Latest from Coffee House

Latest from Coffee House

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

Steerpike

Rebecca Long-Bailey: the new shadow Brexit secretary?

Ever since deputy leader Tom Watson called for a shakeup of the Labour frontbench last week, in response to the departure of several MPs to the Independent Group, rumours have flown around Westminister that Jeremy Corbyn may be preparing for a reshuffle. But could it already have begun? Mr Steerpike spotted in a Labour press

Steerpike

Listen: Tom Watson damns Jeremy Corbyn with faint praise

Relations between the deputy leader of the Labour party, Tom Watson, and Jeremy Corbyn have reached something of a nadir in recent weeks. After a group of MPs left the party to form the Independent Group, Watson called on Labour to do more to tackle anti-Semitism within its ranks, and has continued to pile pressure

Nick Cohen

A pincer movement is closing around Jeremy Corbyn

Chaos theory’s assertion that tiny changes can have dramatic effects is being vindicated with a vengeance in Westminster. If not quite as paltry as a butterfly flapping its wing in the Amazonian rain forest, the creation of the Independent Group seemed a small event. Eight Labour and three Tory MPs joined. Eleven in total. Just

James Kirkup

The Independent Group is already changing politics for the better

Most people at Westminster are betting against the Tiggers. Most people, if forced to guess, would predict that the Independent Group won’t become a new political party that wins scores of seats in the Commons. We can all recite the reasons: no membership, no machine, no leader, no policy platform, the electoral system… But maybe

Katy Balls

Government score an own goal on citizens’ rights resignation

This evening the government accepted an amendment to ensure the EU citizens’ rights package in the Withdrawal Agreement still stands if the U.K. leaves without a deal. The amendment tabled by Tory MP Alberto Costa won widespread support in the Commons – an endorsement from the Home Secretary and was eventually taken on by No

Steerpike

Has the Prime Minister snubbed the Liaison Committee?

In November last year, Theresa May was hauled in front of the Liaison Committee (a super committee made up of the chairs of other select committees) to be grilled about her Brexit strategy. It’s fair to say that it didn’t go particularly well for the Prime Minister, who faced barbed questions from the likes of

Steerpike

Watch: Sajid Javid gets into a muddle over Brexit

Brexit is confusing for the best of us, but Mr S. would hope that the Home Secretary would at least manage to stay abreast of the latest developments of Britain’s withdrawal from the EU. Unfortunately not. Popping up in front of MPs at the Home Affairs Committee, ‘The Saj’ got in a muddle when asked

A Brexit delay would be bad news for Britain’s economy

It would stop us crashing out. It would give us enough time to negotiate a free-trade deal. It would allow business time to prepare, and for the government to put in place all the extra infrastructure we might need once we are outside the European Union. As the deadline draws closer and closer, the pressure

Stephen Daisley

Netanyahu’s desperate bid to cling to power

He struck at dawn, 25 years ago this week. As Jews marked Purim and Muslims Ramadan, Baruch Goldstein walked unchallenged into Yitzhak Hall in the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron. Here the patriarchs and matriarchs of the Jewish people are buried and here Muslims worship in what they call the Ibrahimi Mosque. Surveying the Muslims

Steerpike

Seven things we learnt from an evening with Jacob Rees-Mogg

This evening Jacob Rees-Mogg joined Rod Liddle in being able to say he has sold out the London Palladium for a Spectator event. The arch-Brexiteer appeared before a packed crowd – of over 2,000 – for an in conversation with editor Fraser Nelson. Despite a busy day in the Commons on Brexit and a spot on

Rod Liddle

My suggestions for Justin Welby’s Brexit prayers

Would anyone like to join me in the “Five Days of Prayer” that Archbishop Welby has announced to mark the days that we leave the European Union? (Yes, sure, IF we do. Otherwise I assume there will be five days of rejoicing.) I will be praying on Day One for Welby to be replaced by

Steerpike

Watch: Theresa May channels her inner meerkat

Shortly after she came to power, Theresa May’s stilted delivery, robotic responses and inability to answer even the simplest of questions led to her being dubbed the Maybot. It is a name which has stuck with the PM ever since. But now it seems as if May has undergone a startling transition: from Maybot to Meerbot.

Katy Balls

May offers MPs a vote to prevent no-deal Brexit

Faced with the prospect of defeat on an amendment to stop no deal, Theresa May has attempted to stave off that rebellion by promising MPs a vote to stop a no-deal Brexit. After a long and fiery Cabinet (James has the details here), the Prime Minister addressed the House to update MPs on her government’s

Brendan O’Neill

Jeremy Corbyn’s Brexit betrayal is complete | 26 February 2019

Let us consider the gravity of Jeremy Corbyn’s announcement that Labour will push for a second referendum. In siding with the so-called People’s Vote lobby, Corbyn has betrayed Labour’s traditional working-class base, who tend to favour leaving the EU. He has betrayed his party’s own manifesto in the 2017 general election, which promised to respect

Melanie McDonagh

Why I find the George Pell verdict hard to believe

Sorry. I just don’t believe it. The conviction of George Pell – still Cardinal Pell – last December, on which reporting restrictions are lifted today, isn’t credible; he’s appealing against it. Fiat Justitia and all that, but the problem with the rerun of this bizarre trial on five counts of child abuse in 1996 is

The EU27 are far less prepared for no-deal Brexit than you’d think

As 29 March gets nearer and Theresa May tries to get a Brexit deal through parliament, preparations for no deal continue in both London and mainland Europe. It’s been well-documented that the UK government’s preparations haven’t been optimal, and many British companies aren’t really prepared for no deal. However, on the other side of the

Katy Balls

Sparks fly at Parliamentary Labour Party meeting on second referendum

Jeremy Corbyn’s announcement that the Labour party is prepared to back another EU referendum to prevent a ‘damaging Tory Brexit’ was intended to placate Remain-leaning MPs. However, it’s also managed to irk those Labour politicians representing Leave seats. Tonight MPs gathered for a fiery meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party. It was standing room only

James Forsyth

Jeremy Corbyn backs a ‘public vote’ on Brexit

Jeremy Corbyn will tell Labour MPs tonight that the party will back a public vote on Brexit. This is the first sign of how The Independent Group has changed the political weather; it is hard to imagine Corbyn accepting this policy without the threat of more defections. Now, we wait to see the details of

The UK’s Hezbollah ban is a victory for common sense

Britain is going to proscribe the terrorist group Hezbollah in its entirety. This is a victory, not least for common sense. For just over a decade the UK government has stuck to a very strange lie on this matter. In 2008 they banned the military wing of Hezbollah. This idea – only ever believed in