Latest from Coffee House

Latest from Coffee House

All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories

Steerpike

Watch: Anna Soubry and Jacob Rees-Mogg clash in the Commons

There are still a few hours to go until Parliament votes once again on Brexit, but it is already getting somewhat heated in the Commons. Anna Soubry attempted to take Jacob Rees-Mogg to task over his decision to back Theresa May’s Brexit deal. Here’s what she said: Would he like to tell the House why

Steerpike

Tory MP: I was wrong to vote for May’s Brexit deal

There was a glimmer of hope for Theresa May and her Brexit deal on Friday when some Tory eurosceptics decided to vote for the withdrawal agreement after all. Richard Drax was one of them. But now he says he regrets doing so. He told the Commons this afternoon: I do feel I have not been

James Forsyth

Why Norway Plus is a step too far for the Tories

The Norway Plus campaign has had a big boost today with both Labour and the SNP saying they’ll whip in favour of it. Given that the plan might well be acceptable to the DUP – as it means that the backstop wouldn’t come into force – and the Cabinet will be abstaining, it has a

A Customs Union isn’t the way out of the Brexit mess

For some of those desperate for Britain to stay put in the EU, the Customs Union option functions as a handy obsession. Ministers, too, appear to be rallying behind this as a solution to the Brexit crisis, amid reports that dozens of senior Tories could vote for the UK to stay in a customs union in

Robert Peston

Will Labour MPs back a bid to revoke Article 50?

Labour has not tabled a motion for today’s indicative votes on a way through the Brexit mess – which feels like an important moment, perhaps because it has recognised that its proprietary version of Brexit is dead and its role instead is to work with all MPs to identify a deliverable alternative (which could be

Steerpike

Listen: Mandelson caught out by his referendum promise

The former Labour spin doctor and Remain campaigner Lord Mandelson was on the Today programme this morning, to put forward his case for a second Brexit referendum, which he argued could break the current impasse in parliament. Challenged by Martha Kearney though about whether this process could potentially create even more division and strife within Britain, the

Why I’m battling for Brexit once again

After the referendum, I retired from active party politics, saying I wanted my life back. And I’ve had a great deal of fun since. Better still, I no longer have to resolve arguments between association chairmen and branch secretaries over how to fold the napkins at their work Christmas dinners and so on. But I’ve watched

Fraser Nelson

Internships at The Spectator for summer 2019; no CVs (or names!) please

Since we abolished CVs for The Spectator’s internship scheme, it has acquired quite a reputation. There are fewer than two dozen journalists here in 22 Old Queen St and we recruit people rarely – but when we do, we seek to recruit from our interns. As do other people: The Spectator‘s no-CV internships helped a 48-year-old mum-of-three with no previous

Katy Balls

Who would lead the Tories into a snap election?

After Theresa May’s deal was defeated in the House of Commons for a third time, there’s heightened speculation that we could now be heading for a snap election. With the Withdrawal Agreement defeated by 58 votes, even if No. 10 tries to put it to another vote it’s hard to see how May would manage the

James Forsyth

How can you break the Brexit impasse?

MPs could have voted to take back control yesterday, instead—as I say in The Sun this morning—they decided to hand control to the EU. The EU Council will meet on the 10th of April to decide whether to offer the UK a further extension or not. It remains unlikely that the EU will force a

Rory Sutherland

The problem with having too many innumerate Brits

A levels, from the perspective of a ‘choice architect’, are a disaster. While pupils are free to pick and mix freely among the humanities, science is implicitly presented as an all-or-nothing package deal. Any aspiring scientist must study at least three of the big four: mathematics, physics, chemistry and biology. People who want to keep

In Ukraine’s presidential elections, life is imitating Netflix

Servant of the People is a hilarious Ukrainian situation comedy currently running on Netflix. It opens with a young high-school teacher launching into a foul-mouthed rant against the corruption and venality of his country’s political class. ‘Why are all the honest people fools and the clever ones are thieves?’ shouts nerdy but honest history master

Charles Moore

Why Mueller’s exoneration of Trump should be rejoiced

It is worth rejoicing at Robert Mueller’s exoneration of the President, even if you do not like Donald Trump. Wherever possible, politics should not be pursued via legal processes and investigations. This sounds an odd thing to say, since democracies depend upon the rule of law. The trouble is that the rule of law quickly

The absurdity of censoring anti-vaxxers

It is not hard to make the case that vaccination programmes have been one of the greatest contributions to mankind over the past century. It is sufficient simply to list the most common causes of death in 1915 of British children aged under five, in descending order: measles, bronchitis, whooping cough, diphtheria, tuberculosis, pneumonia, infective

Tom Goodenough

Theresa May’s Brexit deal rejected again by Parliament

Theresa May’s Brexit deal has been voted down for a third time by MPs. Parliament rejected the Prime Minister’s withdrawal agreement by 344 to 286 votes, a margin of 58. May said it is a ‘matter of profound regret that once again we have been unable to support leaving the EU in an orderly manner’.

Full list: the MPs who voted for May’s Brexit deal

MPs have rejected Theresa May’s Brexit deal for a third time in the House of Commons. This time, the Withdrawal Agreement had been split from the Political Declaration, which laid out the future relationship the UK would have with the EU. The deal was rejected by 344 votes to 286 – a majority of 58.

Dominic Raab: why I backed May’s deal

I resigned from the Cabinet because I could not support the government’s Brexit deal. And I still judge it to be a poor deal. But I also recognise that with the government purporting to take no deal off the table, and its acquiescence in the extension of Article 50, that we potentially face an even

Martin Vander Weyer

What is Britain really good at these days?

I invited you to suggest smaller companies that are ‘potential world-beaters’ for the next layer of stocks in our UK Optimist Fund portfolio — and your wide-ranging responses gave rise to one big question. What are we really good at these days? We certainly have strengths in bioscience, where your picks included Angle (blood analysis