Theresa may

Wednesday

Lloyd Evans

PMQs Sketch: Flabby Corbyn flounders with potent weapons

Early bloopers at PMQs. The session began with Theresa May offering Jeremy Corbyn her congratulations on becoming a grandfather. A mistake. The tribute was due elsewhere. But the improvised hilarities that accompanied this blunder burned up several minutes. Corbyn chose to attack on welfare. Over the last week Labour’s sound-bite factory has supplied their leader with some decent phrases. ‘Institutional barbarity’ is their name for giving a timetable to welfare claimants. Changes to invalidity payments are called ‘imposing poverty on the most vulnerable.’ But flabby Corbyn floundered with these potent weapons and failed to deploy them effectively. A bit like his tie. The sleek crimson knot was threaded correctly but

Steerpike Steerpike

Theresa May eviscerates Craig Oliver

This time last year, George Osborne was the Chancellor of the Exchequer and tipped to be the next Prime Minister. One year on and — in the aftermath of the Brexit result — the MP for Tatton is now a backbencher. Happily, Osborne had a chance to reunite with his old Cabinet friends, aka ‘besties’ — as the host of the Spectator’s Parliamentarian of the Year awards. Like or loathe Osborne, his speech was sensational. Following a turbulent year in politics, tonight’s gongs made for some interesting acceptance speeches. While Sadiq Khan paid tribute to his mayoral rival Zac Goldsmith for helping him to achieve his large mandate, Boris Johnson

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Theresa May offers a lame defence of Louis Smith

Neither Jeremy Corbyn nor Theresa May are PMQs naturals. The jokes and the ad-libs that have become such a feature of the session don’t come easily to them. In recent weeks, Corbyn has started with a parish notice to try and win the chamber over. Today, he congratulated Labour MP Conor McGinn on the birth of his daughter. But the PM got the wrong end of the stick and congratulated Corbyn on the birth of his grandchild, cue much hilarity. But it was all very in-joke. In many ways, this was the most memorable moment of a distinctly unmemorable PMQs. Corbyn and May clashed over universal credit, but the exchange

Steerpike Steerpike

Watch: Theresa May’s embarrassment after PMQs grandad gaffe

Poor old Theresa May. The Prime Minister did her best to try and share some good feeling with those on the opposite benches by congratulating Jeremy Corbyn on the birth of his grandchild. Although it seemed like a rare moment of kindness at PMQs, there was a problem: Corbyn isn’t a granddad. Instead, it was Conor McGinn, the MP for St Helens North , who did have some happy news last week when his wife gave birth to a baby which the brave MP even helped to deliver. Still, Mr S is pleased to report that the PM did eventually manage to regain her composure and turn her gaffe into a jibe

Tuesday

Ross Clark

Amber Rudd is right, Orgreave is best consigned to the history books

So, there will be no public inquiry into the Battle of Orgreave in 1984, and no left-wing lawyers making a fortune. Maybe Andy Burnham, who seems to have appointed himself as Shadow Minister for Ancient Grievances, would have got further had he demanded an inquiry that was less overtly political, and looked at the violence of striking miners as well as misconduct by the police, but do we really have to trawl back through all of that? No-one died at Orgreave, unlike in South Wales where taxi driver David Wilkie was killed when a concrete block was dropped on his car while taking a ‘scab’ to work. The striking miners

Tom Goodenough Tom Goodenough

What the papers say: The ‘posturing governor’ stays put

Mark Carney’s decision to stay on as Bank of England Governor until 2019 has been widely welcomed. But not everyone is happy about the news. The Daily Mail accuses Carney of being a ‘posturing governor’ and says the staging of his announcement yesterday was in line with much of his conduct: ‘designed to generate maximum publicity’. The paper says that while some were concerned at the possibility of uncertainty in the markets if he’d walked away, would it be any worse than ‘his relentless doom-mongering’? The Mail suggests Carney will be forever tainted by his conduct during the referendum, which it says was at its worst when he joined in with George Osborne’s

Friday

Tom Goodenough

What the papers say: Nissan’s Brexit boost for Britain

Theresa May hailed Nissan’s decision to stay put in Sunderland and build its new Qashqai and X-Trail models at its plant in the north-east as a ‘vote of confidence’ in the UK. But was this just the PM drumming up the deal or is it really such good news for Britain? The Times suggests the agreement may have come at a price. The newspaper says a ‘written promise’ was made to the company that it wouldn’t lose out from Brexit. Some have said it smacks of a sweetheart deal between the Government and the carmaker – something business secretary Greg Clarke, who insisted no cheque book was waved at the

Thursday

Steerpike

Watch: John McDonnell’s ‘chaotic breakfast’ Brexit gaffe

Spare a thought for John McDonnell. The shadow chancellor was up and about early this morning to criticise Theresa May on the airwaves for her stance on Brexit. But while McDonnell was eager to get his message across, Mr S wonders whether he might have forgotten something before he left the house. It seems by the time he got around to delivering his actual speech this morning, it was breakfast, rather than Brexit, which was on his mind. Here’s what he said: ‘The Government is hurtling towards a chaotic breakfast that will damage our economy and hurt the poorest and most vulnerable most of all.’ Still, at least McDonnell can console himself

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Nissan’s boost for Brexit Britain

Nissan’s announcement that it will build the new Qashqai in Sunderland is a boost to Brexit Britain. If the decision had gone the other way, critics would have been quick to claim this was proof that Brexit was going to total the British car industry and that the people of Sunderland had self-harmed when they voted to leave. But Nissan has decided to not only build the new Qashqai in Sunderland—as we reported it would on Saturday—but also the X-Trail SUV. Theresa May has been straight out of the traps to hail the decision as a ‘vote of confidence’ that ‘shows Britain is an outward looking, world leading nation’. This

Tom Goodenough Tom Goodenough

What the papers say: May’s Brexit plan and EU leaders’ ‘rudeness’ towards Britain

Theresa May was widely praised in yesterday’s papers after the Government backed a third runway at Heathrow. And there are more plaudits for the Prime Minister in today’s editorials. The Sun says that yesterday’s figures showing the wages of the poorest rose faster than for any other section of society made it clear that it wasn’t true the Tories only care about the rich. It says the Government’s plan to reduced the balance of inequality contrasts strongly with the ‘fevered minds of Jeremy Corbyn and his deluded followers’, who try and paint Britain as ‘an unfair society plagued by gross inequality’: a picture which it says isn’t true. But The

James Forsyth James Forsyth

The absent opposition

Oppositions don’t win elections — governments lose them. This has long been the Westminster wisdom. But the truth is that oppositions can lose elections, too: they must pass a basic competency test to be considered for office. Today, however, no party resembles a credible opposition to the Tories, let alone a government in waiting. What makes this absence so striking is that the government is in such a perilous position. It must somehow implement Brexit. Leaving the EU will crowd out Theresa May’s domestic priorities and reveal all the divisions in the Tory party over what kind of relationship with the EU the UK should seek. As one Tory with

Kate Chisholm

Identity crisis | 27 October 2016

You may not listen to them every year. Or even to every lecture in the current series. But the survival of the annual Reith Lectures on Radio 4 from the old days of the Home Service and Radio 3 (they were established in 1948 to honour what Reith had done for the corporation) is crucial to the existence of the BBC. Strictly Come Dancing and The Fall might pay the bills in overseas sales (not that a lecture series, no matter how costly to stage, edit, produce and broadcast, is a great burden on the licence fee) but without the Reith Lectures, perceptively chaired by Sue Lawley, it would be

Wednesday

Lloyd Evans

PMQs Sketch: Why Jeremy Corbyn is a lousy politician

Today it became clear why Corbyn is a lousy politician. He’s too interesting. The variety of life is simply too fascinating for him to prosper on the public stage. In a word, he’s not dull enough to be a statesman. A key attribute of leadership is the readiness to bore oneself, and everyone else, by repeating the same phrase over and over again. Successful politicians are happy to recite their favourite soundbites day in day out knowing that only at the thousandth repetition will the vital syllables grind their way into the public consciousness. Mr Corbyn has a great soundbite — shambolic Tory Brexit — which he needs to reiterate

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Jeremy Corbyn lets Theresa May off the hook again at PMQs

Today’s PMQs could have been a tricky affair for Theresa May. Her decision on Heathrow has seen one Tory MP resign his seat and the Guardian’s story about a private speech she gave to Goldman Sachs during the EU referendum campaign clashes with her conference speech rhetoric about being the scourge of unaccountable global elites. But May got through the session fine, Heathrow wasn’t raised until well after 12.30 and no one mentioned her behind closed doors, Goldman’s address. Corbyn’s delivery at PMQs has improved. But he still can’t go through the gears. He started off using the frustration of the devolved First Minister following their meeting with May on

Tom Goodenough Tom Goodenough

Is the Guardian’s leaked tape of Theresa May really so shocking?

The Guardian’s splash today looks like bad news for the PM. ‘Leaked recording shows Theresa May is ‘ignoring her own warnings’ on Brexit’, the paper says on its front page. The story centres around a recording of May giving a speech at Goldman Sachs in the run-up to the referendum. In the tape, which was recorded in May, the future PM tells bankers that:  ‘I think the economic arguments (of staying in the EU) are clear. I think being part of a 500 million population trading bloc is significant for us. I think one of the issues is that a lot of people will invest here in the UK because

Tom Goodenough Tom Goodenough

The Heathrow saga: What the papers are saying

Heathrow’s third runway has won the backing of the Government but the long-running saga over the airport’s expansion rumbles on. Zac Goldsmith has quit in protest and Boris Johnson said the plans are ‘undeliverable’. So will the scheme ever see the light of day? Hopefully not, says The Times in its editorial, which suggests Boris’s view about the likelihood of planes taking off from a third runway is ‘probably right’. The paper says the need for airport expansion in the south east is clear and that ‘a decision of sorts is better than none at all’. But it says that Heathrow isn’t the place for it. The Times says expanding

Tuesday

Ross Clark

Let the gruesome legal battle over Heathrow commence

When the history comes to be written of Britain’s descent from a democracy to a krytocracy, the story of Heathrow’s third runway will mark an important point. Is there anyone who really believes that either today’s decision by the government to make Heathrow its preferred option, or the parliamentary vote in perhaps a year’s time, will really be the last word on the matter? It is already 67 years since extra runways to the north of the Bath Road were first proposed for London Airport. It might well be another 67 years before the legal challenges have concluded. Never have quite so many interests been lined up to challenge in the

Nicholas Farrell Nicholas Farrell

Sooner or later, the Calais ‘Jungle’ will be back – and the British left can’t wait

The massive operation by 1,200 French riot police and gendarmes to bus the migrants in the ‘Jungle’ at Calais to reception centres elsewhere in France and to raze the illegal camp to the ground has begun. Allelujah. You might think that the destruction of this crime-ridden and rat-infested shantytown, where up to 10,000 mainly African and Afghani migrants live in shacks and tents without running water or mains electricity, was good news. At last, those poor migrants will have a decent roof over their heads while they finally get round to applying to the French government for asylum, as nearly all are required to do by the law. But no. Instead, the

Tom Goodenough Tom Goodenough

Heathrow or Gatwick: What are Theresa May’s options?

Today, after years of delay, we’ll finally learn what the Government’s answer is to the airport question. Both supporters and opponents of it expect the Transport Secretary Chris Grayling to announce that the Government is backing a third runway at Heathrow. However, it is also likely that the Government will make encouraging noises about further expansion at Britain’s regional airports. A Heathrow third runway isn’t the only option on the table though. Here’s the Spectator’s guide to Theresa May’s choices: Heathrow: A third runway? The Airport Commission threw its weight behind the option of building a new runway at Heathrow last year. After publishing its review into the airport question,

Tom Goodenough Tom Goodenough

Heathrow’s third runway gets the go-ahead from the Government

As was widely expected, the Government has backed plans to expand Heathrow. Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said the decision to approve a third runway is ‘truly momentous’. In a statement released moments ago, he said: ‘I am proud that after years of discussion and delay this government is taking decisive action to secure the UK’s place in the global aviation market – securing jobs and business opportunities for the next decade and beyond.’ This morning’s news isn’t much of a surprise, with the Prime Minister signalling last week that she favoured choosing Heathrow over Gatwick, in a decision that matches the Airport Commission’s recommendation. So what happens now? Despite Grayling suggesting today marks an end