war that they can’t see the difference between their opponents and enemies. A small number of anti-racism activists still see the power + prejudice formula in a way that misses the woods for the trees, but I’m mainly thinking of Catholics like Bill Donahue who are so obsessed with atheism they’ve lost all sense of proportion. More depressing, though, is the lack of critical thinking that greets discussion of Islam and violence. Take this article from the Daily Dot, for example: ‘Richard Dawkins

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

How can the Church keep earning its right to intervene in politics?

Given the political parties are already well underway with their General Election campaigns, the Church of England couldn’t have waited much later to dispense its advice on how to campaign and what to campaign about. In this week’s Spectator, the Archbishop of York gets on with handing out some of that advice, telling me that politicians are behaving like men arguing at a urinal over who is ‘the biggest of the men’ and explaining why he’s edited what appears to be a pretty lefty collection of essays called On Rock or Sand? Firm Foundations for Britain’s Future. You can read the full interview here. That book includes a chapter from

John Healey

How parliament is failing to hold the EU to account

Today MPs hold a short Commons debate on the proposed transatlantic trade and investment partnership – TTIP. As a pan-EU trade deal with the US it is being negotiated by the European Commission, with a mandate and direction from member state governments including our own. Despite the fierce extra-parliamentary debate the planned deal has provoked, this will be only the third time in the 18 months since negotiations started when there will be any debate at all in the House of Commons chamber. In total, the three debates will amount to less than one day’s full business on a binding treaty that could have wide-ranging effects on our national economy from

Sebastian Payne

Podcast: saving Islam from Islamists and the impact of the Greek elections in Britain

Is it time for Islam to confront Islamists? On this week’s Spectator podcast, Qanta Ahmed discusses in the wake of the attack of Charlie Hebdo why this might happen — as well as how Egypt is leading the way on reforming the religion. Douglas Murray also looks explains why Islam needs to confront the facts of its own history if the terror threat is to be tackled. Vincenzo Scarpetta and James Forsyth also look at the Greek elections on 25 January and the impact they could have on British politics. If the radical left party Syriza triumphs, could the general election in May take place against the backdrop of another a Eurozone crisis? Plus, Isabel Hardman discusses her interview with John Sentamu, the

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Why the Greek election could decide Britain’s next government

Before the eurozone crisis, Greek elections didn’t receive much attention in Westminster. At the moment, however, the polls from Athens are being studied by every politico from the Prime Minister down. How Greece votes on the 25 January could determine the result of our election. If anti-austerity Syriza triumphs, the eurozone crisis will move from a chronic phase into another acute one. For the second election in a row, the backdrop to a British poll and possible coalition negotiation would be talk of debt defaults and bank runs, as Athens struggles with the eurozone straitjacket. Syriza does not want Greece to leave the euro. But it does want the ‘fiscal

Martin Vander Weyer Martin Vander Weyer

The RMT’s Mick Cash and Tesco’s Dave Lewis win my prizes for media manipulation

Mixed results for the Brits at the Golden Globes, but I’m pleased to announce that my Golden Monkey Wrench for media manipulation goes to Mick Cash and his team at the Rail Maritime & Transport union, for securing wall-to-wall sympathetic coverage of the collapse of courier firm City Link — some 2,300 of whose workers learned on Christmas day that their jobs were doomed. It would be fair to say Mick had not made much impact as general secretary of RMT (give or take some pointless Tube strikes) since the death of his mighty predecessor Bob Crow last March, but he certainly grabbed the City Link story by the throat

Wednesday

Steerpike Steerpike

Could a Tory peer convince the USA to stomach imported haggis?

Tomorrow, parliament will debate a topic of immense significance. Steerpike hears that Tory peer Lord McColl is planning on championing a great repressed minority, in a land that claims to be free. Not so much a political hot potato, rather a hot sheep stomach stuffed with the animal’s heart, liver and lungs. Since 1971 haggis has been banned in the States, denying the 24 million Americans who claim to be of Scottish descent (with varying degrees of credibility), from celebrating Burns Night properly. Behind the scenes there has been a long lobbying campaign to have the ban overturned, aimed at Defra and the US Embassy, and spearheaded by Ranald Macdonald, owner of

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

The Tories are likely to ‘weaponise’ in the lead up to the election

David Cameron did, as James says, manage to avoid debating the rather more electorally damaging issue of the A&E crisis at Prime Minister’s Questions today because Ed Miliband chose to talk about the TV debates instead. But he still had a good opportunity to raise the Labour leader’s refusal to confirm or deny that he had said he wanted to ‘weaponise’ the NHS as an issue. When Labour’s Toby Perkins asked him whether he was ashamed of what happens when the Tories run the NHS, Cameron replied: ‘Now he quite rightly says it’s very important that we conduct this debate in a very good and civilised way. Now at the

Lloyd Evans Lloyd Evans

PMQs sketch: EU referendum, the Greens and A&E

Would he say no to saying no? The first question at PMQs, from Gregg McClymont, was about Cameron’s vote in the EU referendum, (if it ever happens). McClymont wants the PM to rule out ruling out Britain’s participation in the economic suicide pact based in Brussels. Nope, said Cameron. He went on to boast that ever since he floated his referendum theory, foreign firms have been swarming to our shores and setting up shop in Britain. We might export this solution to the Eurozone. Make the referendum EU-wide and the investment gods will squirt prosperity into every crack and cranny of this seized-up continent. In/out dominated Miliband’s questions too, as

Geoffrey Alderman

Here’s how politicians can convince British Jews that they have a future in the UK

A recent study has suggested that over half of Britain’s Jews feel they have no future in the UK. At first glance this might seem outrageous, indeed incredible. Arguably (one might say) we Jews are the most successfully integrated of all the UK’s ethnic minorities.  A miniscule set of communities – comprising in total 0.5 per cent of the UK’s total population –  British Jewry punches well above its weight in all walks of life: the learned professions; the arts; the entertainment industries; academia; big and not so big business; even politics. Of course (you might retort) Jews have a future in the UK! A more pertinent question might be to

The Spectator

Cameron’s reaction to the Charlie Hebdo attacks has been depressingly predictable

Last Sunday, David Cameron marched through Paris in solidarity, so it seemed, with those who stand up for free speech. Anyone who thought he meant it must now be crying out, ‘Je suis un right Charlie!’ Hardly had the march finished than the Prime Minister had rediscovered his other side: the one which reacts to terror by threatening yet more surveillance, more state control. He has promised to revive, in the Conservative manifesto, the ‘-snooper’s charter’ which would allow the state to retain indefinitely information about every email we ever send, every telephone call we ever make. Not only that. He added a further measure: he wants to ban all

Sebastian Payne

Al Murray standing against Nigel Farage in South Thanet

Nigel Farage will now have to compete for space at the bar with comedian Al Murray, who has announced he will stand for Parliament in South Thanet, as The Pub Landlord for the Free United Kingdom Party. FUKP’s manifesto contains many ‘common sense policies’ similar to those we’ve heard before from the Pub Landlord. Here’s how he will offer the voters of South Thanet a bold alternative to the mainstream (and alternative) political parties: The pound in your pocket: The pound will be revalued at one pound 10p, so it will now be worth 10p more. Common sense. The NHS: If you come to A&E and it’s neither an accident nor an emergency then you will be

James Forsyth James Forsyth

The debate about TV debates dominated today’s PMQs

PMQs today was dominated by the debate about debates. After a few statesmanlike questions about the aftermath of the Paris terrorist attacks, Miliband started to needle Cameron about his reluctance to take part in TV debates while Labour MPs made chicken noises. Cameron claimed that he was happy to take part in TV debates as long as the Greens were included and accused Labour of being ‘chicken when it comes to the Greens’; he seemed to back one 5-way debate and one head to head between him and Miliband. Downing Street believes this to be a perfectly defensible position but Cameron is taking a risk by setting it out so

Steerpike Steerpike

Neil Parish MP: In defence of ‘Red Meat Month’

Dear Peta, Thank you for your recent letter objecting to my campaign to support British livestock farming and encouraging sustainable red meat industry. I read with interest your argument that consuming red meat is ‘out of touch’ and ‘irresponsible’. I am sure the millions of ordinary Britons who have enjoyed roast beef or a shepherd’s pie will be surprised to learn that they are ‘out of touch’ and with good reason. The House of Commons recently organised a ‘World Vegan Month’ for restaurants on the estate to promote veganism. There is a World Vegan Month, World Vegan Day and National Vegetarian Week but nothing to promote responsible, sustainable produced red

Steerpike Steerpike

Food fight in Parliament: Forks clash over ‘Red Meat Month’

Trouble is brewing in Parliament. First there was vegan month, which rattled the cages of the establishment’s red-blooded males, and now a proposal for a meat month has led to beef between a Tory MP and Peta. The animal rights group have asked Neil Parish, who is chair of the All-Parliamentary Group on Animal Welfare, to reconsider his proposal for the carnivorous celebration, claiming the idea is ‘grossly irresponsible’. Not put off by the hostile reception, Parish is pushing on with his plans for a ‘Red Meat Month,’ arguing it’s only fair Parliament’s restaurants celebrate British meat in the same way they have embraced the green stuff of late. In an open letter sent to Steerpike, Parish has responded to

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Sign up to TV debates or we’ll go ahead without you, leaders warn Cameron

Labour, the Lib Dems and Ukip are having quite a bit of fun with their identical letters from their respective leaders demanding that David Cameron take part in the TV debates – or risk having something done to him that is even worse than a noun being turned into a verb (the latest threat is that he will be ‘empty-podiumed’, which sounds considerably more unpleasant than being ‘empty-chaired’ and possibly as bad as someone ‘weaponising’ something). As for why David Cameron doesn’t want the debates to go ahead, Daniel Finkelstein has a revealing piece in today’s Times in which he says the Tories forgot about Nick Clegg when they signed up

Tuesday

James Forsyth James Forsyth

‘Boring is good’ Cameron tells Tory MPs

David Cameron and George Osborne addressed Tory MPs this evening. The meeting was to update the Tory parliamentary party on the economy and its place in the party’s election strategy. Cameron told them that whatever the question was, the answer was that you can only have it with a strong economy and urged them to repeat this message as much as possible. He said, ‘Boring is good’. Addressing the assembled MPs, Osborne emphasised that the economy was the heart of this debate. He argued that this was first time since 1992 that Labour and the Tories had gone into an election with different spending planes. Most of the questions were

Steerpike Steerpike

No dry January for the BBC’s finest

It was no expenses spared last night at One Great George Street to toast the departure of long-time Andrew Marr Show editor Barney Jones. Most ‘leaving dos’ in journalism involve a few beers down the Dog and Duck but Aunty was an extremely kind benefactor, providing fine wines and canapés as well as music from Nick Lowe across three of the most expensive function rooms in Westminster. Three cheers for the licence fee! Ed Miliband and George Osborne were there, alongside half the cabinet including Danny Alexander and Michael Fallon. Andrew Mitchell and David Davis plotted in the corner while Harriet Harman and Peter Hain represented Labour. Even Norman Tebbit made

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Did Richard Curtis script today’s showdown between Osborne and Balls?

Even though they ended up walking through the lobbies together (though not hand in hand, skipping, sadly), Ed Balls and George Osborne still managed to have the sort of Commons showdown that would fit right in to the script of Bridget Jones. On and on their furious fighting went, over whether the long-term economic plan was working, over whether Labour had a long-term economic plan, over whether Britain would get its AAA credit rating back, over whether Balls would borrow more and whether Osborne was cutting the deficit slower than he’d intended. On and on and on. Both looked as though they were enjoying tearing chunks out of one another