Politics

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

Friday

Peter Hoskin

Could Brown offer a referendum?

Here – thanks to Politics Home – is what Cameron has to say on the No camp’s victory in the Irish referendum: “The Treaty is now dead … It would be the height of arrogance for Gordon Brown to press ahead with the Treaty – if this is not dead, then we need a referendum in this country so we can put the final nail in the coffin.” He’s right, of course.  It would be the height of arrogance for Brown to press ahead with the Treaty.  And we do need a referendum in this country, as we always have done.  I suspect we’ll get the worst of all possible outcomes though – Brown will

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Barroso tries to come to terms with defeat and fails

Watching the BBC broadcast of Barroso’s press conference you realised how the EU just can not compute any result that does not go its way. Barroso said that he respected the Irish decision but then kept on insisting that the 27 EU members would have to find a way to ratify the treaty anyway. It really is quite comic. One wonders how many times the ideas embedded in the Lisbon Treaty will have to be rejected by the voters before the European elite finally gives up on trying to impose them on us. By my count, these ideas have already gone down to defeat three times—the referendums in France, Holland

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Let’s drink to the Irish

Eight decades ago, Britain gave Ireland back her sovereignty. Today, it seems the people of that glorious country have returned the favour. It’s too soon to know for sure if the “no” vote has prevailed, but all indications appear so. Yet again, the EU project has failed; unable to pass the tiniest bit of democracy from the European people. This tells you all you need to know about its true nature. There is something odious about a politicians’ project whose success depends on its ability to circumvent the people they purport to represent. For years their central deception has been encapsulated by the question: “do you want more powers to pass

Neil Obrien

Ireland votes no, now what’s next?

1) This was a vote against the Treaty, and against deeper EU integration This was indeed a vote against deeper integration.  The political class are already spinning that it was stuff about abortion, an unpopular government – all the same old claims.  But look at the polls and the top reasons for voting no – they are all perfectly reasonable.  Here is the list of the top reasons from the last Irish Times poll “Can you tell me why you have decided to vote no on the Lisbon Treaty?” 30% I don’t know what I’m voting for/ don’t understand it 24% To keep Ireland’s power and identity 22% To safeguard

The Spectator

Across the site

Don’t forget to check out the responses – from across Spectator.co.uk – to the events of the past few days. Both Stephen Pollard and Melanie Phillips are sceptical about David Davis’ actions.  Whilst Clive Davis remains in the “‘don’t know’ camp” on 42-day detention. Also, over on Trading Floor, Tim Worstall gives his thoughts on the No campaign’s victory in Ireland. And, if Kelvin Mackenzie does decide to stand against David Davis in Haltemprice & Howden, it won’t be the first time he’s run for political office.  He wrote an article for The Spectator on what motivated him to to stand in the recent local elections.  You can read it here. 

Ruth Dudley Edwards

Even the Eurocrats won’t be able to ignore this vote

I’ve just had a joyful phone call from Kevin Myers, one of the very few Irish journalists who was on the ‘No’ side.  I was fearing the Irish vote would just be ignored, but Kevin, rarely an optimist, convinced me that the Irish electorate won’t stand for being told – as in the case of their vote against Nice – to vote again and give the right answer; and the turn-out was so high that it legitimizes a very clear result.  What’s more, the Irish Taoiseach is not popular and times are hard, so riding roughshod over the voters is not an easy option. This is not a good time

Peter Hoskin

Put your questions to David Davis

The man of the moment – David Davis – has kindly agreed to a Q&A session with Coffee House.  So, post your questions for him in the comments sections below.  And, in a week-or-so’s time, we’ll pick out the best ten and put them to the former shadow home secretary.  He’ll get back to us all a few days later.  And the commenters whose questions are chosen will all win Coffee House t-shirts and copies of the special 180th Anniversary issue of The Spectator. Time to get posting…

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Brown tells Sarkozy that he’ll plough on with ratification regardless

Mark Mardell has just reported that Gordon Brown has phoned Nicolas Sarkozy and told him that he would continue with ratification even if the Irish vote no. One wonders what part of ‘no’ these people don’t understand. Brown is in a total pickle here. The Irish no is going to revive anger in this country about being denied the referendum that all three political parties promised us. Brown’s personal ratings are about to take another battering. Hat Tip: Open Europe 

Ruth Dudley Edwards

Ireland: Know hope

The counting started at 9.00 and the Nos are daring to hope as the famed Irish tallymen report many working class and rural areas voting against Lisbon.  As against that, the prosperous classes came out in force to vote Yes in smart areas of Dublin and leafy Kildare.  Turn-out is in the late 40s which can be argued to favour either side.  We might know by lunchtime.

James Forsyth James Forsyth

A Grieve set of issues

David Cameron wasted no time in appointing Dominic Grieve yesterday but it might be a case of act in haste, repent at leisure. I’m picking up considerable concern in Conservative circles about Grieve’s appointment for the following reasons. 1). It unbalances the front bench: If one thinks of the Tory front bench as a see-saw, David Davis and William Hague balanced out David Cameron and George Osborne. While Cameron and Osborne were young, southern, privileged, modernisers, David Davis and William Hague were more experienced, sat for northern seats, came from humble backgrounds and were perceived as traditional Tories. Replacing Davis with Grieve, a barrister who was educated at Westminster and

Peter Hoskin

David Davis: the morning view

A flick through the papers this morning just confirms the spilt between the political commentariat and the public over David Davis. Most of the headlines are of the negative – or, at least, mitigated – variety: “David Davis turns Labour tragedy into Labour farce” and “From from bruiser to loser”, for instance. Although Quentin Letts and Simon Heffer swim against that particular tide. For myself, I think there’s something sublime about Davis’ actions. They’re so far-removed from what we normally expect of politicians that it’s hard not to applaud. But it’s this quality that makes it difficult to offer further comment – when the unprecedented comes along, who knows what will happen next?

James Forsyth James Forsyth

David Davis throws down the gauntlet to Brown and the cabinet

David Davis’s Daily Telegraph piece makes clear that he will be running as a Conservative party candidate in the by-election, something about which there has been some confusion. He also presents Brown and his cabinet with this challenge: I will debate with any one of them – any time, anywhere – what Gordon Brown euphemistically referred to as the “next chapter of British liberty”. I suspect that Nick Wood is already booking a venue and that Team DD is preparing to ‘empty chair’ the government. One other thing worth noting is that Davis inadvertently makes clear that Dominic Grieve did get  too forward on his skis in his first set of

Thursday

Alex Massie Alex Massie

The Importance of Kicking Gordon

Defeat for Gordon Brown on 42 Days yesterday would have been catastrophic. But, as I suggested, victory hasn’t done him much good either. The Spectator samples press reaction: “Desperate Brown scrapes through” says the Guardian, quoting Dianne Abbott saying it was a “grubby bazaar”. Just how grubby is shown by the Daily Mail which names those concessions. “Winner or Loser?” asks The Independent’s front page and editorial argues for the latter (“A victory that only exposes Mr Brown’s weakness”). The Mirror’s spread says simply “Day of Shame”. The Times’ leader says simply “Westminster for Sale” saying this horse trading will only further lower the public’s opinion of British politics. All

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Responsibility, Duty, Decency

Mr Eugenides observes that for all the talk – much of it reasonable – that the Tories are soft on liberty and that we lbertarian-types should therefore vote for UKIP (no thanks!), UKIP’s only MP, Bob Spink, voted with the government on 42 Days. In the comments, Trixy, of Is There More to Life Than Shoes fame, says this was fine because he wasmerely reflecting the views of his constituents. Which means it’s time to give Edmund Burke’s famous 1774 speech in Bristol another airing… “Certainly, Gentlemen, it ought to be the happiness and glory of a Representative, to live in the strictest union, the closest correspondence, and the most

Alex Massie Alex Massie

The Fresh Winds of Principle

David Davis, the shadow Home Secretary, resigns his seat to fight a by-election on the principles of liberty and justice. A startling move, by any measure. And one worthy of respect. If he wins – and the Lib Dems have said they will not put up a candidate to oppose him – then, happily, he’ll make it harder for the Tories to succumb to their worst instincts and backslide on the repeal of 42 Days and other intrusive government legislation, once they return to power. UPDATE: New Shadow Home Secretary Dominic Grieve says the Tories will repeal 42 Days. Good. If Davis’s actions forced this clarification then that alone seems

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Is Davis the sanest man in the Westminster madhouse?

I am just out of doing BBC news interview, where they were discussing the public reaction to Davis. Eveyone in Westminster thinks Davis is mad, loopy, gone off on one, etc. But 95% of the comments to the BBC’s extensive listener and viewer response says this is a very welcome break from the tired identikit politics of Westminster. When I spoke to Davis this morning and asked him if he knew he’d be denounced as a madman, he said yes. But he said he genuinely believes in the cause,  and that he hopes the public would recognise this authenticity. It could just be that Davis is right, and the political

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Davis vs The Munsters

I hear it is now almost certain that Labour will definitely not put a candidate up against Davis, to deny him the battle he seeks. Logic is to make him look like a mad bloke in the pub touting for a fight at closing time. So it will be him, UKIP, BNP, monster raving loonies, the munsters etc. The broadcasters then wouldn’t be able to interview Davis if they didn’t then give equal platform to the weird and wacky minority parties. A bottle out from Brown, certainly. But one not without political rationale. P.S. Sadly for Labour, the BNP have just decided not to field a candidate. No word on

James Forsyth James Forsyth

What a way to start

It seems that Dominic Grieve has, as he did with grammar schools, forced a re-write of Tory policy. Last night, the Tory position was that they would almost certainly repeal the 42 days legislation but not that they would repeal it. That was still the position when David Cameron spoke to the press to announce that Grieve was the new shadow Home Secretary. But then in his first interview, the new man announced the Tories would definitely repeal it. There was no caveat about this being dependent on it being passed in its current form, no new evidence emerging or anything else. Just a definite commitment. There are three possible explanations for