All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
PMQs today was not the usual Punch and Judy show. Rather it was dominated by a serious exchange between Harman and Cameron about what to do about the refugee crisis. Cameron, having paid generous tribute to Harman, set out the thinking behind the government’s position far more clearly than he had on Monday. Now, I
The following article is by an ex-serviceman who served in Afghanistan. They’re making a list, they’re checking it twice – and Number 10 will know whether you’ve been naughty or nice. And if you’ve been very naughty, you’d better watch out for a metallic glint in the sky. Britain doesn’t have anything called a ‘kill list’,
As the Queen celebrates becoming Britain’s longest-serving monarch today, David Cameron led tributes for Her Majesty this morning in the Commons ahead of PMQs. While the Prime Minister praised her ‘unerring grace, dignity and decency’, Sir Gerald Howarth tried a different tack; showing his appreciation for her with an anecdote about his wife not wishing to attend a local donkey
One person who has never shown much interest in corporate correctness is Her Majesty the Queen — but if you had been able to buy shares in 1952 in the royal ‘firm’ of which she has been executive chairman these past 63 and a half years, you would have made out like Warren Buffett. When
In 2012 as the Jubilee celebrations began, I was honoured to meet the Queen twice. At Lambeth Palace, three Muslim colleagues and I presented Her Majesty with a decorative frame with Quranic text embroidered on a cloth that had once been used to cover the holiest of Muslim sites, the Kaaba. I met her again shortly
With the drone killing in Syria of Reyaad Khan and Ruhul Amin, Britain joins an exclusive club. Only Israel and the United States publicly admit to carrying out targeted killings – assassinations – away from the hot battlefield. Yet as both of these nations have already found, a single killing today can lead to a
My six-year-old, when told that there was a princess of England with the same name as her, was astonished to learn that such things existed. ‘In real life, not in princess-land?’ She assumed princesses only lived in some made-up world along with dragons and trolls and daddy’s savings account. One of the arguments made against
Last night’s GQ awards were a tame affair. Russell Brand wasn’t on hand to make Nazi jokes at the expense of a sponsor and the magazine refrained from awarding a philanthropy award to Tony Blair for a second year in a row. They did, however, award a gong to the Chancellor of the Exchequer for being the
Jeremy Corbyn’s lack of experience in office makes it hard to predict how he will act as Labour leader. His tens of thousands of supporters are crowing that a new political age will begin on Saturday and are looking forward to a shadow cabinet made of like-minded folk from the hard-left — Diane Abbott, Michael Meacher etc. But the signs so far suggest
The targeted killing of suspected terrorists and enemy soldiers by drones is rapidly moving from controversial innovation to standard government practice around the world. Pakistan’s announcement that it killed three suspected terrorists in a drone strike on Monday, September 7, makes Pakistan the fourth country to use drones in combat after the US, UK and Israel. News
Why do leftists care more about Muslims than they do about Jews? If that sounds confrontational, consider this: this week, the Met Police released the latest hate-crime figures for London. They show that offences against Jews have risen by 93% over the past year, while offences against Muslims have risen by 70%. And guess which
That the Queen has lived to become our longest-reigning monarch is in itself a sign of the golden age of prosperity which has been the second Elizabethan age. Over the 63 years of her reign, life expectancy for women has increased by a dozen years, to 83. The Queen may be remarkable for her age,
This leader was originally published in The Spectator on 5 June 1953, following the coronation of Elizabeth II on 2 June. The splendour of the Coronation of Elizabeth II is over. It was a bright symbol, and its light will not fade quickly. Yet if the Queen lives as long as her loyal subjects have hoped, prayed,
Although Conservative politicians insist they are not worried by the threat of a Jeremy Corbyn led opposition, an incident that occurred on Tuesday night appears to suggest otherwise. Channel 4’s Michael Crick discovered a Conservative press officer sat in the audience at Corbyn’s political rally in Nuneaton. When Crick confronted the staffer — known as Mike Watkinson —
Pope Francis today made sweeping changes to the procedures by which Catholics get their marriages annulled – that is, receive official permission to marry again because their first marriage was invalid. Here’s part of a news story by Reuters Vatican correspondent Philip Pullella: Pope Francis on Tuesday made it simpler and swifter for Catholics to secure
Following the government’s first Commons defeat of the new parliament, I understand that ministers are not going to try to reverse the primary legislation that introduces a ‘full fat’ version of the purdah restrictions on what central and local government can publish during the EU referendum campaign. But what the government can do to get its
I had intended to write something about the refugees, the migrants, for this week’s magazine – but we were well covered on that score. So I wrote about some lesbians instead. What I would have done was marvel at the Dianification of the issue. A potent process which somehow causes politicians to lose grip on
Does the government hold a ‘kill list’ of terrorists fighting for the so-called Islamic State who can be taken out at a moment’s notice? Michael Fallon certainly seemed to suggest so this morning on Radio 4, saying the government ‘would not hesitate’ to launch further attacks on those who posed a threat to this country.
After Richard Murphy was revealed as the man behind Jeremy Corbyn’s economic policies, many were quick to start casting doubts over the duo’s credentials. In fact Labour’s very own shadow chancellor Chris Leslie dismissed their ‘Corbynomics’, claiming their plan for quantitative easing amounted to printing money to ‘magically deal with all the public service and public investment
If the bookmakers and pollsters are to be believed, there is little doubt that Jeremy Corbyn will be crowned Labour leader on Saturday. Westminster is therefore wondering: what happens next? I’ve written a piece for POLITICO Europe today looking at the personal and policy battles ahead if Corbyn is the new opposition leader. Instead of treating him as a joke,
In 2010 a young Labour blogger by the name of Ellie Gellard introduced Gordon Brown at Labour’s manifesto launch. Unfortunately the party’s attempts to look down with the kids soon backfired as it was revealed that Gellard — who goes by the name @BevaniteEllie on Twitter — had previously written on her Stilettoed Socialist blog that she
The government’s humiliating defeat on purdah is the first major victory for Eurosceptics in the battle on how the EU referendum is fought. Bernard Jenkin, one of the lead Tory rebels, appeared on the Today programme to explain why his gang took on the government last night: ‘They initially wanted to abolish the purdah rules altogether, which would mean going to back to the
In this year’s dissolution honours, the Liberal Democrats were awarded 11 peerages, three more than their total number of MPs. Since this brought the party’s roll call of Lib Dem peers to 112, sceptics have been quick to point out that this number appears to be at odds with the party, which had previously prided itself on reforming the
So as predicted on Coffee House earlier, Tory rebels and the Labour frontbench did manage to conspire together this evening to defeat the government on purdah. The Commons voted against amendment 53 to the EU Referendum Bill 285 ayes to 312 noes, and then did not oppose Labour’s amendment 4, which means that a ‘full fat’
David Cameron’s statement that Britain will take 20,000 Syrian refugees over the course of this parliament was overshadowed by his announcement that an RAF drone had killed two British ISIL fighters in Syria in August. Cameron said that that Reyaad Khan and Ruhul Amin had been killed in a lawful act of ‘self-defence’ as they
Following a confusing afternoon, Tory rebels have told the Labour whips they will back their amendments to the EU referendum bill which introduce a ‘full fat’ version of purdah. This means that the government, unless it yields at the last minute on the legislation, will be defeated. It was not clear whether the Tories would
Labour has had a difficult summer over welfare, so it’s no surprise its frontbench played it safe at Work and Pensions questions today. Instead of ruthlessly quizzing the government on the recent statistics showing the death of those being found fit to work or even the Welfare Bill, its frontbench team chose to attack on Universal Credit, something it tends to
I have just returned from a trip abroad to find Britain and Europe in a state of madness. I will not reflect on any connections between these events. But perhaps a reader could enlighten me as to why in recent days Britain and Europe appear to have decided that Syria’s refugees are entirely ‘our’ responsibility.
David Cameron has just informed the House of Commons that an RAF drone killed several ISIL fighters in Syria in a targeted strike in Syria. Two of those killed were British citizens who Cameron said were planning terrorist strikes against this country. He called this a lawful act of ‘self defence’ and stressed that it
If you spot the Prime Minister squirming and wriggling on the Syrian refugee issue, there’s a very simple explanation. The Prime Minister is in a very tight spot, caught between a rock and a hard place. And it is clear that he hasn’t yet decided the best way to extricate himself. After winning an outright
Given that Corbynmania has so far led users on Mumsnet to lust over Jeremy Corbyn’s ‘world weary sea dog’ looks, as well as inspiring a host of politicians to grow their facial hair, it was only a matter of time until the LGBT community also got in on the action. Mr S has come across a new Corbyn
The BBC’s latest pretty young face is Billie JD Porter. The 23-year-old is entirely lovable. With her brown roots proudly showing, that unmistakably London accent, and a chirpy personality, Billie is the latest in a string of young presenters who the corporation hopes will win back the younger generation. The result? Secrets of China, a three-part documentary series that barely scratches
Labour still plans to defeat the government on a key aspect of the purdah row in the EU Referendum Bill, in spite of an attempt by ministers to compromise on the legislation. Labour will support ministers’ proposals to introduce exemptions to purdah in new clause 10, but will also support the rebel amendment tabled by Bernard
Tory rebels are now confident they will win a vote in the Commons this afternoon which will block the government from holding a snap referendum vote without much notice. Coffee House understands that Bernard Jenkin has tabled what is known as a ‘manuscript amendment’ – one made on the day of the debate rather than