Brexit

Tuesday

Steerpike

The truth about Spreadsheet Phil’s bid to block no deal

Philip Hammond’s former top advisor has confirmed what many in Westminster have known for some time. Writing in the Guardian, ex-special advisor Poppy Trowbridge came out all guns blazing, calling Boris Johnson ‘reckless’ and accusing him of ‘mistaken posturing and trash talk’. In the article, entitled ‘Boris Johnson talks tough but still hasn’t said what he’s doing to get a Brexit deal’, she laments the failures of May’s withdrawal agreement and writes in support of spreadsheet Phil’s bid to stave off no deal. But the Chancellor’s former SpAd also admitted the extent of Hammond-era resistance to Brexit. Responding to comments made by current PM, she writes: ‘At one point during my

Steerpike Steerpike

Eight contenders for the top job in a national unity government 

‘Only a government of national unity can deliver us from no deal,’ according to Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee. But who should lead it? In these turbulent times, Mr S considers eight challengers who might fancy their chances for the top job as national unity leader: Caroline Lucas Caroline Lucas faced embarrassment yesterday after floating the idea of a national unity government headed by an all-woman cabinet. Her proposal was quickly shot down by critics for not being diverse enough and Lucas was forced to make a grovelling apology. But Lucas insisted in her apology that ‘fresh thinking’ is still needed. Might she have herself in mind? Nicholas Soames Winston Churchill was

James Kirkup James Kirkup

It’s time David Cameron returned to fix his Brexit mess

In private moments of exasperation with rebellious Tory MPs, prime minister David Cameron used to complain that “too many of my colleagues think they’re here as tribunes of the people”. For him, as for Conservatives since the days of Edmund Burke, MPs should be representatives autonomously exercising judgment, not delegates meekly obeying instructions. Well congratulations Dave. Thanks to your brilliant decision to risk EU membership – and the entire British political settlement on a coin-toss, MPs are all tribunes now. There are some serious caveats about the ComRes poll on the front of the Daily Telegraph today: the question looks loaded and the “don’t know” figure is very high. But

Monday

Alexander Pelling-Bruce

Jacob Rees-Mogg and the mystery of the conference recess

“What is going on with the conference recess?” asked Valerie Vaz during Jacob Rees-Mogg’s first outing for Business Questions as Leader of the House. She sounded exasperated, and who can blame her? After all, it was the sixth week in a row she asked the question. And it was the sixth week that she was fobbed off. So what is going on? Normally conference recess dates are bundled together with the dates of other recesses and tabled earlier in the parliamentary session. In 2018, the recesses for the forthcoming summer, conference, November and Christmas were approved on March 20th. In 2017, summer and conference went together on June 22nd (after

Steerpike Steerpike

Caption contest: Caroline Lucas’s emergency Cabinet

It’s an emergency! So says Caroline Lucas, who has called for an all-female cabinet to step in and block a no-deal Brexit. The Green party MP said her planned national unity government would hit the ‘pause button’ on Brexit while the likes of Emily Thornberry, Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson, Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon and Tory MP Justine Greening stepped in to clear up the mess. ‘In my experience, women tend to be less tribal, they tend to find it easier to establish trust more quickly,’ according to Lucas. Fortunately, in the interests of gender equality, there is likely to be one place for a man at the Cabinet

Sunday

Steven Fielding

Lib Dems are eyeing a bigger prize than blocking a no-deal Brexit

Politicians determined to prevent a no-deal Brexit are locked in a Mexican stand-off. If Boris Johnson cannot command a Commons majority, Jo Swinson has made it clear that under no circumstances will Liberal Democrats support a caretaker Jeremy Corbyn-led Labour government. John McDonnell has indicated that Labour will not back a temporary national unity government under an as-yet unnamed backbench MP. With Parliament in recess we are in the realm of second-guessing what might happen next. When MPs return to Westminster, Johnson might win a vote of confidence. But even if he loses, the Prime Minister could possibly engineer a general election to subvert the cunning plans of the no-no

Matthew Taylor

Sunday shows round-up: Heseltine takes a pop at Cummings

Michael Heseltine – The UK’s agenda ‘is on hold’ Ed Conway took over the reins from Sophy Ridge this week, and began by interviewing Lord Heseltine, the former deputy prime minister and committed europhile. Heseltine has co-authored an article with former speaker Betty Boothroyd in today’s Sunday Times, calling a no-deal exit ‘the most grotesque act of national self harm committed in peacetime by a British government’. Heseltine expanded on this column: MH: The union of the United Kingdom itself is at risk, as polls are now showing in Scotland. The economy has stalled, inflation is rising, and the pound is in serious difficulties and threatens to get worse. Investment

Saturday

Lloyd Evans

Does Sadiq Khan think Brexit means cancelling Christmas?

‘I’ve heard he’s a great guy, this mayor,’ shouted Sadiq Khan to no one in particular as he arrived in the foyer of the Gilded Balloon at the Edinburgh Festival. He barged past me and headed for the auditorium. ‘Treat him gently, please. No heckling,’ he added, talking about himself. The audience moved into the sweltering venue where Khan answered questions from Iain Dale for 60 minutes. Some had been submitted in advance by the audience. ‘How confident are you of winning a second catastrophic term?’ That came from a disgruntled London voter. Khan looked a bit uncomfortable and muttered something about avoiding complacency. ‘It’s going to be very hard

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Why a government of national unity isn’t going to happen

There’s been much talk this week of a so-called government of national unity (GNU) to stop Boris Johnson’s Brexit plan. The idea is that he’d be forced out in a vote of no confidence in September and replaced by a caretaker PM who would request an extension to our EU membership before resigning and calling a general election. But, as I say in The Sun this morning, it is hard to see this happening. First, this wouldn’t be a government of national unity as its sole purpose would be to extend our membership of the EU which would make it one of the more divisive governments in living memory. But

With interest rates crashing, Boris is in luck – he can borrow his way out of any Brexit crisis

Is Boris Johnson the luckiest prime minister ever? This week, the Government can borrow money for ten years at 0.48 per cent and for thirty years at 1.16 per cent. At these rates, it would irresponsible not to borrow more. The age of austerity can be brought to an end at exactly the same moment we leave the EU, opening up vast new opportunities for investment in infrastructure and public services. The Cameron government had to cope with the aftermath of the great recession and lived in fear of being heavily in debt if real interest rates went up. No such fear need trouble Boris. If the Government issues more

Friday

Nick Cohen

The Remain alliance that could spoil Boris Johnson’s party

What George Orwell said of left-wing intellectuals now applies to Boris Johnson and his ministers: so much of what they propose is a ‘playing with fire by people who don’t even know that fire is hot’. They may suspend Parliament and crash us out of the EU on 31 October or crash us out in the middle of an election campaign. Understandably, all the talk is of the threat to the conventions of democratic life. Yet if Johnson does not buckle, the autumn will not just bring a constitutional crisis but an economic and social crisis. No one knows how bad crashing out will be because no country has been

Robert Peston Robert Peston

Dominic Cummings won’t blink over no deal. But will Boris Johnson?

On the day Boris Johnson became Prime Minister, I said his most important appointment was that of Dominic Cummings – who had run the triumphant pro-Brexit, Vote Leave referendum campaign – as his most senior government adviser. It signalled Johnson was not bluffing when he pledged to extract the UK from the EU do or die, no ifs no buts, deal or no deal – because there are few political operators on the planet more ruthless, focused and remorseless than Cummings. I imagine he has OODA tattooed on his bottom (look it up). There has however been a bit of a misunderstanding about precisely what Cummings agreed to do for

Ross Clark Ross Clark

Is Britain really heading for a Brexit recession?

The sense of excitement among some Remainers is almost palpable. Finally – after three years of waiting – a quarter of negative growth has materialised following all the grim warnings of Brexit-related economic turmoil. The Office of National Statistics (ONS) this morning released its first estimate for economic growth for the second quarter of this year, which has come out at minus 0.2 per cent. That counteracts unexpectedly strong growth in the first quarter of 0.5 per cent. Manufacturing, which shrank by 2.3 per cent, was the worst-performing sector of the economy. The dominant services sector expanded but only just, at 0.1 per cent. Another quarter of negative growth and

Thursday

Peter Jones

Breaking the deadlock

It is said that our political system is ‘broken’ simply because the passions aroused by Brexit have effectively created a hung parliament. So what to do about it? Athenians would have dealt with the problem by ostracism. Its purpose was to send one citizen into exile. Once a year Athenian citizens (all males over 18) meeting in assembly got the chance to vote for an ostracism. It was held by citizens inscribing the name of their candidate on a potsherd (ostrakon). As long as at least 6,000 votes were cast, the man with the most votes was sent into exile for ten years. He did not suffer disgrace, lose citizenship

The Spectator

Trading places | 8 August 2019

Comments by the former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers this week, claiming that Britain will come off poorly in negotiations for a trade deal with the US, should not be surprising. He has previously declared that Britain’s vote for Brexit was ‘the worst self-inflicted policy wound that a country has done since the second world war’ so he would not want to be proved wrong by Britain doing well out of leaving the EU. But the reaction to his intervention has emphasised a peculiarity in attitudes towards free trade, from both Brexiteers and Remainers. Many of those who are keenest to assert the importance of free trade with the EU

The Spectator

Portrait of the Week – 8 August 2019

Home If the government lost a confidence motion when parliament sits again in September, it could call an election for after 31 October, by which time Britain would have left the European Union, according to a briefing attributed to Dominic Cummings, the special adviser to Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister. Opposition MPs plotted to prevent this. Diplomats from the other 27 EU member states were told by EU officials that the United Kingdom wanted to avoid a no-deal Brexit by their agreeing to substantial changes to the draft withdrawal agreement; the officials told them that there was no basis for ‘meaningful discussions’ with Britain. Michael Gove said he was ‘deeply

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Remember, remember, the first of November

The United Kingdom is a country governed, in large part, by convention —but in the heat of the Brexit debate, those conventions are beginning to evaporate. The Speaker of the House of Commons overturned long-standing procedure to limit Theresa May’s room for manoeuvre. The opposition used a humble address to the sovereign to force the publication of the government’s full legal advice on the withdrawal agreement, though the convention is that such advice is confidential. Parliament then impinged on the executive’s crown prerogative powers by passing a law dictating how the prime minister must behave at an EU summit. Under May, Downing Street sighed at such behaviour but grudgingly accepted

Kate Chisholm

Two sides to every story

Maybe the equality inspectors at the corporation didn’t get the chance to vet Richard Littlejohn’s series for Radio 2, The Years that Changed Britain Forever, before it was broadcast on Sunday. Maybe the first programme (produced by Jodie Keane) was an accurate reflection of the year it focused on, 1972. But the most striking thing about it was not so much Littlejohn’s thesis, by which he declared that politically, culturally and musically it was a pivotal year in our national history, determining events that followed much later. No, it was his selection of music to accompany his thoughts about how the miners’ strike of 1972 led to the three day

Wednesday

James Forsyth

Could Boris Johnson have to resign if he loses a confidence vote?

The argument about whether Boris Johnson would have to resign if he lost a confidence vote is continuing to rage at Westminster. There is, though, an angle to this argument that is being neglected. Right now, the Labour leadership is clear that it won’t back anyone other than Jeremy Corbyn to be prime minister. This means that even if Boris Johnson lost a no-confidence vote, it is not clear who could command the confidence of the Commons. With no alternative government ready to go, then an election would be the obvious answer.  Things become more complicated if an alternative government could somehow be formed. In these circumstances, there would be

Claire Fox

It would be foolish to take Boris’s Brexit promises at face value

As the by-election result came through from Wales last week, one Tory Leaver tweeted this: “Brecon and Radnor is a timely warning to Brexiteers. Vote for the @brexitparty_uk and you will hand another seat to Remain. How could you be so stupid?”.  So stupid? The nerve, when after all, it was the the Brexit party that resuscitated the referendum result after a near death experience created by his party. I was furious at the arrogance. But he isn’t alone; this view has now become the narrative popularised by some Tory grandees and voters, even though many of the latter loaned the Brexit party their votes in the Euro elections.  Yet without the Brexit