Politics Archives

Monday

21 Nov 2022

Is the government trying to soften Brexit?

13 min listen

Over the weekend, government briefings that they will be looking towards a Swiss-style arrangement with the EU reignited the Brexit rows. Dormant Brexiteers like Nigel Farage and the European Research Group resurfaced, making it clear that they would not accept a so-called ‘Chequers 2.0’. On the record, the government has been keen to reject this briefing. So what really happened? Katy Balls speaks to Fraser Nelson and James Forsyth. Produced by Cindy Yu.

Patrick O’Flynn

A Swiss-style Brexit would delight Nigel Farage

Someone near the top of government – let us give him the random alias Heremy Junt – is stoking the idea that post-Brexit trading arrangements with the EU constitute a disastrous impediment to UK economic growth. Heremy himself, or perhaps an authorised senior aide, has just briefed the Sunday Times that the way ahead could be to dump Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal and replace it with a ‘Swiss-style’ arrangement with Brussels. Switzerland pays an annual fee to the European Commission in return for single market access almost identical to that enjoyed by EU member states. It also accepts the single market regulatory framework, including a decisive role for the European

Ross Clark

Why does Rishi Sunak sound so desperate?

A year ago Boris Johnson lost his place in his speech to the CBI annual conference. He started blathering on about Peppa Pig World, after having treated young Wilfred to a day out there the day before. It was excruciating, but at least it was fun. It is hard to say the same about Rishi Sunak’s address to the CBI this morning. The CBI ought to be a natural habitat for Sunak, yet he didn’t seem entirely comfortable. His voice seemed a tone higher than normal, so his usual enthusiasm sounded something more like a desperate appeal. He wanted us to know that innovation is a good thing which improves

Steerpike

Will beefy Botham get bowled out?

Much was made of Ian ‘beefy’ Botham’s ennoblement in 2020. The hero of Headingley was the headline announcement of the 36 new peers created in Boris Johnson’s dissolution honours’ list; a year later he received another bauble as a UK trade ambassador to Australia. The then Trade Secretary Liz Truss claimed he would ‘bat for business down under’, with the cricketer subsequently undertaking a nationwide tour Down Under in June this year. Botham’s Brexit-backing credentials have earned him fans in government but that enthusiasm isn’t shared by all in the Upper House. Given his many sporting and philanthropic commitments, it’s perhaps no surprise that the cricketing icon hasn’t turned out much

Wolfgang Münchau

The Swiss-style Brexit delusion

Rotation is the clearest sign of intellectual muddle. When Britain left the EU, some leave supporters thought they could negotiate a bespoke agreement that would give them all the benefits of membership but none of the obligations. Then it was the Swiss model. Remember Chequers? It was the beginning of the end of Theresa May. The deal she finally negotiated would have kept the UK in the single market and the customs union for several years. The deal that was finally adopted comes under the moniker of Canada: a classic free trade deal. Now the government is contemplating a rotation back to the Swiss model. After a predictable outcry following the

Robert Tombs

Fifa’s president has exposed the trouble with ‘decoloniality’

I laughed aloud when I heard Gianni Infantino, president of Fifa, identifying himself sanctimoniously with a whole list of disadvantaged people because he too was a victim: he was teased at school for having ginger hair. I had teenage spots, so can I claim unique insight into the sufferings of the Uighurs? That some of those he listed owed their disadvantage to Qatar and its Fifa partner – exploited migrant workers, notably, and gay fans – seemed not to disturb his tranquil assumption of the moral high ground. In its rambling incoherence, shameless narcissism and bare-faced hypocrisy, his speech put its finger on some of the key absurdities of what passes for

Sam Leith

Elon Musk, Donald Trump and the trouble with free speech

The Cursed Ratio strikes again. Twitter users have voted 52-48 in favour of Elon Musk allowing the return of Donald Trump to the website, causing the gnashing of a great many progressive teeth in the airless no-space of the internet. The kicker to this is that – psych! – the former president almost immediately announced that he had no interest in returning to the site in any case. A pyrrhic victory, then, for Little Elon in his Struggle Against the Eunuchs, but still. I’m no fan of Trump myself. I’d love to see him doing a sullen perp-walk in an orange jumpsuit, and I dearly hope one day to witness such a thing. But it strikes me that having him back

James Snell

Should Iran be allowed at the World Cup?

As England’s football team prepare to face Iran in the first match of their World Cup campaign, the backdrop is already miserable. Football’s most prestigious tournament is taking place in the wrong season in a deplorable state where workers have died in the construction of stadiums. To make matters worse, the Three Lions’ first opponents are in the midst of a brutal crackdown back home on those who have dared speak out in opposition. Hundreds have died; thousands more have been locked up. Russia, of course, was booted out of the tournament months ago following its invasion of Ukraine. As Iran’s leaders intensify their repression on the streets of Tehran,

Sunday

20 Nov 2022

Matthew Taylor

Sunday shows round-up: Health secretary defends A&E waiting times

As expected, the government’s Autumn Statement has not exactly been putting smiles on peoples’ faces. However, the NHS has been one of the few public services to see more cash being diverted its way. Social care spending is also being increased, but the plans to place a cap on the amount of money that individuals would pay towards their care costs have been delayed for another two years. Laura Kuenssberg spoke to the Health and Social Care Secretary Steve Barclay, and asked him whether the Dilnot proposals were ever likely to see the light of day: Collapsing A&E targets Kuenssberg also challenged Barclay over the state of waiting times in

Sam Ashworth-Hayes

The Tories are taking from the young to pay for the old

To understand the Conservative party’s approach to government, it’s useful to think of there being two Britains. This is something British people love to do; we divide the country into North and South, rich and poor, London and not. The division that matters for the Conservatives, however, is a little different. It’s not a matter of economics or geography, but age. It’s the divide between Old Britain and Young Britain. Old Britain, with the aid of the Conservative party, is very slowly throttling Young Britain The Conservative electoral strategy is simple and straightforward: it will do whatever it needs to win the votes of Old Britain, and it will do

John Keiger

Macron’s humiliating climbdown over Aukus

Guess who turned up in Bangkok this week at the 21-nation Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting? The forum, which includes the US, China, Australia, Japan, Russia, but not France, was visited by none other than President Macron. ‘You must be asking yourself what a French president is doing here’, he charmed in English. Macron claimed to be the first European leader to be invited to the forum. He insisted he was there because France is ‘a country of the region’. According to the Elysée this invitation ‘validates the Indo-Pacific strategy launched in 2018’. It does indeed, but with far more subtle ramifications. What has always been a logical, albeit humiliating, step

William Cook

What will be the legacy of the Qatar World Cup?

In the glitzy Fifa museum, in squeaky-clean downtown Zurich, there is a new exhibition which sums up the upbeat, inclusive image which football’s world governing body is so eager to portray. It’s called ‘211 Cultures – One Game’, and it consists of 211 items of football ephemera, one from each of Fifa’s member associations all around the world. Most of these items are fairly anodyne: trophies, fan regalia, football shirts and suchlike – curios you tend to find in any sports museum. A few are items of genuine historical interest: the Spanish contribution is a table football set, invented during the Spanish Civil War by a Spaniard called Alejandro Finisterre,

Saturday

19 Nov 2022

Andrew Lilico

How Labour can reap the benefits of economic growth

The week’s Autumn Statement was quite pessimistic about the growth outlook of Britain. The accompanying OBR analysis forecast growth will be below 1.5 per cent on average over the next five years, and even by the end of the period the growth in potential output is only up to 1.75 per cent. And on this the OBR is much more optimistic than some other forecasters, most notably the Bank of England. I think that’s wrong and growth is likely to pick up. That presents an opportunity for an incoming Labour government. Labour has spotted the potential here, announcing its own plan for growth. But it could be a lot better.

Cindy Yu

Austerity 2.0: is all the pain really necessary?

34 min listen

It’s no doubt a depressing time for the British economy, but how much that is the fault of the government, either for getting us to this stage and/or for not setting out a more optimistic exit route? On this episode, Cindy Yu moderates a debate between Fraser Nelson, James Forsyth and Kate Andrews who battle out their respective views. Produced by Cindy Yu and Matt Taylor.

Julie Bindel

Why is Eventbrite censoring feminists?

I could not have been more delighted when the group Women’s Place UK (WPUK) asked me to chair an online event to mark the publication of the book Defending Women’s Spaces, written by my friend and feminist comrade Karen Ingala Smith. Let me tell you a little about Karen. For the past 30 years she has been providing services to women and girls who have experienced all forms of male violence, including sexual assault, domestic abuse, and prostitution. There is nothing hateful, dangerous or violent about promoting female only spaces Karen has clung on for dear life to keep the Nia Project, of which she is CEO, female only. The Nia Project

Gavin Mortimer

Why Macron won’t criticise the Qatar World Cup

France has adopted a different approach to the World Cup in Qatar than most of its European rivals. While the likes of England, Denmark and Germany will virtue signal their disapproval of the Gulf State’s views on various issues, France is set to remain silent. Their captain, Hugo Lloris, the Tottenham goalkeeper, has said he won’t be joining other European skippers in donning an anti-discrimination armband during the tournament. ‘When we are in France, when we welcome foreigners, we often want them to follow our rules, to respect our culture, and I will do the same when I go to Qatar,’ explained Lloris. ‘I can agree or disagree with their

Patrick O’Flynn

Rishi Sunak’s image problem

Back in February the New Statesman reported that Keir Starmer’s inner-circle had concluded that Rishi Sunak was no longer to be feared as a potential successor to Boris Johnson because he was ‘crap at politics’. At the time this appeared to be a pronouncement that fell under the ‘doth protest too much’ rule, coined by William Shakespeare back in the day, especially given that the briefing also alleged Labour considered Liz Truss a more formidable threat to its electoral fortunes. But the first month of Sunak’s premiership suggests the Labour briefer was onto something. After the disastrous collapse of Truss’s economic strategy, the failure of which had been accurately predicted

Friday

18 Nov 2022

Stephen Daisley

Britain is no country for young men

If I had to give one piece of advice to Britons under 30 it would be this: go. Leave. Skedaddle. Get one of those work visas for New Zealand or Canada and start a new life. Fret not over the details. Those can be worked out once you’re there. Don’t make excuses, don’t defer, don’t delay. Trust me, you’ll regret it one day. Think of Britain as the creepy, cobweb-bound manor from a thousand schlocky horror movies: get out while you still can. Aptly for a horror flick, the call is coming from inside the House. In delivering his Autumn Statement to the Commons, the Chancellor announced ‘the biggest ever increase in the state pension’. This

Katy Balls

Tory truce weathers the Autumn Statement

One of the most striking parts of Jeremy Hunt’s performance in the Commons chamber yesterday was how quiet MPs on the backbenches behind him were. There was little in the way of cheering as the Chancellor used his Autumn Statement to set out a series of tax rises and spending cuts. The front pages today reflect the unappetising package Hunt presented – with the Daily Mail accusing the Tories of ‘soaking the strivers’ and the Daily Telegraph lead headline quoting an economist who says the Chancellor has combined ‘the rhetoric of George Osborne and the policies of Gordon Brown’. While Conservative MPs don’t like parts of it, there is a sense that it could

James Forsyth

Britain needs its missing workers back

Amid all the economic gloom at the moment, the unemployment figure is one bright spot. It is just 3.6 per cent, down from 3.8 per cent this year, and close to a historic low. But, as I say in the Times this morning, even this glimmer of hope is tarnished. The low unemployment number disguises how many people have left the labour force: more than 20 per cent of working-age Brits are economically inactive, meaning they are neither in work nor looking for it. More than five million are claiming out-of-work benefits. Even in the coming recession, unemployment won’t exceed 5 per cent, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility. (Remember