All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
After the dramatic announcement this morning that Heidi Allen, Anna Soubry and Sarah Wollaston were quitting the Conservative party to join the newly formed Independent Group, all three sidled over to a press conference in Westminister this afternoon to explain why they had chosen to leave. In her explanatory speech, People’s Vote backing Anna Soubry
The three Conservative defectors to the Independent Group gave a notably upbeat press conference this lunchtime. It was quite a contrast to the sorrowful tone struck by the seven Labour MPs who announced they were leaving on Monday. Heidi Allen claimed that she was ‘so excited and in a way that I haven’t felt since
Today’s PMQs was a rather surreal occasion. Sitting high up on the opposition benches were the new Independent Group of MPs. But none of them tried to ask a question and both Jeremy Corbyn and Theresa May chose to ignore the issue. Instead, we were treated to May repeatedly raising the defection of a Labour
In a parallel universe, the MPs who’ve left the Labour and Conservative parties this week would be joining the existing centrist party that shares their views on Brexit. But the Liberal Democrats haven’t had a look in, despite Vince Cable and before him Tim Farron claiming that they’d spoken to would-be defectors. Cable has just
At last, having kept pretty shtum about it for the past few years, the virtue-signalling set has mustered up some sympathy for women caught up in the horrific Isis vortex. Unfortunately, though, their sympathy isn’t for the Yazidi women who were burned alive after refusing to become sex slaves for Isis jihadists. Or the Kurdish
Theresa May has said she is ‘saddened’ by the decision of Heidi Allen, Sarah Wollaston and Anna Soubry to leave the Conservative party and join the new Independent Group of MPs. In statement released in the past few minutes, the Prime Minister said: ‘I am saddened by this decision – these are people who have
Dear Prime Minister. It is with regret that we are writing to resign the Conservative whip and our membership of the Party. We voted for you as Leader and Prime Minister because we believed you were committed to a moderate, open-hearted Conservative Party in the One Nation tradition. A party of economic competence representing the
After days of bad news for Labour over the decision of several moderates to quit and form The Independent Group, it’s now the turn of the Tories. Three Conservative MPs have today resigned the party whip to join the group. In a joint letter to the Prime Minister, Anna Soubry, Sarah Wollaston and Heidi Allen
George Galloway has just waded into Labour’s anti-Semitism row and it is safe to say his intervention won’t do much to calm things down. The firebrand former politician said the claims of anti-Semitism agains the Labour party were a lie – and he then compared the Sky News journalist interviewing him to Josef Goebbels. Here’s what
Some years ago I was introduced to one notion of how to tackle dishonest and insincere accusations of racism. It was not just that there should be a social cost to making a dishonest claim, but that the cost should equal that borne by somebody who is accurately and correctly identified as a racist. Without
It’s been a week of bad news for the Labour Party, after eight of its MPs announced they were leaving to form their own splinter group. But if the party was hoping to show that it wasn’t dominated by far-left ideologues, news tonight suggests the party is heading down an altogether different path. Derek Hatton,
Last weekend’s Munich Security Conference could perhaps best be summarised by two sentences in the 102-page report produced by a group of Western luminaries, politicians, military officials, and ex-statesmen (and stateswomen): After ‘two years in office, the Trump administration has triggered a reassessment of transatlantic relations in Europe,’ the report somberly declared. And ‘with President Trump under increasing
Most bank accounts on the market offer next-to-nothing in terms of interest, but some are better than others! Here are some of the best easy access accounts on the market right now, from data supplied by moneyfacts.co.uk.
Ian Howells, the senior vice president for Honda in Europe, and the most senior representative of the company in the UK was interviewed on the Today programme this morning. Below is an edited version of the interview: Q. You’ve been here since the 1980s, through some pretty thick and thin times. Why [leave] now in
‘Short term custody isn’t inherently bad, but the way we do it is awful.’ I didn’t expect Justice Secretary David Gauke to start an otherwise thoughtful speech yesterday on prisons like this, but he should have. No one wants people in prison when there are better alternatives that will properly punish them and give them the
Is a Brexit breakthrough imminent? The talk in Westminster tonight is that the government could soon have something to present to MPs on the Irish backstop. Geoffrey Cox – the Attorney General – has been in Brussels this week working with EU officials on a legally binding change. He has managed to charm some on
Another Labour MP, Joan Ryan, has tonight announced she is leaving the party to join the Independent Group. This is significant, and not just because it creates a sense of momentum. Ryan is the first Labourite to leave who wasn’t involved in the months of secret planning meetings. She was, until fairly recently, arguing that
Sajid Javid’s decision to strip Shamima Begum of her British citizenship leaves me deeply uneasy. I can understand why a Home Secretary charged with keeping the public safe would want to do whatever possible to keep this woman out of the country. But Begum was born in this country, grew up here and was educated
Angela Smith unwittingly became the story of the day yesterday when she referred to people of a ‘funny tinge’ on the BBC’s Politics Live. Smith apologised – but still the story is dragging on. Today, the MP was asked to explain her comments, and she came up with a new excuse: she was tired. Here’s
Manny Shinwell knew how to deal with anti-Semites. Born in London’s East End, reared in Glasgow, and once jailed for inciting a riot on Red Clydeside, the pipe-smoking pugilist was a tough, proud Jew. During a debate in parliament in 1938, Shinwell (then Labour MP for Seaham) was jabbing at the government when Tory MP Robert Bower
The story of Honda leaving Swindon is another case-study in how Brexit is a political circus-mirror, warping and twisting perceptions on all sides. Basically, everyone is wrong and should shut up. Honda isn’t leaving Swindon because of Brexit. We know that because Honda has said it, about as clearly as a company can. Ian Howells,
The Democratic nomination process for 2020 is a race and Bernie Sanders should be the overwhelming favourite. He’s just announced his candidacy, and he’s the form horse, having come a close second in 2016. He won 46 per cent of elected delegates and 23 states. He smashed all sorts of fundraising records. He has a
When seven MPs announced yesterday that they were leaving Labour to form a new centrist faction called The Independent Group, talk soon turned to what impact it could have on the other parties’ electoral chances. Corbyn’s allies were quick to warn that it could lead to ten years of Tory rule, while Conservative MPs were rumoured
The second most important political act yesterday was the impassioned declaration of near UDI by the deputy leader of the Labour Party, Tom Watson. His sorrowful response to the resignation of Berger, Umunna, Leslie, Smith, Gapes, Coffey and Shuker was that they were wrong to resign but they were correct to identify that the party
The concerted attempt by left-wing figures to smear Winston Churchill last week is no surprise. In fact, it is another instance of a phenomenon I identified on these pages last November when I wrote about the cultural appropriation of the first world war. That process began in the early 1960s, with the myth of ‘Lions
Meghan Markle has reportedly backed calls to ‘decolonise the curriculum’. This campaign to promote ethnic minority thinkers in place of ‘male, pale and stale’ academics also has support from the Labour party. Angela Rayner, shadow education secretary, has said that ‘like much of our establishment, our universities are too male, pale and stale and do not
The instant emotion I felt, when I heard the news this morning that colleagues were leaving Labour, was deep sadness. I’ve devoted my life to this party and I’m proud to serve it, I am hugely disappointed about what has happened. This is a sad day for all of us. I think our colleagues have
First, a confession. Because I try not to spend too much time on Twitter, I sometimes miss “the story that everyone at Westminster is talking about” and struggle to keep up with village gossip. Worse, I lose track of the minor characters the ceaseless opera of poisonous soap, or fail to recognise them for what
The first thing to note is that it’s not about policy. The not-so secret seven MPs who left the Labour party this morning have not changed their policy preferences. They have not become Tories. Nor have they even become liberals. They could, with little difficulty, endorse much of the Labour party’s 2017 manifesto without compromising
The Independent Group is only a few hours old but already one of its leading members has made a blunder on air. Talking about race on the BBC’s Politics Live, Angela Smith said: ‘It’s not just about being black or a funny…tin…from the BME community’ Oh dear. Angela Smith has since apologised for her comments,
Jeremy Corbyn’s supporters in the Labour party have been on the defensive today, following the announcement that a group of moderate MPs have defected from the party. In particular, the Independent Group’s scathing description of Labour as ‘institutionally anti-Semitic’ has left many worried that the charge may harm their electoral chances. But if the Labour
Is this a split in the Labour party or something more? At today’s launch, Chuka Umunna was clear that the Independent Group want to attract MPs from parties other than Labour. Tory party sources admit that they ‘would not be surprised’ if some Tory MPs were to join this new group. Right now, the values
Oh dear. When Chuka Umunna announced that he and six other Labour MPs were leaving their party and forming ‘The Independent Group’, as a new separate political faction, he said that the TIGs would have an extremely simple message: ‘Politics is broken. It doesn’t have to be this way. Let’s change it.’ But if politics