Brexit

Wednesday

Steerpike

Sarah Vine sends Tory leadership email to a member of the public

Oh dear. This morning Sarah Vine surprised Daily Mail readers after she declared in her column that both she and her husband Michael Gove had been ‘charged with implementing the instructions of 17 million people’ following the Leave vote. While Vine’s central role in the Brexit negotiations prompted laughter in some quarters, it now transpires that she has been taking on a very hands-on role indeed. Sky News have been passed an email from Vine setting out the Justice Secretary’s leadership plotting after she accidentally cc’ed in a member of public. The email — sent yesterday — raises some awkward questions for the pair. While a Gove/Boris joint ticket is on the cards,

Charles Moore Charles Moore

It’s time for George Osborne to go – and go now

This is an extract from Charles Moore’s Notes in the new issue of The Spectator, out tomorrow. George Osborne says he can stay in the government in some capacity (‘a decision for the next prime minister’). Monday’s Financial Times reported ‘Friends say a move to the Foreign Office would be the only other job that would appeal.’ No doubt they are right, but have Mr Osborne and his friends not noticed that what ‘appeals’ to him has nothing whatever to do with what the country needs? Unlike David Cameron, who said immediately and firmly that he will go, the Chancellor does not seem to understand that he has got it

James Forsyth James Forsyth

MPs gave a pantomime response to Ukip at today’s PMQs

PMQs was always going to be an odd event today. David Cameron is going as Prime Minister and Jeremy Corbyn is trying to survive wave after wave of resignations from his front bench. When Corbyn rose to his feet, there was almost complete silence from the Labour benches—there was the odd chuckle from the Tory one. The first few exchanges were relatively flat. But then Cameron was clearly riled by Corbyn suggesting that the referendum had been lost because voters didn’t think the status quo was working for them. Cameron swiped back that if the EU referendum was Corbyn putting his back into something, as the Labour leader had claimed,

Ed West Ed West

Why we need a second referendum – on the EEA

Roger Scruton once observed, in his astute way, how important national feeling was to democracy: ‘Democracy is a form of government that depends upon a national, rather than a credal or tribal idea of loyalty. In a nation state the things that divide neighbours from each other – family, tribe and religion – are deliberately privatised, made inessential to the shared identity, and placed well below the country and its well-being on the list of public duties. It is this, rather than any Enlightenment idea of citizenship, that enabled nation states so easily to adopt democracy. In a place where tribal or religious loyalties take precedence, democratic elections, if they

Steerpike Steerpike

Sarah Vine reveals the Gove household reaction to Brexit: ‘you were only supposed to blow the bloody doors off’

Since Leave triumphed in the EU referendum, there have been growing concerns that the Brexiteers were not suitably prepared for success at the polls. As well as no clear plan of action, Boris Johnson and Michael Gove have been uncharacteristically quiet since the result came in. Happily Gove’s wife Sarah Vine has now filled us in on what the Justice Secretary has been up to over the past few days. In her Daily Mail column, Vine reveals that the first she heard of the result was near 5am on Friday when Gove was woken up from his slumbers by a phone call: ‘I was just drifting back to sleep when my husband’s

Tom Goodenough Tom Goodenough

Tory leadership race: Who is backing who?

The race to be the next Tory leader is underway. Conservative Party members will decide between Theresa May and Andrea Leadsom after Michael Gove was knocked out in the second round of voting. But which Conservative MPs are backing who? Theresa May (160): Michael Fallon Patrick McLoughlin Chris Grayling Nicholas Soames Guto Bebb Alan Mak Gavin Williamson George Hollingbery James Brokenshire Michael Ellis Julian Smith Mike Penning Mel Stride John Howell Sarah Wollaston Justine Greening Alan Duncan Brandon Lewis Margot James Phillip Lee Paul Beresford Steve Barclay James Cartlidge Flick Drummond Simon Kirby Alec Shelbrooke Dominic Grieve Julian Knight Chris Philp Sam Gyimah David Mundell Nicola Blackwood Maria Miller Therese Coffey

Tuesday

Philip Sime

Disunited Europe: Brexit exposes cracks in EU relations

Much of the media attention in recent days has been focused on the vacuum of leadership in Westminster. However, Britain’s momentous decision to leave the EU has exposed deep cracks in relations with the European Union. Almost immediately after the Brexit vote, nations across continent woke up to the new possibility of leaving the bloc. This has left Europe’s leaders scurrying to prevent the so-called ‘Brexit contagion’. The Eurosceptic charge was led by Marine Le Pen who called for a referendum in France and all other EU states. President Hollande has since rejected her calls, however, it would seem that Le Pen is echoing concerns of the majority in France.

Tom Goodenough Tom Goodenough

Nigel Farage does his best to alienate the rest of Europe

Thankfully, many in Europe – not least the European Parliament – will have stopped listening to Nigel Farage a long time ago. The Ukip leader, no stranger to attempting to infuriate his MEP colleagues, has been winding them up again. In this morning’s session, he gloated: ‘You all laughed at me. Well, I have to say, you’re not laughing now, are you?’ But Farage didn’t stop there, telling those around him: ‘I know that virtually none of you have ever done a proper job in your lives, or worked in business, or worked in trade, or ever created a job, but listen’ It was clear from the huge smile across Farage’s face during

Rod Liddle Rod Liddle

Keep an eye on BBC journos injecting their political agendas into the Brexit debate

A quick update on the BBC TV News. At ten o clock last night the programme ran a report from its idiotic northern correspondent, Ed Thomas, which attempted to suggest that the Leave campaign was responsible for nasty things being said to immigrants. Thomas is an appallingly partisan correspondent and presumably has his job because he is only person within the BBC with a vaguely northern accent. He chose to interview two neanderthals. Then over to the inestimable Laura Kuenssssberg, who referred to the UK’s ‘likely’ exit from the EU. No, Laura: exit. We have to keep watching these patently parti-pris buggers. The subtle and not so subtle way they

Monday

James Forsyth

Jo Johnson backs Boris

Jo Johnson has declared his support for his brother’s leadership bid. In a statement to The Spectator, the minister for universities and science says: ‘Boris and I were on different side of a hard fought referendum campaign. But it is time to move on, time to unite and time to deliver. I have known my brother for longer than anyone in parliament. He is the great communicator—and I have no doubt at all that he is the person best placed not just to secure a new settlement for Britain in Europe but also to provide the optimistic, confident and outward-looking leadership we will need in months and years to come.’

Rod Liddle Rod Liddle

How much longer can David Lammy hold on?

It’s all looking very grim for Lammy. My petition to have him removed as MP for Tottenham has now soared past the 3,000 mark. He surely cannot hang on much longer. Another 2,000 signatories and we will have proved, beyond all doubt, that he is not fit to sit as an MP, because he does not understand democracy. Either that or he – and all those other caterwauling and whining ponces (as Julie Burchill wonderfully put it) – on the Remain side will understand that a petition is basically the charter of an idiot and has no force.

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Is Brexit the beginning of the End of Britain?

So where are we now? Pretty much in the same position as the traveller who asks for directions to Limerick and is told, ‘Well, I wouldn’t start from here.’ But we are where we are, for better or, more probably, for worse. Not before time it is slowly dawning on people in England that while this was very much their referendum it has consequences for the whole of the United Kingdom. They were warned this would be the case and, if it was not something that was ever uppermost in their thoughts, they cannot claim they were not told. Because they were. I don’t dispute English voters’ right to privilege their disgruntlement

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Cameron indicates that he wants the UK to stay in the single market

David Cameron came to the House of Commons this afternoon to update the House on Brexit. Cameron was greeted by the loudest Tory cheer that I’ve heard of seven years of sitting in the press gallery. He was in remarkably good spirits, considering what has just happened. Jeremy Corbyn’s predicament appear to have cheered Cameron up. He joked that the new Labour MP for Tooting should keep her phone on as she might be offered a job at any moment. He also joked at Corbyn’s expense that he thought he was having a bad day until he saw what was happening to Corbyn. When it came to the process of

Steerpike Steerpike

Watch: Jeremy Corbyn heckled by his own MPs – ‘resign!’

It’s not proving to be a great day for Jeremy Corbyn. After over half of his Shadow Cabinet resigned, the Labour leader has now faced a revolt in the Chamber. While giving a statement on the European referendum, Corbyn called for MPs to refrain from in-fighting: ‘The country will thank neither the benches in front of me or the benches behind for indulging in internal factoring maneuvering at this time.’ Alas his words on party unity hit a bum note with those on the Labour benches. MPs looked incredulous as Corbyn spoke, and shortly began a chorus of heckles urging him to resign — with Toby Perkins and Chris Evans leading

The Spectator

David Cameron’s Commons statement on the EU referendum – full text

With permission, Mr Speaker, I would like to make a Statement on the result of the EU referendum. Last week saw one of the biggest democratic exercises in our history with over 33 million people from England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Gibraltar all having their say. We should be proud of our Parliamentary democracy. But it is right that when we consider questions of this magnitude, we don’t just leave it to politicians but rather listen directly to the people. And that is why Members from across this House voted for a referendum by a margin of almost 6 to 1. Mr Speaker, let me set out for the

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Labour makes a mess of holding the Government to account as Parliament returns

Even when Britain has just voted to leave the European Union, Commons business must go on. And so this afternoon the first item on the agenda in the Chamber was not the statement from the Prime Minister on Brexit and his own resignation, but Defence questions.   This should have been awkward for the Government, which is in chaos at the moment. But instead it was awkward for Labour, whose newly-appointed Shadow Defence Secretary Clive Lewis was unable to get back to Westminster from the Glastonbury Festival in time. Despite kind offers to help from supportive friends of Jeremy Corbyn, Emily Thornberry stepped into the breach instead, telling the Chamber that

Melanie McDonagh Melanie McDonagh

Is the man who gave us fixed term parliaments now trying to do away with them?

Nick Clegg has written an interesting column for the Evening Standard today about the referendum result. You will not be surprised, reader, that he’s not altogether happy about the outcome. But what’s especially interesting is his insistence that: ‘…there will have to be a general election shortly after the new Conservative leader is elected. The country did not elect a Brexit government last year. The millions of voters who gave David Cameron the benefit of the doubt did so, above all, because they were worried what would happen to the economy if Ed Miliband and Alex Salmond were in charge… And when we vote in that general election, the key

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Oliver Letwin to lead government Brexit unit

Funnily enough, today’s Cabinet meeting was rather dominated by a discussion on the result of the EU referendum. The majority of the ‘serious’ 90 minute meeting was taken up by that small matter, though ministers were also briefed by the head of MI5 and by Oliver Letwin on implementing other manifesto promises, such as the seven-day NHS and building more homes. The main announcement from the meeting is the creation of a new unit in the Cabinet Office that will work on the ground work for Brexit. The Prime Minister’s official spokeswoman said: ‘The Prime Minister proposed, and the Cabinet supported, the establishment of a new unit to lead intensive

Tom Goodenough Tom Goodenough

How can we reassure other countries that Brexit isn’t a victory for ‘Little Britain’? Howard Drake has the answer

Reassuring other countries that Brexit doesn’t mean Britain is hauling up the drawbridge is vital for ensuring the UK continues to succeed. So far, much of the foreign coverage of the outcome in the EU referendum has certainly painted the decision as an isolationist move. The German newspaper Taz.am wochenen summed up that sentiment with its front page at the weekend, which said simply: ‘Well done, little Britain’. So what is being done to offer assurances to other countries that Britain is, in the words of George Osborne this morning, still ‘open for business’? Not a lot if the Foreign Secretary’s appearance on TV at the weekend was anything to

Ed West Ed West

Brexiteers need to act now, or become the most hated people in history

The British constitution is built on compromise and moderation; it’s one of the main reasons why this country enjoyed a period of relative domination in the 19th century while our neighbours tore themselves apart. Referendums do not encourage compromise, which makes them such bitter devices, and why the last few weeks have been so painful. But now that the British people have made their choice – and I have no idea if it was the right one – we have the opportunity to make a compromise that will cause the least amount of pain. I’m talking about the Norway option, which an increasing number of Conservative MPs are coming around to. This